ABCs and 123s

I don't have any new photos to publish today but I did want to let certain people know (mom) that I have loaded all of the photos from the blog, plus some, on to the Snapfish account :-)

I wanted to share a couple of cute things the boys did yesterday. I don't know if it's just the stage he's in or the great teacher Micah has (probably both) but I have noticed that he is a lot more chatty about the things he's learning at school. In the car on the way home he regales me with all the things they talked about or did that day. I've heard about "moo shakes" (They made these in the school kitchen with fruit and milk while they were learning about cows.), Miss 'Ola Swamp (Miss Nelson is Missing! is a great book.), and yesterday, about how we get milk from cows, eggs from hens, and meat from pigs and there were three kinds--bacon, pork chops, and ham. He also explained that he would like it if we could get some of these pork chops and try them for dinner sometime. My picky 4-yr-old said that he would like to try pork chops. Yes, folks. He expressed interest in eating a meat that isn't encased in some kind of breading and/or fried. This is a breakthrough! Now, I don't think he really understands that we're actually eating the pig when we eat pork; I think he's under the impression that we get the meat from pigs like we get milk from cows. But hey, I'm not going to break that to him just yet. Not at least until he's put a little of that meat on his bones! When he's talking about these things, I can't always understand what he's trying to say since sometimes the word he uses isn't quite the right word he wants. But since his teacher tells us what units they are studying each week, we can usually guess after a few questions.

Jacob does not want to be outdone by Micah on the learning front. He points to everything and asks, in a very inquisitive tone, what it is. He uses a bunch of nonsensical words to get this point across but he loves to imitate words after you say them and you can see him really trying to let it all sink in. This morning he surprised me. I had been buying these snack bars for toddlers that were his favorite things for awhile but I haven't bought them for a month or two. Well, we were cleaning under the couch cushion and came across one of these wrappers, which I put on the table. Jacob found it and began to crinkle it up in his hand. He held it up to me with a question on his face and said "nak ar". You should have seen the grin on his face when I told him that was right! I've been teaching him to pet the kitty gently since he likes to haul off and swat her, and yesterday he walked over to her and began petting her gingerly with one finger. After a few praises, he bent down and kissed her on the back. He would have gone on with the kisses, but since we're not sure whether he is allergic, and everything sticks to his runny nose, I had to put a stop to that or he would have ended up with a mouth full of cat hair.

It's still amazing to me the process that people go through to learn things. Even though we've already been through the process with Micah, I love watching Jacob learn new words and new ways to express his desires. And I love watching the world open up before Micah as he begins to learn all those bits of knowledge a person acquires through school and life experience. I know someday soon he will come home and talk to me about things I didn't know before. He already asks me questions I don't know the answers to.