The Mungie

  I do not pretend to understand how the mind of a toddler works, but as I have said before, I find it fascinating! Apollo has some how come up with the word, "Mungie". How?...what?...where?...I may never know. The first time I heard him use this word or name, he was talking to a bowl of tadpoles that he had just helped to catch. "Hi lil' mungies", he would say repeatedly, "Dada, did you see my lil' mungies?" Over the course of the next few days, he started to call Orion, Mungie. I love nicknames, so as you can probably guess, Orion is now Mungie (among other things). Oddly enough, the name suites him; he is a lil' Mungie!
  June was a transitional month for our little Mungie. Orion reluctantly made the progression from crawling to walking. I say reluctantly, because as with Apollo, I think Orion has a better understanding of cause and effect, or action and reaction, than most kids his age. Simply put, the higher you fall from, the more it hurts. He has been walking around the house for months now with the aid of anything that would slide across the floor. On occasion, Orion would be preoccupied with a toy in his hands and he would forget that he was not holding on to anything and he would take a few un-assisted steps across the room. Once he noticed his error, he would squeal in discontent, and drop immediately to the floor.

 
Every day that passes, Orion waddles around on two feet more, and crawls less. How I miss his crawling already. It was like watching a mechanical windup toy crawl across the floor. Now a new era of terror has begun in the house of Miles.
    Everything sacred is in full lockdown mode. Cabinets, drawers, counters. Blender might be a better nickname for our little Mungie, as he leaves a path of destruction in his wake, that even a Vita-Mix would envy. Cant see into a drawer that is higher than your head? no problem! Just open it, stand on your tipi-toes, reach in and pull out everything that your little hands can grab, and throw it on the floor. And if you can't get a cabinet door or drawer to open, scream at the top of your lungs and throw yourself to the floor as if you just lost the world series, and then turn on the waterworks. This may not open anything, but apparently you sure feel much better afterward. (I might have to try this at work!)
  This twenty two pound baby of ours, pretty much runs the house. He is bossy, demanding, and loud.(Melanies genetic's) Those three traits are a bad combination. He wants what he wants, and he wants it now! He counteracts this with his sweetness and playfulness. If this little Mungie likes you, he will lay his head on you even if you are a dog laying on the floor or a radio playing a song he likes in the back yard. He is as much fun as he is trouble.

  The affect of Orion's larger than life presence in our home has begun to take its toll on Apollo. I believe that Apollo is feeling like he has been pushed aside and is now second to Orion. We have gone through great pains to avoid this predicament, yet we have found ourselves in the midst of it. Apollo mostly manifest this thru a bit of passive aggresive behavior, but he also will take it up a notch or two if the mood strikes him. Apollo likes to place toys just out of Orions reach, pinch his leg (unprovoked), block him from coming in or out of the house, or push him out of his way if Orion is trying to interact with him. It is challenging to find the right way to react to this type of behaviour in an effort to not perpetuate it further. Melanie has decided that the best approach is for Apollo to surrender on of his favorite toys as a consequence of his actions. The toy is placed on top of the refridgerator where he can see it as a constant reminder of the consequence until he earns it back for good behavior. This approach is working marginally well, however, I do enjoy the fact that Apollo will approach me when this happens and tell me his side of the story;
 "I am really mad at mama! She took my Finn McMissle car from me!" He will announce.
"Were you mean to baby brother?", I will enquire.
"Yes! Because he wouldn't stop looking at me! I want you to be rough to mama and put her in a time out and get me my Finn back!"
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  If I end up in the hospital, you will know that I tried to be "rough" with mama.