Just some observations and stuff…

 

I’m looking at Jackson and he’s sitting next to me with his hands behind his head. This seems to be his laying/sitting lounging pose. It’s very cute. Just as cute as his standing lounging pose where he leans on something with one or both hands in his pockets and one foot on top of the other. Right now he’s patiently waiting for Despicable Me to be over so he can watch his evening episode of Team Umizoomi*.

*Team Umizoomi is Jackson’s most favorite show in the universe. There is no program he likes better. He asks to watch Team Umizoomi alllllll of the time. He loves it. I’m so happy that it’s actually quite educational.

Jackson has been talking a lot. And making total sense. He says things like “that would be great!” and "Mommy, I don't want to do that. I want to ..." or “Where is Katie and Jacob?” when we got in the car last week and it was just me and him on the way to school. Stuff he says makes me stop and stare for just a moment. I don’t remember the other kids being so clear and forming full sentences at two years old, but I could be mistaken. It just seems weird that he's SO clear!

Jacob also likes Umizoomi. It's not his favorite show, but he enjoys it. He’ll shout out the answers to the questions they ask… like, which unit of measure is larger. Or what color in the pattern comes next. Or how many cartons of milk are there. He’s always right, too. I told him today that he’s super smart. His reply was short, sweet, and to the point… a simple “I know” and then as he's craning his neck to see around my face, “mommy, you're in the way… I can’t see Umizoomi.”

Jake also has a new routine at night. It involves him racing Jackson to bed because the first kid in bed gets their song sung first (point to mommy for thinking this up). So, after I sing Jacob’s song to Jacob, and Jackson’s song to Jackson, and pray with them, and give Jacob his water with ice, and give Jackson “fresh” water, and say “what” about 800 times and try to answer those 800 questions, and finally say “that’s enough, it’s time to go to sleep”, THEN Jacob will tell me “Good night and sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs light” (yes, he does say “light”), then Jackson will say “good night, sleep tight, I love you”. And then... finally it’s okay for me to leave the room. This process cannot be altered by much or it makes for a long evening of interruption. The interruption is limited to Jacob because Jack’s still in his crib and hasn’t figured out how to climb out of it yet. (There was one touch and go moment where I overheard Katie and Jacob start to tell him how he could get out all by himself but I stopped them with a loud hiss and a very emphatic “NO! It’s too dangerous. He could fall and hurt himself.” That was the main reason but a very close second was that he stays put when I put him to bed. I want to hold on to that for as long as I can.)

 

Katie was playing downstairs with the boys earlier today and she sent me a note using Jacob as a messenger saying that I needed to come down and talk to her “about a thing.” Apparently Jacob was misbehaving. She wanted me to sit and listen to her explain everything in (very detailed) detail. When I suggested she make a list* and give it to me later, she got out a piece of paper from the stack next to her and drew a line down the middle. She labeled one side Good, the other side Bad. Well, I thought bad sounded a little harsh so I suggested she use “area for improvement”, which would have been amusing for me, but she said no, she was using the word “bad.” Apparently, the person sitting on the princess chair behind the princess table gets to make that call. A few minutes later I had to go upstairs to see what Jackson was up to and I haven’t seen that list yet. But I probably will.

 

*Katie is very good at recording behavior. One weekend when the kids went to the lake with their grandma and grandpa, Katie gave me a chart of behavior she recorded for one of the days. She used the colors they use at school… green is good, yellow is not great, red is really naughty. I’ll just say that Jacob’s favorite color in the world is red. It’s the color of Darth Vader’s light saber AND the color of hot lava. It's not easy being Jacob's teacher at school. I really feel for them.

Things start out okay...

 

But they go downhill pretty quickly...

 

I went to Katie’s conferences a few weeks ago. She’s pretty much awesome in class. She’s a great kid and a great student. The only thing the teacher mentioned is that she doesn’t turn in her homework. It doesn’t concern the teacher because Katie’s doing really well in class. This is good, because I think homework is dumb. Yes, you heard me... I. think. homework. is. dumb. I thought so back when I was in school and didn’t turn mine in, and I think so now that Katie is in school and not turning hers in. So I don’t push for her to do it much. I would rather know that she’s got the people skills and is good at thinking for herself. Now, if she was sick and had to stay home for a few days, I would want her to do it so she would be familiar with the lessons but generally, I’m not going to be the homework police.

Everyone’s asleep now and I’m sitting in the living room enjoying the peace. And thinking of the stuff I need to do before Tuesday. For Christmas eve. You know... TWO days away. Oh, the pressure!

 

Aside from the worry that I'll forget something important, I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year. Getting together with my family, eating some really good food, and watching the kids open presents and play together.