Jack!!

Jack, Jack, Jack!!  Oh how we love you!!  I have a serious crush on this kid.  Maybe it's because he's amazingly handsome and he has Chase's "easy going" personality, but I can't help but just smother him sometimes with snuggles and admiration.  He's four which means he's already too old.  Even more irritating is that I bought him size 5 when he was still 3 a few months ago.  What!!  He and Sadie wear the same size shoe and although he's just a few inches shorter than her, I predict by next summer, he'll be the one tall enough to ride down the Circle C slide and not his big sis.  I love that he's so healthy, long and lean, but I just need him to stay small enough that bedtime songs are still cool.  I also need to him to continue asking "Mommy, I need a kiss and a huh and a snuggle." Ok, Jack you can have those and whatever else you want because I CAN'T STAND IT!! One time he said "Mommy, you can sit here by me because you love me so much."  It's true.
I think I scared him one time because I told him he was so cute I wanted to "eat his face!"  He got a very worried look and said "but Mommy, if you eat my face, then I won't be here anymore and then we can't snuggle!"  It's all about the snuggles people.  That's all we care about 'round here. 

He must know he's got me wrapped around his little finger.  He'll come up to me and ask for something and will always give me either of these faces (above and below) and I pretty much have no choice.  Now that's he's potty trained (kind of..still wears a pull up at night and occasionally keeps it dry), I find myself at peace with Jack.  We don't have a great deal to argue about other than the usual 4 year old tantrums that erupt when I turn off the television, make him leave a fun place too early, or deny him something sweet.  He's pretty funny about the potty now that I think about it.  When he goes to the bathroom sometimes he'll say "I need privacy ok? Don't ask questions!" He thinks potty language is hilarious and after trying to keep him from saying "poo poo" over and over again, I finally threw my arms up in the air and decided that eventually he'll grow out of it.  He loves to tease Sadie as well by saying "na na a boo boo" or copying verbatim what she says.  It drives her crazy and I get to hear all about it, which brings me to tattle telling.  I'm so totally over it!  I've started ignoring that as well.  Hopefully they'll both grow out of that one too. 

 He plays amazingly well with his buddies (especially Chase) and also by himself.  Often I find him looking at books (below) or building great towers with blocks.  He still loves Bob the Builder.  One time while we were watching it together I said "Wow! Look at all that dirt!" to which he replied "It's not dirt Mom, it's concrete."

At Sadie's birthday party, he never left this position (below) the entire time.  He's quite content to play Angry Birds as long as he can (or until Mom discovers he's stolen her phone:-).

Perhaps my favorite way to find Jack is reading his books into the night with a flashlight.  We had just read Rumplestilskein and even though the lights were off, he just couldn't get enough and had to see the pictures one more time. 

 

Sometimes Jack is WAY to cool for school.  Once I said "Jack, you've very cute" and he shot back with "No I'm not!  I'm a strong boy!!"  He once said "Was that so hard Mom?" when I cut up his pancake for him.  Sometimes when I ask him what he wants for lunch he'll say "nuffing!  I don't want wunch."  This was probably right before he fell asleep in the car (he might be narcoleptic). He  has been playing Weezer every day non stop for a couple of weeks now.  He found Chase's old CDs and has been having a hay day with them.  Like a regular teenager, he blasts the "Buddy Holly" song over and over again and does his goofy little dance along side the cd player.  It's annoying but hilarious at the same time. 

He is really into what he wears nowadays.  He'll change his outfit up to three times a day and will only wear a shirt if it has a logo on it (preferably Lightning McQueen, an excavator, or a superhero of some sort).  He only wants to wear "basketball shorts" which means any shorts that have stripes going down the sides.  This can be a problem because he will often "leak" throughout the day (boys are gross) and by the time the week is over he's often seen wearing Sadie's short shorts because we have nothing clean left for him to wear.  The rule these days is "if you get it wet, you still have to wear it!"  When I know we are going on a trip, I will hide the clothes I want to bring for him because I know he'll find them and get them all dirty within a day's time.  The only time I'm allowed to "help" him get dressed is when something is "inside/outside" (inside out). 

He's very particular about his hair too.  When it gets long, I like to mess with it and make it look all skiwampus.  He gets really mad and says "stop making my hair crazy mom!" as he flattens it against his head.  He let me make it crazy one time for "crazy hair day" at school (below).  I'm also noticing that he allowed me to put a striped shirt on him as well which means EVERYTHING else was dirty.  

At his 4 year check up he ranked in at 80%tile for height and 50%tile for weight.  Like I said, "long and lean." 

His latest obsessions have been superheroes.  I was wondering when this was going to happen.  Doesn't every boy go through this phase?  He's gone from loving Spiderman to Batman and sometimes will represent all of them by wearing a spiderman or superman t-shirts with Batman's black cape. 

There was a time that he would wear this black cape EVERYWHERE and sometimes to bed as well.  Julie gave it to him for his birthday and it's gotten some serious usage!!  He says he loves it because it's "really long and touches the ground." We have a Backyardigan's CD in the car with a superhero song.  Jack asks to hear it over and over again so he can belt out every word.  "WE ARE STRONG, WE ARE BRAVE AND THE WORLD WE WILL SAVE.  WE ARE SUP-ER-HEE-ROES." 

Judging from this new obsession, I wasn't surprised to find all he wanted was a superhero party.  Your wish is my command! (Post in the making:-) 

He and Sadie have their moments but they really play great together and are fantastic friends.  One day I overheard him say to her "Sadie, you wook boootiful!" after seeing her ready for church.  Or he'll say "Sadie, you're my best friend" which would warm any mother's heart, I'm sure! He noticed that Sadie has quite a bit of freckles and has asked me to count his (he only has a few tiny adorable ones around his nose).  He wants Sadie to validate everything he says.  "We aren't going to clean up our wooms, wight Sadie?" or "we aren't eating our spinach, wight Sadie?"  One particular exchange between the two of them was so hilarious (and a little crude) but I wrote it down anyway to remember because I was laughing pretty hard when it happened. 
Jack:  Sadie, do you want to see my poop?
Sadie:  No, I'm good (clearly not phased at all by the strangeness of the question)
Jack:  Sadie, I'm going poo poo.  Do you want to come see it?
Sadie:  No, I'm good jack.  I don't really want to see your poo poo.
.......really loud sound from the bathroom
Jack:  Sadie!  Did you hear that?!! That was a weely big toot!

These two KILL me sometimes!!

 

Jack has an amazing little group of buddies to play with around here and he's so fun!!  They are all in the same preschool together and I'm so excited for him.  He also has Evan down the street which has been awesome because they play together all the time!  Evan comes over here and Jack goes over there.  Makes my job easier, that's for sure!

 

Jack and Chase are the ultimate buddies for sure.  Dad will always rough him up, shoot hoops, and play fumble.  Jack will wait for Chase to get home so they can build a train track together.
 
He's also a great buddy to little George. He makes him laugh really hard when he smacks his "bah" against the wall.  I'll lay them side by side sometimes and let them just giggle together.  You can tell G really loves jack and follows what he does a lot of the time. 

 

 
For Jack's birthday we got him 4 doughnuts (he barely ate one) for "brestbiss." We were lucky that his preschool was having an "end of year" party that day too so it was literally a day packed full of fun!! Lots of sprinklers, ice cream, friends, and "mommy snuggles."  We hit P Terry's that night and opened presents.  I love celebrating this little guy!

I feel spoiled to have such a handsome little devil in my life.  He keeps me laughing everyday.  Here's a couple of his "Jackisims" I wrote down over this last year. 
Mom: "Jack, are you having fun over there?" (as he plays basketball in the living room)
Jack:  "Ya, just getting cooler doing my tricks" (while out of breath!) 

Mom:  "What's on your face Jack?"
Jack:  "Wipstick so I can wook boootiful."

"I burpted (burped) two times!  Excuse me.  Excuse me."

"What did you said?"

"He has a wittle feber" (about sick little George)

My mom made dinner for us.  It was curried shrimp over cous cous.  I thought it was delicious but perhaps a little sophisticated for his palate.  He looked at his plate and said "can I have a hot dog?"  He couldn't have sounded anymore Texan!  Love this little guy!!


Happy Birthday Jack!!!