Just for Fun

Lately Jacob has been calling me Ferdinand.

We got a Thomas the Tank Engine book from the library where he gets lost and ends up meeting three engines named Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand. The book is related to a Thomas video for which we have seen many commercials and the combination seems to have sparked something. One night Jacob decided that he would be Bash, Alex would be Dash, and I would be Ferdinand. Further discussion led to Daddy becoming Thomas, Puppy becoming Percy, and Bear becoming Whiff (another engine I'd never heard of that wears glasses). So at least once a day for the past week and a half - usually at bedtime - Jacob insists that he is not Jacob but Bash. And he calls me Ferdinand. Since the book is from the library, I will be interested to see if this lasts after we return the book on Tuesday! Other times he is big monkey, Alex is little monkey and Daddy is very tall monkey. I don't seem to have a particular name at that point, but he is insistent that we are all monkeys. They both really like sounding like monkeys.

Other fun stories:

Jacob was doing some activity pages I found online. Among the connect-the-dots, mazes, and coloring was a page where you could draw yourself next to Knuffle Bunny (another great book character). When I told him what the instructions said, he responded very matter-of-factly "But I look like a real boy! That is too hard to draw. I'm very good at drawing numbers. And I'm good at drawing letter. I know! I will write the letters of Jacob. That is an excellent idea." And so he did. Not in the right order because he ran out of room and not completely recognizable to the outside world, but getting closer every day. He then proceeded to write Alex (which he writes much more clearly than his own name). He writes Alex starting with a little "a" because Alex is "still a baby".

At bedtime I always ask Jacob what three things he's going to dream about to have good dreams. This started back when he was having nightmares and, since the nightmares stopped, I have continued it. The other night, Jacob told me he was going to dream about circles. Each of his dreams was going to be about a circle so he'd have three circles. And if you put them together you could make a snowman.

I now also ask Alex what he is going to dream about. He responds very enthusiastically even when I can't tell what he's saying. That is most of the time, though it's getting better. Last night he told me he was going to dream about trains, the park, and slides. He also started saying names of colors - though not necessarily while looking at the actual colors. I do believe that he just really likes the word yellow.

Alex's teacher told us the other day about a game they play in their class. It involves going around the circle and ask the kids their names. Alex very enthusiastically responds "Jacob!" pretty much every time.

And finally, the other day we were watching the movie Cars. There is a part in the movie where Mater and Lightning go tractor tipping. Then they get chased by "Frank" at which point Jacob always yells "RUN!!" (even if we are only listening to the soundtrack and not watching the movie by the way). Now, Jacob's pronunciation has been slowly getting clearer, but it still sounds more like "one" than "run" - a point highlighted by the fact that Jacob's "RUN!!" was followed by an equally enthusiastic "TWO!!" from Alex.

Later this week we are flying to Texas for a family wedding. When we leave the house at 6am it is expected to be about 55 degrees. When we land in Texas around dinner time, it is expected to be 106 degrees. I predict that in between wedding activities we will be spending as much time as possible in the pool :-) Jacob is going to be the ring bearer in said wedding. Stay tuned for details on how that works out!!