Our hero...

When I was pregnant with Xander everyone told me...

"Oh, a boy! You're so lucky, boys LOVE their moms. Little girls love their dads but nothing compares to the love of a little boy for his mom."
I was so excited, and then quickly realized that the people who told me this were liars. Don't get me wrong, Xander loves me but when it comes to favorites... Zach is it. Xander adores his daddy and wants to be with him as much as possible and just like him in every way.



I'll be honest, there were some times when my feelings were hurt and I was a little jealous, but then I realized who better to idolize and have as a best friend than your dad?

Then came Blayne...
In the beginning it looked like I might actually lay claim to being the "favorite" with him, but as time has gone by it has shown that daddy is the true winner.



Blayne not only adores his daddy like his brother but also seems to respond more easily to daddy's instructions than to mommy's. Case in point...
A few days ago the boys wanted to watch a movie but they had made a large mess in the living room with their toys. I told them "If you would like the privilege of a movie, you need to clean up your mess first." They are usually quite good and don't complain about cleaning up but for some reason Blayne began whining and telling me "No Mommy!! No clean up!" I turned to him and as calmly as I could said "Blayne, you know the rule. If you make a mess, you clean it up. If you don't clean up your mess you will not get to watch the movie." He then turned to me and said:
"I ask Daddy."
To my surprise, he did just that. He walked up to Zach and said "Daddy, mommy say clean up. No clean up." To which Zach responded "Blayne, if mommy asks you to do something you need to do it. You made that mess, and now you need to clean it up." The response he received was "Okay daddy."
WHAT?!? No fussing, no whining, no temper tantrum, just a simple "Okay daddy."? My jaw may have hit the floor with an accompanying eye roll, but I was grateful for his amazing power over the kiddos.
Then last night something miraculous happened and Daddy became, not only my favorite, but my HERO.
For the last 7 months I have been trying to potty train Blayne and he is having none of it. Even my mentioning the word toilet began cries of "No, no toilet! Need diapers!" And the new little training toilet held no appeal. So basically I was resolved that I was going to have two in diapers. Last night as we were sitting around Blayne came and climbed up on the couch next to Zach and I, suddenly... there was a smell.
Just as I was trying to maneuver myself off of the couch Zach said to Blayne "Blayne, when you feel like you need to go potty you need to go to your little toilet, take your pants off, and go potty on your toilet." He got the same response that I always get when I give this same instruction, a quick and non-excited "Okay daddy." He then got off the couch and began walking towards his room, and I followed. As I turned the corner I got quite the surprise....
there was Blayne in the bathroom, pants off, and sitting on the little toilet. I was floored! I quickly walked over to him, praised him for doing exactly what daddy had said and suggested we take his diaper off. He gave me a 'whatever lady' look, and then daddy came and suggested the same thing to which he said "Okay daddy!" To the surprise of both of us he hadn't pooped yet and sat and did his deed on the toilet!!!! After 7 long months my child had finally done his business on the toilet!!! I was more than thrilled I was beyond ecstatic!!! (That was, until I realized that I was going to have to clean up this fun mess *insert dry heaving here*.) All it took was one talk from daddy.


Yep, our daddy is that amazing! Thanks Zach, and good luck with the potty training thing, I hereby relinquish the glorious duty to you.