Hey, we don't say that!

  Winter is definitely upon us; at least as far as northern California is concerned. I awoke early this morning with the intention of waking up Apollo to watch the Lunar eclipse with me. After bundling up, I stepped outside to look at the moon. The air was crisp and heavy. My breath escaped in a puff of fog that drifted slowly in the air for a moment, before fading into the dark of the night. Yup, I thought I was going to die...then I remembered that we used to live in Bend Oregon, and the cold I was feeling was probably 10 degrees warmer than their high temperature would be later this same day. Some how, this made me feel a little warmer inside. Still, it was bitter cold. I opted not to awaken Apollo, and instead chose to be miserable by myself.

  It is hard to find time to sit and write these days. Apollo needs a lot of interaction. He often feels as he is competing for attention with Orion, so I go out of my way to make him feel extra special. It is interesting to watch Apollo's body language when Orion gets thrown into the mix. As soon as I pick up Orion, I see Apollo look at me and I can almost envision the wheels turning in his head as he plans a strategy to get me to put Orion back down. This will often involve climbing on to my lap, trying to wiggle his way in-between Orion and myself and putting his head or a toy in front of my face to block my view of his baby brother. When we call yiayia and papa on Skype, Apollo will act completely uninterested and he won't talk or be very engaging. As soon as we turn the camera towards Orion, it is a whole different story. Apollo will run across the room, and get in between the computer and Orion; "Thats my yiayia!" From these stories, it may sound like we don't pay enough attention to Apollo. The opposite is actually true. We go to great lengths to make sure we pay extra specially attention to him. Mel and I both spend one on one time with Apollo and we also involve him with helping out with his baby brother.
  As I was writing the paragraph above, I heard Melanie's muffled voice down the hall. That could mean only one thing at 7:30am. I hurried down the hall. Knowing that Apollo was awake, as I entered the room, I called to him, "Come on Apollo, lets leave mama alone." "Your too late", came an obviously irritated mother, "he already woke me up and the baby!" (Typical weekend morning). As I looked at Apollo to see his reaction, he stated very solemnly, "Mama and me are being mad at each other." As any father would do to try to diffuse the situation, I burst into laughter. I chuckled about this all morning.

 I love the unexpected laughs Apollo gives me. There is a certain naughtiness that comes with the three year old mentality and I am man enough to admit that I can totally relate to it. It is all about cause and effect, and testing the waters. Your own words are regurgitated back at you with an air of defiance. Sarcasm is well developed, and an integral part of nearly every comment. And every action deserves a very dramatic reaction. We are in the process of setting some boundaries with Apollo, especially in regards to inappropriate language. Butt, stupid, fart, and poop...all words he picked up from his big brothers and their friend, are used in abundance. It is worse than potty training to get them to stop using these words and phrases, especially when he thinks it is so funny, and it always makes his brothers laugh. You can imagine our horror when in the grocery he spots off with, "Your butt stinks!" or, "Mama, your a farter!" and then bursts into laughter. Yes, this has happened...several times. I am sure you can imagine the looks we get. We are making progress with adjusting his language, mostly by explaining to him how it is bad manners and that he can hurt peoples feelings with his words, and when he uses those words it sounds very ugly and offensive. Actually, what is really working is the fact that he loses a favorite toy for a week when ever he uses one of these words.

   Apollo is fully aware that these words are inappropriate. The funny part to me is that as soon as he says a word that he knows he shouldn't have used, he will very mockingly do an impersonation of my voice by trying to talk in a deep serious tone, while putting a scowl on his face, "Hey! we don't say that" and promptly start laughing.
    Of course with all the bad there is a greater amount of good. Apollos vocabulary is extensive. On occasion, there is a word he can not quite pronounce. Apollo will alter the word to his liking, and the resulting word is often hilarious. Part of learning manners, is learning not to interrupt. "Apollo, your interrupting me!", to which he will smugly reply, "No! Your inter corrupting me!"