two by two

Watching Sam and Julia become the best of friends brings Brian and I such joy. He and I will look over their heads sometimes and smile at each other as the two of them work together to construct a train track or build a tower. The kids like to hold hands and spin in circles when we have family dance time in the living room. Those giggles are priceless. They are happy to hold hands (most of the time) when we're going for a walk.


Hand holding is over as soon as Julia sees a potential friend. "HI!!!!!" she shrieks across the field and runs to meet a neighbor girl. All is fine and dandy. The girl was friendly and we all wandered closer to where her dad was waiting near her house. And then it when downhill. Conor managed to get out of the house and found us 100 yards from home. So there I was with a 30 pound toddler who wouldn't come home willingly and a 40 pound dog without a collar to securely return home. Thankfully the dad of the little girl had a leash we could borrow.


Every day since we pulled his dump trucks out he's been begging to play with them.



Good thing we scored two of them at garage sales last year because Julia insists on keeping up with her big brother. "JoJo!! JoJo!!! JoJo!!!" she calls anytime she sees Sammy do just about anything.


He has his moments, but most of the time Sam is a great big brother. He's affectionate, kind, thoughtful, and helpful. He's getting so grown up at 3 1/2.