Best Buddies

This is how I find them every morning now. Yes, our six month old baby crawls and stands by himself. I still can't get over it. Shouldn't teeth and hair come first? So, yesterday I was writing an email updating my Grandma and Grandpa Moulton on our kids' collective antics and thought maybe I should be sharing these things on the blog. When deciding to conceive Jack (I won't go into the details), we were concerned that 3 years was too big of an age gap, that a second child might not give David the playful distraction we so desperately desired. Our fears were unfounded. Six months after Jack's birth, they already do everything together. Every morning, Rocky gets out toys for Jack first. Then, while Rocky tries to play with his toys next to Jack, Jack crawls all over Rocky, slobbering and clawing at him, but Rocky just laughs then screams in pain when Jack grasps a handful of his hair. I spend most of the morning pulling Jack off of Rocky. Despite this, Rocky insists on being wherever Jack is. If Jack is taking a nap, Rocky is in his room pretending to be tired while hoping Jack will wake up. He often loses patience and wakes him up himself. This is how I found Jack during his nap yesterday:


Please note that NONE of those toys were there when I put him down for his nap, just the regulation standard stuffed animal and blanket. Rocky said he needed all those toys to sleep. Since Jack wasn't asleep when I put him down, I'm assuming Rocky was right!
In the middle of the night, when Jack is screaming at the top of his lungs, we often find Rocky awake trying to help him. When I showed up the other night to take baby hyena away so Rocky could sleep, Rocky said, "No, don't take Jack away. I want him to stay here!" Yesterday, Grandpa Rick took Jack to the doctor's for his immunizations for me (an activity that I enjoy just as much as stepping on sharp objects in my bare feet or being punched in the face... actually I would prefer those things). After about 10 minutes of moping, Rocky said, "Mom, Grandpa took Jack away. Can we get a new baby? A new Jack?" I explained that we would keep the Jack we had and that he wouldn't be getting any more babies for at least... oh five years, if ever.
Jack also likes to participate in Rocky's home preschool lessons. In fact, to keep him interested, I pretend like I'm actually teaching Jack. Sibling rivalry for mama's attention is a great way to motivate. We've been working on letter sounds and sometimes Jack is the one to answer first! I about died laughing hearing him make the "A" and "B" sounds on cue before Rocky. Maybe I WILL teach Jack to read before Rocky. If only he would imitate his big brother by sleeping at night! So these rascals have a lot of fun together, always making each other giggle. There's no greater sound to warm a mother's heart than to see their children laughing and playing together. Now if only Jack could answer all of Rocky's "why" questions for me!!