Updates, round 1

Kim’s lovely update posts on Michael and Matthew made me realize it’s been quite a while since I’ve done individual updates on Jack, Thomas, and Peter. So, here goes the first installment (I’ll post some recent pictures in a couple of days!):

Jack

He’s closer to 6 years old now than he is to 5 – I can hardly believe it! He is reading well and he absolutely loves getting hold of new reading material. We usually make a library trip once a week, and we load up on books and Jack’s favorite thing when we get back home is to spread them all out on the floor and devour them each in turn. I'm grateful that he truly enjoys reading. He also reads books out loud to Thomas occasionally, which I think is very sweet. His other schools subjects are going well. Often, he’d rather be playing than practicing his writing or math, but I understand that’s totally human nature (ahem ... my full laundry basket and mountain of papers to be filed). But, we get the work done and the reward is time for playing and relaxing, which I think is a decent lesson in and of itself.

Jack has really surprised me lately with an especially outgoing attitude toward strangers. When we’re at an indoor playground or a museum, he runs over to the other kids to introduce himself and his brothers. And the very next thing he does is run over to the kids’ mom or dad and introduce himself and his brothers to them. Then he proceeds to ask if they have ever heard of Transformers (and then, regardless of the answer, he’ll launch into a description of all the Transformers he has and also the ones he wishes he had). On top of that, he even offers the parents advice (sometimes to my mortification!). Today he told another mom “If your daughter ever misbehaves, you can always give her an ear flick. That’s what my mom gives Peter when he doesn’t listen”. And then I try to follow up and explain that I’m really not some crazy mom who’s bent on flicking her toddler’s ears over every little thing (I do it rarely, only for dangerous stuff light outlets, water heaters, etc. after a stern warning doesn’t deter him). Jack means well -- he thinks he's sharing some great parenting advice that might help them, but we'll have to work a little on when and who he should be giving advice to.

I do like that he is growing into a confident and assertive boy, not afraid to speak clearly and confidently to adults, there's definitely a good dose of "know-it-allness" mixed in that I'd like him to tone down. Some of it is his age (I've heard that 5 year olds very typically believe they know everything about everything), but I think some basic conversation etiquette should help a little!

I think Jack would probably benefit from spending some more time with other kids his age, so I am signing him up for a science class at the Buffalo science museum twice a month. It’s designed for homeschoolers, and the kids have science class for 1 ½ hours on two Fridays per month, and they get to do cool activities. While Jack is in class, Thomas, Peter, and I can check out the rest of the museum (it has a really neat hands-on area for little kids).

Jack is an excellent big brother, and it’s heartwarming to watch the close bond develop between the three of them. Jack takes special delight in playing silly games with Peter like “SURPRISE!” (which involves hiding in odd places and jumping out while shouting “SURPRISE!” to see if he can startle Peter). Jack and Thomas are inseparable, and have recently taken up playful wrestling, which wouldn’t ordinarily bother me too much, except it makes lots of thumping on our floor which I’m sure the downstairs neighbors don’t appreciate!

Jack loves the snow. He doesn’t seem too bothered by the cold, and I think he would happily dig snow tunnels, shovel snow into piles, and make snow angels, etc. for hours if I let him. He seems to be pretty well-adjusted to our move, although he often talks about all of our family that he misses, and our house in Ramona.

Jack is a delight. He’s an intense and strong-willed little guy (I wonder where he got that from? J), but he is eager to help and to be a good kid.