Super Sweet BOY

Louis is a strange little boy. Mostly, he is filled with sweetness. He smiles at you when you pick him up from school -- the most delightful smile -- and hugs his friends (above hugging Wilder, which they did for several minutes until Calla came along and wanted to get in on the hug).

But sometimes he is unbelievably stubborn, jealous, and angry. I used to think this was mostly because of frustration from not being able to communicate (and still, at 2 years and 1 month, he is limited to "dog" "moo" (sometimes for a cow, sometimes for another random animal) and "hi"), but, as his understanding increases (though he still doesn't know the difference between pointing to his ears and nose), it is clear to me that it goes beyond this. Above photo was from an afternoon of digging with Paul. Louis insisted on wearing the gloves and even though Paul brought him a special small shovel, apparently preferred the real thing. And you should have heard the screams, bloody, angry, jealous screams, when James had to take away his shovel. Basically, he almost instantly detects any inequities (particularly with tools, and anything having to do with Rosemary), and the consequences are not fun. He also does NOT listen no matter WHAT... which might be partially due to not understanding, but mostly I think he doesn't think he has to listen.

This past Sunday, Paul and Maureen took Rosemary to the rock and mineral show. Rosemary was so excited to go with them that she had her money in her purse, her shoes on, and sat outside on the front steps waiting for about an hour! She got me special earrings and a neat rock for Louis. You can't always tell, particularly when she SCREAMS at me when she is frustrated (e.g when I do things like read the pages of Louis's book not in the" right" order), but there is still some sweetness left in her, too (though she also said to me twice the last weekend, complete with eye-rolling, "Fine, whatever.") For example, she is making crowns for her friends for Halloween, and thought all by herself that she should make one for Elianah, Stella's two month old baby sister.

We've unfortunately had to talk a lot about excluding and including everyone lately with her and her friends... I was proud of her today when she told me that two of the girls in her class were just a "tiny bit mean" to her today. I asked her what she did and she said, "I just left and played with Stella and Irene." This was the game plan we rehearsed in the car this morning.

This has to be one of the all-time best pictures of a toddler, ever.

Above pictures from our Halloween-themed happy hikers "hike" -- though this one I cannot really call a hike, more like a 1/2 mile stroll through the woods, followed by a cool playground romp and a pumpkin patch visit. Louis actually walked the whole thing, which was cool. And the girls played the "gate" game, where you had to press their noses in order to pass.
And from last week's (10/27) Happy Hikers at McKinney Falls -- we didn't get as much hiking in this time but lots of tree climbing!