My sweet Jack is four AND A HALF! That's how he tells everybody how old he is. This has been such a wonderful, sweet age with him, and I had to get this blog in before he gets too close to five!
Jack has matured so much since he turned four. I'd say 2.5 to 4 years were quite challenging with him, but he is really growing up and such a neat little person. If anyone out there still reads this, I hope none of this comes out as braggy, because each of my children has strong and weak points! I just want to blog it all, because I know my tired brain will forget this!!
Jack just started soccer and is loving it so far! He just smiles out there and loves running around trying to get the ball. He has scored two goals, and you'd have thought his team had just won the world cup by his celebration!
Jack is super confident and has many friends. He knows everyone's name from about the first time he meets them and greets them (very loudly) in such a happy way every time he sees them. His best buddy Kolt told his mama during his 5-yr-old interview that Jack was his hero and favorite person. :)
Jack adores my friends and will talk their ears off. During vacation, my friend Denise said she was going to be hearing "Mrs. Denise" in her sleep, because Jack said that about 1000 times throughout the week. He also does this to our next door neighbor and several other of my friends around town. He will spot out the people who are comfortable around kids and who are quick to lend an ear, and he will give them an earful. Josh's best friend, Joey, came over for the day, and he talked to him for about 45 minutes! He asked him questions like, "Joey, why aren't you married?", "Joey, do you smoke? Have you ever smoked?"
The things that come out of this kid's mouth!!! He CRACKS me up!!! His little brain...you just never know what's going to come out of his mouth! He has the funniest way of expressing himself, too. I'm going to have to just write things down this week as they happen and add them here, because, like I said, tired brain.
Okay, here's one. He told me that if you are "brown" (black skin), it's because you smoke. I very quickly corrected him, saying that God created white skin, black skin, etc, and it's all beautiful. I asked him what made him think that, and he said that it was because smoking turned their skin black. I finally figured out that he got that from me telling him that it turns your lungs black!
He also took play-dough, pushed it through a hole made with his pointer finger and thumb, and told his teacher is was a baby coming out! Nice!
Jack is a girl-crazy Romeo. When he was little, he kissed most of the girls in the nursery. He has always loved when girls wear red lip-stick. Now, he's talking marriage with a girl in his Pre-K class. This girl (Kendall)'s mom told me that she and Jack said they were getting married. She asked her daughter why she likes him, and Kendall said that Jack was funny and made funny faces. :) I asked Jack who he was going to marry, and he said, "Kendall. Mrs. Renee says 'No more talking about marriage and no more holding hands'" On Sunday, Josh and I taught Children's Church, and while this adorable little girl (Falon) was playing the part of Rebecca, Jack said loudly, "Who am I going to kiss....I'm going to kiss Falon!" and then he started calling Falon "Kendall"! Mrs. Renee told us that when Kendall was gone one day, he started flirting with one of the other girls!! I think we are in for some trouble with him!!
Jack has a very active imagination. He will get on the floor for hours and act out scenes with his trains and cars, or with action figures, characters, etc. That's probably his very favorite thing to do. He'll lay down and get right on their level, and just go to town. This imagination carries out into all of the funny things he says. :)
Jack has a smile that will light up a room. He loves to be tickled, chased, rough-housed with, etc. He's outgoing, loud, extremely passionate, lively, and spirited. He also has a hilarious mad face. Like I said, he's passionate!
He's a helper! He is super independent and will get things on his own 9 times out of 10 before asking for help. He is also pretty good at doing things himself. He also is good about helping me with chores and clean up.
One of my favorite times to watch him is when he looks at books. He gets lost in the pages, even though he can't read yet. It's so cute the way he goes from page to page, engrossed, like he's reading an interesting article in a newspaper. :)
Jack is very sweet and affectionate. He's also pretty moody and has a temper. It's hard for him to let his first response be a calm one when he's upset about something, but he's working on it.
He's hilarious with his baby brother. He adores him and is really good with him....unless he's really bad with him.. JK, sort of. He's come a long way, but he likes to get things for Ben to make him happy, will stay with Ben in the car if I run in first to do sometime, and just enjoys being with him.
He loves and looks up to his big brother. He's always waiting and ready for James' attention, and beams when he gets it! They seem to be getting better about playing nicely, although they have plenty of moments!
My sweet William is 9 months old now! He is just pure joy! Josh and I frequently talk about what a gift he is, like a gift that keeps on giving. He is such a happy baby. I get more comments from friends and strangers about this. He is very friendly and always eager to smile at everyone. He has just started patting his brothers when they are near him. He is trying so hard to talk! He babbles and squeals, and we're convinced he says "hiya", "da", and "ma". He is a MONKEY! He tries to climb up whomever is holding him, and if there's something short enough to climb on at home, he'll try it. He crawls so fast, using one of his feet to propel him faster. He is so close to taking his first steps. He stands there thinking about it, but then just dives back down and crawls away. He loves to eat baby food and loves to nurse. He takes one bottle a day from daddy at night, but we are going to start the process of weaning him so I can have more energy to keep up wi
