Wednesday, October 05, 2011

This Boy

This is my boy. I love this boy and all his boyness.
poor quality phone picture

Growing up when I thought of having kids I wanted boys. Little men in their puffy vests and plaid shirts, their short hair cuts and little man shoes. Then I got pregnant the first time and I did a 180, suddenly I started thinking about my mom and my four sisters and the relationships that we have and then I very much wanted a girl. Insert Kendall here. About 22 months later I was about to have our second baby and all I could think about was that I REALLY wanted Kendall to have a sister. Insert Kate here. Then we decided we were through. I sold all my maternity clothes and baby gear and settled in for our life with girls. Then I got the baby itch. It's partially Jennie's fault (Sprouts Spot). We had both of our other babies at the same time and she was putting ideas in my head. We decided to go for it (Brian and I as well as the Sprout Spot family) and this time it really didn't matter to me. I could easily see Brian surrounded by "his girls" and I loved the idea of a bunch of sisters growing up together (think of all the bickering over clothes!) but I was also thinking back to my old dream of a little man in a plaid shirt and a puffy vest. Insert Jack here. Suddenly our pink princess infested house has trucks and little red wagons, plaid shirts and puffy vests.

This boy is the sweetest boy there is. I love how he randomly pats my arm, love those open mouth baby kisses. I love how his sisters can do the most RANDOM things (throwing Cheerios) and he dissolves into a fit of giggles. I love how, like his sisters, he is in no hurry to walk. He'll stand in the middle of the floor, unsupported for as long as he wants but if you get close enough to him and try to encourage him to walk he'll either fall like a log into your arms or slooooooooowly lower himself down to the floor and crawl to you...the stinker. Not that I'm in a hurry for him to walk. He has enough boy qualities that I know things will get significantly harder once he's on two wheels. When Aunt Lorie watched the kids for our trip she texted me saying, "Jack is like a tornado with four limbs." He is into everything. Turn your back for two seconds and he will have pulled everything out of any drawer that doesn't have a child lock, pulled all the books off the bookcase, yanked your dishtowels off the counters, thrown your toothbrush in the toilet and produced an amazingly stinky diaper.
Checking out the work that's happening on the deck. Jack thinks he's the foreman of the job.

My most favorite thing that he does right now involves how he gets into the mudroom. See that door back there? It leads to the mudroom and there is a step down from the carpeted family room onto the hard tile of the mudroom. He knows that he has to back down the step in order to avoid injury (and this little man is no stranger to self induced, exploration caused injuries). He has taken a tumble down that step and is willing to avoid that pain at all costs. So he crawls towards that door but once he gets about SIX feet from it, he'll crawl in a circle like a little dog making a bed. Around, then around again until he's in the right position. Finally he'll stop and start to back that thing up...from six feet away. Crawling backwards is not one of his best skills so he'll often have to stop and realign after bumping into a wall or door. He'll sliiiiide down the step on his belly, be down no longer then .3 seconds when he's back into the living room to find something else to get into or to just try it all again. Love him.