happy red

Today we spent the afternoon lounging at my mom's house, in the backyard mostly. We sunscreen'd up, filled the kiddy pool and settled in for one of those lovely, never-going-back-inside, gonna-drink-in-every-second-of-this-sunshine kind of days.

The boys were overjoyed to see Nanny, Papa, Roxanne, Blake, Ferris, Sunny, Abby and Cooper. (Whom they adorably call Pooker.)  Logan especially loves my dad and brother-in-law Blake. When they would step into the back yard Logan would shout, "Hi Papa!" or "Hi Blake!" and then jump around like a teenage girl at a New Kids On The Block Concert circa 1992.

They are vocalizing so much more. It seemed today that Jack was my chatty one. "I jumping, mommy," he would tell me. "Rosie? Logan?" He would ask, and I would sing Ring Around The Rosie, again, as they linked hands and "all fell down".

Logan just said, "Papa watch." Over and over and over. He didn't care that Jack, myself and my mom were all standing there clapping and saying, "Go Logan!" No, no... he wanted Papa to watch. No one else would do.

In an effort to keep the dogs cool, my mom and Jack fed them ice cubes through the fence.

Jack would call each dog as he was ready to give them an ice cube, and I wish I'd had the video camera. He sounds just like my mom and I. "Coo-per," he calls, his voice so high he sounds like a soprano, all sing-songy just like us girls. It was too cute!

We had, as we do everyday, a chance to work on sharing. Logan, as usual, did quite well. And Jack showed some marked improvements in this area. 

While having his turn, Jack did quite well. Letting Logan feel the cold water and keeping it mostly on the plants, not people.

I said mostly.

Then when Logan felt that Jack's turn had been long enough he would simply tell me, "Logan's turn." I would inform Jack it was time to trade, and he would. It was so awesome. Granted, Logan's turns were much (!) shorter than Jack's, but it's improvement, and I'll take it!

{Mommy & Jack}

It was amazing to me the difference that a year can make. This time last year Logan was still crawling, Jack could walk, but not run; and their attention spans were far shorter. Today my mom and I started and finished multiple conversations (a feat of noted proportion!) and remarked on how independent the boys have become. It makes my job so much easier, and interacting with them is so much fun!

I am loving the sunshine, loving my boys, and really loving my new swimsuit. You can't wear a red polka dot halter swimsuit and not feel happy! Tonight I even painted my finger & toenails a coordinating "happy red" to wear to swim lessons in the morning!