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A couple good lines by three year old Ryan today:
1.  I made scrambled eggs as part of our supper because Ryan requested "eggs" and this is typically how we eat eggs.  But he didn't want them.  Why you might ask?  Because, "I don't want these eggs.  I would like to eat the shells of eggs after dinosaurs hatch out of them."  
2. About putting his stuff away, "Ryan, you need to do that because you are getting older and adults do that."  Ryan, "But I might shrink and become a baby again.  I cry sometimes so I am still a baby.  I don't want to clean things up."

Other developmental updates:

Meanwhile I am watching the boys Sunday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon on
my spring break while Amy is away with a friend on a "retreat"
sometimes known as a "girls weekend away."   So we had a party last
night and watched Duke (sadly) lose to UNC in the final game of the
regular season.  We moved all the furniture so the the TV was in the
center of the living room, moved all of the couches and chairs around
it.  Then we pulled out all the toys, opened up the sandbox in the
backyard, ate nachos and enjoyed the game while the kids ran wild. 
Good stuff. 

Jacob at 17 mos is obsessed with balls–golf-ball sized marble, soccer ball, and tennis ball.  He is starting to say more, "Dirty"–pronounced "dorty" and Accident–pronounced "Assdent" [no comment] and will try lots of words. 

Did I mention Ryan locks and unlocks doors, can almost use a screwdriver, turns lights on and off, does zippers, goes to the bathroom independently, opens and closes the fridge and gets drinks, opens and closes the shed, climbs ladders, walks on windowsills, screws on lids, and takes exquisite "nurturing" (Amy's word) care of the unfortunately named 'she but a boy" Fanny the Fox beanbag stuffed animal?  He is competent enough–I wonder if we could find him a job.  I had he and Nate and Savannah, the Barkovich twins, paint the back fence today with water and paintbrushes. 

Ryan is really into containers these days.  He puts things in Easter baskets, backpacks, baskets, jars with lids, strollers, dump trucks, boxes, even his pillow-case and carries them around with him.  I used to think he was hoarding toys away from Jacob–but I think it is more related to his developmental stage–exercising his will in ways that organize his world.  (I don't know where he gets it?  Note: my recent post on my regular blog: 23 things to put in your computer bag)  Scary!  My mom often recalls the line when opening gifts at Christmas when I was four, I said about all the new presents, "Where are we going to put all of this stuff?"  I have never been seriously accused of having OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) but I think of administering resources effectively as a major aspect of leadership.  Denial?   🙂

Ryan continues to get put in time-out for using his abilities for anti-Jacob maneuvers and for the occasional defiant disobedience.  Someone told me that discipline is for the purpose of getting the kid's attention–that makes some sense to me.  I also thought today that maybe a worthy definition of parenting is not just preparing children for independence but preparing them to be good when no one is watching.    

Ryan loves melon and orange bell peppers, granola cereal, peanut-butter and honey sandwiches, milk, and chips.

Jacob eats anything everything.