Rhyme Time

We have a book called Cleo the Cat. It is one of 'Theo's Favourites' - according to Jack. We always make note of the fact that Theo rhymes with Cleo. As a result, Jack has really gotten into rhyming - or more accurately, trying to rhyme. We have explained rhyming as two words that sound alike, or have similar sounds. I think our definition of being similar may have made things more difficult for Jack. Here are some of the rhymes he has come up with in the last week:

Monday and Tuesday - they are similar
Fish and Whale - they are similar
Jack and Theo - they are brothers

Then we had a breakthrough... He woke up and the first thing he said was 'Backpack rhymes with me'. I applauded him and corrected him at the same time telling him yes, backpack rhymes with Jack not Me.

Then we went back to our old pattern.

Wednesday and Friday - they are similar
Table and Chair - they are similar

Then another good one today - He asked me what I was making and I said Jello Salad. He then came back a couple of minutes later and told me that Jello and Hello rhyme. Yeah!!! We are slowly getting there.

I love the fact that he is trying. It beats lying! :)

Fun at the Farm

Brian and Jack had a good time on the trampoline yesterday. Only a two-year-old would get bounced around this much and still beg for more.

Snuggle Puppy read by Jack WC Anderson

Jack and I made cookies this morning. The fact that I say 'Jack and I' means there was quite a mess to be cleaned up afterwards. So as I was cleaning up the mess and doing the last couple of dishes, I told Jack to go pick out some books to read to Theo. Very similar to Jack at this age, Theo loves to read.

Jack came back a couple minutes later with 'Theo's four favourite books' (according to Jack). I was nearly finished with the cleaning up when I heard Jack reading the first book - Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton to Theo. It was so cute. We have read this book so many times to Jack and Theo that Jack nearly has it memorized. I asked Jack if he would read it again if I got the camera out. He said, yes. Here it is:



As you might have noticed, Jack had a little trouble making it to the ending (and became a bit redundant), so we tried again. The end of the story asks you to whisper so that is what Jack does here(the sound on your computer has not malfunctioned!).

The Wise Man

We had a playdate the other day with one of Jack's good friends - Grace. She sang us a wonderful version of the Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock. I am including it (with her mother's permission!) for your viewing pleasure.

Fun with Uncle Brian

Jack has loved playing with Uncle Brian. Here are a couple videos of what we have been up to. Here is Jack riding the Uncle Brian Horsey...
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And how Jack responded initially...


And Jack's response soon after....


So here is the new modified safety-first approach.

We miss you Daddy!

We recorded this video while Charles was in Boston:

Who's whose brother....

We are fortunate enough to have one of my brothers visiting this week and then one of Charles's brothers is due to come visit us in early December. It is so much fun to have our family come and have Jack and Theo interact with them. Jack, in particular, has been really interested in family relationships - who's daddy's brother, who's mommy's brother, who's mommy's mommy, etc. He is starting to get quite a bit of it, but the one thing he always gets right is that Theo is his brother.

We were talking about Uncle Brian coming today on an airplane. Here is an excerpt from our conversation.

Jack: When I get older. I want Theo to live far from me. I want him to come see me on an airplane. I want him to knock on my door, come into my room, go pee and poo, and eat chocolate with me.

Sounds like a great plan to me. I hope that Brian and I might be able to eat some chocolate together this week, but I plan to keep the poo and pee part more personal.

Agitated??

Theo was crying today and Jack asked me:

Mommy, what do you think is causing Theo to be so agitated?

Agitated??? What 2 year-old uses the word agitated? Is this what I get for marrying Charles? I should have known when we were dating and he sent me a 5 page typed letter that required me to get the dictionary out 3 times that this might be in store!

And here is a fun picture of Theo when he is not 'agitated' -

Spanking the disciples' bottom

Last night Charles was reading the Bible to Jack - specifically the story from Matthew 18 and 19 of the disciples arguing over who is the greatest. Some times when we read the Bible to Jack we are unsure how much he is actually understading. Well, last night he was getting some of it for sure. Here is the excerpt:

Jack: Those guys are fighting!
Charles: Yes, they are arguing.
Jack: Someone needs to spank their bottom.
Charles: I think Jesus is going to do something just like that.

An Opinion

One of Jack's favourite activities is to go to the library. We try to go about every other week. In fact, he often gets really sad when we tell him that we have to give some of the books back. He will often request that we ask the librarian if we can keep at least one book. After I ask the librarian and she gives her approval for us to check the book out again Jack acts as though the lady has just given us a million dollars. He gets so excited exclaiming - We can. We can. The lady says we can take it again!

Well last time we were at the library, I noticed that the library was having a story telling time of Charlie and Lola books which are some of Jack's new favourites. So I signed us up. I really talked this story time up to Jack. It was definitely the most anticipated event of the day. I even decided to make it extra special and memorable by taking the bus to it. When the time came, we loaded up the stroller and headed off for the bus stop in a pretty steady drizzle. Jack got so excited when he spotted bus number 307 headed our way. We loaded the bus and were off to the library.

Well, you might be anticipating this, but the story time did not meet my high expectations. Jack was the youngest kid there. Most of the kids there were about 5 (although the sign advertised the story time for all ages) and not very well behaved. Jack lasted through a couple of stories and then got up and loudly told me he was ready to go home. I whispered to him that we couldn't go home yet that we needed to wait until the end - hoping to teach him manners (not to mention the fact that I would have been embarrassed to get up in the middle and walk out). Jack did decently well the rest of the time. At the end we exited and on the way out I asked Jack, did you like it? Did you have a good time? To which Jack looked up and said - No, Not really.

It was one of the first times I liked the fact that Jack was saying NO. I loved the fact that he had an opinion. He was right. It wasn't that great. This was partially due to the kids interrupting the story teller at least twice each page, but mostly because Jack wasn't the right age. We will have to try story time again in a couple of years, but until then we will keep riding bus 307 because that was the big win of the day.

Sing your Praises to the Lord

I was visiting with a friend the other day and she reminded me of a story that happened almost exactly a year ago. I loved being reminded of it and thought it was worth blogging about. So here it is.

As you can probably tell from previous postings, Jack really enjoys music. He really has loved singing and listening to music from just a few months. When he was just learning to talk, he would often tell us 'more guitar' when he wanted to listen to music. For a long time he referred to all music as 'guitar'. In fact, he was also known for being quite impatient, and would start chanting 'more guitar' in between tracks on a CD - not aware that a new song was already on its way.

His love for music and his impatience both showed up while we were visiting churches last year. We visited quite a few churches in North London before settling on a church home. One church that we visited was going through a transition period where the new vicar was trying to bring in some new ideas - including new music. This particular church had a choir that consisted of 'four-ish' elderly people. The choir was trying really hard but they couldn't impress our nearly two-year-old. Right as they started to sing 'In Christ Alone' by Staurt Townend, Jack quickly perked up and loudly said 'No more guitar. No more guitar.'

Most of the time we have been pleased that Jack's language has been fairly advanced and decently understandable. This was not one of those times. Charles and I quickly said shh! Our friends who were sitting next to us could barely hold their laughter in. The only reassuring thing is that I think the choir members were old enough that they probably weren't able to hear Jack's loudly expressed opinion for which I am glad.

I use to have a poster on my bedroom door when I was a kid that said 'Sing your praises to the Lord - even if they are a little off tune.' This poster seems as though it might have been written for this particular situation. Charles and I laughed later - not because Jack yelled out so loud but because he was SO RIGHT!

Rolling Ball

The following are two conversations Charles had with Jack today.

While getting ready for a Fellowship Group Social -

Charles: Come on Jack, put your shoes on. We need to get the ball rolling.
Jack: I don't want to roll the ball.
Charles: You cannot go to the party without your shoes on.
Jack (clearly still interested in the 'ball'): I want Daddy to roll the ball.

After the social...

Jack (looking at some of his construction toys): I am making it all new.
Charles: That is what God says, He will make all things new.
Jack (nodding his head): Yeah, I make all things new too.

A typical morning

I always put Theo in his bouncy chair as I take my shower and get ready for the day. During this time Jack gets to entertain himself which rarely means doing much very far from us. He is so my son in how he loves to be with people (not meant to be a slam on Charles just an observation which Charles would agree with).

He almost always follows us up the stairs and makes some interaction game up while I get ready. Often he is the pizza man who comes to the bathroom to take my order then runs to the bedroom to fulfill the order. Even though he is the pizza man, he rarely asks me to order pizza. It is almost always drinks. The choices are usually water, juice, or beer.

Today I heard Jack interacting with Theo. When I got out of the shower Jack told me that he had gotten Theo's 'Nah' for him and his teddy bear. He told me that Theo had told him that he really wanted them. I got out of the shower to find Theo sitting here like this:




Jack does his best to look after Theo for which I am very grateful. And I think most of the time Theo enjoys it as in this picture. This is as opposed to the other day when I walked into the room to see Jack reenacting Theo getting his immunizations using a play-syringe. At moments like that one I remind myself that I am the third child, presumably similar things were done to me, and I am fairly well adjusted...I think??