Jake: 3 going on 15

So the other day my sister, Amy asked Jake, "are you 15?" He was quick to respond seriously, "no, I'm 3" but the point was he says these things and has these expressions that are very older-kid-like. Here's a few I can remember:

(In the car, out of the blue)..."Mommy, sometimes you use your hand or a wooden spoon to spank me but I think you should use my airplane"
me: why?
J: "because it's all hard and sharp and that would really really hurt"

(As I am about to spank him, he says in a very sweet voice, "Mommy, no matter how hard you spank me, I will still love you.(kiss)". By the way, this is NOT THE NORM!

His friend was about to come over and he said, "is she gonna be angry this time?"
me: what do you mean?
J: Sometimes she gets really angry and doesn't want me to talk to her but I think she just needs lots and lots of naps and then she won't be so angry

Jake is sliding down the slide at church with a probably 4 year old Andy, who says to him, "help! I'm dying!" to which Jake gets close to his face, smiles and says "You won't die! You're a people!"

Matt scolded Jake at the table this morning during breakfast and he had his pointer finger out. Before he could finish Jake grabbed his finger and said, "YOU..are CRAZY!" At which point Matt laughed and the lesson was over.

And the most classic but really embarassing:
the plumber was over fixing our kitchen sink clog and it stunk. Jake walks through the kitchen, viewing this man from behind, who's bent over and under the sink and Jake says, "something STINKS! It stinks like POOP! I think he has poop! Daddy, I think this man has poop! It stinks really really bad like poop in here!"
The sad thing is, the man never addressed Jake, laughed at the comment or anything, he just kept working.

Man you're growing up fast!

I have been blown away lately at Sam's development, growth, etc. It's so sad how much less you are able to catch every single thing that's happening with your second born, but it is clear that God's grace is sufficient for Sam, and for my lack of attention I can pay to him (as much as Jake got, I should say). Here's a few things that have happened lately that I can take ZERO credit for. Oh, and a special thanks to Jake for helping raise his brother, in his all of 22 month-older wisdom, as I'm sure a lot of these things can be attributed to watching big bro!
* Yesterday when I took Sam's diaper off to change him, he grabbed himself and said "pee pee", walked to the toilet, put the soccer ball potty seat on, climbed up, pushed his peepee down into the toilet, and FULL ON PEED! I could not believe my eyes! Didn't Jake just potty train a few months ago!? Jake was just as shocked and we both stood in the hallway clapping and cheering for him! Since then, he makes several trips to the potty claiming the same thing (or poopoo) but has yet to repeat yesterday's successful moment. I try to give him the same encouragement because I'm just thrilled that he's even thinking about it. Oh, and each time he tries (tonight it was literally 6 times in like 20 minutes) when he pushes his peep down he makes the sound "ssssssss" and then smiles and says "all done!" so cute!
* Tonight Sam was trying to get up to his booster and was fussing, "mommies, mommies". I sarcastically said, "Sam, how many mommies do you have?" and he quickly answered, "two!" (news to me)
* Sam is huge on pointing out messes. Tonight he pointed out where his sippy cup leaked milk saying "mommy! mess!" and as I took a towel over to wipe it up he turned his back to walk away and said "thanks." Like it was just killing him to see the mess! Maybe he'll apply the same annoyance to messes as he grows and his room will be spotless :)
* He describes things by color now. I have no idea how he learned his colors! Good to know that they learn them even when you don't sit down with books, slides, flashcards, etc. like you have time to do with the first :)
* As I have mentioned in past blogs, Sam gets very tense around meal time and screams at me about it in the kitchen. Lately I've seen how effective engaging him in the meal prep is and he has LOVED being apart of it. So now almost each meal he helps set the table with pride and loves to get up on a chair to oversee my work and repeats "cookin'! hot! bubbles! stir. dumpit. pour."
* Finally! Justice! I always ask Sam what happened when I come into a crying situation with him and Jake, but it's not always so useful of a question. Tonight, finally Sam crying said, "Jake hit!" and hit himself on the top of the head to show me. I was so excited for him, he finally has a voice!
* And last "you're growing up comment" is that I picked him up tonight and could not believe how heavy he felt. I swear he gained 5 pounds today! It's just so sad to know that my baby is not such a baby anymore!

Jake's First Day of Preschool

Tuesday, September 1 was Jake's first day at Crossroads Preschool. I was able to stay pretty well collected the way there until I parked and saw parents walking there kids to their doors and taking pictures. I started getting choked up. I turned to pray with Jake before we got out and my voice was so shaky, I was waiting from him to be like, "mom, what's wrong!?" but luckily he didn't notice or ask. I walked him to the yellow door with his first day project-a self "portrait" using around-the-house supplies. He had no problem walking in and when he saw the computer he ran right to the chair and said, "hey, when do we get to learn this!?" and started typing away! It got a little sad for a moment when some little girls cried when their moms left and Jake had a perplexed look on his face. I thought 'oh great, here we go' but he was fine.

Sam and I had a great one-on-one date and I look SO forward to this alone time each week with him. He was so happy and smiley all day and had so much fun playing without struggle and with things HE enjoys doing! He played outside until his heart was content with the hose and just being busy at work, and then he "helped" me with dishes at home; again more water, which is his specialty!

When I picked Jake up, he and his buddy Tommy had had a great day but had very little to say about what they did. All Jake could report is he played inside, he played outside, and he did that thing where you put the thing in and you look through the thing and you click the thing (turns out it's that binocular thing with picture slides). So I quickly got a dose of my future as a mom of a boy AND a Shores...NO DETAILS!

The Caruso/Shores boys meet Sunshine

 

T and I met at Paradise Bakery last Sunday morning when our husbands were working. After breakfast we went outside and the boys were instantly drawn to this parrot named Sunshine. The owner was very nice to let each of the boys take turns petting her. It was sweet

Blackberry Pie

My mom visited her sister, Aunt Laurie a few weeks ago in Washington, just in time for blackberry season. She managed to pick and pack 5 cups of berries for herself, me and my sisters to each make a pie. Jake was SO excited to "help" make the pie so when he woke up from his nap one day we began the process. Jake was so anxious to open the berries (and of course sample them) but I said we cannot open the berries until it's time to add them to the mixture. The temptation was growing...then Sam woke up. He also wanted in and was getting louder with his demands. One of things he says that cracks us up is at meal time he'll say "scoop me" for food and "cool me" to blow on it if it's hot. So he's climbing up on a chair he pushed over with a huge wooden spoon he found, yelling "MOMMY! SCOOP ME!!!" He also managed to creep his little hand into the flour mixture for the pie crust pulling out the crucial mixture of salt, baking soda, flour. Then, while I'm distracted with Sam, Jake manages to sneak the forbidden fruit, at which point I dismissed both boys from the kitchen and told Jake he may not help me with the pie anymore because he disobeyed. He was SO sad about that because he had been really looking forward to helping with this pie. Matt was talking to him in the other room and asked me why I wasn't letting him help anymore. I explained what happened and then Matt told Jake to go ask mommy to give him some grace and to ask me what that means. :) So upon Jake's request (thanks babe) I told him that grace means giving someone something when they don't deserve it. Just then, Sam, who found his way back up the chair pushes the wooden spoon in my face and screams, "GRACE! MOMMY! GRAAAACE!" With uneven dough and now less berries than I needed, I let the boys back in to help, and laughed at how God used (all) my boys to remind me about grace.