Snippets

James ran into my room in a hurry, telling me I should come right away...and bring my phone. I walked into the living room and saw Matthew lying perfectly, awkwardly still. James smiled and opened his arms wide with a "Ta-daaaaaaaaa! Take a picture!"

Was he dead?

No. James had composed a face on the floor with some preschool spin art and a little brother. They were very, very proud of this discovery. So much so, that Matthew needed some convincing before he would move in any way.

A couple days later, out of the blue, Matthew asked to take pictures of himself with Photo Booth on my computer. He snapped this one completely on his own:

Then Robert came over to play, too, and helped him with these:

We had some friends stay with us for a few days with their kids B, J, and S while they waited for their new place to be available. It had been a long time since Matthew and J had been together, but it was funny to see how much they still had in common. Three-year-olds have their own way of doing things, y'know? Even their voices were similar. J is still a mover and a shaker. She can almost out-jump James!

Matthew and J at 4 months old

James, Matthew, and J scaling the climbing walls today

It turns out James and B get along crazy well. I'm pretty sure B gets along with everyone, but James doesn't. It was thrilling to see him make such a quick connection on every level that means anything to him: digging in the dirt, running around the house, making silly sounds, more running, shooting pretend weapons, playing hide and seek, hiding from invisible monsters, and more playing outside. We'll need to get these boys together a little more over the next few months :)

Our friends moved in to their new place today. Alice and Robert got to spend the afternoon with Erin, so they came home in a terribly good mood. Alice was practically punchy. I was standing on top of the toilet hanging some laundry to dry (pictures of my setup to come, if you're interested) when I got a text from a friend that I decided to reply to right away. Alice walked in and looked at me a little funny, "Mom, are you standing on the toilet and texting?!" Then she somehow turned it into a song "My mom was texting on the toilet." Ugh. I promised her that any embarrassment she caused me now would be repaid tenfold when she was a teenager. She looked at me funny, "You're going to embarrass me?" as if she couldn't comprehend a single situation where that was possible. "Oh, Alice, in a few years, I won't have to do ANYTHING but be myself and you'll be embarrassed. No worries about that."

She looked completely befuddled.

Then, somehow, she and Robert started a screaming contest in the bathroom. It was all in good fun. Alice was just plain goofy. She was happy for doing so well on the PACER test in P.E., beating her previous record! She said some kids were chanting her name during her run and that felt awesome.

Here's a clip of the screamtastic craziness. I love, love LOVE that Robert picked up on one of the first things I ever noticed about parenting when I was a little kid. Such an analytic fellow:

Alice had some serious range, no doubt, but Robert won hands-down on volume and ear-splitting pitch. James and Matthew kept popping in and out trying to participate, but it was just too loud for them. Crazy funny.

I noticed this week that Robert often gets the short end of the stick in this family. He made a case for it himself, actually, just a few days ago. He was the last to get special outings with Erin. He was the last to have his picture on my phone background. He doesn't get play dates and one-on-one time as much as Alice or the smaller boys (mostly because he doesn't ask for it...ever), but I agreed there was a pattern and I'm willing to change that. We've instituted a regular "Mom Time" when it's just me and him and no other kids around (the other kids get this time, too). I'm looking for a few of his friends and their moms to form a mother-son group that gets together every so often and does something fun (kinda like the mother-daughter book club I've got with Alice). With the smaller boys in preschool 3 days a week, I have a little more patience and energy in the afternoon that I can spend on Robert while he does homework or music practice. He will never stop being the middle kid. I can't change that. But hopefully we can find a way to keep him from slipping through the cracks too often.