James Rocks...

...at the library:

While Robert was at preschool this morning, I thought I'd take the younger two boys to run some errands. James moaned and crumpled to the floor at the prospect of shopping for ballet slippers (yes, I finally signed her up for ballet...heaven help us all). I asked him what HE would like to do. He thought for a second and said something to the effect of "Pick out new books at the library?" I said, "Okay, let's do that, too." James cheered, "Yay! Now me better!"

And what a trip! We were fortunate enough to be there while an excavator was digging out the foundation of an old building next door. James is really into vehicles these days. We parked as close as we could and watched the trucks working for a while. I love to see my kids excited and engaged in something they love (so why can't I bring myself to put Alice in ballet until she's eight? Dunno.).

Then we went inside. Outings with James can be scary. He's curious, confident, and completely unbothered by distance from me. He doesn't think twice about much of anything. Today was great, though. He pretty much bounced between the play area and the computer consoles. He told me he had to check his email, then he typed a bunch of keys on the keyboard, pretended to grab something from the hard drive and handed it to me with a "here!" I took it cautiously, wondering what the proper reply would be when he added, "No eat it. Blech."

"Oh! Thanks," I said, and I put it in my pocket. James seemed satisfied with that action. Whew.


...at chasing games:

Robert and James have just started playing cooperatively a few minutes at a time, a couple times a day. This is a MONUMENTAL development, ladies and gentlemen. Usually they play independently in separate rooms or decide to torment each other. This time, somehow, Robert wanted James to chase him and James was thrilled to oblige! Robert is much, much faster than James, and since he was running clockwise through our circular house layout, Robert never accidentally cornered himself. Robert was chuckling and patting himself on the back for being so awesome fast. It didn't take long for James to realize the futility of the chase. There was a moment when it looked like James stopped having fun. I wondered if he would lash out or cry. Nope. James suddenly turned around and ran counter-clockwise. Robert came barreling around the corner into the kitchen, laughing and smirking, when suddenly he saw James 2 feet from him. Robert gasped, his eyes got huge, and his jaw dropped. He skidded to a stop and barely slipped away the other direction just as James let out a growly "bad guy" laugh and ran after him again. The game immediately fell apart and suddenly Robert was screaming and yelling for James to stop chasing him. James kept at it, though, since THIS version of the game was MUCH more fun.

Brothers are awesome.