Jacob is starting to get funnier and funnier. His new thing right now that he thinks is sooo funny is kissing. He will lean up right next to my face and make kissing sounds and when I say, "You gonna give me a kiss?" he acts like he's going to kiss me and just before he reaches my face, starts shaking his head no and laughing. Then he does the same thing over and over, pretending he's going to kiss me and stopping just before he does, laughing and shaking his head.

He's so snuggly. He will just come up to me during the day and give me the biggest, strongest squeeze around my neck and a kiss on the cheek...then run off and continue whatever he was doing. Makes my heart melt.

Rebekah's has been contemplating a lot lately about what kind of work she's going to do when she grows up. She will, out of the blue, tell me something she's decided she wants to be. First it was a zookeeper. Then it was a farmer. Then it was a "cooker." Yesterday, as we were driving in the care, she told me, "Mommy, I know what I want to do when I go to work. I want to work in the field. A corn field. And pick corn. Lots of corn. Cause I looooove corn."

First manicure/pedicure that she did all by herself.

First ballet class

Wearing her "tutu" (and "it's pink, my FAVORITE color!)
















































































Too tired after class to have her picture made.





First fat lip...from running around the house in her slippery ballet tights.

Rebekah's First Day of School











Jacob didn't want her to leave.










She was very animated when I picked her up....so excited about going to school. She keeps telling me that when she is five years old she's going to ride the school bus "Because that's what five year olds do."

She walked to her class confidently this morning and unpacked her backpack and put her folder where it went and set out to play. She hardly looked up when I said goodbye...didn't seem to care!

When I came to pick her up, she was on the playground. It was so precious seeing my curly haired little girl running around on the playground jumping and sliding down the slide..oblivious that I was watching her.

Jacob was looking all over for her while she was at school. He kept saying, "Shssss? Shsss?" (Sis?) and pointing to her car seat. He picked out a princess coloring book for her and gave it to her when she got home.
I asked Rebekah how she like her teachers. She liked them, but she commented, "My teacher's hair looks funny on her head, though. The way it lays on her head." Hmm.... hopefully she won't tell her teacher that!

R: Mommy, I'm thinking of an animal that starts with a /wr/ sound!

Mommy: Hmm.... (what starts w/ a wr?)

R: It lives at the zoo and says "ooo ahh ooo ahh!"

Mommy: I give up.

R: A Wrangatang!

Rebekah started ballet yesterday. She waiting in anticipation all day long. She spent most of the day drawing pictures for her "ballet party" and her "new friends" she was going to make. I told her there would be lots of other little girls her age in her class. She was a bit confused, though, and said, "Yes, mommy, but there will be two boys, too, don't forget."

Umm, okay...and how do you know that? "Because, Mommy, that's what it is on Barney."

I guess it was good there was one little boy in her class, otherwise she probably would have thought Barney was a total fake. (And I honestly can't remember letting her watch Barney. Sesame street yes, Barney, no...too annoying.)

She walked right into her class and sat on her mat like a pro. So many little girls were scared and shy and didn't want their mommies to leave, but I think Rebekah forgot I was there the moment we entered the parking lot. She wouldn't even hold my hand going in the building. Yes, she is growing up.

It was so cute watching her prance around. She was glowing and laughing and giggling and having so much fun. When I wasn't chasing Jacob around the lobby and keeping him from running in the other classrooms, I was gazing through the window at my big four year old wondering, where did that timid little red headed girl of mine go? She has grown up. So, so fast.

I have a few pictures. On my cell phone because my camera battery decided that Rebekah's first ever ballet class of her whole entire life was a great time to die.

This morning, Jacob came walking out of his room, closed the door, and just before he shut it, peeked through the crack and whispered "Shhh...." with his fingers over his lips. Then he shut the door. Then, he paused a second, opened the door a crack and said "Shhhhh" again, a little louder, shut the door and walked away.

I peeked in his room later and saw he had put a baby doll to bed. I guess he changed it's diaper, too, because there were some wipes in the bed, too.