The Best of Friends Stage

Not too long ago A. decided that J. was finally an entity worth acknowleding. Congratulatios J! You are officially FUN! J. just loves to EXPLORE. He crawls all over the house looking for interesting things to put in his mouth or push accross the floor. He especially loved the period of months were Ken kept his tiling project (ehm, ehm... MESS) spread on the floor of A's room. He never stays put, so every now and then I have say, "Hey A, where'd J go?" and A will say, "I don't know!" then run giggling around the house calling, "Where J?". Next, A began to join J on his expoits. Off they'd be, two boys crawling under the table, through the chairs, playing the piano, dropping toys into the bathtub, and hiding in piles of dumped-out laundry (usually dirty). A even decided to pick up on some of J's more choice habits, such as dropping his sippy of milk at dinnertime and whinning at the babygate (which A can actually open on his own). Shortly after Christmas J decided to start climbing into his box of toys, usually head first onto the toys. So now they both climb into laundry baskets and boxes. A will sing "Don't Rock the Boat" and try to dump them both out. There nap times have been out of sync and A would often wake-up and ask where J was. A absolutely LOVES going in to "wake-up" J in the mornings or after naps. He sings, "J, J, J!"

These days J isn't exploring as much; maybe he's seen it all? A and J still have great fun together. Now that J is trying to walk he enjoys the scooters and lawnmower toy so the two boys do circles around the house together. You can always tell when J gets stuck on a corner or doorway. He has such an On/Off switch with his usually calm disposition and when he's frustrated you hear about it instantly. (Seriously, the first time I thought I was going to find him bleeding on the floor with some kind of gaping wound! But nope, just stuck on a doorway.)

Anyway, it's been a great phase and gives me more confidence about having a third child. Maybe by some miracle we will manage to have kids that actually like each other! Every parents dream. I hope it lasts!