Our Busy Jack

Well, with all of our George monthly updates and pictures of the kids together this summer, I thought it was time to catch up a little on our busy almost-three-year-old! Jack is such a unique little person with such a defined personality. He can be a true challenge for his parents, but he is also a blessing and delight!

If I could pick a few words to describe Jack I would say he is: strong-willed, serious, curious, busy and bright. He is a kid who truly loves life! He has amazing attention to detail and loves to point out things like tiny raindrops clinging to spiderwebs on the front porch or miniature shells found when he is digging in the dirt in the yard. When he gets into something, he is very diligent and serious - kind of like his Mama was as a young girl, so I'm told. He concentrates intensely on coloring or looking at a book or building something with his blocks. He is a protective big brother and always lets me know if George is crawling toward something he shouldn't be - usually by saying, "Mama, Baby choke!"

Jack loves his various toys and goes through phases of affection toward them. For a few days he will be all about Thomas the Train and fall asleep staring at his big Thomas toy. For the next few days, it will be his bag of matchbox cars - hours spent lining them up, toting them from room to room, burying them in dirt piles out front. Then he will be all about his six dinosaurs - sleeping with them, brushing their teeth (see video), lining them up from biggest to smallest. Then, life will revolve around Woody and Buzz...and help us if we lose Woody's hat!!

A list of some of Jack's top ten things would look something like this:
1. TRAINS (riding them, reading about them, watching them, pretending to be one, lining up chairs to make them, making them out of food, drawing them, having Mama cut them out of construction paper....any and everything to do with TRAINS!)
2. Reading books about anything with wheels
3. Coloring and drawing
4. Laughing at George's antics
5. Falling asleep on Daddy's chest
6. Eating figs off the tree and, recently, eating brocolli (strange kid!)
7. Going to the beach and becoming covered with sand
8. Taking walks into Koloa or riding his tricycle down our street
9. Listening to gentle music as he falls asleep
10. Getting a kick out of calling me "Kamie" instead of Mama - after hearing the kids do it all summer

We love each day we have with our busy boy - and the Lord is using him to stretch us and grow us as people and parents. His speech has really exploded and he is constantly trying to express himself and explain things. His little body still needs a nice long afternoon nap. We tried to forgo the nap for a while when the kids were here at the beginning, but he either was terribly cranky by evening or he'd end up falling asleep in strange places like the coffee table (see picture). He's not a big eater, which sometimes worries us, but he has a healthy, muscular little body and is constantly on the move. He is fully potty trained, even at night and nap times - much to our delight! He has a tender heart and likes to pray before meals with us and ask Jesus to "help him" when he is scared.

We are so excited for our family members to get to see Jack at Christmas time - this busy boy who is no longer our baby, but our big boy. He so enjoyed spending time with Jake and Sarah and Grandma...he'll be so excited to find out he is part of an even larger extended family with lots of cousins!

We know this is a little long, so you can just glance at it if you like....it is more for our own collection of family memories.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of our Jack with all of his enthusiasm for life and Your creation! Bless his little heart with continued tenderness toward others and toward you and let him grow in wisdom and stature in the coming months and years!

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