Sweet Potatoes and Bedtime Stories

Sometimes there are so many funny things that happen in a day, I can't decide which ones to share.

Incident #1:

Yesterday evening I was feeding baby food to Third. He ate about half a jar of sweet potatoes and then decided he'd had enough. When I offered another bite, he raised his little arms high in the air and slapped them down, trying to knock the spoon away. Luckily, I managed to draw it back fast enough and he missed.

"No," I said sternly.

He smiled at me, a wide, toothless grin. I couldn't help smiling back at him.

But I wasn't willing to stop feeding him. The jar of sweet potatoes had already been sitting in my fridge for a day or two and I wanted to use the rest of it. So I made another attempt.

The baby spoons I use are brightly colored, plastic, and quite springy, I've discovered.

I pushed the spoon toward Third's mouth. His arms went straight up and came down. This time I wasn't fast enough. His forearm made contact with the spoon. It bent as his arm pushed past it and then sprang straight again. The spoon turned into a lovely sweet potato fountain. An orange arc of warm sweet potatoes flew into the air and landed all over me. I gasped in shock.

Third giggled.

"Hey!" I said, trying to be serious, which is extremely difficult when faced with a giggling seven-month-old. "That's not funny!"

I refilled the spoon and offered it again. Third swung for it.

"No!" I said and pulled it back. He missed the spoon and slapped his high chair tray instead, and smiled.

I offered the spoon and had to immediately pull it back. "No!" I said sternly.

It turned into a game. Over and over I'd offer the spoon, he'd swing, and I'd say no. JayJay and Max were watching intently and had been so drawn by the exchange that they had moved to stand at my sides and watch me attempt to feed Third.

"No! No! No!" I said.

Finally, I decided to try to get a bite in his mouth one more time and then I'd give up. I would dart in really fast and get it into his mouth before he could swing his chubby arms.

Babies are quick.

I darted in with the spoon. Third swung. He hit the spoon. It bent and sprang back. Sweet potatoes vaulted into the air and splattered all over Max, JayJay, and me.

Third laughed. Max laughed. JayJay laughed. Having all your children laughing at the same time is the best sound in the world. I laughed too.

Incident # 2:

My man and I were doing our normal bedtime routine with the kids. We got their pajamas on them. We helped them brush and floss their teeth. It was reading time.

Supposedly, having a set routine every night will help the children wind down and prepare for bed. Yeah, right. Whoever said that didn't have a JayJay, a Max, and a Third in their family. We made several attempts to get JayJay and Max to sit down and listen to the story. I was holding Third and feeding him a bottle.

On a side note, JayJay and Max have been playing with teddy bears the last several days. They feed them, rock them, put them down for naps, and help them play with toys. JayJay's bear, Go (pronounced jew, see previous post), has been renamed Jet Lego and Max's bear is named Smushies.

Ah-ha! I thought of a brilliant way to get them interested in reading time. "Boys," I said, "Jet Lego and Smushies want to listen to the story!"

It worked! They got their teddy bears and sat down in front of my man to listen. My man began to read. Within a minute or so, JayJay and Max were back on their feet. JayJay was careful as he stood to leave Jet Lego sitting up to listen to the story. Max was not so careful. Smushies fell over and lay discarded on the floor. My man continued to read though as JayJay and Max began giggling and running laps around their bedroom.

After reading for several minutes, my man paused, but without looking away from the text, he reached out, picked up Smushies, and carefully set him into a sitting position next to Jet Lego. Then he continued to read.

Eventually, in the chaos created by our two older sons, Jet Lego was knocked over. A moment later, my man reached out and attentively set Jet Lego back into a sitting position next to Smushies. Then he finished reading the story to his rapt audience of two teddies as expressively as if he were reading to his little boys.

I don't know about JayJay and Max, but Jet Lego and Smushies were most certainly ready for bed when we tucked them in.