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Jack is a lover of books, this I have talked about many times. But have I mentioned his growing love of my IPhone as well? I try to use it sparingly, but sometimes I have two choices: grumpy and/or crying baby because I have drug him to one too many things past his nap time and he is tired of sitting in his car seat, singing songs with me and looking for Christmas decorations, or happy, entertained baby watching the dang Elmo potty song or "Move It, Move It" for the hundredth time! I hope I am not alone in my allowing my 2-year-old to surf through his favorites on YouTube sometimes.

So he loves my phone. I admit it. I didn't realize his understanding of it though until today when I paused too long during one of the way too many stories I read to him. I paused for too long, he waited a second, then looked at me and said, "I wait. Just loading, mom. Just loading."

How many times have I reminded him to wait patiently for Elmo's amazing singing/song-writing talents to be performed with the words, "Just wait a minute, Jack. It's loading."

Apparently, my IPhone isn't the only thing that takes a while to load. Man, sometimes I just need a nap! Be patient, Jack! Mommy's still loading!

Read It!

Have I mentioned Jack is obsessed with books? More so than either of my other boys at this age, Jack wants to be read to. We have books all over the house and recently just transferred some books from the big boys' room into his room and he LOVES his little collection! "Read books!" is one of the first things on his mind when he wakes up in the morning. He will bring book after book onto my lap and does not take kindly to quitting time.

Although he much prefers to be read to, he will "read" them alone if desperate enough. I often find him on the floor in front of his bookshelf, half buried in books, turning pages and reciting his favorite short phrases from them.

Now that we have company here, Jack has found a whole new group of people to read to him. He is constantly grabbing books and running for his favorite readers, yelling, "Read it!" while climbing onto their lap, invited or no.

Last night, he must have been unable to locate a book because he brought his jammies to his aunt, climbed up on her, and demanded, "Read it!" She did her best...

Shel Gets It

This one's for you, Mitchell:

HECTOR THE COLLECTOR - Shel Sylverstein

Hector the Collector

Collected bits of string,

Collected dolls with broken heads

And rusty bells that would not ring.

Pieces out of picture puzzles,

Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks,

Twists of wires, worn-out tires,

Paper bags and broken bricks.

Old chipped vases, half shoelaces,

Gatlin' guns that wouldn't shoot,

Leaky boats that wouldn't float

And stopped-up horns that wouldn't toot.

Butter knives that had no handles,

Copper keys that fit no locks,

Rings that were too small for fingers,

Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks.

Worn-out belts that had no buckles,

'Lectric trains that had no tracks,

Airplane models, broken bottles,

Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks.

Hector the Collector

Loved these things with all his soul--

Loved them more than shining gold.

Loved them more than shining diamonds,

Loved them more than glistenin' gold.

Hector called to all the people,

"Come and share my treasure trunk!"

And all the silly sightless people

Came and looked... and called it junk.

When Mitchell and I came across this one afternoon while reading together, he immediately likened it to himself: "Hey mom! He's just like me! You think stuff is junk and I think it is all treasure!" Clearly, Shel and Mitchell are on the same page here and Mitchell is glad to have found a kindred spirit.

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!

A Little Light Reading

After pointing out to Matt that we have not been doing a very good job reading to our third child, he decided to rectify the situation and make up for lost time.  Here they are, doing a bit of "light reading."

Although this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I said "read to him," I do appreciate it when he takes my suggestions seriously.

Is It Nap Time Yet?

Ever since school started a couple weeks ago, I have been more tired than usual.  I am still figuring out how to manage my schedule so that I can get all the drop-offs and pick-ups done, baby napped, meals made, clothes changed, gym visited, house picked up, plus all the other things that I squish into a day.  In all the schedule changes, the one thing that has gone away is any sort of down time for me.  The boys' schedules are not the same anymore and are just staggered enough that I am basically "on" from when they wake up until they go to bed.  

All this business is wonderful.  I love it.  We are all loving the new changes in our lives and adapting well, for the most part.  At about 3:00 in the afternoon though, it hits me - that wave of sleepiness that mocks me for voluntarily getting up so early and begs me to lay down immediately and just close my eyes for a few moments.  I have found myself falling asleep in the funniest circumstances, actually.  A few days ago, I fell asleep sitting up on my patio while my boys played out there.  When I woke up (surely only a few minutes later), I was still in the sitting position and Jack had painted his face with dirt and was cracking his brothers up.  Yesterday was funnier though.  Jack was down for a nap, so I had the big boys crawl up onto my bed so I could read them a story.  Mitchell was asleep by the time I turned the second page (yes!  one down, one to go!) but Ben was not showing any signs of sleepiness.  It certainly was making me feel sleepy!  At one point in the story, Ben interrupted me to say, "Mom, you're reading it wrong!  That word you said didn't even make sense!"  I re-focused my blurry eyes and began again.  This time, he interrupted me with "Mom, I think you are falling asleep because you are talking really funny."  One more try on my part resulted in the book slipping and hitting me on the forehead.  Ben laughed at that one, but made me finish the story anyways.  He then had mercy on me and let me doze for about 10 minutes or so.  That was all I needed.  I woke up, made some coffee and was ready to tackle the rest of my day with a bit more gusto.