Brazenly Burton

One day driving in the car Jack and Aly got into an argument. Alaster knew he was wrong but he really likes to get under Jack's skin. When this happens we let him egg him on for a bit but then we usually intervene. At that point I said "Aly, Jack is right." which made Aly stop and from the front seat we heard Jack say "and everybody else is wrong."

Jack's already vivid imagination has gone hog wild lately.

I would love to watch whatever it is he sees in his head as he starts the phrase "What if...." and he goes off. It usually takes a funny theme: "What if I did ___ or ____ to you." kind of thing. But he also does a lot of "what-if," scenarios with bad guys, animals, and other everyday kind of things. Sometimes I just have to shake my head and wonder where he comes up with it like the day that he said "What if I was watching a movie... and the people in the movie were watching a movie... and THEY were watching a movie too... and the people in that movie were watching a movie TOO?!?" I said "Like a movie, inside of a movie, inside of a movie, inside of a movie, forever and ever?!?" and he said "yeah like that..." with this kind of "I just blew my own mind." kind of look on his face.

Speaking of things he thinks about-- this kid seriously keeps me on my toes. He frequently requires me to simplify church doctrine to a level he can understand...The movie UP started some doozies about growing old...death...living again etc. One day he caught me completely off guard when he said "Mom. I know that I was in your tummy... but how did I get out of there?" at which point I made a snap decision to tell the truth but not the whole truth... so help me Pete... and I responded "Through Birth. Let's go get a treat shall we?"

So many times Corey and I think Jack is really just JACK. So very HIMSELF... not a lot of things that he does reminds us of either of his parents. Such a strong little personality. You know? But lately he has started to do something that reminds me of myself trying to tell people a certain hilarious story involving flammable powdered sugar... and stories about Dan Black... and stories about Katie throwing kitties off of a bed... etc. Jack starts to tell a joke or a funny story and it goes a little something like this (perhaps you too will see the similarities):

"Okay. (deep breath) I'm going to tell you something funny." (stifled giggle giggle) "It's going to be SO funny." (Hand goes over his mouth to physically help keep the laughter in) "It's gonna make you laugh." (giggle giggle, another deep breath) "Here I go." ... at this point the story (or sometimes the WORD -- poop-- or something equally funny) bursts out of him and he then looses himself to the laughter he has been so desperately trying to keep in. He is my son afterall!

Jack has also taken to talking about himself in the third person when he feels the need to say something he's not happy about. It's always something like this "Someone doesn't want to eat that for lunch." "Someone doesn't like this decision." etc. Me and Corey's favorite one was when he said to Alaster (who had obviously been intentionally messing with his mind again) "Someone is NOT a koala bear... it's ME!"

I think it's really cute how kids think their parents can do anything. My mom used to always talk about this one time when Calvin was little and they were driving around running errands or something. The sun was in Calvin's eyes and bothering him so he asked her to move it. She always said that it made her so happy to think that Cal thought she could "move the sun," for him. Jack said something one day that made me think of this. He was talking about wanting to swim with sharks and he said "When I'm with my Dad I'm NOT even scared... When I'm by myself I AM!!!" My mom could move the sun... Corey can tame the sharks.

Okay this next story is mostly just for me and Corey. I don't think it will be entertaining to anyone who wasn't there. So we were at Ed and Cindy's and the boys were playing with these toys where you shoot a ball out of a cone thing and then try and catch it back in the cone. You know that game right? Anyway we had been clapping for Alaster a lot then Ed said "Oh! Jack is doing it good too!" and the next time he did it we all clapped for Jack. He had the absolutely CUTEST reaction I have ever seen in my whole life. An adorable-surprised-closed lipped-smile slowly spread across his innocent face and his shoulders and hands raised with palms upturned... and when we kept clapping because we could see what it was doing to him his hands balled up into fists and shifted their way to his hips and his chest started puffing out very proudly. I tell ya... wow... it's a mental picture I will never forget. It makes me laugh every time I think of it. SO adorable.