I feel like we've been really busy lately, but nothing really new or interesting has been going on -- I suppose just keeping up with the usual everyday stuff is filling up most of my time. The boys are both doing well. Jack has been a little bit of a terror lately, so I've been trying to deal with that and invent new punishments that make him think twice about doing bad stuff (like intentionally hurting Thomas, throwing things, spitting, etc.). I know he's just testing his limits, and testing me to see what I'll do when he disobeys me, but it's exhausting! He got his first swat on the behind this week for laying on top of Thomas (after I had sternly told him to get off, and he wouldn't). We don't spank, except for very serious stuff, but I figured that this qualified since Thomas is still little enough (and defenseless enough) to be badly hurt by Jack under the right circumstances. Anyway, the swat made Jack a little somber for about 10 minutes, and then he was back to himself. I did discover that a "restraining timeout" where I hold Jack in my lap and wrap my arms around him to keep him still really bothers him! Lately, normal timeouts haven't bothered him at all, and they stop being a punishment when he's playing or goofing around during that time. But restraining him for a minute or two, when there is nothing to do and no where to go, seems to do the trick.

Amidst the frustrations, though, Jack has had lots of bright spots (thankfully!). There are times when I catch him sharing a choice toy with Thomas (when he doesn't know I'm watching), and when he asks to give Thomas more food when he has run out. Jack also loves to help neaten up the front yard, vacuum, water plants, and unload the dishwasher. So, if we can get through these yucky terrible 2's and 3's, we'll be OK!

In other news, our orange, lemon, and apricot trees are full of blossoms! Hopefully the trees will continue to do well and we'll have a bumper crop of fruit this year. I think this is the first year that the orange and lemon trees have had this many blossoms, so I'm really looking forward to fresh squeezed orange juice, lemonade, and lemon cake!

This past weekend, David and I discovered that Jack is developing a skill at improvisation! David was getting ready to barbeque, and Jack was being his helper (which was especially exciting for Jack because he loves the BBQ). And out of the blue Jack started singing "Let's go barbeque" (to the tune of "Let's go fly a kite" from Mary Poppins). I know it's not a huge deal, but I marvel that he was able to pick a song, insert his own word into the song and make it a new creation, and then sing it!

And Jack did it once again later the same evening ... we were all sitting down to the BBQ dinner and David and I were commenting about someone we know at church who has a definite "twinkle" in his eye (he doesn't look at all like Santa Claus, but there's like a sparkle in his eyes that makes him look merry!). Anyway, Jack picked up on it and started singing "Twinkle, twinkle little eyes" all on his own. It was too funny!

In other news, Thomas has been trying to climb up the first stair or two in our front room, and he also tries to pull himself up on the bathtub ledge (which is NOT an easy thing to manage when trying to give both kids a bath at the same time!). He definitely has the idea that he can get himself up onto his knees and then his feet, but he doesn't quite have the muscle coordination down yet. He did have his first pasta dinner the other night, which he wasn't too sure about at first, but he warmed up to it quickly. :).

Lego Hair

Jack has a very full and thick head of hair. We keep it pretty short because it gets pretty crazy if it grows out too much. It doesn't really get long and flowy, it gets thicker and thicker and starts sticking out all over the place :). Even when Jack's hair gets a little longer, it doesn't blow in the wind or really move around at all!

David and I were talking about his hair, and we decided that it's kind of like the snap-on hair for little Lego guys. David has a bunch of Lego Star Wars guys, so I can say this with some certainty :). I wouldn't call Jack's hairstyle "helmet hair", since we keep it so short, but I think "Lego hair" fits perfectly.

This is kind of cool, because Jack absolutely loves Legos. So far, he plays with the toddler stlye Legos, but on very special occasions he's allowed to play with David's Star Wars Legos, and he loves it! David also has a Lego Star Wars game on the computer, where the plot follows the original Star Wars trilogy, and all the characters and items and scenes are done in Lego-style. It's pretty cool! Jack loves to watch David play and to see the Lego guys come to life on the computer screen. One day, David and I were watching one of the original Star Wars movies when Jack woke up from his nap, so he got to watch a little. He liked the space ships and the light sabers and everything, but he declared Chewbacca to be a "scary man", it must have left a pretty deep impression because he talked about the "scary man" a lot for a while, and even now he reminds about it every so often. So ... Jack's definitely ready for the Lego version of the Star Wars story, but when it comes to the real deal, I think we have a few years yet.

In this post's photo, Jack is holding a mini Lego version of the Milennium Falcon.

Tom-Tom

Thomas has two very sturdy little legs, and David recently discovered that if we prop him up on a toy or if we hold his hands, Thomas does a great job of holding his own weight on those legs! He hasn't really tried pulling himself up on things yet, but once he's on his legs he really seems to enjoy the view. He also hasn't managed to conquer our stairs yet, although it frustrates him that we can move easily from room to room while he's stuck down in the living room unless someone comes to pick him up. So, sooner than later, I'm sure he'll be tackling the stairs so he can chase after us.

Even though he still isn't crawling on his hands and knees yet, Thomas really gets around pretty fast. He kind of looks like he's swimming along the carpet :). We've also discovered that Thomas has a propensity for destroying order whenever he sees it! We're trying to come up with a fitting nickname ... "The Disheveler" or "Mr. Entropy" or "The Destroyer" or something like that. We'll keep you posted if anything sticks :). Any time Thomas sees a neat stack of something, whether it's toy blocks or DVD cases or books or papers, he makes a beeline for the stack and shuffles his meaty baby hands back and forth in the stack until everything is strewn about on the floor. It's funny to watch him spot a stack and go take care of it -- it's like his own personal baby mission! Sometimes the disorder bothers Jack (although this is fairly rare, since Jack is like a little tornado himself), and he will follow Thomas's wake and try to pick up the pieces again.

Thomas also seems to be developing a sense of baby humor :). He's recently been working on his baby choking routine, much to the dismay of our frayed parent nerves. Having one of the kids choke on something is one of my biggest fears. It's never happened -- at least not to the point that I have to do the Heimlich or anything -- but I hate the thought of Jack or Thomas getting a piece of food caught in their throats and not being able to breathe. So, Thomas has a couple of new acts --- one of them is to put a Cheerio or small piece of food way back on the back of his tongue, which triggers his gag reflex. He'll make terrible faces and his eyes will get big, and just as I'm about to pick him up and help him get the food out, he moves the piece of food forward and chews it just fine. This is understandable, I suppose, since he's still learning to eat finger foods and it's probably not intentional. Well, he also has another choking act! All of a sudden he'll hold his breath and his face will start turning red/purple and his eyes get big, and it looks like he's really having trouble with a piece of food. Once again, I start to get up so I can help him dislodge the food, and all of a sudden he lets out a bunch of fake coughs and gives a huge smile and a laugh -- and he didn't really have a piece of food he was chewing in the first place!! I know that babies do fake coughs because they realize that it invites attention ... but this is terrible!