Has it been over 6 months now?

I can hardly believe I have waited this long to be able to write anything, but as always our lives are crazy busy. I keep thinking that one day things will slow down, but as you all get bigger and want to do more, we only add to the craziness of our lives.

Jack just turned 18 months old last Friday and Henry you are on the verge of 3 1/2 years old now. You are both having lots of fun, but also lots of tantrums.

Henry is our resident engineer and builder. You love everything that goes (as you always have) and love to play 'struction with anyone who is willing. You don't like to play 'struction as much with Mommie, but do enjoy your games with Babee and our nanny, Jen (and Daddy, of course). At the beach, you played just about every day and now eating or bedtime is very difficult because pulling you away from your projects is not the easiest thing in the world.

You are finally (mostly) potty-trained and very good about 'poo-poo' on the potty, just not so much 'pee-pee'; unfortunately your potty-training is coinciding with the approximate 5 months that we will be without a washer and dryer and so you are the proud owner of lots of bedsheets and lots of pairs of size 2 underwear! But we are very proud of you- that you are able to run to the bathroom when you need to go and have made potty-training relatively painless (knock on wood!)

You have just finished your second year of preschool in Miss Katie and Miss Anne's 3 day a week class. You love going and have three 'best friends' this year: Hank, August and Mason. It is so nice to see you developing your friendships and I am hoping that you will get in the same class as your friends in the fall.

You are still a good eater, when we can get you to eat and will generally try anything I ask you to as long as you can look at the TV. You are probably the only boy who prefers cucumbers and peppers and tomatoes to pizza, but I will be thankful that you love your veggies and hope your little brother gets the same gene. We are working of sharing with your brother. That is certainly a challenge as he is 'destruction-prone' and you like to organize. But I think you are doing spectacular with the little brother you really love.

Jack you are a spitfire, even more than your brother was, and if now is any judge of the times to come, seem to be our little devil. You love climbing and investigating everything. And what makes that worse is that you have little to no fear. At the beach, you loved jumping into the hottub and going under and running around the inside until you would slip and fall under. You loved the beach and the sand during your first trip to the beach (where you weren't an infant) and were dubbed 'the sandmonster' because of your love of the sand (even dipping your fingers or food in it and eating it). You often look like 'pigpen' from Charlie Brown with a cloud of messy following you wherever you are headed.

You also love animals. You are very gentile with both Graycie and Oliver and love petting, hugging and kissing them all the time. When you get up from your nap, you wave hello to the doggies and are delighted to see them every day. You are a sweet, hugging little boy who sucked the two middle fingers of his right hand. You also have a 'blankey' which makes a ton of difference at bedtime each night. It is so wonderful to see you comforted by your blankey and fingers; perhaps making it easier for me to know you will be happy in your bed with your comforts each naptime.

You love the bedtime story 'Going to Sleep Book' and you like to get to the end to point to and say 'boat.' You don't have too many words, but have perfected signing for 'please' and 'more.' Which is so cute when you want to do it. You love carrying your sippy cup around, placing it on tables, etc. and then getting it when you need a drink, like a big boy. You don't have many words right now; I think you know a lot, and you like to talk a lot in 'Jack language' (which Henry and I try to translate), but your all time favorite word is 'hot.' You see lights and the oven and the stove and the sun and point and say 'hot.' It is really adorable (to your mommie), but I think most of it is that you are proud of your word. I think you understand a good deal of what I say to you, so it's probably only a matter of time before you are babbling away and we can understand you.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend/week at the beach and it was a joy for Daddy and I to get to spend a whole week with you both and have lots of fun at the beach. We're enjoying all of our time with you as you grow and constantly change!