There are somedays I'm not sure if these kids are going to kill each other or I'm going to kill them first.

I know Bobby is only 4, and that is the peak (?) of ego, but I just want him to take the higher road and share! And include the little ones. And fat chance for a while. I feel like I'm losing the battle with him sometimes.

Jack will launch his food if he's done or doesn't like it. Had a good arm too. This freakin carpet is going to cost us a million bucks.

So I moved our upholstered chairs away from the bar/island b/c Jack was climbing from the coffee table to the chair to the countertop. But now he has managed to scale the tall and very tippy stools. He also loves ladders and rock walls at playgrounds and will make a non stop cycle up those and down slides. This does not help my socializing.

Jack will go hang at the front door as soon as he wakes up and pretty much several times a day. And cry and whine until we go outside. We compromise to the backyard. Sorry neighbors. 

I don't think Jack is ever going to sleep through the night. Whenever it gets good (i.e. only waking up twice, usually within 90 minutes of each other- 12:30/2) it will get bad and really bad again. I don't see any teeth and now he has a sniffle, but he is not sleeping well at all. I thought he was getting ready to go down to one nap, but I'm not so sure. Or maybe I'm not just willing to make it at 10am like he wants. A better nights sleep would help move that to after lunch.

Jack loves dogs. Jack loves Halloween decorations. Both of these things cause him to dart into the street as top speed. He will walk down the street and just make noises at the hanging ghosts and witches. He loves them.

Batman and Robin should have a good time this year. I have a feeling there will be a lot of superheroes on our street.

Oh Bobby

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Christmas." I think he has his eyes on new toys and I keep saying maybe for Christmas. Wishful thinking that it's anytime soon. 

"If you watch a lot of tv, your eyes will e bad, and then you can't hit the baseball" wonder where he got that life lesson from. 

Walking

So Jack never held hands when he learned to walk. I never led him around hunched over and all that. He has basically never held hands when walking and pulls away if you try to hold onto him. I actually hope he gets past this as he needs to get led around parking lots or say, hold his hand while he's running down a hill.

All this to say, he walked a good quarter mile today - no stroller or push car. In shoes too! Which helps not have crazy black bottoms of his feet.

Boots were not totally hated

I just really messed up with this ones feet/shoes. I skipped the soft sole stage for no reason (socks were fine in winter and then didn't get around to getting any) and now the crocs and sandals are a little too hard to walk in, causing occasional tripping. Today was better though, no real falls. Bobby had some pretty cool shoes so I'm hoping to get Jack into them soon. We'll have to see! 

Bobby got his first real pair of sneakers for school. He had 3 successive pair of those colorful Saucony, but they were a bit more show than support. But now, he is in Nikes. Nothing going to hold this speedster back now!

And now he wants to use a fork! All the time. As if feeding with my wall to wall carpet wasn't bad enough. And I hate useless plastic kids forks, so I've done away with those and now jack is armed with stainless steel points. Awesome. And I'm about to rearrange all my furniture because he just climbs and climbs up to the highest points where he should not be. 

 

Please note the "smoke protector" that B insisted the ghost have in his bedroom. 

At some point I guess I'll have to teach them to share, rather than providing two of everything. 

This would also remedy itself if jack didn't copy EVERYTHING Bobby did. 

Remember when my kids used to go to bed 7/7:30. Wasn't that nice? Then summer happened. Sigh.

School seemed to go well today. Didn't get much out of him, but that's normal. Luckily we have the best teacher there and she actually emailed me 3 photos of him. Not group shots either, Bobby. We met her when she was a substitute for us at the camp before he went last year (summer '12) and she was awesome and nice then and now she's our teacher! You'd think anyone who teaches preschool would be, and they generally are, but we got a good one.

Bobby has names to learn too!

Bobby has a bit of teenager in him. Whoever taught him, "I hate ___" and "I'm bored" at the beach, we need to have some words. He doesn't know how to use either really, but that doesn't stop him. And he seems to have dropped hate, but not before teaching it to Liam. I am pretty mortified at that. He says I'm bored too, with the perfect attitude too, but not at the right times really. Hopefully we can get back to having a sweet four year old. He is obsessed with Candy Land and Lego and that has all made Rick panic that he's lost his baseball skills!

Bobby loves to get a hold of my phone and take pictures of himself, and when I say pictures, I mean about 200 in rapid fire.

Jack is so rad. We are trying to teach Bobby how influential he is. good or bad, he has a mini-me who copies everything, lately, it's been screaming for fun. He has figured out he can sink down sideways and lay down and he is so impressed with himself. I'll put up the video if it's any good, but i was more worried about him going under so it may not be that good.

Swinging fool

Jack continues to be great. All that tip toe walking has made him a very fast runner. The kid can move. Still interesting in toilets and climbing on everything. Does play nicely alone when given a chance.

Boys will be boys

And he has a good arm. Mostly demonstrated with food, but combined with his temper, he can launch things if he's angry. 

Love our evening games 

I know pajamas are supposed to be tight but its been a solid 85-90 here so without air conditioning, out house has been a solid 80-85 too. So loose or no clothing is the norm. And lots of outside time, but that is true for jack regardless. 

Unimpressed at the Lego knight

He wears shoes a little better but still fairly infrequently so it's not helping the situation.

Loves to climb into chairs and sit

He is quite the mimic. He tries to throw the frisbee and swing baseball bats and golf clubs. He will slam his body into the wall after Bobby does and he tries to make noises in the fan like Bobby does. He has figured out how to blow raspberries on my stomach and he cracks himself up doing it.

Jacks first cone ever

He is talking a bit in the words that only we can understand. Bobby, booby, dog. Maybe a few more but not so clear. He does know words like ball even if he doesn't annunciate them yet.

Hanging out watching the gardner

He's a good napper which is nice and will be nice when Bobby goes back to school this Monday.

Selfie.  So big.

We've had a good summer since we got back, lots of playing outside and with friends. Bobby is really into Legos and is building quite the collection. We really need a better storage system, but the kitchen counter is doing just fine. Bobby is really into Candy Land and has some interest in "shoot some ladders."

Just a few of self shots he took 

There's more interesting stuff going on with them but I never bother to write it down quick enough.

My little SoCal dude