Listening to Jack part 2

Just a funny conversation I had with Jack this morning. Today is my birthday, and Jack was trying to get his sister to verbalize it.

Jack: Say "Mommy's birthday."

Violet: Mommy bird-day.

Then Violet started saying that she was hungry and that she wanted waffles. I asked her, "Do you want waffles for breakfast?"

Jack: Say "waffles for breakfast," Violet.

Violet: Waffles. Breakfast.

Jack made his trademark face, which I love, where he looks so surprised and impressed with his sister.

And then he said, "Wow! She knows a lot of words! Especially for such a young baby! She's learning so fast. I didn't have a big brother or a big sister, so I don't think I could talk as well as she can when I was her age."

He makes me laugh so much. I feel there are times when Jack has delusions of grandeur. He will tell me, "I'm so glad I'm tall for my age." (He's not. Seriously, he's in the 25th percentile for height, my poor boy.) He has told me, "I'm pretty good at chess. Especially for someone my age." So for him to so cheerfully and offhandedly remark that he thinks his sister is even more advanced than even he thinks he was gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. I feel it's one more sign that he really thinks he plays an integral part in her upbringing. Which of course he does.

I was chatting with a friend of mine today, and we were marveling at how lucky we feel about how good our big boys are with their little sisters. Jack does get into squabbles every now and then with Violet, but it's not nearly the serenity-shattering quarrels that I hear about from other friends with more than one. I don't know if it's the age gap, the fact that they are different genders, the fact that I had the boy first, or just temperament/luck, but I feel so blessed that my children enjoy each other so much.

Case in point: Today I was feeling a little tired after I picked Jack up from preschool. I figured I would take a little liedown and wake up in a few minutes. I set the kids up with a movie and lay down on my bed. I woke to Jack tapping my arm an hour later. I had had a doozy of a nap. It was so nice. Later that evening, we were driving home from a dinner playdate, and Violet was being really rambunctious.

I was musing aloud, "Why is she still awake? She didn't have a nap today, did she?"

Jack heard me, and he said, "Yes, she did!"

I seriously did not remember her napping. I asked him, "She did? When?"

And he said, "On the couch. While we were watching the Elmo movie."

I asked him, "She fell asleep on the couch while you were watching the movie?"

"Yeah!" he said.

Ok. I'm glad someone is watching the baby. And I would wager good money that she only slept because he was with her. She would never fall asleep for me like that. It was honestly the best birthday present either of them could ever have given me.