When Ben finally started sleeping through the night most of the time, about 6 months ago, he still had some nights when he would wake up and cry briefly when the air conditioning turned on. So I started telling him every night when I put him in his crib, "If the air conditioning wakes you up, just go back to sleep! If you hear a loud truck and it wakes you up, what should you do? Go back to sleep! If an airplane or a dog barking or anything else wakes you up, go back to sleep! What should you do if you hear the toilet flushing and it wakes you up? Go back to sleep!" Then a few months ago, I said, "What should you do if a barking dog wakes you up?" And Ben said, "Pat, pat," and giggled.
Ben's other favorite thing is to call me "Brigitte Mama." For a long time I thought he was saying, "Big Duck Mama."
Ben loves Donald Duck, and he calls him "Hat Duck." He loves his "Hat Duck" socks.
Sam is convinced that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is going to go down in "mystery," not "history."
In the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoons, Donald Duck says, "What's the big idea?" Sam has started calling me, and sometimes other people, Big Idea.
I asked Sam what he wants for Christmas: "I want milk! In my stocking! But closed. And donuts in my present! You can have coffee in your stocking. But closed! Dad can have juice in his stocking. But closed! Not open. Then it would make your stocking all wet!"
Matt has been randomly telling me, "You're a good horse!" So I've been telling him the same back. Who knows what we are even talking about.
