Encouragement... it's a good thing!

If you had told me, five years ago, I would be married with two beautiful children today I would of said "uh... yah right!"

But, here I am... happily married to my beautiful wife and we were lucky to have two amazing children. Mauldin just suprises me everyday! I sit on the couch and just watch him walk around, singing his version of ABC/1.2.3.... and it makes me wonder what we did to make him so perfect.

Then there is our pretty princess, Elle. She is just so happy! I have NEVER seen a little kid, a baby no-less, smile as much as she does. The amount of happiness she emits is intoxicating and you cannot help but grin from ear to ear when you see her.

Just the other day, as I was about to head up the stairs my wife let out a gasp!

"Are you okay?" I said quickly. I was standing, one foot on the beige carpet on our stairs as I had one hand tightly grasped the gray graco baby gate that was installed to keep Mauldin from falling up or should I say down that stairs.

"Yes," my wife, Laura replied. "Did you see? Good job, Mauldin!"

I look down and expect to see my son scribing his name on a pad of paper or from the sound of the gasp he may of cured cancer... I wasn't sure. I saw him sitting in the floor with a toy he got from his cousin Everett. The toy is a Red and Blue circular toy that has a yellow handle and different shaped blocks... I guess you could call it a "Shape sorter." He sat on our kitchen floor with four or five of the yellow shapes all around him.

"Watch what your son can do..." Laura said. "Go on Mauldin, put them back!"

Our son loves to put things in their place... if he has a sippy cup it must go in it's cup holder... and if it is on the floor, it must be right side up. He makes sure all the doors are closed because heaven forbid one be open. This is true about the fridge as well... you open it, he MUST close it!

Like she said, I stood there and looked at my little boy work out placing all the blocks into their place. I glaced from Mauldin to Laura to see her face beaming with immense pride.

"But, babe..." I started. "I've seen him do that before, he's been doin' that for a while!"

I headed over to my little boy and patted him on the back. "That's great, Mauldin." I interjected.

"What?" she said with a hint of shock in her voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal." I calmly replied. "He's been doing puzzles for a while too... I just figured you knew!"

"NO!" she said while she clapped in Mauldin's direction showing her approval. "That's so amazing, Eric! That's really advanced."

"Yay!!! Yay, Mauldin!" I joined in on the clapping.

Mauldin looked up at both of us and starting clapping too! Well, that is all I needed to hear. As soon as anyone says something positive about your offspring... you just beam with pride, excitment... you know, all those good emotions.

I immediatley looked over at our little girl as she swayed back and forth in her exersaucer screaming in what seemed to be excitment for her big brother, although it could of been need for attention! I kinda felt bad we had put all that clapping and excitment into her brother so I felt the need to give Elle some encouragement and attention too! She had a paci in one hand and was grabbing onto a crunchy-sounding flower with the other. I crouched down and gave her a big grin. She responded with a high-pitch sound that could probably call some dolphins if we lived close enough to the ocean. At times we call her our little grasshopper... because of this commerical. It's really sweet actually because she always screams with a huge smile. As I went to stand up I felt something brush my side... it was Mauldin! He ran over and gave his sister a big hug... I guess he didn't want her to be left out either.

Welcome Home, Elle!

Our little princess decided to make her debut on June 22, 2010 at 4:51am.

Stats: 6lbs 7 oz / 19 1/2 inches long

Her big brother was so excited to meet her!

We were really excited to bring her home.

Welcome home!

Big brother is watching....

No matter how much I try; I cannot read a story, all the way through, to Mauldin. Well, I can read it all the way through, but the problem is he is asleep about half way through it. Now, I am not totally complaining because it gets him to sleep, but is he still soaking up the literary knowledge? I am not sure why, but it seems that his little mind cannot seem to take in all that valuable data. He cannot stay awake to the end to find out what happens! By the time I am done reading, say… “The Pokey Little Puppy,” “The Little Red Hen” or the story of “Peter Pan” he is sawing some logs right in my arms. We have a myriad of little golden books, board books and Mother Goose, nursery rhythms, that we keep in his nursery. I am not sure if I am boring the little man or if the sound of my voice is soothing to him. I would like to think it was soothing, but who knows…

When I start the story it is usually while he is screaming and aiming to break out of his swaddle. The little dude is a regular Houdini and can always find a way to get an arm out or a leg.

The other day I started trying to read Harry Potter to him, but, I have to let go of the book while trying to reposition him in my arms, so it didn’t pan out very well. He is a squirmy little guy when he is upset and the book folds back and I keep losing my place, so I am gonna have to wait until he can sit in my lap on his own without me having to restrain him.

Back to the reading…

I have decided to stick to a little bit smaller books so that I do not have to keep starting over. It really makes me laugh though because some of these books were such a big part of my childhood. In my youth my mom would always have these books around for us. I distinctly remember her reading to me about “Pokey” the little puppy and the like... as well as the aforementioned “Little Red Hen.” Now, when I was younger this book seemed to be a lot more entertaining, as did “The Pokey Little Puppy.” The more and more I read them, the more and more I figure out some of these morals, in the stories, are out of whack! I mean they are kind of comical actually! The little puppy, Pokey, was a selfish little bast…uhmmm guy… his little friends followed the rules… but they still got in trouble and he ended up getting dessert a lot more than they did, however, at the end he didn’t get to have dessert, but all the other little puppies did – but if you think about it Pokey got to eat dessert like 3x more than the others… and as his punishment.. he had to sleep alone. He did everything else by himself and now he gets to sleep alone.. I am sure this did not faze him one bit.

Now moving on to “The Little Red Hen.” There is a story about adversity and trying to overcome gender stereotypes and roles. I bet a whole lot of research and psychology books can be written just about this little story. The Hen wanted to plant a seed, grow some wheat so she could get some flour to bake some bread, but none of the other animals wanted to help her in her tasks. So, in essence, she was a work-a-holic with no friends and in the end she didn’t let any of her so-called barn-yard friends partake in the sweet bread she had baked… The other animals were probably like fine, bitch, I’ll go buy my own bread while I play my fiddle. What lesson did we learn here? Not sure. LOL!

I have found reading to him is one sure way to get him to go to bed or take a nap, most nights. Now, here is a tip, if some of you were unaware of this. Baby monitors are not very private, apparently. "Big Brother" is always watching... or should I say "Big Sister." The other night I found out that our house has a major invasion of our privacy… and by accident no less. My sister-in-law, Laura’s sister, Jennifer, lives down the street and her little girl, our niece, Annagrace, had their monitor, and turns out when switched the frequency and it gave them a window into Mauldin’s nursery. Now, granted, this is by accident, but who says they will not just do it just to appease Annagrace so she can see and hear her little cousin? I know Jenn reads this so this is basically a plea to say…”please don’t.” I also am saying this for my own well being because whenever I read to Mauldin or sing to him it is a sort of private affair, not to mention, I cannot sing all that well… especially cheesy little tunes like “do re mi” and “under the sea.” Don’t judge me. I do this though because it really helps in him falling to sleep… (don't revoke my man-card) when the reading doesn’t help. Moreover, when I read to him I tend to find myself doing “voices” of the characters and not in a cool “oh wow you should do this for a job way.” It is very amateur and embarrassing if heard by any others. So, if you have a baby monitor and you think what you say in your home is private… think again. Think again.