Introducing "The Messer"

We were talking about nicknames a couple of months or more ago, and asked Alder what Heath's nickname should be. He thought for a minute and said, "Messer". Well, he was right on. Heath has lived up to this more and more since then.

We, as other parents agree, can't help but compare, though we know that comparing offers no real help in understanding or explaining anything. But... it seems that Heath is moving faster and spreading farther that we remember Alder did. Is it differences between them? Or is it that our lives are fuller now (i.e., we are occupied/distracted by so much more), making Heath seem that much broader a wedge in our day-to-day. He is constantly moving and (this I do think is unlike his brother) incessantly dispersing things. Our utensils drawer in the kitchen basically stays open. If he walks through the kitchen and someone has closed it, he will open it again, just to have it most accessible. First thing in the morning (which is reliably 5 these days after thankfully sleeping all night!), open the drawer, ransack, and run from the room with at least two implements, to who knows where. It is not uncommon to find spatulas in the bathtub, whisk in the legos, a wooden spoon revealed late night, when covers are turned down. And, the reverse, digging (looking for the bleeping spoon again!) its nothing to come across legos, crayons, a wooden screwdriver, a book, hell, half a graham cracker. And the wildest, is that I don't see him doing any of this (this is where our being distracted comes in I suppose). Heath's presence (as has physically and emotionally been the case all along) is big, REALLY BIG, but at the same time, he is stealthy in his actions. I can't figure how this is not something to fear as time goes on.

Prime example here. When putting the camera bag in the car, I find one missing spoon, crammed in the buckle of the camera bag.
And the Tupperware cabinet? Another story altogether. We are starting to think we will just use the bowls and lids from the floor for a year or so. These two things in particular seem to be persisting much longer than other little phases.

Last weekend saw high temps/heat index reaching about 110 F. So each morning, we went outside early. Sunday, we hit the river where we saw a family of mallards, wallowed on the rocks, and clamored around in the cobbles. Alder got a lesson on river currents and enjoyed being suspended in the deeper, swifter areas. Heath held up quite well considering his repeatedly busting on slick rocks.

And boy does he love his brother, taking any chance he can get to be as close to him as possible, doing the exact same things.And, some discomforts. Its sort of hard to tell the beginnings from the ends of multiple ailments since we left for Grand Isle. Ear infection, teething, virus(es?) and then two occasions where we have taken Heath to the doc, for the doc to tell us there is nothing wrong, helping to assure us that we do indeed have one dramatic child on our hands. Two viruses made their egress with a rash, and so we welcomed that, knowing this would be the end of the fevers and long nights. He did look pretty rough at the pool though.

Heath brushing teeth. This and feeding himself are two things he demands, way earlier than we'd have probably thought to let him try. But, he is quite good at both. Another new one - anytime something is being cooked on the stove, he is standing there pointing, and freaking out to tell us about it - "ha" = hot. Seems to be quite enamored with things up there being hot. Or maybe its that he knows that what is happening there means that soon enough he will be eating. Or maybe he will start demanding that he cook his own meals soon!! Aha!

OK, one more thing. We went for a walk last night around the neighborhood too close to bed time. Heath was tired and rather than asking us to pick him up or simply fussing, he commenced to attack his brother in the double stroller. I know this sounds harsh, but it is true: over and over again, he grabbed Alder's face and pinched it...hard. After sternly telling him to stop and removing his hand, we had to ask Alder to look the other way. Heath then grabbed and pinched Alder's neck and pulled his hair, looking at us all the while as if to say, what are you going to do now. We finally decided to let Alder walk so that Heath could not reach him and he then screamed the whole rest of the walk home. We could not help but laugh as we thought about how crazy and pitiful we looked....hopefully neighbors will understand we were teaching one-year-old Messer a lesson and not torturing our children....