JJ & Jayla Update

JJ and Jayla are so much fun right now. Can life with 2 red heads under the age of 3 ½ ever be dull? Um, no. Let’s start with a JJ update. Since the weather has turned colder, I’ve been taking JJ to the gym during practices a couple of nights a week so that he can hang with Jake as he coaches. JJ just LOVES being at the gym and running around with the little brothers and sisters of the players. He easily makes friends these days, and is a frequent customer at the concessions area where he dishes out Jake’s change for starbursts and Gatorade. A few weeks ago JJ started practicing dribbling one night all on his own – of course Jake has tried to show him how to dribble before, but JJ usually won’t show interest in something unless he ‘thinks’ of it on his own. It’s so much fun watching how JJ is really starting to not be so reserved/shy/whatever you want to call it when people ask him questions or interact with him. He is starting to answer people back and hold conversations, which he hasn’t done until recently. JJ is very, very, very interested in the older players during practice and often imitates their actions, or talks/acts out the things he has heard them say. When Jake and JJ get home from practice Jake usually has about 3 or 4 funny stories from the night about something JJ did, or who he played with at the gym, or what basketball skill he practiced on the side lines. JJ continues to prove that he is very observant and always listening. :) The other morning I was headed out to get groceries with Jayla and JJ was staying home with Jake. As we went out the door JJ said, “Bye Mommy, see you soon, hurry home, if you see a deer turn left!”

Now for Jayla. Let’s just start by saying that she has this pesky little sister role all figured out already. She actually teases JJ if you can believe that!!!! At least a few times a day she will grab JJ's blankey (if he left it laying somewhere) and then she will run from him and yell 'mine' (and then she will hide behind the curtains). She has this grin on her face that tells us she knows EXACTLY what she is doing!!!! Jayla is constantly pestering JJ as he plays….taking a piece off a nicely built tower, grabbing the box of crayons during coloring time and making a run for it, running to sit in JJ’s spot right when he gets up, stealing puzzle pieces, taking his sippy cup of milk and drinking out of it…..and on and on. Oh she is a crazy one! Right now they are kind of going through a stage where they fight and bicker a lot….but then they will also have moments where they both get the giggles about something, or they get into the ‘chasing mode’ where they laugh and run after each other in the house. Yes, never a dull moment. Jayla is also in love with our cats. She probably spends a total of 1 hour a day running after our two cats, or petting them, or pulling their tails, or cornering them and trying to talk with them. She likes to smack the cats on the back (while saying 'be nice') and she also likes to put her face into their fur and feel how soft they are. An unlovely trait about Jayla right now is that if she gets to crying really hard she will gag herself and throw up. It’s mostly if she is really, really, really mad. She’s done it quite a few times recently. Our church just built a new extension for the sanctuary and all of the kids got new classrooms as well. Of course, this threw a lot of the kids for a loop on the first weekend of being in the new rooms, and Jayla was no exception. She cried so hard about being in a new room that she gagged and then threw up. She wasn’t sick. Just very mad. I was talking with another parent after church about it and she said that her nephew used to do that, but instead of throwing up he would pass out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am thankful that she is not doing that!

Enjoy the pictures!

Go JJ Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These first pictures of JJ dribbling are pretty blurry because my camera doesn't take action photos...but I still wanted to post them so that you could see him in action!

This is a typical scene at the gym. JJ has talked one of the older players into holding his blankey, ball, and snack so that he can drink Daddy's pop which he snuck off the sidelines!

Quite the outfit #1.

Quite the outfit #2. JJ has been wearing his Halloween costume around the house a few times a day! Notice the orange and brown pajama pants, one white sock and one black sock, and that Hawkeye keychain!

Quite the tower builder.

My grocery helpers.

Jayla should be the spokesperson for cheez-its.

Look really, really close...can you find Jayla? This is her book reading spot in her room that she always sits at and flips through her books.

Our friend Stacy (Nyla's mommy) took our family pictures a few weeks ago. She got some really cute ones of Jayla that really show her personality! Doesn't this one make you think that she is up to something?!?!

"I didn't do it."

Going after Grandma's kitty.

And here is a short video clip of JJ practicing his dribbling!