Super Sweet Things

John and his friends (this one is Gabe) loooooovvvve to dress up, so I keep all of John's old Halloween costumes (and a few random dress up things like pirate hats and a "knight in shimy armour" - he doesn't say that anymore) in his closet. He and Gabe do well because they can both fit into all of the costumes, although who gets to be Spiderman is a frequent source of temporary contention. On this day, I convinced John that it really is nice to let your friends choose first, thus Gabe became Spider-Gabe. When Gabe wears this costume, he makes his hands into little web-slingers and jumps around yelling, "Web at-cha! Web at-cha!" I love it...  Anyway, I don't know what they were saying to me here...probably telling me I wasn't allowed to use flash photography at the Hall of Justice and had to leave.

Last week, Ben's super-encouraging, awesome developmental therapist, Miss Laurie, thought he might like to try painting, but since he was already holding John's new markers when she arrived, we tried that first. He is "standing" in his stander, a hulking but somehow cute piece of equipment we just received a couple of weeks ago. It forces him to stand and bear weight all the way down into his feet and ankles, and it is already making a difference in how much weight he can bear on his legs without its assistance. My point here is supposed to be... Look how much fun he had with those markers! He was pretty fascinated with his artistic abilities! We decided to sign and date it for him, proclaiming it his first work of art!

Last night, I was just getting ready to read John one more book when Landy brought Ben in to say goodnight. It just seemed like one of those nights when Ben might like to cuddle in his big brother's bed, so we made a little room and they had some brother time. Soon it became clear that nobody wanted to hear Over in the Meadow, as John must have been telling Ben a bedtime story about Spiderman and the Transformers. I wonder if John will start telling Ben stories about Lightning Bolt, the dinosaur who would come to our house and play soccer and spend the night and always have a snack of safe rice krispie treats and soy milk (sad, I know). I had to make up more stories about that dinosaur! Well, I'll gladly step aside for either of them if they want to hang out together, because this....

...this is what I've always dreamed about John and Ben being for each other.

And have you ever seen a child so happy about getting his nails clipped 30 minutes past his bedtime???