19

Xander's birthday.

This weekend Jack went to his first birthday party. It was to celebrate his favorite friend at school, Xander. We took him to the store to pick out his gift and drilled into him that the gift was for his friend -- not him. We were scared he would try to open the gift, and take the gift home. Truthfully, we bought him a similar item so he wouldn't feel bad. The party was three and half hours long and included three 3-year-olds and Jack, a 2+ year old. They basically ran and screamed all day. We thought we'd be able to leave him there but he quickly told us not to and to sit in the corner and not interrupt him. (Nice, eh?) I can happily say the gift opening went well. He was excited to play with all the toys but didn't open any. However, when they brought the cake out, he blew out the candles. He was so excited, so geared up, he just blew them out. Honestly, if the tables were turned, I would be mad at the kid who did that. But Xander's mom took it in stride. (We were very embarrassed. I hadn't even thought to prep him on that!)

Just being honest.

Jack is on strike from naps. That's no big deal, nothing new. But he gets a little uptight in the afternoon when he goes napless. Yesterday I picked him up from school to witness him get frustrated with George, the new kid. I knew he didn't really like him. When I asked why he didn't play with George he told me he doesn't have cars. Apparently, George doesn't bring toys to school to play with at free time and instead is grabby with everyone else's toys. And he's whiney.

So, his teacher told me that Jack was giving George a hard time. I was worried. I asked her what she did. She said she pulled him aside and asked him why.

And with all seriousness, he shrugged his shoulder and said, "I just don't like him."

She said she had to laugh because he was being 100 percent honest. She had another teacher ask him what was wrong. Again he said matter-of-factly, "I don't like him."

The teacher took the high road. She told him that she didn't expect him to like everyone but he did need to be respectful of other people. With that he said, "I know, but it's hard."

He's 2. He's busy. He's not going to waste his time with people he doesn't like.

I had really, really hoped he would be more laid back about people, more like his dad.