"twin b"

here are a couple facts about our delightful "twin b", a.k.a. jacob.

1) i call him "cubs". it is a mystery whether or not he likes that.

2) loves chapstick. asks for it every night before bed. blows me a kiss after he's slathered it on his lips.

3) changes the words to songs frequently. this often results in far better lyrics than what the songwriter came up with.

4) loves wearing costumes, having his face painted and, in general, being disguised...

5) almost drove me to insanity the other day when i was trying to help him with his homework. the directions said to list two words that had /kn/ making the "n" sound. they gave the word "knees" as an example. there was no word bank, so kids were just supposed to spout these words out of their little brains. ( i felt like that was a little steep for a first grader. that was later confirmed when a table full of 5 adults came up with a grand total of 5 words matching the description. yikes. don't repeat that.) anyway, the following conversation ensued between jacob and i:

me: "ok. what's another word that has /kn/ making the 'n' sound?"

jacob (reading the example word): "knees."

me: "right. not knees. a different word. not knees."

jacob: "yes, knees."

me: "no. not knees. another word."

jacob: "yes, knees!!!!"

me: "ok. yes, knees. but what about another word? another word that has /kn/? what about 'know'?"

jacob: "what about 'yes'?"

me: "no. i mean, 'know'. like when you know something (pointing at my head)."

jacob: "yes."

me (starting to suspect that we're playing some kind of word association game): "what about 'knit'?"

jacob: "mittens."


and, we skipped that question.


6) while in timeouts, jacob will often wail piteously for me to hug him. it's very sad. and almost works every time.

7) loves to build/create what we lovingly refer to as "jacob's installations". they can be made of anything, so we are careful to not disturb any carefully draped blankets that are surrounded by building blocks. or robots made of legos with hand-held games as heads. or the pair of skeleton pajamas, laid out with paper skeletal hands and a skull ornament head. etc. etc.

8) only recently stopped consistently drawing a mustache on himself when using markers.

9) vandalized a set of new sheets, by labeling both his and isaac's beds with their names. he used black sharpie. we knew it was him because he spelled isaac's name wrong. we tried to discipline him... but admired his work too much. we still use those sheets.

10) just played a baker in his school play entitled, "when i grow up". he wore a chef's hat and apron. he did his part very well and ad libbed a couple of extra dance moves (is it really a musical number without a spin, after all?). at the end of the performance, the kids were all supposed to bow from their spots on the risers. jacob suddenly became mesmerized by the spotlights and wandered out into center stage. he stood right in the middle of the stage as they closed the curtains. he was the last thing you could see. just standing there, looking up, under all the lights. and, you know, he shines that bright to me, all the time.



baker jacob, and partner-in-vandalism, isaac.



***i keep thinking about these very serious topics that i want/need to blog about. namely, autism, as april is autism awareness month. but the time for me to blog is mostly at night, and i am tired and sometimes a little heartsick. i want to be able to devote all my brain power to that particular post, so i'm hoping to do it during the day and before april ends. i have committed myself in writing. please, hold me to it.