I started rehearsals for Little House on the Prairie this week (Jack is again desperate to go to work with me) and so have not been home in the evenings. I asked the other grown ups to feed me a few snippets from the week and so we have the following;
This from my mother:
The boys love their Otto books. They have
Otto Goes to Camp and
Otto Has a Birthday. Jack has both books memorized.
Not long ago, he was having a bit of a meltdown, so I (Gammy) picked up his Otto Goes to Camp and started reading it. But, instead of reading, "Otto was worried about going to camp," I read, "Otto was excited about going to school." Jack stopped crying to tell me, "No, Gammie, it's, "Otto was worried about going to camp." Then he proceeded to continue his meltdown, but with a little less fervor. I continued reading the book, but changing one word every few sentences, I said "Otto took a sleeping bag" instead of "blanket" and was corrected by Jack. I said "Otto packed an apple pie" instead of "a cherry pie" and was corrected again. Soon, Jack was rolling with laughter, correcting me every time I read a word wrong. He has started asking for me to read to him and Wyatt at bedtime now, and he always wants Otto. We have a very good time with Jack correcting me every other sentence.
Last week, Jack proceeded to "read" the book to his mama (Gammie's way, of course.) I must say, he was quite inventive in the things he brought into the book, insisting that mommy correct him as he went along. John had me creep up the stairs to listen, and Jack was having a great time "reading" his Otto book to Mama.
From my sister Devon;
My story for you is that Jack helped me clean the porch of the many leaves by using the snow shovel to pick them up and then dumping them into their wagon. When the wagon was full he would tell me it was time for me to dump it into the pile in the yard so he could keep working. While working he started telling me a story about Thomas and Hero train and their race with Spencer, of course to pass the time. Accidentally he hit Wyatt with the shovel and the little man got very upset. Well the only thing I could do to get him to calm down was to take him to a separate part of the porch. There I picked up handfuls of leaves and as I was pouring them over Wyatt's head I sang "Leaves raining on Wyatt!" Over and over I sang and poured leaves on him as he soon started to laugh and couldn't stop. He then joined in my game and started pouring leaves on my head!
And a bit from John;
Last weekend, Wyatt and I were in our living room, watching a Thomas movie. I got up to get something. When I came back to sit down, Wy was was sitting in his rocking chair telling me that he's made a spot for me to sit with him! "I made a spot for you, Daddy!" He was very proud of himself.
A few weeks ago, I was going into the bathroom, and asked Wy to go in with me. I blew my nose and it made a full, loud and honking noise. Wyatt looked up at me and said, 'Daddy, you farted your nose!'
A few weeks go, I finally remembered to have the boys try on their Thomas Costumes to make sure they fit and what not. I soon realized I should not have done this just before bedtime; they both were laughing and desperate to wear them as pajamas... Oy. (Now you all know that Jack has worn the same costume for the last few years. It doesn't look bad. But poor Wy - he has grown so much this past year. We are going to let this mini costume ride this year and try to pick up a larger Thomas on clearance.
I thought I would include a little e-mail John sent to me: "Jack loves to wear my glasses, he doesn't care which ones, my old pair of Safety Glasses; a pair of Garmin sunglasses Poppy passed on to me, the sunglasses that were in the truck when I bought it, or my current sunglasses. So one morning, I'm driving the littler ones out to Aunt Beth's house, (Hi Beth!), and Jack has been wearing my safety glasses for nearly half an hour, (he also puts on my work gloves, and holds his hands straight up in front of himself- and rotates his hands when he is talking and holds them still, [but upright], when he isn't talking), and he asks for one of the other glasses, and then another, then another, and another still. He was putting them all on, one on top of the other.
A little tidbit from me;
Mom and I took Wy shopping the other week. As we were loading groceries into the trunk Mom responded to a comment I had made. "Are you kidding me?" she said. Wy piped up "No, I not kidding you, Gammy."
Wy loves to read. I was sitting on the stairs flipping through a cook book, Wy snuggled up next to me and picked up my 2nd cook book. Each page he turned to, he would sit up very straight and say "Huh." Then he might comment that "strawberries is yummy." then flip to another recipe. "Huh. I wike vis one, too." It was very funny. He got upset after a while and demanded that I read my book to him, so there we sat on the steps reading about how to turn the turkey carcass into a lovely stock. Maybe I have a budding chef on my hands?
Finally, here are Wy and I dancing together one night after I got home from rehearsals. I stood him up on the counter, he wrapped his arm around my neck and started to sway. It was happiness in my heart.
Now, friends, it is my day off again, and I have promised to take the boys to what Jack refers to as "Old MacDonald's" for some olde chicken and fries.
love and blessings,
Owenland Park
