The Boys: Things I want to Remember

Moses and Des have been so fun/funny lately.  I love everything about them but I want to write a few of my favorite things so I don't forget.





MOSES:
Moses is the best adventure buddy you could ever ask for.  Whenever I take the boys running at the track with me he'll ask to get out of the stroller so he can run.  Last week he ran almost a mile (running on and off.)  We hiked around the blow holes in Foga'agogo and we got soaked when some of them exploded on us.  I thought he would cry but we looked at each other and he yelled "Woah!" with a huge grin on his face.  He stood in the "splash zone" with me for a good half hour getting soaked as the tide came in.  Every time we got sprayed he would bust up laughing.
We've done a lot of hiking since we moved here and he NEVER complains.  Whenever we get to a part of a hike that I want him to hold my hand so he doesn't fall I'll say "Moses I'm afraid I might fall.  Will you hold my hand to make sure I stay safe?"  He always says "Yeah mom.  I will keep you safe."  or "Yeah, I'm not scared.  I'll make sure you don't fall."  It's pretty cute.  Whenever we make Moses feel like he's being helpful he jumps on the opportunity.  But if you try to tell him what to do with no incentive he can be VERY resistant.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to navigate his strong willed personality but we love him for it!  It will be a beneficial trait as he goes through life.

Picking up live Cowry shells from the tide pools near Vaitogi.

Moses' teacher Ms. Waga told me she was amazed by him last week.  He cried every day I dropped him off for a week.  I knew he was having a good time because He was as happy as ever every time I came to pick him up.  So I tried everything to get him not to have a melt down when I dropped him off.  Ms. Waga told me that friday she asked Moses to promise her he wouldn't cry when he came on Monday morning.  She said that he promised her he wouldn't.  The next Monday when I woke him up and told him it was time for school he opened his eyes and said "I'm not going to cry."  I was surprised because I hadn't done anything differently from friday.  Turns out my three year old knows how to keep a promise!  He didn't cry that Monday and he hasn't cried since.  Ms. Waga says that he's a great listener and is nice to all of the kids.  I'm so glad!  Now when I pick him up from school all of the kids run over to say by to Moses.  Today his friend Kaleb (who has a good eight inches on him) grabbed his neck and said "You're the man Moses!  See you later."  Haha it was awesome.

DESMOND:
This guy is just a ham.  He's been saying a lot of words lately (most of which only Nathan and I can understand! Haha)  One of my favorite things is asking him what animals say.  His favorite is a sea lion-  he sticks his chin out and says "Ar ar ar!"  in the deepest voice he can.  It's hilarious.

Sneaking into the fridge at one in the morning.

The other night he woke up around 1:30 am crying and screaming and would not go back to sleep (The sleeping situation has been rough in the temporary hospital housing.  It's one bedroom and the boys sleep on two twin beds shoved together in the corner of the living room.  Most nights Des ends up in our bed at some point.)  So I put a movie on for him to calm down and fall asleep to.  Instead he watched the entire movie!  When it was over he crawled into our bed and fell asleep.  Needless to say the next day was a bit rough and his nap was a few hours earlier than usual!
Some of our favorite words he's says our "Pweeeaaase!" (please), "Aint shuu!" (thank you with a lisp!), and "Toa" (rooster in Samoan.  It's also the name of his "cousin" and Des thinks it's the funniest word.  He busts up laughing every time he says it.)  I seriously think Des says just as many Samoan words as he does English! 

From the time Des could stand he's been dancing.  To everything!  This weekend he was dancing to all of the hymns while we were listening to general conference!  He does it at church every tin we sing too.  If there is music, he is dancing... And sometimes when there's no music he dances anyway:)
I also love that he will still fall asleep in my arms.  It's becoming more and more rare, but the fact that my 20 month old still does it every so often still is the best!


Both of them are WILD.  Absolutley wild.  They are always running, jumping off the sofa back onto their beds, dancing, throwing (food, toys, rocks, frogs, you name it they've probably chucked it), chasing each other, wrestling, being the ultimate boys.  I'm glad they have each other out here!  I'm really glad they're starting to get along and play together too.  There's plenty of fighting and crying, but when they play together I'm the happiest person in the world.

Our container had to be inspected before putting our household goods in to crates for storage.  We took the toys out while they were transferring our things.  The boys hadn't seen there toys since we left LA four months ago so it was like Christmas!  Counting down the days until November When we can move into our place and unpack the rest of our things!