I LOVE Boys!

Want to know why?  Because they can easily pee anywhere, anything can be a bathing suit and their hair is, for the most part, low maintenance.  As a parent, I've discovered that my proudest moments these days are truly small things in the grand spectrum of life.  For instance, I wanted to cheer as I watched my 6-month old from my video monitor grab his pacifier and successfully manuever it into his mouth.  No more running into the nursery to "put a plug in it"!  Well, hardly, but we're getting there.  I DID cheer when I came home to find that Jack can now pee standing up without a stool.  Yay!  Want to know his response?  This means I'm big like you now, Daddy.  So the theme of this post is pretty much summed up in the second sentence and it's mostly about Jack because Marshall isn't quite there yet, but there's some bonus Marshall material at the end.

Jack was a dream to potty train.  Don't get me wrong, we still have accidents and I swear he will sleep in a pull-up until he's 25, but for the most part, he's been in underwear since the week after turning 2.  One thing I attribute this to is the ability to truly pee anywhere.  I remember the day it clicked for him was when we were in our back yard and made a game out of him peeing on a tree.  While being potty trained is a necessity and mostly a good thing, there are times I wish he still wore a diaper, so I could avoid those nasty public restrooms.  A few weeks ago, this is what I encountered with him.  I promised him a trip to Target and Dollar Tree after his nap, so as soon as he woke up I made him go potty.  This is a fight these days.  "I don't want to go potty!", "My pee can no come out!", etc.  You name it, he has an excuse for it.  I let it slide (against my better judgement) because his pull-up was wet after his nap and he pottied before his nap, so I thought surely he could hold it if the need came.  On our way to Target just minutes later, he said "When we get to the store, my pee gonna come out and I go to their bathroom."  I guess we have now entered the phase I've been told about where public restrooms are very fascinating to little ones.  Upon entering Dollar Tree, we headed straight for the restroom.  Luckily, it was large enough for Jack, me and the stroller.

Once again this summer we have baby pools for the back yard.  The kid owns 3 pairs of trunks, but almost any afternoon you'll catch him in the pool in just his shorts from that day.  Heck, just last weekend we caught him in the pool with his entire outfit, shoes and all!  If only it were that easy for us girls.  On an extremely hot afternoon at the zoo, he wanted to join in on the sprinkler fun at the new Teton Trek exhibit.  No problem!  Take off the shirt and let him go!

Did I blog about Jack's short haircut back in December?  That time period was such a blur to me that I don't remember, but we did it again.  Actually, we did it back in April, but on Friday his daddy took him for the first time to get a haircut and here's how he returned.

We're getting mixed reviews from our family, but Travis and I love it, so it will most likely stay this way throughout the hot summer.  No fighting him to dry his hair, easier to check for ticks and it makes him look like such a big boy!  We also continue to get mixed reviews on who the kid looks like, but if you are from Paris or you know the Veazey family I think you have to agree that he strongly favors my mom's brothers, Duke and Stan, and also my cousin, C.T. 

I feel like I'm watching these boys grow up right before my eyes.  Now I expected that from Marshall because I remember just how fast development goes in an infant.  It seems that once they hit 6 months, the milestones keep on coming.  But even Jack is changing so much every day.  The kid's imagination has gone wild!  He loves to pretend we have wild animals running throughout our house and he shoots the big, mean ones.  "Mommy, what do you see?", "I see a big buffalo, Jack!", "I gonna shoot it!", "Now I see a buck deer, Jack, shoot it!", "No, him not mean.  Him nice, Mommy."  Just yesterday he was playing outside with water guns, handed me one and said "I a bad man, Mommy, shoot me!"  I see lots of cowboys and indians in this little guy's future!

Now Mr. Marshall is still as happy as he can be.  I've recently caught him trying to get his knees up under him and trying to pull up in his crib.  He's by no means close to either, but just the fact that he's trying has me nervous.  Travis said it best the other day when he said that Jack could take Marshall and roll him in the mud and all Marshall would do is laugh.  He adores his big brother so and big brother is getting much more tolerant of him.  This first picture is actually Jack!  It's the only baby picture I have of him handy and it was taken at a much younger age than the one below of Marshall, but for anyone who doesn't think these two favor, take a second glance.  They are looking more and more alike to me, but still have pretty distinct differences.