4 Years, 6 Months

The boys are 4 1/2 now, and have apparently reached the age at which they begin to develop snappy comebacks.

Furious with the boys' (admittedly completely normal) wild behavior, I demanded of Jack in my scariest mom voice, "How many chances do you think you should get!?" He looked at me, grinned, and said, "One more?" 

Recently, Jack's teacher asked him what his parents do for work. Jack thought about it and replied, "My parents only staple paper, they don't do anything else." 

Fair enough.

Jeepin' 

Jack devises a new way to enjoy the boys' jeep (Henry is impatient to get on the road while obnoxious Mom insists on a picture):

Heading out for another spin around town:

Bikes!

While Henry still prefers his bike without pedals, Jack had Steve convert his balance bike to a pedal bike on Christmas Eve and has not looked back.

Jack's first ride with pedals, taking advantage of the parking lot at our friend's apartment complex:

Cruising through a cone course in an abandoned UC Santa Cruz parking lot:

Wait, what does Jack have in his mouth?

A cone. That makes sense, I'm sure.

Miscellany

Jack and Henry butterflies, fluttering around the house in wings from Grandma Loveridge:

Jack hoards yarn and string. He shows off his collection:

When I asked Jack why he collects so much yarn and string, he excitedly replied, "For when we get a cat!" Hope springs eternal.

Henry left, Jack right, savoring cookies mailed to them by Kasey while showing off their awesome new hats knitted by Kasey's grandma:

Another treat, out with Mom to get ice cream (Jack left, Henry right):

Jack, seriously studying Alphie, the awesome robot toy Grandma and Grandpa Pool saved for thirty years and mailed up over Christmas break:

Working in the Yard

Jack dutifully rakes leaves:

Henry loads leaves into a little wheelbarrow given to the boys by a neighbor:

Jack takes his turn with the wheelbarrow:

Teamwork!

Heavy Equipment

Following are pictures I forgot to post previously of when the boys briefly had their very own backhoe in front of the house over the holidays.

Jack and Henry, ready to dig:

Well, at least I got a nice smile from Steve, as bunny Henry sticks out his tongue at me and Jack refuses to remove his mask:

More Miscellany

Henry loves to dance and can get quite carried away. I can't wait to get him into a dance class once the pandemic is under control. Here he's rockin' out to Testify by Rage Against the Machine:

Drawing and accompanying description Henry brought home from school:

Jack's picture and caption:

Jack has been making tremendous progress with his writing, and wrote his name for the first time (that I've seen anyway) on a Valentine's card for one of his classmates. He was upset that his "k" wasn't perfect, but I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture, I was so impressed.

I hope I will be able to convince Jack how fantastic it is that he works so hard. It's amazing to me to watch the boys learn complex skills. Yes, on the one hand, it's normal that children learn how to write. But, when I think about it, it's a bizarre and miraculous thing we learn to do, and I'm in awe of them.