A New Rule for our Family

The other week my good friend Ruth took Jack to swimming lessons for me. Ruth has two boys - one 7 and one nearly 5. Jack is much closer in age to the 5 year old, but really gets on and looks up to the 7 year old. Well, the 7 year old is a very good swimmer and the 5 year is on Jack's level - still learning.

Ruth's 7 year old left the changing room and went on out to the pool by himself. So once Jack was finished getting ready, he asked Ruth if he could go on out to the pool. Ruth said 'No, he would need to wait until she was ready with the other kids to go out'. Jack asked why? Ruth replied with 'Well, Joshua can swim so if he falls in I know that he can swim whereas you and Noah are still learning so if you fell in I would need to help you so that is why you need to wait for me'.

Jack told me this whole story above and then he said, 'Isn't that a great rule Mom? I mean it totally makes sense. I think we should make that rule for our family too'.

There you have it! A new rule for our family and a great example of how people are much happier to follow rules when you see the reasoning/logic/benefit of it.

Mr. 'Daddy and Papa' Potato Head

Jack came down from his rest today with these two Mr. Potato Heads. He proudly exclaimed, 'This one is Daddy (one on the left with glasses), and this one is Papa (one on the right with a moustache)'. Not bad. Not bad at all.

British Barbecues

The British are renowned for their wet barbecues. Seriously, while living in this country, I can almost count more wet barbecues than I can nice warm sunny ones.

This year though we have been so spoiled in April and May with nice warm weather that we had almost forgotten about these wet barbecues. Well, all the weather needed to produce rain was a barbecue scheduled. Our street had their annual barbecue the other week...and of course, it rained! You have to give it to the British though, cancelling a barbecue just never happens. They persevere through it!

Jack the Rule Follower

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Jack has really gotten into football/soccer. The Champions League Final was last night with Manchester United playing Barcelona. Jack has a Lionel Messi jersey that he loves wearing. For those of you who may not know Messi plays for Barcelona.

Well the game started at 7:45 pm which is after Jack's normal bedtime. You could tell he was disappointed that the game started late but he didn't ever ask if he could stay up for it. Well, we put the boys to bed at 7:00 and then at 7:45 Charles went in to get Jack up as a surprise. Theo was fast asleep on the bottom bunk. Jack said he saw the light get brighter in his room when Charles opened the door and said he was just so excited. He was so happy to get to come down and watch a good thirty minutes of the game. It was a really fun night and has been stored away as a fun memory for us all.

Jack's personality shone through last night in a funny incident. Charles and I had treated ourselves to Pizza Hut Pizza after the kids went to bed last night. So when Jack came down we were enjoying nice hot pizza on the couch. Charles asked Jack if he wanted a piece. Jack very maturely said, 'No, I shouldn't. I have already brushed my teeth.' He is such a rule follower...he definitely gets this from his dad!

Jack in his Messi jersey:

A Free Lunch

We were walking home from a very informal picnic today where we brought ALL the food ourselves and just sat on the back lawn of college with a few friends. It was extremely low-key. On the way home, Jack said, 'Mom, thanks so much for letting us come to this.' I said your welcome, and then he continued, 'Did we have to pay to come to this?'. Just to be clear, NO ONE would have paid to come to this picnic, it was that low-key. I explained that we didn't have to pay that we had provided everything ourselves. Jack then said, 'Well Dad says there is no such thing as a free lunch.'

He keeps you on your toes - that is for sure - and he keeps you fairly tired from having to explain SO much. :)