He May Have Just Made It

To tell you the truth, if I had actually planned on having a third child, I would have wanted a little boy still, but would have attempted to have him a bit sooner. My bigger boys are less than two years apart, while Jack trails Jack by 2 years, 9 months. I realize that is still fairly close, but when I see the bond the big boys have and then see how babyish Jack still is, I often wonder if he will ever have quite the same connection to his brothers as they obviously have with each other.

Jack may have just made the cut though. I know all families are different and age isn't always a factor, but this is just the way I think. My worries are constantly put to rest when I see them like this:

Now mind you: Jack is no movie watcher. He doesn't quite appreciate the humor of Mega Mind, nor does he feel the need to actually sit still, but he does love being sandwiched between his big brothers. After a few attempts to get them sitting together, I finally figured out the reason it wasn't working was because I wasn't allowing Jack to sit where he wanted: in between his brothers. Once we got the seating arrangement settled, Jack actually stayed there for longer than I've ever seen him sit in one place without food.

The situation soon developed into rambunctiousness, but all three of them loved that.

Jack is such a little instigator. When things need livening up, he sticks his finger up Ben's nose. If Mitchell ignores him for long enough, he will lift his shirt and flub his belly. Not getting enough attention? Here! Take a finger to the eyeball! Jack may be a few more months behind than I would have chosen, but he certainly doesn't care. He will be a part of the pack, whether they like it or not!

And they love it...

A Sure Way To Get Some Attention

As I sat down to blog this afternoon, I wasn't exactly sure what I would end up writing.  My direction suddenly became clear though the moment I began to write, thanks to my loving husband.  

All afternoon, he has been watching a football game and playing/working on his phone.  The boys and I have been in the same room, but decidedly not doing those things.  I have been available for conversation or activity, but Matt was relaxing and doing what he wanted to do, so I did the same with the boys.

So all afternoon I have been doing nothing that I couldn't do while giving him my attention and he did not require it.  But, I kid you not, as soon as I started to write my blog, he suddenly sat down next to me and began a serious conversation requiring my attention and comments and opinions!  

I think maybe next time I want to talk and he doesn't or am in need of some extra attention, I will just open my computer and pretend to be "busy" and it will immediately draw his focus onto me!  

Dad, Watch!

My boys are no fools.  They know when you are paying attention and when you are only pretending.  It is difficult to give them the real kind every time, especially when I hear "look, mom!" and "hey mom, watch!" and "watch me!" at least once a minute, but I think we hit a pretty good ratio of the real kind to distracted kind.  It works for us.  

Mitchell especially, maybe because he has more recently made the discovery that there are two different levels of paying attention from his parents, is more insistent on the real kind.  I often hear something like this from him, "Hey mom, watch me!  Mom, really watch me!  Mom, turn your face to me!"

The whole "watch me" really gets amped up a notch when Matt returns from a trip.  The boys climb all over him, both talk at the same time, getting louder and louder to drown the other one out, and insist on his "real" attention.  Matt is usually pretty excited to see them as well, so while figuring out how to pay attention to both who are going in separate directions is somewhat difficult, he at least has no problem with being distracted by something else.  Sometimes though, he just wants to talk to me or has paid attention for a while and now has moved onto the other kind - the distracted, pretend kind.  

This last time he returned, Ben and Mitchell were very excited about a new movie we had rented and were just positive Daddy would feel just the same way when he got home.  They made him sit in "their" seat (the one closest to the TV which they both sit on top of each other for) and watch it with them.  Matt is not so into the kids' movies so he lasted about 3 minutes of really watching, then attempted to sit with them, but not actually watch it.  Mitchell noticed this pretty quickly and took care of it.  Ben quickly joined the fight for daddy's attention and he was trapped.  "Watch this, Daddy!  Watch!"

Every time he'd try to turn his head, Mitchell would physically turn his head back in the direction of the TV and scold him for not watching.  Ben joined in the battle for attention by sitting on his head so he couldn't turn it.  You're not getting out of it easily this time, daddy!