Just Like Me

Jayce is a lot like his father.

I think I have shared several examples of this on here before, the most recent and (and comical) one is his heightened frustration when seemingly easy tasks present some difficulty.  For example: Jayce is pushing his lawnmower outside.  He can't push it any further because one of the wheels get stuck in a small hole in the grass. Jayce lifts the lawnmower up over his head and throws it a few feet in front of him.  The rage is slightly disproportionate.

Chris has been known to do this as well, (not throw the lawnmower, though he has wanted to), but his more often surround things like finding studs and putting nail anchors in the wall.  There is no object throwing, but again the rage is disproportionate.  Which is why, in moments like the lawnmower throwing incident, Chris has more patience with Jayce than I, and will take him aside to talk to him about what happened and try to reason with him a bit.  They have lots of conversations like this, "I know that it's frustrating when the tower you are building falls over, but it's not okay to throw your blocks across the room."

We were sharing some of these examples with Justin and Tasha a few months ago, and then said, "There are plenty of things that he does that are just like Erin too,"  but on the spot we couldn't think of any of them.

But in the last week, I've had 3 examples pop up that I had to write down to remember.

1.) Jayce is antagonistic and ornery.  But in a fun way, not a rotten way.  Just like his mom. :)

Jayce and Chris make cookies together quite often.  We buy the break-n-bake chocolate chip cookies, and after dinner a few days a week, Chris and Jayce become the cookie chefs.

Chris cuts off a piece of dough, passes it to Jayce, who removes a chocolate chip from each one to pop in his mouth, and then places it on the baking sheet.  Chris reaches over periodically and rearranges the cookies so that they are evenly spaced and won't overlap as they cook.

But every once in a while, Jayce will wait until Chris' back is turned, grab a few of the evenly spaced cookies, smash them together and then run away.  Chris then has to separate and re-space them, and then chases Jayce down. I think it's hilarious.

2.) He seems to be a gift giver.

A few times a week, Jayce will wrap up something in a napkin, dish towel, or occasionally in his shirt, and present it to me.  He'll run over and say, "Mo-om, I have a present for you," and then watch with a huge grin, often jumping up and down as I unwrap one of his toys, or my chap stick or some other random thing that has suddenly become a treasure.  It makes me smile every time because I am a total gift giver, (5 Love Languages, anyone?), known for stashing little surprises in Chris' bags when he travels, spending entirely too much time and energy picking out the perfect presents for Christmas and birthdays, and am honestly more excited to watch people open their gifts than to open my own.  I'm thinking my boy might have acquired this from me.  (Maybe not, but I'm claiming this for now.)

3.) He's a little photographer.

This week Jayce found an old toy camera and came running into the room where Chris and I were talking.  At least, we were trying to, but Jayce kept saying, "Mom, I take your picture.  Mom, cheese!  Cheese! Cheese!" he prompted.  He then took a few steps back and started taking more pictures, which made me giggle.  Finally, he stepped back and said, "Mom, I take your picture then I give you a present."  Oops.  Chris and I had a good laugh over that one.  I would like to claim that he has never heard that from me, but it just isn't the case.

Jayce was playing with his computer the other day and was so absorbed in it that I couldn't help but get a few pictures of him.  He only let me get a few shots before he requested that I join him, and directed me to lay on my stomach, with my chin in my hands, my legs bent at the knees and kicking the bed with alternating legs as we played, so that I was just like him.  Love this boy.