The Joy of Jack

Happy 2011! Since it is easy to focus on pictures of George as we document his life month by month, I decided to compose a blog post entirely dedicated to my first born! Life with Jack is always exciting. I count it a huge privilege to be his mom and to have the daunting task of raising him to be a man after God's own heart and directing all of that enthusiasm and energy into positive channels! He is a delightful little boy who truly loves life! He expresses his emotions very clearly...his happiness is demonstrated with hops, cheers of "whoo hoo"!, dances and laughter. His frustration is expressed through lots of tears and loud cries, leaving no doubt that he has been greatly troubled by something!

Jack LOVES to read books - again and again. His current favorites are "The Little Red Caboose" Golden book and a collection of stories cousins Luke, Ben and Gracie sent him for his birthday. Daddy has become the champion bedtime story reader when he is home from work. Jack is even beginning to fall asleep at nap time on his own after reading to himself....
Jack is a very social little fellow! We have a Friday morning preschool group we go to at a local church. While he is one of the youngest kids and often doesn't choose to participate in the group activities, he has a blast playing with the other kids, sharing snacks and generally tiring himself out for naptime!
We knew when he was only a few months old and drew with a pencil (check out the video on our post for March 2, 2009) that our boy has a creative streak. He LOVES to color, cut out shapes with homemade play dough, draw with sidewalk chalk and his new favorite....paint with water colors! It only took a few times of showing him how to wet the brush and then dip in the paints...and he was off! He gets very serious when he is creating something....sounds a little like his Mommy.... :-)

We have been so blessed with some dear friends here in Kaua'i! Jack has a few favorites...Rosie (3 1/2) and little sister Maile (9 months) are weekly visitors and just mentioning "Rosie" brings a "whoo hoo!" from Jack! Another favorite friend is Nate - 2 1/2 and expecting a baby brother in February. When they see each other at preschool or the beach, they both call out each other's names and run and hug each other! (Nate is the son of our family dentist, as well!) Here is one of the best friend shots ever....

Of course a favorite past time for all of us is going to the beach. Jack especially loves playing in the sand and befriending anyone and everyone within a 1/2 mile radius of us! :-) We've met lots of interesting people from all over the world because of Jack's friendliness! He is getting more and more confident about wading out into the shallow water on his own and playing happily in it. But he truly enjoys rolling in the sand.....

Most of all....Jack loves his little brother. As the weeks have gone by, we see more and more evidence of just what a great big brother Jack is and is going to be. He really notices now when George is unhappy and does all he can to entertain and soothe him until I can get to him. One of his favorite things to do is watch for any drool or spit up, run to me to say "uh-oh" and get the spit rag to wipe his mouth! So cute! Some naptimes are spent altogether in my bed and almost always Jack falls asleep with a hand on George's arm or belly. They love one another so much already, it thrills our hearts! We were blessed with a double stroller from a good friend (Becca, mom of Rosie and Maile!) and took the boys for a walk in it for the first time on New Year's Day. George is still a little wobbly, but seemed to enjoy it...and Jack was overjoyed to have "GT" right next to him!

We love our Jack so much....and so enjoy watching him enjoy all the wonders of living in a place like Kaua'i! Thank you, Lord for the gift of our precious son and for all that you've blessed us with! We can't wait to see what you have in store for us in 2011!