Ornery Abe

Abe has been incredibly ornery lately. So much so, that I have enough material to dedicate an entire blog post just to him and his ornery-ness! (Some of these are just fun stories too!) Here goes:

1. He has learned after many reprimands that he is not to drag Charlie away, yell at him, knock him over, etc., in an effort to preserve whatever it is he is working on (usually a tower or his train set). This is good! As a result, however, he now shouts numerous times a day, "Mommy, come save him! Come save my brother!" I think what he really means is, "Mommy, come get Charlie away from my toys before I hurt him!"

2. A few weeks ago, we watched Brady for a few hours. When Emily came to pick him up, we were chatting a bit, and Abe walked up and announced that he had put a booger on the wall. I promised Emily this was the first time he had ever done that! Since then, I have discovered other boogers on other walls, and we have had many talks about this. Thankfully, he is no longer doing that! Very good! But, we are still working on the nose picking thing in general--I don't know how he discovered it, but I wish he hadn't!

3. A few days after the above incident, we were at Shayne and Emily's for dinner. As everyone quieted down to prepare for the prayer, Abe proceeded to let out a burp. Bad! He did say excuse me (good!). I apologized to Emily for the poor manners of my child, as she had now witnessed two bouts of poor manners in just a few days time!

4. Depite my best efforts to keep my phone away from Abe, he keeps finding it. It's like he has a built in phone detector! If ever I cannot find Abe, there's a good chance he is hiding under the dining room table with my phone, calling someone. I have apologized to numerous people now over the random, silent calls made by my son from my phone.

5. Abe has really gotten into art lately. Mainly highlighters and ink pens. So far, he has "decorated" his khaki pants and the Bumbo. He came into the kitchen and proudly proclaimed that he had made them "look really nice for everyone for when we go to Illinois". (He is VERY excited about going to IL next week for Christmas!) How could I punish him for such a sweet thought? I had never expressly told him not to do those things. So, we just talked about how drawing is only for paper and he could make everyone pictures instead. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to clean the Bumbo. I think rubbing alcohol would do the trick, but it seems like a lot of work to get off all those scribbles!

6. Abe has now tried to sneak treats on 2 separate occasions when we're in the check out lane at stores (you know the ones that are right at a child's eye level??). Very, very bad! He doesn't know what "stealing" is, so I couldn't punish him for that, but he did get punished for trying to hide it from Mommy--he knew what he was doing there! I also explained what stealing was and talked about the 10 Commandments and how God sees even if Mommy doesn't--he really seemed to understand and this was a good teachable moment for us. Very good!

7. Last week, we swung into CVS on our way to Bible study to take advantage of a great deal on Pampers diapers. I told Abe we were going to run into the store first, and he asked if we could get some Cheetos. I have absolutely no idea how he knew anything about Cheetos! I don't know that I have ever even bought them, for sure in my married life, possibly my entire life, nor have I ever given him a snack that was anywhere close to a "Cheeto". Anyway, I told him that we were only going to get the diapers this time and then head to Bible study. After study, I had planned to run to the grocery store on our way home. I usually do this since I have the car and we're already out, so it works out quite well. I told Abe we were headed to the grocery store, and he said, "Oh good! Then we can get some Cheetos!" I just started laughing! He really wanted some Cheetos! When we got inside the store, he politely asked again, and since his normal snacks aren't nearly as exciting as Cheetos, I decided to let him get some. It was a special treat! When we got to the aisle, he ended up selecting "cheese puffs" instead, but he was happy as could be. I may or may not have eaten a couple myself ;)

8. A few weeks ago, he tripped and fell while we were at the store. I don't even know what happened, because one moment he was standing right beside me while I surveyed the "canned tomatoes with green chiles options", and the next he was on the floor crying. He hit pretty hard and had blood all over his mouth and hands. His top lip was extremely swollen, so we kept ice on it for a while after we got home, and he had a hard time eating since any salt or acid was painful on the cut inside. Poor guy! A few days later, he was building a cave at home and hit his mouth against the coffee table. This time, the bottom lip was cut and bleeding! He was much more calm this time, since he knew that the blood and "funny feeling" inside his mouth were just a result of the fall. Still, his bottom lip swelled up too, and the two together made him look like a little duck! It was quite comical, and I wish I had a picture of it! In the end, he was pretty proud of his "battle scars" and how brave he was.

Thankfully, the swelling went down soon afterward, and we were able to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weekend and get some outdoor photos. Here is Ornery Abe--I love him SO much!!