jackson really looks older than 12, and i love how he's trying
to smile a bit (at my request) since i said this picture was
going to be for rowan's scrapbook. it was rowan's birthday
and she's in one of her many fancy dresses and she just adores jack. they are both growing up far, far too fast.

my relationships with my brothers seems a world apart from the ones my kids have. first, i was 6 years younger than rob, 7.5 years less than brent, and 11 years younger than scott. they moved in a sphere of reference almost completely segregated from my own. although the difference between rowan and jackson is 8.5 years, they have spent far more time together--even with jackson spending about half his time at his dad's.

i love how different my kids are. jackson is constantly looking for ways to get around, over, or under the rulebook--and rowan sees it as her duty in life to lead him back to thew path of righteousness in all things. he's shrewd and acerbically funny and smart in an out of the box kind of way, as stubborn and as strong as an ox, and she's always working for harmony and making connections and making compromises and dramatizing, and giving affection and love. they are both bound for happy lives but they are, as this picture shows so well, like light and dark sometimes. the interaction with someone so different has to be good for them both.