Thank you

I received some great advice and books on building self confidence in children. But my brother gave me the best advice of all. He told me that Jack is a boy, and boys gets their self confidence through personal acheivment. He told me that Eric and I can tell him how great he is all day long, but that is only part of the equation.....his personal accomplishments are the only way he will ever believe it. Girls get there security and self esteem from words of affirmation, love, feeling desirable and wanted, and personal relationships. I already know this because I am a girl, and I know that the love in my life is where I've gained my own confidence. But Joe brought me the male perspective on this very real issue. And I feel better. I now know my role in this, and I know what I need to do. I need to get off my lazy rear end, stop putting it off, and actively find an activity to sign Jack up for that will set him up for success. In time, and no one knows how long, he will acheive things little by little, and build up the confidence that he needs. Not because I tell him how good he did, but because of how good he is actually doing at a task. It must be earned for a man, or it's not real. And of course, prayer. The ultimate giver loves to give to His children! Thanks for the advice, and book suggestions. :)

Hide and Seek Cuteness

Jack followed me around the house for 2 hours the other day while I tried to do some house work. He told me stories and asked me a million question about "stuff". Finally he said he was bored and spent a half hour begging me to play with him. He said he wanted to play hide and seek, so I agreed. I looked and looked for him and couldn't find him anywhere. Since I had just cleaned my bathroom, I walked in and noticed that my dirty clothes hamper had a pile of clothes laying next to it. He didn't try to cover his tracks one bit. He threw those clothes on the floor and hopped in the hamper. When I found him, he asked me "How did you know where I was?" I told him the clothes on the floor were a dead giveaway. He looked at me with the cutest look and said, "Oh....I stand corrected," (with his finger pointed to the ceiling). :)

Jumping Jack

He did this for over an hour last night. He ran from one side of the kitchen to another, jumped onto the beanbag, ran to my camera to look at the picture, and then back to do it all again. He even broke out the stool and the chair for a "diffwent kind of action shot". An hour is a long time for that kind of movement. I'm not sure where all that energy came from, but it was hysterical to watch. He LOVES the way it looks to see himself floating in the air like this. He laughed so hard when I told him he looked like crouching tiger hidden dragon, even though he has no idea who that is. I got over 4o pictures of him doing this. It was hard to choose which ones to put in the collage.