The man, the legend, J-dogg

So, in my final of three mostly unread blog entries, here's Mr. J:

He tends to look angry or drooly in almost every picture so I have a hard time finding casual ones to use. He's not as into being photographed as my other two, definitely does not want a career in show business and doesn't run towards the camera the minute I pick it up. This little boy is definitely the baby (for now) and loves mommy a little more than the other grown ups in the room. He takes his time to warm up to people but once he does warm up to you you'd never call him shy. He is just more suspicious of strangers. But he's not really a snuggly one, he just wants to sit in my lap.

He loves dress up, hats of all kinds and for a while he loved a giraffe costume we have. That ended after Halloween when we forced him into it because he suddenly didn't want to wear it. Ah well. But he loves putting on layer after layer of costumes until he looks like a homeless person in winter. I don't know what that's about. He hates getting anything stuck to his fingers and will come over to you to clean off his hands when you can't even see what it is that is bothering him. He knows the difference between chocolate chip and vanilla animal crackers and you'd better give him chocolate chip. He is definitely a sugar addict already. Sorry for being a sucky mom kid.

He has a great 'watchoo talkin bout Willis' face that he inflicts on new people and anyone who is doing something that doesn't make sense to him. He's funny as heck when he laughs and will make you do whatever it is that is funny over and over again so he can laugh some more. But he really likes his routines. He wants to put on his jacket before he goes downstairs, no matter your explanation that you're going in the car and not outside. He wants some warning before anything changes, and that's fair because he doesn't get to control much does he? He also wants to be the first down the stairs but also be the only one on the stairs and will defend his territory to the death (or until we intervene and make him go down the durned stairs now!)

He came out the smallest, having been wedged up against my diaphragm all bunched up without room to expand. But he's now the largest (by a slim margin) and the most athletic. When he runs you can see the football player and he can throw overhand and catch and do all those coordinated things that amaze. If he wants to, I think he's going to be a great athlete. But who knows if he'll want to?

I know he's going to struggle with the new baby situation seeing as how my lap is 2/3rds his most of the time. He isn't a momma's boy, he just likes having access to me. And I lap up the attention of course. How can it not be gratifying to have a kid really prefer you. He has had the most nightmares and night terrors and so I've felt more concern about what he's scared of than the others. I think that even though he's a leader at play with his siblings, he's going to struggle with new situations like school and making friends. But I'm sure that if he's given a chance people will love him to death like I do.

And that's my little cowboy. He's the sensitive, suspicious, kind, funny, imaginative, athletic tough guy!