Our two smarty-pants

Jonathan is having a great time with Legos these days. He got a set that includes pieces with wheels and other car parts, and he carefully constructs complex vehicles. These are the big-boy Legos, not the chunky Duplo blocks. Last night he came running downstairs to show off his latest design. It is a truck with a place to sit, a big part that doesn't do anything, and a chopper for cutting down trees in the road. Its name? Interjuice Stevensville Hartford. Really.

Alex isn't quite at the same level verbally, but he's doing pretty well for his age. He really enjoys coloring, but only with the special crayons Grandma bought that have plastic protective sheaths. As far as the regular crayons go, he much prefers carefully stripping off the paper. We have cups full of naked crayons, and nobody can tell blue-green from green-blue with the labels gone. But the plastic crayons are sturdy and he enjoys scribbling. In a surprising development, he knows most of his colors! He shouts "Boo! Boo!" and picks up the blue crayon. He also knows pink, red, "peppa" and green.

Jonathan's coloring has really taken off. After months of formless scribble, I was starting to worry that he drew like a serial killer. Grandma was quite surprised during her visit to Jonathan's classroom, when he announced he would draw her a picture. A few minutes later, he'd produced a house with a door, and five people with heads, eyes, legs and feet! Now we get a picture of a truck sent home each week in his folder. If he becomes motivated to write down the names, he'll be writing fluently by the end of the school year.