Luvin my J & E

(photo from June 2011... on St. Simons Island)

Sometimes I feel like Jack and Eliza get overshadowed by Cat and all of the many exciting things she gets to do simply because she's reached that grand old age of maturity: 6.  So I have a few things I want to share about Jack and Eliza, just because.

First of all, it didn't occur to me until a few weeks ago just how close these two are.  Sure, Jack has seen Eliza as his personal punching bag since she was born, but they also have lots of fun together and love to make each other laugh.  For some reason, they also each prefer the other person's sippy cup... I haven't quite figured that one out yet.  Anyway, I started thinking about this a couple of weeks ago when I dropped Jack off for his first morning of preschool.  When I got back in the car, I was bombarded with cries of "Jack-Jack!  Jack-Jack!"  from the backseat.  And real tears.  Whoa!  Seriously?  This from the girl who has been kicked, punched, stepped on, stolen from, and generally bullied by this boy every day of her life?  Well, yes, apparently she really loves him and, unbeknownst to me, doesn't like being away from him.  And with the exception of nursery time during Church, she really hasn't been away from him.  Gosh.  What a wake-up call for me.

Around the same time, we had a family home evening lesson where I was holding up a picture of Jesus.  I asked Eliza, who was on the other side of the room, who this was a picture of and she instantly lit up.  She smiled, her eyes got really big, and an undeniable look of recognition came over her face. I started to feel that warm fuzzy feeling parents get when their children make them really proud, when Eliza quickly walked across the room pointing to the picture.  Then she loudly exclaimed, "Jack-Jack!"

We received this cute hat (and the dress E is wearing) in a package of hand-me-downs from an awesome friend.  J & E fought over who would get to wear this hat for at least 20 minutes.  Now it's hiding in the winter bin, but I'm pretty sure the battle will continue once the weather cools off and E actually needs to wear it!

Jack and Eliza have both been talking a lot more lately too.  Eliza has added fun phrases to her vocabulary such as "ope-ih" (open it), "ee-go" (here you go) and "ahn-some" (want some).  And just a few weeks ago she said her first sentence.  It was unmistakable.  "Jack push-uh me."  We've heard it many times since then.

Jack has been cracking us up with the things he's said lately.  Here is a conversation we had Monday morning after General Conference, when we always make homemade donuts.  I was talking to Jack and Eliza as they were eating leftover donuts for breakfast.

Me: Alright, guys, what should we have for dinners this week?

Jack: These.

Me: Donuts?  Good idea.  But they're not very nutritious.

Jack: But they ARE yummy.

Then the next day we were out running an errand after we'd gotten Halloween decorations up around the house.  I was trying to convince Jack that we needed to go back home instead of staying and hanging around FedEx-Kinko's.

Me: Let's go home and get out some more Halloween things.

Jack: And we'll sing Happy Halloween songs!

Me: What should we sing?

Jack: A ghost song.

Me: How does it go?

Jack, singing: "We wish you a Merry Christmas...."