Boy = Joy

My blog title really is throwing off my self-centered posts of late. So here's an update on the kids, because I feel like I HAVE to.

James: Funny, silly, chatty. He's making up adventures with his cars and his imaginery friends and the Little People. He's making me work out to the 30 Day Shred and is quite good except he can't quite get jumping jacks. We tell him to just jump. He's been awesome about the potty and will even get up in the middle of the night to go. He continues to say that he needs help to get re-dressed after he goes but with a little prompting he does it himself, to wild applause. He asks a LOT of questions these days. "Huh?". "Why?". All the time. Over and over. Bright little guy but after re-explaining an answer a multitude of ways, I get tired! No naps at all these days. No real temper tantrums unless, we've found, it involves any kind of change - when I told him the wall in the dining room was going to be torn down he got very upset. He only stopped freaking out when I told him he couldn't get bunk beds if the wall didn't get knocked down. What? A little white lie here and there (hello Santa!) doesn't hurt them. James tells the BEST Knock Knock jokes these days. He is inquisitive, interesting, funny, and goofy - we call each other goofballs all the time. :) He always wants to knwo what I've done or where I'm going if he's away from me. He loves to help me grocery shop. He can count to almost 30 and when we're in the car he will point out letters and numbers on signs - yay! James is mostly sweet and good to Nate but now that Nate can take his toys and is tougher, James is being a little rough with him - resulting in time outs. Lots of time outs. But James still says, no matter what, that Nate is his best friend. Makes my heart melt. And finally, from what I can tell, James loves school and is quite popular in his class.

Nate: What can I say, my little man is SO sweet and loving and cute and funny and wonderful. Just this week he started signing "please" and "thank you". He says (or tries to say or aka only Mommy understands but I do!), "Mama", "Dada", "ball", "car", "Elmo" (I've created a monster!), "milk", and "baba" (which I take to mean "paci". He also signs "more". We haven't been teaching Nate as many signs as James but I might start doing more with him as he seems to be picking them up quicker. In any case, his laugh is just infectious. Nate is truly going to be a light hearted, fun-loving, sweet heart of a man someday. He loves to hug and kiss. When Greg gets him Nate SCREAMS with joy, runs over to him, and wraps his arms around his neck. What a feeling that is for Greg! Nate loves to climb, jump, fall (!), slide, swing, and in general be active. He adores James and wants to be with him all the time. He desperately wants to play ball with James too and he tries SO hard to play. Nate receives wild applause from me whenever he signs, follows directions, or does something good (which is nearly all the time, of course). He sleeps through the night and takes one solid 2-3 hour nap each day.

In my world and in my life, boy = joy. :)