JJ Update

What a fun age that 4 is!!! Over the past year or so we’ve really seen JJ come out of his shyness and it has been so fun to watch. People who see him regularly at the gym, some family, friends, and his teacher at church have all made the comment over the past few months of how much JJ is starting to come out of his shell. This was the boy who even a year ago would not answer people when they would ask him a question, who would leave people hanging when they tried to give him a high five, and would practically crawl behind Jake or I if we were around anyone that he didn’t know. He also used to use his blankey as a way to sort of hide out….if someone would talk to him he would bite on his blankey or throw it in the air to try and divert the attention away from himself. :) But nowadays, JJ is even leaving his blankey at home whenever we go somewhere….and this was all initiated completely by him. Of course Jake and I have encouraged it, but we never forced him to it behind. One day he just did and then it was sort of his new routine. He still likes to have his blankey for sleeping and when he is in snuggle mode, but that is about it. He’s also having full conversations with people who talk to him, giving high fives all the time, and making lots of friends at the gym. We really think that much of this has to do with Justice coming into our family…JJ has really benefited positively from having an older brother. In many ways his friendship with Justice has overflowed into giving him confidence in interacting with other people outside our family.

JJ is also asking SO MANY questions all day long about everything under the sun. For instance, the other day we drove by an apartment complex in Des Moines that had really visible fire damage. He asked what happened and as Jake explained that there had been a fire JJ started asking a million questions. How did it start? How did the people who lived there get out? Who came to get the people? Were they hurt? Did they go to the hospital? Where do the people live now? We of course don’t even know the people who lived there but JJ was not letting up until he had some good answers! By the time we got home JJ was so worried about house fires that Jake had to show him the smoke detectors in our house and assure him that if there was a fire the alarm would go off and that’s how we would know to get out. JJ is very intuitive, and so is Justice. If something sparks their interest they want to know as many details as possible, which means Jake and I are answering a lot of questions these days!

JJ’s favorite conversations involve basketball, and sometime I need to get a video of he and Justice as they talk to each other about Kingdom Hoops teams, their favorite NBA players, and college games. If you get to see JJ sometime, I hope you are up to date on basketball because he will want to know what players and teams you like. The other day he said “Mommy, do you like Lebron or Chris Bosh better? What about Derek Rose or Rajon Rondo? How about Kobe or Blake Griffin?” Half the time I don’t even know who he is talking about! I do know via Grandma Jane that Daddy was the same way when he was a little guy. In fact, Grandma Jane saved all of Daddy’s old basketball stuff from when he was growing up….everything from a Michael Jordan jersey to posters to a HUGE collection of basketball cards. Jake brought up his old basketball card collection from the basement the other day and JJ had fun going through all the cards.

Lately JJ has been talking about how he wants to be able to see a game where Michael Jordan was playing. He’s heard so much about Michael Jordan, but hasn’t ever gotten to see him play. Last weekend we were on a mission to find the movie Space Jam which stars Michael Jordan and after searching Best Buy, Walmart, K-Mart and the Huxley video rental store we gave up. I will have to order it online so he can see Michael Jordan! So pretty much JJ is still basketball crazy, and I don’t think with our lifestyle that his love for the game will dwindle any time soon. Yesterday while we were in the car JJ said to me, “Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a doctor and a basketball player.” That would be a pretty good combo I think! :)

Here’s another thing JJ likes to do right now….he likes to try to jump up and touch things that are up really high…

He does this at my mom’s house with the ceiling fan cord and at the gym with the bottom of the net on the hoop.

JJ’s last basketball game is tonight and then he will be done for awhile. I put these videos on facebook a few days ago, but I might as well put them on here too for all to see!

This one is funny…during warm-ups I caught him practicing a step-back shot!!!!!


And here is one from during the game. He misses his first shot but makes a nice little step-in jumper towards the end of the clip. :)

I am really going to miss having these games to look forward to every Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!