My Boy

Guess who went and turned FOUR on me?  Yep.  It's my boy.  My Jack-Jack.  Oh, how I love this kid.  Over the last year he has become even more fun to be around.  He is active (read: borderline wild) but incredibly cuddly.  He's curious, observant, and eager to follow his older sister's example/directives (whether good or bad).  He probably makes me laugh more than my other children, especially when he does one of quirky little things.  For example, he went through a phase a few months ago where he would pause, bend his knees, and get his arms in "racing position" before running off to do something.  It reminded me of a cartoon super hero taking off to save the girl from an evil villain.

It's a long story...

There are some Jackisms I've been meaning to share for a little while that are too long to include in my sidebar, so here you go.  The first two are from a Sacrament Meeting when, as usual, I was trying whatever I could to keep Jack quiet (read: not yelling) and still (read: in the same vicinity as the rest of the family).  I am the Primary Chorister, so I always have my Children's Songbook in my bag.  I pulled it out thinking we could look at the pictures together and that would keep him entertained for a little while.  I would point to a picture and whisper in his ear, asking him about what we were looking at.

Mom: Who's this?
Jack: Jesus.
Mom: Yes!  What's he doing?
Jack: He catched a bug.

Mom: What's the girl doing?
Jack: Reading a book.
Mom: Yes!  What kind of book?
Jack: About a elfewent.

Jack likes to do a lot of role play using his favorite TV show characters.  So you can tell which TV show phase he's currently in by which character he assigns to himself and his playmate (usually me).

I'm Thomas and you're Percy.  (Thomas the Tank Engine)
I'm Jay-Jay and you're Snuffy.  (Jay-Jay the Jet Plane)
I'm Hard Hat Harry and you're Frank.  (All About Monster Trucks)
I'm Chuck and you're Bumper (The Adventures of Chuck and Friends)

He even went through a phase of a couple of weeks where the only show he wanted to watch during his designated TV time was this one:

Gotta love having an older sister...

At which time his first instruction for role play was "I'm Twilight Sparkle and you're Spike."  Once he figured out that he got his genders wrong, he corrected himself.  But it still made me laugh.

His teacher in Church told me a cute story that happened a while ago.  There is a girl in his class named Lily Brown who was wearing a red dress one day.  When an adult called her name out to help with something, he replied with, "Lily Brown??  (looking puzzled)  Lily RED!"

Jack wanted something from the refrigerator one day and I offered to hand it to him.  He replied very matter-of-factly, "No, I'll hand it to me."

One night Jack was feeling really cold.  I offered to get him a blanket and he replied with, "I don't want a bwanket.  I want to hold you!"  He really is my snuggle bug.

Jack still adores everything THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE.  We used second-hand Thomas toys as incentives to help him with potty training.  When I rewarded him with a Trevor engine one day I made the mistake of referring to Trevor as a tractor.  "No!  He's a traction engine!"  Oops.  My mistake.

He has Thomas underwear, Thomas pajamas, a Thomas blanket, and he went through a phase of wanting to sleep with Thomas or other engines.  It made me smile to hear him say "I want to sweep wif my big Thomas."

I had the kids in the back yard while I was taking pictures of the girls in the Easter clothes I made them.  When I went inside to change Eliza's clothes, Cat asked if she could use my camera.  She is normally very careful with the camera, so I felt like it would be okay to let her take a few pictures.  I loved seeing the photos she took, with Jack's expressions and the ways she had him pose.

I can't believe how much Jack seems to have matured in the last few months.  He's learning and growing in so many ways.  I love that he is much more expressive now, and we can actually have conversations about things happening in his life.  It's fun to hear his insights, such as tonight when he told me that he wished there was "anudder Jack-Jack."  I couldn't find out from him why he wants a clone of himself, but it was an endearing sentiment.  Sometimes I wish I had anudder Jack-Jack too.  Maybe one of them would stay young for me??