Periods and Exclamation Points

The past month has been quite an adventure for our family. All our school details will come in a subsequent post, but Thobe and I have been doing homeschool this year, which has allowed me to spend a lot of time with my sweet boy and has really allowed me to see how amazing he is.

Because we are always together, Thobe gets to go a lot of places with me. We have Jacob with us most of the time too, which has been really fun to watch them play together as well. The other day, I went visiting teaching. I was telling the people I was visiting with how I sometimes feel like I have two families. I have Alden and Thobe who are calm and easy going and really obedient. Then I have Hyrum and Jacob who, well...., aren't. I explained how they push me more than the older two ever did and have so much energy. If they decide that they do not want to be obedient, they aren't. Sitting through church, though easier than it used to be, is still difficult, and they often get into things that they should not get into. I also noted to my friends how even though Hyrum and Jacob are hard sometimes, they are also extremely loving and sweet. I said, "I guess, Hyrum and Jacob just put an exclamation point at the end of everything they do."

My friends smiled and made a passing comment or two. Thobe then piped in, "Yeah, Alden and I...we just put a period at the end of everything."

I really couldn't have said it better myself.

"Mom, You Are My Brother"

Jacob loves his brothers. He misses them when they are away from him and mimics everything they do. He adores them. The word "brother" means more than another boy born to the same parents to Jacob, but it also means a very close friend.

This more distinct definition first became apparant to me when we went out to Utah. Michael bought the boys an insane amount of Superfriends videos for the boys to watch in the car. They seriously watched at least 15 hours worth of Superfriends videos on long voyage--I should make a post about our super fun trip in late July early August. Anyway, when we got in the van to drive up to Michael's sister's house in Northern Utah from Southern Utah, Jacob yelled, "I want to watch Superman and Brudders." Michael and I got a laugh out of that and thought it was sweet that he considers his brothers to be friends.

Just the other day, we went to Costco. We were waiting for our friends to do something at the customer service desk. Jacob was sitting in the cart and reached out and hugged my arm tight to his body. In the snuggliest, sweetest, sincerest voice, he whispered, "Mom, you are my brudder. I wub you."

He is my sweet brudder too. I sure love that little guy.