Effects of Older Siblings

I took a big dive into Christmas shopping over the weekend and feel confident with my start.  While I struggle a bit with things that Cole should get for Christmas (since he loves so much of what Will loves), it's still possible to find little things that reflect his taste.

However, it is funny when I'm debating about a gift for him and realize the package says age 6+.  Uhhh...yeah, he is so past the 18-month+ type toys that this is the reality.  More reality is when he giggles at Tom and Jerry which is new in our household in the past 6 months to a year, or dances to the High School Musical with some killer moves, or rides in a battery powered monster truck.

The kicker was tonight when I was doing dinner dishes.  I keep a doubled rubber band on the knobs of the pantry cabinet - mainly to avoid the constant "inventory" habit he had.  Tonight I watched him walk up to it, take the rubber band off, grab his after-dinner snack of choice, and put the rubber band back on (which is what Paige and Will do when they get things for themselves).  Who, exactly, is the 18-month old securing the pantry from?  Right.  No longer effective. 

I'm not complaining.  I think it's a riot.  I loved this phase of Will, too - when he joined the big kids as if he SO belonged there.  Here's the crew during "leaf day" at Grandma and Grandpa's:

Thanks for the opinions on my blog layout.  It's going to stay like this, even though I find it a bit blah.  At least I think it will stay like this.  I don't know, maybe not.