They Actually Listen!

I was teaching M about punctuation tonight. I probably spent ten minutes explaining about how a sentence would sound with an exclamation point on the end, a question mark, a period, and what a comma does. He listened closely and when I was done he had only one question; "Can I go poopey now?" I am guessing that is one lesson down the drain (ha ha). Despite this apparent disinterest I do have to say that I am impressed with how quickly children learn.
Yesterday I lectured M about how I hate it when he comes running out of his classroom and pushes E down (every day!). Today we were walking out to the car and he yelled, "hey Mom, aren't you glad I didn't push E down?" I frankly hadn't noticed but I was very glad that he had remembered. Then, E was crying on the way home about wanting to go see Daddy and M told him, "you better stop crying or Mommy will make you ride on the roof (a silly threat from a month before - but apparently it sunk in). E stopped crying and we had a nice quiet ride home. You gotta love it when kids actually listen to you - or are scared enough of your punishments to behave well.
I spent the day today making dinner for another neighbor who had a baby last week (this time I made double so my family had dinner too), and shopping for groceries for the big meal on Thursday. I am making my Grandma's sweet potato casserole, two loaves of bread, and cranberry relish (with cranberries grown by a local farmer) to bring to my Mom's house. I managed to find a free range turkey in a local organic food store - for only $25! My sister will be so proud.
A short update from Wednesday morning: last night as I was leaving to go to the pool I told the boys goodbye. M ran over to give me a hug and a kiss, E yelled, "bye Mommy", and T said, "ba ba Mum." Obviously it was just a coincidence that he happened to make those particular noises at that specific time, but I like to think he was telling me goodbye. It sent me off to the cold pool feeling all warm and happy.