Keeping up with the cousins

My sister is a vastly superior photographer to me, so when I'm with her and she's taking pictures (which is most of the time I'm with her), I sort of abdicate. Therefore, all of the photo credits for this post goes to Alison, aka Aunt La-la.

Except for this one, which I took of Jack with his grandma on the "whee-whee!"the first night we got into town.



(Notice how my mom's hand in in focus rather than, say, either of their faces. And this was the best one of about 20! This is why I don't bother taking photos when my sister is around.)

Jack L-O-V-E-S his cousins. I don't know if his cousins are nearly as tickled by him as he by them. After all they have each other, plenty of people to play with just in their own house.  They also have a whole other side of the family of cousins. But for Jack, this is it. The big time. And he made the most of it. He followed Thomas around like a little puppy dog, mimicking his every move. If Thomas fell down, Jack fell down. If Thomas ran to one side of the room,  Jack ran to that side of the room. If Thomas shrieked and giggled, Jack shrieked and giggled. If Thomas shoved Jack, Jack shoved right back. Or at least, screamed and flailed his arms really ferociously so as to create more personal space to curb future shovage. I was impressed with how he stood his ground with this older, faster, stronger boy who he so desperately wanted to keep up with. At first I would try to rescue him when I anticipated looming violence, but he let me know pretty quickly that he was not interested in my intervention. This was my first lesson in letting go, sometimes they'd prefer to get hurt than to have you protect them. I can tell that is going to be a challenge that will take a while to master.

So Jack had a wonderful time playing trains and rough-housing with Thomas, shown here splashing most of the water out of the tub while Ava sits serenely by, the very picture of "boys will be boys".



And he enjoyed being taken for rides by his even older cousin Ethan, who is a bit more responsible and rides slowly so that Jack will be nice and safe in the wagon towed behind. (He looks uncertain here but he was having a blast, and long after Ethan lost interest, he kept dragging me over to the wagon and gesticulating wildly for me to put him in it and get on the trike. He seemed unconcerned that I was a bit too large for it.)



He less enjoyed the haircut he got with Thomas, although once they brought out the bubbles he was slightly more tolerant. Still unconvinced that it was a good idea, though, looking at me like "oh mom what on earth have you gotten me into?"



And finally, he very much enjoyed getting to know his "poppa" (or "pop-pop"? it's unclear what exactly he was trying to call his grandpa) and vying for his attention with all his other cousins. Alison already posted this photo on her blog days ago so it is old news by now, but I just couldn't resist because it is so adorable.



Jack misses his cousins already! He wants more cousins. He says, come here cousins! Where did you go?