Observations and friends

(But first: JC Penney is having an online sale, dudes. Go check it out if you're in the market for toddler tees or jammies. I found items for $4.99 and that is not normal in this universe. I don't get the people who purchase clothes at adorable Hanna Anderson, paying twenty whole dollars for a kid's t-shirt. Insane.)

AJ got hit in the face last night. By another kid. We went over to our friends' house for a very casual Sunday afternoon and dinner, which was so nice -- getting home at 7pm and having no dishes to do, nothing to put away... bliss. :) They're our first official "church-friends," by the way. I mean, friends from church that we've socialized with OUTSIDE of church. I've always wanted church friends! I met the wife through choir, and she's super, super nice. Almost to the point of being TOO nice. But not quite. Anyway, we'd been there since 4:00pm and it was inevitable that the kids would get tired... so her 23-month-old decided it was time to smack AJ in the face a little bit. Of course there were apologies and protestations from his parents, since we were all sitting right there watching. And we all knew the kid didn't consciously try to harm AJ... but you should have seen AJ's look! He turned to me and, right before he started crying, his eyes were wide like, "OMG, Mama, did you see that???" It was rather cute. He got over it quickly.

It's funny to be with another family who totally does things differently than us. I don't mean to get judgey, BUT... they figured Matthew wasn't going to sit still during dinner with the rest of us, so he was put in the living room with Bob the Builder (video) while we all ate. ?! Nope, that doesn't fly at our house. You have to at least ATTEMPT to sit nicely with everyone and eat. If it doesn't work out, hey, whatever. Run off and play. But then you don't get your dinner. Sorry, way it goes. Number two, they said M's not quite eating table foods yet, anyway, and by that I mean... wait, what? He's nearly two, what is he eating, rice cereal? They might have meant, "He's not feeding himself with utensils at the table," because his Mom proceeded to say, "Well, he eats Cheerios, but dry, with his fingers, you know." I was confused. So, whatever. It takes all kinds, my Granny used to say. It just kinda made me feel good about what we're doing. I like our rules, and they seem to be working. AJ sat very nicely in M's high chair and fed himself rice and chicken enchilada. And he didn't interrupt or cause a ruckus, and when he was finished, he got down to go watch Bob, too. And mind you, I wholeheartedly believe, WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOUR FAMILY. You co-sleep? Fine. I don't. You cook 2 meals, one for you, one for the kid? (Whispers: I do too, occasionally. But don't tell anyone.) Fine. That works for you. I just find it interesting to see what other people do. And I think I needed the reassurance that we're doing it right, for us. I prefer my way to theirs. Of course I'm sure the day will come when she comes to my house and observes, and doesn't agree with it. I'm okay with that. :)

Also really interesting to observe two completely different little personalities emerging. AJ is quite content to explore the contents of M's playroom on his own, testing things out, going from one toy to the next. Matthew, on the other hand, was pretty darn excited to have people over, and he made it known by squealing, babbling, running around, demanding attention. He's a very energetic kid. I've never seen AJ do that, at our house or anyone else's. When he's over-excited -- and he does get that way, believe me -- but he goes inward, I think, instead of outward. Meaning, he cries or gets emotional. Which is somewhat outward... but not so, um, "wild" is the word that comes to mind. Not in a negative way, but you know what I mean?

It's fun to imagine the two boys maybe growing up together, since we're both wanting to send them to St. Joe's, the parish school. Wonder if they'll be friends?