And update about J

He's growing like a weed - literally. He's grown over two inches since May. His pants no longer drag the ground. In fact, now we have to be on the look out for them getting too short. As he's grown, he's thinned out a bit. That is a relief to his chunky mother, who is worried he will always struggle with his weight too. Here hoping he has is papa's skinny genes in there somewhere!

He love music. All kinds. Right now he's into Christmas Carols, trying to memorized the words to Hark the Herald Angels Sing - we listened to Christmas Carols while doing art last Sunday after church.

He's gone from springing out of bed and jumping into his beloved shower to grumbling and dragging out of bed and trying to talk us out of making him take a morning shower. Sometimes he wins on that.

But, he still likes to cuddle in bed with one or the other of his parents - gets down right angry if he doesn't get his nightly "cuddle time." And when that stops, I think we will really miss it.

He struggles with the loss of Bo, a bit more than I expected. Yet, it's good for him in that it has opened up conversations about faith and death and heaven and loss. Those are conversations that need to take place as he grows, as painful as it is to have them sometimes.

He's kind. If another child is sad or in trouble, he's right there rubbing their back and saying soothing words. We've seen this at school, at football games and with friends and family at home. Pretty cool.

He's learning responsibility - his mean old parents are making sure of that. Last night he forgot his Latin Vocabulary list at school, so we made him call a school mate and get the list by phone. It was sort of cool to listen to he and his friend chatting as he got the list.

I asked him yesterday which he enjoyed more - baseball or football. He said he really likes baseball, but since football is more active, he prefers that. Then, he skipped across the parking lot in a way that emphasized that his legs are getting long and he can bounce very high in his skipping.

He'll still give me a hug in public and tell me that he loves me, but last week for the first time he turned his head when I tried to kiss him goodbye at school.

He's all boy. He's trying to be a man in so many ways. He's adorable and handsome all at the same time. He's almost nine, and things are changing faster than I can keep up.