Jack's Second Birthday Letter

 

A few words about Jack on his second birthday…

Jackie Man-

Every child is unique, their presence a gift. The arrival of each additional child adds such richness to the makeup of a family. After they are here, you wonder how you ever did without them in the first place! This is how we feel about our Jack Noble.  Jack Man, You are full of mischief and curiosity, always into everything, a regular stinker! You toddle around the house, lifting up things and looking around to see what you might use for your rascally purposes. You want to know how things work, what everything is and how it is used. I have to keep my eyes on you almost constantly. If I don’t know where you are and it is silent for even a minute, I can be sure that you are up to something sneaky. When I find that you’ve gotten into something, you look at me with those big blue eyes, a half grin, and a face that says you know you’ve been caught. I can hardly be upset with you. Your dad says that you have me wrapped around your little finger. This is only partially true. You are just so darn cute! I can hardly stand it.

It has been fun having another boy around the house again. You are all boy, for sure. You like to make lots of noise. You love cars, trucks, and trains. You love moving parts, anything with wheels. You are always figuring out how things work. You like to experiment with knobs, switches, and buttons. You say, “Look, Mommy!” and always want to show me what you can do. Your favorite toys are trucks, balls and your bike and car. Sometimes you pick up baby dolls and roll them around in the shopping cart and make them go “night night.”  You love to wear your little blue Crocs. You wear them with everything. You are very daring and adventurous, unafraid of anything. You dive into the swimming pool with a big splash, almost without looking or thinking about it. You throw yourself around. I keep thinking that you are going to hurt yourself, because you aren’t the slightest bit cautious.

You love books. You will often grab one of the many people who are around the house and say, “Read me!!” (Read to me!!) You can often be seen sitting in the rocking chair listening to a book or thumbing through a book and reading to yourself. Right now, your favorites are Snug House Bug House, Go Dog Go, The Toddler Bible, and Little Blue Truck.

You love to sit in my lap. You come up to me all the time and say, “Want lap! Want hold you!” You love to be snuggled and held and carried All. The. Time.  You will dish out kisses and hugs to anyone who asks. You love the attention you get on a regular basis. If Mabel is sitting in my lap, you have been known to come up and give her a push. You don’t like anyone else getting your place.

You have been our most finicky eater, but you are finally coming around. Often you decide that you don’t like something, even before you have tried it. This is super annoying. None of our other children have nearly so picky. We continue to insist that you try a couple of bites of each thing at the table, sometimes having to employ bribery to get you to comply. You are already getting better.

You are a friendly, social little guy. You love people. If someone overwhelms you, you might hide your head behind me, but for the most part, you smile and wave at passers by, people at church, etc. At church, you make a bee line for Mr. Krueger, a.k.a. “the candy man.” You run up and say, “Mr. Krueger!” and hug his leg. After he gives you a sucker, you say, “Tank you!” and then proceed to show off your sucker to every person you encounter saying, “Look! I got sucker!”  You especially love elderly people. Several times I have seen you run up to an elderly person and say, “Hi! Hi!” and continue to wave at them, without them seeing, until they finally see you. Then you flash them that sweet sheepish grin of yours and proceed to start “joking” with them in your own Jack way. You might point your finger and make a shooting gun sound or swat at them and laugh. Most people think you are pretty cute and pretty funny.

                You still sleep in a pack n play in our closet. We don’t have room anywhere else in the house for you just yet. You don’t seem to mind. You still get up most nights in the middle of the night to snuggle, but you are starting to sleep through the night more and more. I don’t mind. You are a sweet little snuggler. I am soaking it up, enjoying you to the fullest, even in the middle of the night.

                You love to help your dad when he takes his shower each morning. You stand outside his shower door while he is showering and wait. When he is finished, you open the door for him and are waiting with his towel and a pair of shoes. You are a funny buddy.

                You love “gums” (guns) and carry them around the house making shooting sounds and saying, “I shoot bad animals.” You are fearless, killing bugs and taking crazy risks, such as standing up on tall chairs and reaching high spaces. You have to be told repeatedly to ‘Get down from there!’  ‘Don’t touch that!’ ‘No, Jack!’  You are my first climber. To be honest, all of that climbing on things scares me a little bit.

                You like to sing. You love music. You like “God Will Make A Way”, “Bless the Lord, O My Soul”, “Jesus Loves Me” and “The B-I-B-L-E” the best. You have a pretty good little voice. You can sing the tunes correctly. I love to hear your little voice belting out your favorite tunes.

                You have been memorizing Bible verses along with your older sisters and insist upon saying them after breakfast.  We’ve learned that you’ll say anything for the reward of a “chocate chip.”

                The teachers in your Bible class have told me that you are quite the tiny jokester. They say that you take the little teaching props and hide them behind your back when the teachers aren’t looking. You smile really big and say, “Where’d it go? It gome!” (You say your n’s like m’s.) Then you say, “Theh i is!” and laugh and giggle as you pull it back out. I asked them if any of the other kids in there did things like that. They told me that you had a remarkable sense of humor, that you were really silly and tell pretty good “jokes” for your age. Wonder where you got that? J

                Jack Noble, you are a special blessing to us. We love you so much! You bring us such joy! I love to see your sweet smile. I love to get your snuggly hugs. We are so thankful for your life and pray that you will always use your talents for God’s glory. You are a sweet little man. We can’t imagine our family without you in it. Can’t wait to see you grow and change this year and see what type of man God will shape you to be. I love you!