First Day of First Grade

Another first day has come and gone and the kids were excited to get going!  Owen popped out of bed by his alarm (I was instructed NOT to come in and wake him up) and was already putting on random clothes (he would have been the winner of funky clothes day) when I walked in.  I had to remind him that he picked out a new shirt for the big day.  "OH yeah! I forgot!"  

Mason was excited and also woke up with the alarm, but he was a little slower to pop out of bed.  Once he got going though, he was fine!  

We peeked in the classroom about 10 minutes later and found Owen making play dough mustaches.

Mason was concentrating on what his teacher was telling everyone to do.  He had just finished rummaging through his backpack like everyone else is still doing in this picture.

The end of the day was met with big smiles from everyone and big hugs from Jack.  That little guy was practically skipping across the parking lot once he realized we were there to pick up his big brothers!  Owen and Mason's buddy, Emma, was also there to surprise the boys at the end of their first day.  The rundown from the boys was mostly good - got to see each other and play with their friends from last year at recess, no homework, etc.  

The only bummer was that their classes go to PE on opposite days.  This (and recess time) was sort of a saving grace last year since they are no longer in the same class.  Overlapping those two times of day was a good middle ground and kept being separated much easier.  I am sure all will be fine, but I know Mason was bummed. He was counting on PE as a time to see Owen and their other main little friend.  Let me back up a bit: this main friend (along with main friend #2) are in Owen's class this year.  Leading up to meet the teacher night, I heard nothing but "I hope 'friend #1' is in my class" from both boys. I told them it was only possible for MAYBE one of them to get this friend, but more than likely NEITHER of them would have him in class.  During meet the teacher night, Mason realized that not only friend #1, but also friend #2 were BOTH in Owen's calss, AND there wasn't really anyone he had already bonded with in his class.  His precious little face immediately dropped the big smile.  He tried really hard to not act bummed at meet the teacher, but I could tell.  I had to take a moment myself and choke back some tears on his behalf.  

Anyway, despite all that, the boys were excited and had a great first day.  After we got all 4 kids loaded back up, we headed to Dairy Queen (along with the rest of LISD) for a post-first day treat!  And since they said they want to go back tomorrow, I'd say the first day was a success!

Lake Day

We spent an afternoon on Granna and Granddaddy's boat, along with some new friends. The boys had a blast swimming, rafting, sitting on the front of the boat, and being brave jumping off the top of the boat!

Captain Hook

Jack stuck a straw in his mouth at dinner tonight and declared he was Captain Hook.  It sorta blows my mind that he understood what he must look like - visualizing the straw as a mustache.
And while you're thinking how cute this kid is, keep in mind this came after a moment of very loud protest when Mommy wouldn't let him have her phone!

21 Months

At 21 months, Jack:

• is a complete blabber-mouth!  This kid says more sentences, expresses his wishes, repeats the most complicated words, and bosses people around like no other!  I love it!
• is more coordinated at this age than his brothers were.
• loves a good wrestling match with his brothers.  If he sees either of them sitting on the floor (usually minding their own quiet business), he will undoubtedly flop on top of them, hoping they'll take the hint.  How could they not?  They've got a human between them and whatever it was they were doing!  Luckily, they love any and all attention Jack will give them.
• loves to be tickled!  His way of letting you know is either telling you "tickle Mommy/Daddy/etc" but really means Mommy/Daddy/etc tickle Jack.  The other way you will know is he will turn around backwards and back up to you with a big grin on his face, and lay back on you.
• thinks he's older than he is.  Not just a few years older, say 6, like his brothers...he thinks he's 23 and should be able to drive a car, tell people what to do, and have his own iPhone.  
• will confiscate you iPhone before you can blink, swipe to unlock, find the yellow flower icon, and will flip through the photos for as long as you let him.  He LOVES looking at pictures of his family more than any baby/kid app that exists!  He even knows that the little triangle will start a video.  All I'm sayin' is thank GOD for iPhone photo albums!  It has kept our little loud mouth quiet in situations when he really needs to be!
• is completely content if you let him play in the car, trying out his brothers' big car seats, trying to buckle things, climbing in and out of his own car seat, and his favorite - pretending to drive or be the passenger.  Today, as he was pretending to drive (I was standing outside the open driver's door) he told me "Mommy, get in car!"  The boy was ready to go!
• knows what he wants and will tell you in no uncertain terms!  He has become quite bossy lately - luckily it is still pretty darn adorable!  Some of his commands lately:
• he loves to buckle his chest clip on the carseat.  He isn't very good at it and only gets it about 10% of the time.  So we stand there and give him a few tries to get it right before we help him.  He picked up on this, and now he tells us to "get in car" before he will buckle it.  He doesn't want ANY supervision at all!  And until you leave (pretend to get in the car), he won't even try.  
• Will do this to anyone, but yesterday he very firmly tapped the ground and said "Daddy sit down."  Once Daddy sat, he then said "Daddy lay down."  Once Daddy laid down, he said "tickle Daddy" (which means Daddy tickle me).  
• really, really enjoyed his first "real" trip to Disney World.  He was only 3 months old when he went the first time, so this time he was out of his mind excited about EVERYTHING!  He was a little nervous on certain rides because it was dark or had weird noises, but still made it through by nuzzling into my shoulder.  His favorite rides were Tomorrowland Speedway, Teacups, Dumbo, and the Royal Carousel.  He also went bananas over the electric parade (who wouldn't)!
• is super attached to his "nigh-night," which is the name for these certain blankies he snuggles.  

This kid, Napoleon

People ask me all the time how Jack is compared to twins.  Here is my answer:

Owen and Mason were, and still are, pretty mellow kids.  They've never been classified as mischiveous, rambunctious, or dare devils.  Yes, they have their moments, but on the whole it's just not who they are.  

Then there's this other kid of mine.  He is a rascal in every single sense of the word!  He's the climb up the ladder before he could walk, empty the cabinets, run faster in the opposite direction, color on the walls kind of kid.  And we LOVE that about him.  Every family needs one, right?  And at not even 20 months, he already has enough language skills that he can form sentences from his own thoughts (not just repeating adults), and somehow boss you around until he gets what he wants.  I've also heard him griping at other people; Owen was being slow to buckle up after getting in the car from school.  Jack noticed and began saying 'Owen, go!' trying to get Owen to focus on what he should be doing.  These traits have earned him the nickname 'Napoleon,' as in Bonaparte, the tiny general.  Haha!

So today, I witnessed a 'Jack in a nutshell' moment, which was the inspiration of this post...

He found Owen and Mason's markers and asked to color.  I plopped him in his high chair and handed him just one marker and a handful of crayons.  I then gave him some paper (enough to scatter over the entire tray) and explained to him to color on the paper, and even demonstrated (again) what he was to do.  He was safely entertaining himself, so I resumed what I had been doing.  A few minutes later, I hear him repeating to himself 'Jack, paper. Jack, paper' as he's scribbling his marker ALL over the high chair tray!  Yep, that's my kid.