Super Hero Strength

When I was little I used to hate when my parents would say things like "You and Tyler are different, we parent you differently, just worry about yourself, etc." When you have your own kids you realize just how uniquely special we all are right from the beginning. Jack and Hannah are no different. I love looking back at Hannah's books and remembering what she was doing at Jack's age and watching for it to happen soon. Only my kids are total opposites as far as milestones go and what motivates them. At Jack's age, Hannah was already clapping and pointing. She is my baby genius, always observing, learning, asking questions, and shocking me with her knowledge. Driven by environment, knowledge, and understanding. Just this week she explained the pros of each season out of the blue (didn't even know she knew the term season, nor be able to name all four, nor be able to actually describe each and I quote "Spring is good because everything is beautiful and then there is fall which I like because the leaves change color." She also recently taught be about the evolution of a caterpillar and described a 'chrysalis' to which I had to ask my three year old "I thought it was called a cocoon?" Later I had to google it and no joke it said Caterpillars hatch from a chrysalis which is often mistakenly called a cocoon. What do you know? Why question Hannah. Won't happen again. Anyway I digress. Back to Jack. So Hannah was clapping and pointing which I try really hard to get Jack to do with no luck. So my revelation, just let kids be themselves, it's going to happen regardless. Jack could care less that I'm trying to get him to clap, he is too busy pulling up on furniture without any help or encouragement from me. Yep, learned all by himself. The kid has crazy super human strength. Driven by action, reward, victory, and bravery. I was not ready for such crazy gross motor skills because stupid me checks Hannah's book who didn't even roll over until 9 months and thought to myself "Plenty of time..." Nope, Jack will be Jack and this little guy has talent. Crawling at 5 months and now pulling up at 7 and he can also walk with no support when holding on to his walking toy. Needless to say we had to lower his crib mattress a few weeks ago because he was attempting to catapult himself out. We also changed his car seat to the big boy car seat because the carrier is just so heavy. I think all of Jack's motor skills keep him skinny because he is so little. The other day I had a size 3-6 jean on him and he crawled right out of them. Turned around the kid had no pants on. I'm curious to see how he falls at the nine month check burning calories the way he does. Another super cute thing I love about Jack is when he eats every single bite, he says "mmmmm" likes he's savoring every minute of it. It's hilarious and now Hannah mocks him. I love the little things about my kids. The little things most people probably would never notice, but I do. I love how Hannah brings me a rock/leaf/stick/flower whenever I'm away from her, I love the two little moles on her hand, I love how the song 'you are my sunshine' instantly makes her world okay, I love that she cries when Jack is really sad, I love how every night she tells me she will keep my spot warm. I love how Jack crawls to me no matter how far because he can't be alone, I love how he laughs if you tickle his sides, I love how he holds his little paci, I love how he scratches his head, I love how he knows I'm his mommy. I love how they make me smile on the worst of days and are a constant reminder of how blessed I am. Keeping me on my toes kids and I would expect nothing less!