Harlan was having a million temper tantrums the other day... so by the time we got to bedtime I was all too eager to get the boys straight to sleep and forget about any story time!
Me - there is no time for books tonight.
Harlan - just one book mommy...
Me - (giving Harlan a sideways glance, secretly happy that he loves reading so much)
Harlan - Mom, just take a deep breath!
While out the other day at our local country park, the boys were simply fascinated by a golden retriever that was running full speed into the freezing water to fetch a stick...
Harlan - I want to swim too mommy!
Me - Harlan, it's far too cold to swim my boy!
Harlan - (after some thought) One day when I'm a Dalmatian can I swim in the pond?
Me - Sure Harlan, when you grow up to be a Dalmatian you are welcome to swim in the pond!
At Burger King the other day (yes... we are those kinds of parents, stop judging!) the kids are wearing their paper crowns:
Harlan - Mommy I'm a king!
Me - Yes Harley, you are.
Malakai - Me king!
Me - Yes, you and Harley are both kings.
Harley - Mommy, let me tell you something (pulling me closer...) you are a girl king!
Me - Thanks my angel!
So, starting this lovely New Year (yes!!!!) is a new regular post I'd like to call 'Say whaaaaat?.... Wednesdays'
While Harlan may be my second-born, I've experienced a lot of Firsts with him, not to mention the cutest, funniest and sometimes just plain scary stuff that comes out his mouth almost daily... The kid cracks me up!
I didn't experience this with Malakai, and of course a global speech delay will do that to a kid... I often wonder what Malakai would be saying if he could? What sorts of quirky ideas is he having but just not able to express?
But then, I spend a lot of my time talking about Malakai, so this is pure Harlan, because I love this crazy kid and think he deserves a medal for his awesomeness!!!
In the bath the other day Harlan drops a bombshell:
Harlan - Mom, I have a pain in my brain.
Me - Really? Harley where is your brain?
Harlan - I don't know mommy, where is my brain?
Me - (I point to my head)
Harlan - No mommy! You forgot! Its here! (laughing loudly and pointing to his heart...)
*I didn't know whether to laugh because he thinks his brain is in his chest, or whether to worry because my child is having chest pains!?
Thank goodness Harlan loves his wellies (he even wore them right through summer in South Africa), because we landed in the UK and just as I remembered, this place is seriously soggy. And cold. And soggy.
Despite my excitement to finally be getting out of 'limbo' and to be reunited with my husband after 6 weeks apart, I was overwhelmingly distressed at the thought of our upcoming flight to the UK - all 11 hours of it - with two small boys who have their own Life Equation now (check last week's post for the long explanation)...
Good grief was I worried!
But thankfully the flight was overnight and so it actually was simply smashing (see, I'm practicing my Proper English) - other than the fact that Harlan kept asking when we were going to get in the plane and he still refuses to believe that we flew anywhere at all, never mind to the other side of the world...
"But sweetie look," I gesture around the plane, "this is the plane. We are sitting in it."
"But where is it?" Sulky face. "Where?"
"Here... right here. Like all around us," Ummmm, and now?
So, despite the fact that Harlan doesn't believe we went on a plane and flew anywhere we are all doing splendidly (see, Proper English again) in one of the most beautiful parts of the English countryside where there must be about a gajillion trees (all very very pretty) and even then there still aren't enough of them to drink up all the water in the ground, so wellies are a must!
I think we are kinda like Vaalies at the beach in Cape Town, running into the freezing water simply because it's a beach, but all the locals know its crazy freezing? Well, we are kind like that - bundling the boys in warm jackets, gloves and hats and kinda pushing them out of the toasty house and into the freezing cold to 'explore' and 'get out' and other ridikilus things!
Here is a little taster in pictures :)
