Four Little Boys

Every once in a while J and I will look at each other in amazement and wonder in unison how my Mom managed to do it.

We had Silas and Roland over this morning, so there were four little boys in our house. It was pretty exciting. I feel like I don't know Roland at all, so I couldn't wait to hold him and play with him for a bit. I knew that Silas would have a good time with James, and Owen would just love everybody.

And that's pretty much how it went down. I'm not sure that Roland had a great time. I don't think he had a terrible time, but he wouldn't have many nice things to say about me or J. I think the nicest thing he could say about his Uncle Roy--who is NOT his Daddy, by the way--is good at walking in circles and bouncing.

Silas was an angel. He was polite and articulate, and he put up with a lot from his cousins. We looked at my globe, played drums, used flashlights to explore under the couch, and had a snack.

James was antisocial for most of the visit. He gets way overprotective about his stuff sometimes when new people show up to the house, so he spent the first hour curled up on the couch ignoring all attempts at human contact reassuring his toys that no one would get them. Eventually I picked him up and dragged him into the library, then put his toy cars up on a high shelf where "no one could get them." He still wasn't terribly involved with the newcomers, but at least he played some drums.

Owen was as possessive as I've ever seen him. For about the first ten minutes he thought Roland was a wonderful novelty. I think some fear about his keeping him forever kicked in at that point, and he wanted to be held by whoever was holding Roland. He also needed to assert his ownership of whatever Silas was touching, and Silas, being the sweet boy that he is, usually obliged.

They all did a little better after snacks.

There was music and dancing. There was trumpet playing and then attempted trumpet playing. There were goldfish crackers and dump trucks and fire trucks and lots of running in laps. Oh, and stories. Lots of stories about animals and the sounds they make. The three oldest ones are at a good stage to read together, because James can recite most of the books from memory, Silas can provide the animal sounds, and Owen can turn the pages. They make a good team.

Both of our kids took really good naps this afternoon.

Each one can say "George"

Meeting over snack

Waiting for a minivan to appear