Neal

Neal, born January 3, 2005, is very different from his older brother. Neal is very stubborn. Ben doesn't eat much, claiming that he doesn't like the food, but Neal will eat a ton as long as it was his idea. If you try to talk him into it, he won't eat a thing. Same thing with talking -- Neal can say quite a lot if he wants to, but if you ask him to talk, he's silent. The other day he wanted to play with cars, and so he pointed at the car bag. I asked him to say "open, please," but rather than comply with the request, he changed his mind about the cars and pointed at the books. I asked him to say "book, please," and he just got mad.

Neal loves animals. He enjoys giving hugs to the dog. Of course, he also likes wrestling the dog and head-butting it, but I think he's just playing. Neal wasn't much of a TV watcher until recently. He saw the Teletubbies for the first time and really liked them. Then he saw a Piglet movie, and now when Ben's watching something he likes, Neal will point at the TV and say, "Pooh" in a very plaintive voice.

Neal does great in Nursery now. He just needs a few minutes to acclimatize, and then he'll point at the door and tell me to go. He has been saying prayers, too, which he enjoys. I'm not sure he likes Sacrament Meeting, though. He has figured out that if he says he has to go to the bathroom, we'll take him on a walk in the hallway. This Sunday he left three times.

Vacuuming ("gauk," as he says) is Neal's favorite activity, but he'll do any kind of cleaning. He'd also drop anything for a chance to go outside. What he enjoys most, though, is copying whatever Ben is doing. Last night at dinner he carefully watched every bite Ben took and made sure he ate exactly the same thing and took drinks at the same time.