how to unravel the question

Jack said to Lucy in a big, scary voice, "Lucy, your fur is so soft!"
Then he turned to me and said, is that a mean word?
And I was totally thrown off because I knew I had to explain that dogs understand tone, not necessarily the words, so even though what he was saying was nice, Lucy might thing it was mean.
And then I started realizing that I DON'T really know how a dog's mind works, and what they recognize and what they don't and I didn't want to give Jack wrong information until I had a chance to look it up. Wow.
Anyway, I sort of stumbled through it, trying to put it in terms that we've used before when discussing what are nice things to say and what aren't, but I don't think I gave a very good explanation.

recent pictures

water----Jack at the Academy looking at the Banner Fish and in the bath with bubbles

music

Jack and I have started debating what music we are going to listen to in the car. I know this will continue until he gets his own car.

The Legend of Santa Claus according to Jack

In the car today Jack asked me "where is Santa Clause now?" so I gave him a few of the details and this is what he pieced together.:

There are two very good friends named Santa and Santa Claus, they are both very old men. Santa is almost as old as Santa Claus.

They live at the North Pole which is at the very tippy top of Ponterpanty Mountain (ed. note: for those of you without toddlers, this is a Fireman Sam video reference) which is at the very tippy top of the planet Earth where the polar bears and arctic foxes live (ed. note: as seen in Your Big Backyard magazine).

AND THEN! the firefighters go and drive up to the top of Ponterpanty Mountain to rescue Santa and Santa Clause and bring them to the (our) Orange House.

On St. Nicholas day Santa and Santa Claus bring us treats like stickers and firetrucks and put them in our shoes. Then they hang around and play with blocks and read stories and sometimes they go to the coffee shop to see the police men.

AND THEN! On Christmas day they bring presents to the Orange House and so does Grandma and so does Nana and so do Nancy and Sean and Mama and Papa but they are all very quiet.

Then the firemen pick them up and take them back to the top of Ponterpanty Mountain where they rest their bodies a little bit and have a snack.

finding his stance

Lately, like maybe in the past couple weeks, Jack has begun trying out putting his hands on his hips when he is trying to sound and look serious about what he is saying. He puts his balled up little fists on his waist and then they sort of slide down as he forgets they are there. Then he looks down and sort of cocks his head sideways and puts his fist back on his fist.
It is really hard not to laugh when he is doing this and it's obviously so important that we don't because Jack is really upset at these moments and wanting to be heard and taken seriously.
It's completely adorable.

very steep mountain

Jack has begun multiple drawings of "very steep mountains". The best part about it is watching his face as he concentrates very hard to close the circles at the end.