15 minutes (and more) on a Friday morning

We had pancakes for breakfast. Matthew partook in the better part of an entire 5 inch pancake while Sam ate one and a half. I ate the bits of what they didn't and had some cereal and an orange which didn't seem to interest my little breakfast patrons.

After cleaning the kids up they set off playing in the living room. They were quite content, so I decided to have some coffee and enjoy their good moods by sitting down to read some of David Copperfield, of which I have less than 100 pages remaining of the more than 700 page book. I felt somewhat guilty as the floor was sprinkled with bits of pancakes that had fallen from their plates and the table was sticky with syrup, but I knew the kids' contentment would be short-lived, so I took advantage of it. And the kids happily played by themselves. Matthew squirmed around on the floor playing with whatever happened to be in his way and Sam, of course, played cars. They mostly played alone, but occasionally side-by-side with cars on the floor. Sam really seems to tolerate Matthew very well and I hope that continues, although I fear it may not as Matthew gets older and increasingly wants to play with the same toys as Sam.

Only once during about 20 minutes did I have to intervene in any way in their play and that was when Matthew wiggled over to the fireplace. I had to issue my first serious utterance of "No" to the little guy as he was trying to touch the fireplace. I've said no to him before, but mostly for Sam's benefit such as when Matthew would grab BaaBaa during our morning playtime on the bed. I would tell Matthew "No, that's Sam's BaaBaa," hoping that Sam would notice the respect shown for his prized possession, and also not feel like he was the only one being told "No" all the time. So, Matthew, at almost 9 months, has heard his first of many, many "no" commands. It will only increase.

This state continued for almost a half hour when I decided it was time to clean up. The kids continued playing happily and we had a peaceful and enjoyable morning at home. We decided not to venture out into the frigid MN temperatures.