Muddled in the Middle (an intro to J)

J was born and I had a hard time remembering that he was a newborn. He weighed about twice as much as C had and skipped the whole "newborn" section of clothing! And, like his size indicated from the beginning, J is nothing like his big brother.

First book I remember reading to J: "Moo, Baa, La La La"

His song: "Oh be Careful"

His nickname (throughout pregnancy): monster (always in a loving way of course)

Nursery Rhyme: Little Jack Horner

Named for: Shane's uncle (first name), my great grandfather whom we called "Doddie" (middle name)

J has been curious and interested in everything since he could hold his head up and look around. He ha not stopped moving and getting into EVERYTHING since he became mobile. 

He has poured out bottles of nail polish at a sitters house (and at mine). He has dumped a full bottle of baby shampoo on his carpet, squeezed orange drink flavoring on white carpet of a rented house, dumped a whole bottle of juice on the floor as he "poured" himself a drink overflowing the cup. He has used walls to show off his artistic talent with crayons, pens and sharpies. J has poured comet powder (toilet cleaner) all over the living room and tried to wash his bed (blankets, pillows and all with a rag and large cup of water and soap...) He likes to squeeze out tubes of toothpaste (sometimes eating it sometimes just to watch it OOZE down the sink.

As many antics as he does I would not trade it because as many grey hairs as he gives me he gives me 100 times more smiles and the biggest laughs. J is our resident clown who gets a twinkle in his eye whenever he comes up with a way to make someone laugh! He loves to be the star as long as people are having a good time. He will laugh loudest of everyone.

J is loud and crazy. He climbs and jumps and runs and never fears the unknown. He will go through tunnels and down slides before his big brother even goes through the door! If there is a physical competition going on in our house J probably instigated it. If there is an actual fist fight/wrestling match going down on the living room rug it was probably perpetrated by J. He is all about competition and doing it bigger and better than his big bro. He has been pushing C around since he was able to grab with his fist!

However he has entered this crazy phase if saying things are scary. "Dats so scary!" "I see som-tin scary!" or "I so scared!" I have figured out how to get him out of the tub quickly and easily: pull the drain! He jumps out like it is going to kill him! It all began with trains. He heard the train one night and began screaming. It was so sad. Half of the time now I think he does it for attention. But other times it is purely genuine.

J is almost 3. He is so smart. He is strong and coordinates. He also can sing songs and I know what he is singing. He loves music. He loves to sing. He knows his letters and some of their sounds. He also loves to count though he still struggles some with numbers past 12. He surprised me with this when he asked to count the toads in a book I was reading. He proceeded to point to each one correctly and count them all (applying one number to each carefully). I was very proud since I know that is something C couldn't do at his age.

J loves learning and let's C teach him so many things about words and letters and numbers.

J has great coordination. He loves shooting basketballs and hitting balls like baseball. He has told us he likes basketball best and we will see where that goes.

Some favorite sayings from J: "No, I dinnit", "give me isses!" (As he climbs in our lap and pulls our face down to his demanding kisses!), "die-die" (bye-bye),

With J it is more like phrases and whole sentences that get you. For instance:

Me: J what is your name?

J: mommy

Me: no. What is YOUR name?

J: C! (Big bro)

Me: you aren't C! You are J!

J: no! I C! (Twinkle spreads across his eyes...)

(He always says his name is C and I have no idea why. He answers to J but if you ask him his name it is always C.)

Also am living how he sings the ABC song. But don't know how to write it out. So maybe I will just have to record it.

J's favorites are: Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Super Why, he plays tablet learning games but prefers watching the music videos on YouTube on letters and phonics and numbers. 

He eats just about anything. He will often choose fruit or veggies over snack food. He does not like cheese and though he eats Mac and Cheese I know it isn't his favorite.

He LOVES trucks and helicopters. He likes fire trucks the best.