I wanted to do a post on Jared and second borns, since it seems that he gets forgotten sometimes. He's not the firstborn, who hits all the milestones first and is the "leader," and he's not the baby, who gets alot of attention. Being a second born myself, I can understand what it's like to be a middle child. I really have to work hard at being a leader, since my whole childhood was spent following in my brother's shadow (which wasn't a bad place to be, since he was such a good example most of the time. The times that he wasn't, I took note and learned from his mistakes... but that's another post in itself :) )
I'm such a good follower - you tell me what to do and I'm there. I'm loyal, obedient, and somewhat stubborn (or determined as my mom says) to accomplish whatever I'm "told" or asked to do. What I struggle with is taking the initiative and being a leader. My dad could especially tell you about this weakness I had growing up. He was always encouraging me to be a leader in sports and school. And he would always tell me that I am a leader, but I just seemed to be "wired" to be a follower. I didn't want to be a leader, but I knew I had the potential to be. I think I still have "scars" from this internal struggle, because it still doesn't come naturally.
When a third born comes along, you're stuck in the middle. You're not the leader, but you're not the baby. You just go along for the ride, you're the helper, and sometimes you just get in the way. You have to be fairly independent and adaptable - you just don't get one on one attention very often. And I don't like change, but I am highly adaptable and I get along well with others. At the same time, I think second borns often get spoken for as well, and we just look to the "leader" for what we think, say, and do. (Luckily, I developed some leadership and other qualities from being the oldest girl and having 3 younger sisters. This helped me be responsible and reliable in helping out with whatever needed to be done. Being a second born of 5 is probably quite a bit different than a second born of 2 or 3.)
Anyway, I have seen several of these qualities in Jared too. He's an easy going kid, although I have seen his frustration when he's supposed to "give in." He's a great follower, a good helper, quite independent, but at the same time he relies on Nathan so much for what to do. Nathan often answers for him, and he doesn't know what to do when Nathan is not around. This picture was taken shortly after Nathan went back to school. Jared was just leaning over the toybox, and just didn't know what to do with himself.
I know that he doesn't get a lot of attention during the day because of Owen. I'm trying to work on giving him one on one time and making sure that he feels loved and important. At least I feel like I understand Jared in many ways. Here's a few fun pictures of Jared:
He can be quite a bear in the morning - just like mom. Let us get warmed up before you even attempt to communicate with us. Jared's a deep sleeper and can also fall asleep in the middle of a video or just about anywhere (that's another post).
He's got a sweet tooth (like me) - bring on the cookies and ice cream...
Being a ham...showing his muscles.
Playing with Big O in his fort...
He likes being outside and likes ladybugs, butterflies, and caterpillars.
He squashes the other bugs and spiders.
We love Jared!
The boys went to Halloween festivities on 3 different nights this week - downtown festival, trick or treating with friends, and church trunk or treat (we were all worn out by today so we bummed out on the festivities tonight). They got quite the stash...
The trunk or treat activity was also a chili cook-off. Apparently I make a tasty chili, because I won first prize (for the 2nd year in a row, with different judges!). We decided we should move so that someone else has a chance to win next year... :) Chili wasn't the only part of the competition - I loved the baked potato soup and the pinto bean fudge and chocolate balls. (They don't taste like pinto beans). The pinto bean recipes were part of the food storage competition, in which people brought samples of creative ways to use their food storage. 
