Jack & Spencer's World

We finally have a climber in our family and his name is Spence. I've found him in the sink in the hall bath which he negotiated by climbing on the toilet and then onto the vanity. This evening, I caught him on the dining table. Scared to find out what's next.

This week, I had the great opportunity to lead a craft project in Jack's preschool class. The theme for the week was winter - while this presents many great craft projects, it was tough coming up with something that three year olds could do. So I do what all moms do, I turned to Pinterest. I found several great ideas from toilet paper roll penguins, to marshmallow igloos, to snow globes. I settled on snowflakes. The project involved threading three pipe-cleaners through paper rings to form a six-point snowflake. I added beads to each pipe-cleaner to hold the paper rings in place (gluing the circles together would have made this project a bit too time consuming). I headed in with all of the materials (including several that we never used) and got to work. The kids were great. They listened carefully and got to work right away, concentration showing on their face. Their favorite part was adding the beads. I learned that if you give a three year old a cup of beads, ...

Jack's new bed arrived this week. He's truly in a big-boy bed - a twin!! To make it extra special, we selected a bedding set that is covered with cars, trucks, boats, planes - pretty much anything motorized. He was so excited to see his bed and explore it. One of the very first things he said was that he could easily get into Spencer's crib. Somewhere along the way, Justin told Jack that his bed came from New Jersey. Now Jack refers to it as his "New Jersey Bed". a great shot of Jack and Spence at this point in time now, he can almost reach the light switch with his feet (not sure that this is a great thing, but he likes it) next up, Spence in the toddler bed...not sure we're ready for that!

I file this one under conversations I never imagined having. Me (while straightening up Jack's bed for bedtime): Jack, please stop wiping your boogers on the wall. Please use a tissue. I'm happy to get you one. Jack (with complete sincerity): it's ok momma, I just throw them on the floor. Me (in my head): Ah!

Somehow, a full week has passed into the new year! We had a great holiday and the new year has already been really busy - highlights (and soon pictures) below. Christmas in Massachusetts We spent the weekend before Christmas in Massachusetts visiting family there. Jack and Spence had a great time. Jack spent some time driving his "taxi" - but it was really cold so that time was cut a bit short. Spence loved sneaking his way to the stairs to climb those. He's good going up, but still figuring out the coming down part. Both boys had a great time playing with their cousins Julia, Connor, Jake, and Evyn. Connor taught them both the skill of jumping on and off furniture (a skill we've since worked to unteach...). Julia is growing up so fast! She was great taking care of Spence and is becoming such a mature, responsible young woman. Jack tends to blurt out the best one-liners. On the drive back to NYC, he had been napping in the back of the car. When he woke...