Bears, Bunnies and Little Boys!

Sometimes, maybe my readers might get the impression I don't share enough about my little Duke here - Maya's little brother, Kurtis. I don't post all that much about him, haven't shared all that many photos either of him for that matter. And, it's not because he's not photogenic - cause he's is one little cutie pie -at least I think so anyway!

Just I suppose that Maya, because of her age, that she is vocal now too, seems to have all kinds of things almost every day as well that pop up to write about, and well, I do that then.

Tonight though, as I sat here reading my favorite bloggers' most recent posts, Kurtis was really a very busy little beaver. I learned the hard way the other night if I want to read anything, I don't dare to sit on the loveseat to try to read -unless that is, he is sound asleep. His playpen is back-to-back with the loveseat and he dearly loves to stand at the edge, reach over and clasp on to whatever might be within reach of his little fingers. For me, the other night, he was grabbing my hair -not hard mind you - but just gentle enough that you felt a slight tug. He was also pulling on my shoulder, even at one point, got a grip on my shirt and gave it a yank that pulled it up hard against my windpipe for a second or two too! Yeah, he's a strong little guy, for sure.

Tonight, we found out just how strong he really is too.

His dad was sitting on the loveseat, trying to watch whatever was on tv at the time and Kurtis got a grip on the two pillow that make up the back of the loveseat (they are big, loose pillows) and he managed to pull them out and away from his dad's back! Pulled them off the loveseat, over the back of that and plopped them -both of them -into his playpen with him! Then he set about to find a spot where he could lay down in the playpen too but that's when he realized I think that he'd slightly overdone his redecorating of his space there. No room at the inn for two big pillows, plus his special bear and bunny pillows and him!

If you look over his right shoulder into the floor of the playpen - yes, the floor is there -somewhere - but right then it was pretty much covered over by one of the back pillows from the loveseat. He barely had enough room there with ONE of those pillows in there with him to stand at the edge of the playpen and lean over it a bit so Grammy could get this picture of him.

Here he is -still with one pillow in there behind him - but you can see by that big grin on his face just how proud he is of his physical prowess - to be able to lift that pillow away from his dad's back, pull it off the loveseat and over and into his playpen! Yes, he is a strong little guy, for sure. Also, as you can plainly see, he's very photogenic too, isn't he?

Here he is now - all tuckered out from that remodeling and with the loveseat pillows removed and back to form the back of the loveseat too. Those bed buddies of his - the one on the left is a fuzzy bear pillow and the one on the right is actually a pillowcase but it is in the softest, fluffiest furry stuff, with the great big ears of the bunny it's supposed to be. My dear cousin, Beatrice Ann, sent the bunny up to our family reunion the summer of 2004 - when Maya was almost a year old. She had her sister Rita, deliver that bunny pillowslip to us at the reunion and Maya loved it but more as a toy. (Maya's sleep necessity was then, still is to some degree, her special hand-crocheted yellow baby blanket made for the shower Mandy's girl friends had for her before Maya was born -made by the mother of one of Mandy's good friends, not by me. It's a lacy design -sort of -and I'm not too good at crocheting designs like that with the finer baby yarn too boot. ) The fuzzy bear pillow was also a gift from cousin Beatrice Ann. Mandy, Maya and I had gone down to Virginia for a weekend in 2005, when Maya was about 20 months old then, and we had gone over to check out the IKEA store at College Park, Maryland which is where Beatrice Ann found this pillow and insisted Maya had to have it! Again, Maya used it more as a toy but Kurtis - no way. The bear in particular is his special sleep aid! He HAS to have that with him. Sometimes, he has it on the floor of the playpen and does put his head on the pillow part, other times, he will wrestle with it and end up with the bear over his head too. Just depends on his mood I guess. We really didn't realize just how attached - or dependent (you choose the term there) he is to that bear until this past Monday when Mandy had removed it from the playpen, along with "Mr. Bunny" and put them both in the washer for a good cleaning. Kurtis had been awakened a bit earlier than normal that morning, had therapy with the speech therapist, then his breakfast and after that, he was ready for a nap. Until that is, he realized neither Mr. Bear or Mr. Bunny was anywhere to be found in his playpen! Horrors! He didn't really fuss all that much or loudly, but he did dance around the playpen, couldn't get himself comfortable with any blankets either until after about 2-3 hours, both items were all clean, dry and soft and fluffier than ever when Mandy put them back in the playpen. He latched right on to that bear, had his face buried in the bear and was out like a light in less than about five minutes!

And, here he is again - just so sweet, sleeping away, peaceful and content. As I look over my shoulder at him right now, he has the bear across his backside, keeping him warm and safe and all cozy and nice. Looks so doggone angelic though, doesn't he?

Now, how much do you wanna bet that although he has been very peaceful about going to sleep tonight - even fell asleep maybe a tad earlier than his usual time that tends to be around 1 a.m. -yes, my grandson is a true little night owl, following in the family footsteps behind his Grammy and some of his great-grandma's brothers and his great-great-grandfather too -but how much do you bet within about 5-10 minutes after I shut down my computer playing for the night, grab the blanket and crash on the sofa here, he will start to whine, whimper and groan a bit. Seems to have his timing to do that just about the time I start to doze off too, he does! If that's all he does is make a few noises, I'm safe and he'll go back to his sound sleep.

But if he sits up, or heaven forbid, decides to wake up enough to stand up, I am gonna be dead tomorrow! You can make book on that one!

So cross your fingers, toes, throw salt over your shoulder - whatever - and hope he just makes a few little noises when I decide it's time for me to hit the sack too!