beads, the new babysitter

Different kids like different things: trucks, dolls, trains, sports. And mine happens to like ball tracks and things you can sort. I know this. And yet I am still amazed every time we go somewhere and he wants MORE of these things. How many marble tracks can a person have, after all?

So, we were at IKEA yesterday (for three hours.... whoa) and came upon some beads. Jacob asked for them and my first reaction was, no, we already have a bunch of beads at home. But these were different kinds of beads, he told me. Yes. But what do you want to do with them, I asked. Sort them. I'm a sorting kind of boy, he said. Alright. 

 This was apparently the way to make his week. As soon as he possibly could (which was after a nap), he got his beads out, dumping them into a big bowl so he could see the colours better. These are the beads you can put on little pegboards and then iron together. We played with beads all evening, eventually ironing a heart shape. 

But it gets better.... last night he woke up at three in the morning to go to the bathroom. After this he told me he wanted to go downstairs to play with the beads just for a little bit. Ah, no, sweetie, it's the middle of the night. Just one time, Mommy. No, Jacob. You need to go back to sleep and you can play with them in the morning. Six o'clock rolled around and guess who comes into the room (forty minutes before his clock tells him he's supposed to be up)? All he wanted to do was play with his beads. He said he was going to go downstairs by himself. Okay. Fraser headed down while I was still in bed. Jacob was just sitting in the living room next to his beads, looking at them and "waiting for Mommy." Hahaha.... Fraser told him he could put them into the bowl again, which he then did.

 All morning was bead time (and another ironed heart; I had a minor freak out when Jacob ripped the special covering paper that you put between the beads and your iron, but Jacob came to me with his arms open wide and said, "Let me give you a hug. I'll put some love in you."). We left the house to do some jobs (much to Jacob's disappointment) and came back to do more beading. I got to eat lunch quietly, though, and even read a bit of a book while Jacob was working on his latest project - a square with symmetric coloured lines coming out from the middle row. Since yesterday he has told me numerous times how much he likes his beads and has also called me a "love Mommy" (I think this was when I told him I would iron his first heart...). I am so happy.