"Action Stations, Team!"

This is Jacob right now, in the thick of it. He's really going all out. "Scrambler to Benny (assigns some random job), over and out." Lately he's been getting complex and mixing scenes from Bob the Builder with scenes from the Gilmore Girls. There's a part he loves where Lorelai is about to open her new inn but the doors aren't there yet so she has an elaborate conversation about it with the contractor, Tom. So it's not uncommon now for Tom and the machines to interact in Jacob's world.

The twins are here for a while today and I think this is what is causing Jacob to revert to his little world. I don't like using the word revert because I don't think it so much a place he goes to out of the need for protection, rather it's beginning to seem to me that it's a little like showing off. The twins aren't that interested in playing Jacob's little games, but he's really not that interested in following them either. That suits me fine because these boys are rough. They are into dominating one and other and leaving trails of messes everywhere they go. Everyone's outside now having a snowball fight. I'm impressed at the way the older boys are handling Jacob. They're involving him when he shows interest in participating, yet they are being gentle with him, and not in a patronizing way.

The other night we went to an old friend's house to catch up and there were three other boys there between a few months older and over two years older. These boys like to throw things off the top bunk, compare whose farts are smellier, get themselves into places no child should be crammed, and run down their little sisters anytime the girls get in the path of destruction. I realized that Jacob is not as crazy as I have beent thinking he is. I should be worried that their behavior would rub off on Jacob, but I'm actually more concerned that these boys are going to be the type who grow up to bully my sensitive kid. It's always so weird to see Jacob slip back into himself, like a turtle would into its protective shell, because Jacob is mostly around girls nowadays. He will strut around doing his man work in front of the girls, and although I can't really call it extroverted, it's not the same as when he's around 'big' boys or certain aggressive girls. It's more like an aggressive introversion.

I'm liking that he's getting all this exposure to tough boys though. I don't want it to be a shock to Jacob when he first meets one in the real world. I feel like it will help to balance his personality. For now it's just nice that he still needs me, and be visibly needy in front of other boys. He can call me 'Mommy' and let me come over to fix his mittens or kiss his battle wounds.