Good One!

I was over at my dad's house last week. He was looking for pictures of L and O's baptism on his computer so that I could see them. He couldn't find them but he did find pictures and a couple of videos of our family from the spring that we moved into our house.

We moved to Burleson in March of 2005. The boys were almost 3 years and 5 mos old when we moved here. Those of you that have older children might understand me when I say that L has always been 9 and O has always been 6. When they pass a certain age, you sort of forget what it is like to have wee little ones under foot. And pictures remind you of that time but not quite like a video does. On my dad's computer are 3 videos from this time. I vaguely remember having his camera for about a week but not why.

One video is of L either right before or after turning 3. 3 is SO little. I had forgotten the way that L moved and sounded when he was 3. He still had that 'Mom and Dad are mostly the only ones that understand me' speech. Guhpa=Grandpa, Camuh=Camera. Ray was asking him if he loved Grandpa(it was his camera after all, we had to get film of the kid saying that he loved him), and he said that he did. He also said that he loved the camera, this one was unprompted.

One video is of R holding 5 1/2 mo old, hulking, chubby wubby Tiny O. He is holding him so that you see really just R's hand and O is 'standing' on the table. You hear happy chattering sounds coming from somewhere off camera and O staring in that vague baby way with a slight smile in the direction of the chattering. All of a sudden, the baby(R, really), produces this GIANT BURP. O startles a little, I call out to see if he will look at the camera-this whole time he is staring in the direction of the chatter. R prompts L to say 'Good One!' in reaction to the burp. Does L ever say it? We never find out because that's when I turn the camera off.

What do I get from these videos, other than a faint nostalgia? My children are much the same. You can see and hear aspects of their personalties even at such young ages.

L-so happy, and chatty, and just sweet.

O-In awe of his brother.

I don't want to 'go back' in time to that age. I love my children now just the way that they are. I don't deal with the tantrums of a 3 year old, or have to pump extra milk for a week so that I can leave the house with out my baby and not worry about his milk supply for a few hours. But, oh, those videos brought back the happy chatter that almost always accompanied L, and the vast chubby cheeks that was my O.

The video also reminded me of the time that I had to retrain my children to say 'Excuse Me' after burping rather than 'Good One!'.

Maybe I should take videos of the boyos a couple of times a year so that when they are 30 I can remember that O loves his stuffed dragon and that L likes to build elaborate things with legos.