A Little Perspective

Jack is so stinkin' cute. The way he talks is just so funny and unique! He's got far more imagination and vocabulary than I feel any 2 year old should have! He cracks us up with something he says every single day.

Dozens of times a day, I hear Ben say something like "Oh mom, I love it when Jack says..." or "Isn't it funny how Jack always makes that same silly face every time he says...?" or "Did you hear how he said...?"

He has regular silly faces, he has way too much attitude, he can sing songs, and he charms the socks off everyone around him even when he is being a naughty little stinker.

Right now, he is in a phase where he likes to call his favorite gals "princesses." For a while, he thought "princess" was the same word as "girl" and used it accordingly, but now he saves the title for special times. Like yesterday. We were sitting around the living room, eating some licorice when he climbed up on me and said, "Mom, you're a princess!" Then he paused, looked at his licorice, and said, "But THIS is really a princess!"

So I got upstaged by a piece of licorice... Everyone needs a little perspective sometimes I guess.

Pure Awesomeness

Matt tells me that I do too much for our boys; things such as helping them dress, tying their shoes, pouring their cereal, brushing their teethe. I do realize the older two can do most of things without me, but I am usually trying to get out the door in some sort of time limit and I want their teethe actually clean so...

But I do try to let them do more things for themselves. I try to plan a few extra minutes into getting ready to allow for me to have more patience in this area.

It isn't just about being more patient with them learning though, it is having the ability to laugh at the results sometimes. I let Ben pick out and put on his own clothes this morning, and when he came downstairs, he looked great! I was so proud of him and he did it so quickly! It wasn't until after school, when he took his shoes off, that I noticed his pure awesomeness:

Like I said, pure awesomeness...

Multiple Personalities

We have so much fun with Jack's ever-increasing verbal abilities. Not only is it fun to hear the words he comes up with on his own, but he will repeat just about anything you ask him to. It is one of the big boys' favorite games: to see what they can make Jack say and what funny twist he will give to it.

With his verbal abilities comes more evidence of his unique personality showing also. He is developing quite the little imagination! One day, a few weeks ago, when I called to him by his name, he looked at me and said:

Not Jack. Name's Mooksy!

You want me to call you Mooksy?

Yes! Mooksy!

*lots of laughing and giggling and repeating "Mooksy" over and over again*

He now calls himself Mooksy and even talks about himself in the third person, such as:

Here comes Mooksy!

Mooksy is super fast!

Come get Mooksy! Chase Mooksy!

It is cute and we are all more than happy to call him Mooksy. As Ben pointed out, no one else has a nick name in our family, and Mooksy is fun to say!

But his personality is split even further than this, I'm afraid. The boy is also a tad obsessed with Harry Potter, so he also will answer to "Harry Potter" sometimes, if the mood is right. Yes, that's right. Occasionally, if asked what his name is, he will tell you he is "Harry Potter" and he has a "flying car."

I'm not done. Just yesterday, because Matt was away, I broke out my new Micheal Bublé Christmas music to listen to with the boys. No stranger to his voice, Mitchell asked, "Hey! Is this Micheal Bublé singing Christmas music? Hah!"

Jack tried out saying "Bublé'" just once and was hooked. For the rest of the evening, he was referring to himself in the third person again, this time insisting we think of him as Bublé! What kind of character is this guy becoming where he is a wizard one minute, a singer with a funny name the next, and a completely made-up weirdo the next?

Boonts!

Jack has been making quite a bit of progress in his speech over the last month. I can no longer measure his vocabulary in neat and easy terms such as "Yeah, he has about a dozen words." I can no longer list all his well-used words off the top of my head, and I am not the only person who can understand his words anymore.

Despite his advances, the last week or so, he has begun adding his own flair to his words, that are a funny but frustrating development. He is adding a "ch" or "ts" to the end of many of his words. One of his most-used words, fan, has become "fanch." Hands have become "hants." Spoon = "foonch." Even his brother has gotten a new name - "Bents."

My new favorite evolution though is his new word for balloon: boonts!

Yesterday, I bought a bag of water balloons and they kept us busy all day. I must have filled and tied hundreds of balloons. Keeping up with three boys who can explode them faster than I can fill them keeps a mom occupied (and more than a little wet.) Every time Jack needed a new balloon filled, he would hand me an empty one and say, "boonts! boonts! boonts!" until I finished filling it for him.

Now half a dozen "boonts!" for every balloon I filled for him equals A LOT of the same word over and over again!

It must have been cute and catchy enough though, because the rest of us eventually started calling the water balloons "boonts" as well, and now they big boys say it without even using a baby voice or laughing. That is just what they are calling them now, apparently.

Today promises to be another hot one and with daddy out of town, I think we will probably use up the rest of our "boonts" (and possibly the rest of my sanity as well...)

Fun With Dick and Jane

My biggest boy seems to get noticeable smarter every day. Not knowing many (or any, for that matter) kids older than Ben, I don't have anyone to compare him to, but I am pretty impressed with him.

One area he has just improved remarkably in is his reading ability. Although I think he took to it rather quickly, it still seems like not long ago we were struggling together through the simplest of books; he can now read completely on his own and will even read to his little brothers.

Part of his daily homework (from me, not from school) is to read a few chapters from a non-school related book. With his increasing ability to read quickly and comprehend at the same time, plus the promise of some sort of small reward for finishing a book, he is reading a lot now. I have him read to me while I make dinner. He reads to his brothers while he is playing "teacher" and they are the "students." He cracks up when something funny happens in the story and always chooses to read one more chapter if something exciting is left unresolved from the previous one.

For him, it is an issue of confidence: the more he reads, the better he gets, the better he knows he is, the less supervision he needs from me, the faster he can read/comprehend, the more interesting books he can read, the more exciting and fulfilling it becomes. He's blowing through all the chapter books I've gotten him.

His reward for finishing his last book, my old, battered Fun With Dick and Jane, was to go see Rango at the theater. I love taking Ben to the movies. It is just so rewarding: he literally sits on the edge of his seat, laughing and asking questions and repeating funny lines. While it was not my favorite movie, he loved it. "Mom, this movie is so perfect for me! It has all my favorites: lizards, snakes, bats, hawks... all it needs is a dragon!"

I realize that all kids learn how to read, and all parents, past and present, are impressed and proud of their own children's progress, but I just can't help thinking he is something special! Keep up the good work, my biggest!