Cuter than cute

As exhausting as parenting a 3 year old and 5 month old can be, I find myself amazed at these 2 amazing creatures we made. Daddy was out of town this weekend and the kids and I were upstairs tonight getting ready for baths. Jacob was running around naked finding all of the toys he could possibly drag into his bath. Maddie was lying in her baby bathtub watching him run back and forth like a crazy person, smiling every time he came by. This is becoming one of my favorite things in the world to watch lately. If Jacob is in the room, Maddie is usually bent over backwards trying to locate him and as soon as she does, she breaks out into this enormous smile. She never minds it when he tackles her with a hug and kiss and she certainly doesn't mind it when he's running around screaming like a lunatic. In fact, I think she prefers it. So anyway, there they were, in all their nakedness, and I was just in shock at how big my little boy had become how little Maddie looked compared to him and insanely, how similar they looked at the same time. My heart kind of skipped a beat thinking about the fact that they will grow up as brother and sister and people will certainly always say "they are definitely both Broxtermans because they look so much alike!" Jacob loves her so much and I can see already how much she adores him. I know they will fight. I am surely not naive to this point. But, I hope they love each other without limits at the same time.

Phew. Had to get those emotions off my chest! Now that I've made it clear that I am the stereotypical dopey, emotional mom, I've got some updating to do! Jacob started swim lessons last week and ironically, the only other boy in his class is also Jacob and is turning 3 next week. It was pretty amusing watching the teachers saying "Jacob, come this way" and "Jacob do that". Both boys were quite confused. They were also both quite comfortable in the water and had a blast at their first lesson. When the teacher said to us (the other parents and myself) "these boys are fearless", I had to turn around and make sure they were talking to me too! If you know Jacob at all, you would not describe him as fearless. He won't go up a climbing structure or down the slide at the playground by himself and he is the last one to try any daredevil stunts (which I appreciate), so hearing that he was fearless kind of caught me off guard. He does love the water though and my hope is that he gets more and more comfortable with each passing lesson so that we can have some fun water adventures in Hawaii in June!

Jacob also moved up to the "big boy class" in school a couple of weeks ago. The week before he started his new class, I asked them to take him to visit his new class a few times before he had to start for real. On the Friday before he was going to start (the following Monday), Miss Kelly pulled Jacob from his current class to take him to the new class to check it out and he refused to go with her. He told her, "My Mommy said I don't have to go to the new class until Monday." Miss Kelly had no idea what to do. "What do I say to that?" she said. I died laughing when I picked him up. I did tell him that he didn't have to start his new class until Monday, but I guess I didn't make it clear that they were going to take him to visit before then! You need to watch what you say around this kid because he doesn't forget a word!

We have also seen a resurgence of dancing Jacob. When he was about a year old, he was a dancing fool. Then, suddenly to our dismay, he stopped dancing for no apparent reason. He has started dancing again which just warms my heart. I love watching him when a good song comes on because he just can't resist shaking his "bootie". A couple of weeks ago, I took him to the dentist for a check up. Since he's 3 now, he goes to the back by himself. I was a bit worried about this, but they assured me he'd be fine. When they called me back, I knew why. There were movies playing, every video game you could possibly imagine, and sugar free lollipops galore! The assistant who walked me back said "Jacob is live entertainment!" That made me super proud. There is never a dull moment with this one.

Maddie is quite the alert and curious baby these days. She grabs at anything and everything (including your face) and will seriously twist her body around in all directions to find you in the room. She is also the most smiley baby I've ever seen. I can't tell you how many times random strangers have said to us "What a happy baby she is!" I don't ever tire from hearing that either. You can say that to me a million times and it will never get old. She only naps for 30 minutes at a time, but when she wakes, she's smiling from ear to ear so I'm not sure I should complain. She's constantly chewing on something so if a tooth doesn't appear sometime in the near future, I will be shocked! My new favorite thing to do during our quiet days at home is grab my camera and start snapping away at her cuteness.

Now that I've written a novel, I'll share some of their cuteness with you.









Jacob "shaking his tail":



Jacob singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider":