A few Joey moments on Christmas...
1 - On Christmas Eve while mommy was out shopping I let Joey and Milo color with some Crayola washable markers. Joey decided to test Santa's tolerance by eating a few of the marker tips and coloring the carpet in addition to the paper. FYI - For those who have yet to learn this the hard way... Crayola's washable markers are EXACTLY what they claim to be and it cleaned right up.
Joey helped by taking the brush attachment and brushing the carpet by hand.
2 - After the kids were tucked in, Milo went right to sleep. Joey was a bit more restless and I had to go back into their room a couple of times to remind him that Santa won't come if he's still awake.
As I tucked him in I mistakenly tried to hype up Christmas by whispering things like "Joey you need to sleep because Santa's going to come and we'll have presents and pancakes and we'll watch 'Jack Skellington...'" (code for Nightmare before Christmas) Joey's eyes opened wide and he sat up and shouted "Watcha Batman?"
The second time I had to go into the room I tucked him in again and said in a much more calming tone "Joey, you have to go to sleep." Joey replied "I hate sleep!"... then he paused and leaned forward to kiss my forehead as if to say "Dear man, bless your heart for trying... but there's no possible way you'll ever get me to sleep."
3 - Joey has been playing around on the stairs to our apartment a little more than he should. On Christmas day we went outside to ride our bikes and Joey was laying on his stomach and sliding down the concrete steps feet-first. He stopped at the 2nd to the last step, stood up and turned to run... and missed the one and only step he had to make. He hit the ground with a thud... his torso, right arm, and right cheek taking the brunt of the impact. Joey was crying. Now, I'm from the school of parenting where when a child takes a spill like this one crying is a good sign and NOT crying is a bad one. So I scooped Joey up and put his head on my shoulder to comfort him. Within a few minutes he was calm and after a hug from mommy he went off to play some more... but not before hearing an "I told you so" from his old man.
Yes, the kids are both handfuls at times, but they can make up for it very quickly. For every time I have to clean up a mess or chase after my boys in a parking lot, I remind myself that there are many parents whose children are in hospitals (or even worse) and I think about what they would give for an extra minute with their kids... no matter how trying they can be.
Sometimes it's easy to forget just how much we really have.
