Sports

- Jack and I are playing football a lot in the yard these days. He's kind of getting it. He can throw a spiral (er, it's not a regulation football). He can catch some. He used to kind of volleyball it away, and he still does with some, but he's gradually figuring out how to pull it in.

- After playing, we raked leaves. Or I raked leaves, and Jack got a shovel and laboriously lifted piles of them into the yard waste trash can. We finished the back and I was ready to knock off, and he said, "What about the front?" He's a little task master, he is.

- Jack picked up "rock, paper, scissors," from somebody, either his cousins or at school. He wants to play it a lot. Of course Kate's gotten into it, so when Jack and Emily were playing in the kitchen, she stood there eagerly: "Can I play? Can I play?" When they said yes, she said, "OK. I'm going to be scissors." Jack, wise to the game of course, made rock every time.

- Kate didn't listen to Mommy tonight, repeatedly, so she had to go to bed without stories. Naturally, this gross injustice made her cry. Jack soothed her: "It's OK, Kate. OK Kate. It's OK." He petted her hand reassuringly. As I was putting him to bed, he said, "Can I go hug Kate again?"