Winning Hearts

Our next-door neighbors are the closest things to grandparents our kids have in Texas. They love our kids and the kids love them. When Jack was about Ben and Lauren's age we moved to Texas. Jan and Paul brought a homemade pie the day we were moving in. They immediately fell in love with Jack. Shortly after meeting they started taking Jack for 45-minute walks every morning. They even bought a new stroller this March "for Jack's birthday" with a steering wheel, honking horn and music. They brought it over on his birthday with a giant bow attached. They bring gifts for the kids for every holiday and when they go on vacation or business trips they bring something back for Jack. When Ben and Lauren were born I was concerned that Jack would lose some of their attention, but it seemed like they were able to come up with even more love and attention for Jack. They don’t seem interested in babies. Recently, Ben has been winning Ms. Jan and Mr. Paul's hearts. They invited us over to swim in their pool and have dinner tonight. Ms. Jan made her family's traditional blue Jell-O with colored marshmallows on top. It looked God awful to me, but Ben was just in heaven. He was covered in the sticky blue syrup and kept asking for more. Ms. Jan just grinned ear to ear as he gobbled the blue Jell-O goodness. She said she couldn't wait to call her kids (they have 7 kids between the two of them) and tell them that the blue Jell-O tradition lives on in her "Texas Kids". Mr. Paul talks like Donald Duck and Scooby Doo, the kids just eat it up. For several months Jack was telling people that he lived at 1122 Boogie Woogie Avenue just like Scooby Doo. Now, Ben tries to imitate Mr. Paul when he talks like Donald Duck. They say bye-bye to each other over and over again. Ben is just so darn lovable right now! I think that Benny is going to be giving Jack a run for his money. Ben even tried to climb into the stroller last week before Jack got to the door. Ms. Jan called yesterday hoping to sneak Ben out on a walk but he was napping. I think this just might be the first girl that Ben and Jack fight over!