Charlie near a tender shoot

 My Charlie, 2 and a half years old.

In honor of Mother's Day, and spending a year in a new house, and putting up a shed, and clearing off the screened-in porch, and having Josh's parents visit us for the first time in Florida, Josh and I went to Lowe's and bought some hanging plants for the porch.  We talked about buying a jasmine plant- and had decided that we would wait- and then saw this big, beautiful mandevilla plant.  Impulsively, we bought it and put it in the ground, and then read that it cant survive temperatures under 50 degrees.  Now- that kind of cold is probably a good seven months in our future, but I still feel like this was a poor purchase.  If there are too many pictures of the mandevilla, blame it on its overly sensitive structure. 

Jack, who is 9, and Miles, who is 7.

 This is Jack.  He loves zip-ties and drawing.  He has a best friend named Dan.  He will be 10 in less than a month.  His favorite food is "nutella crepes."  He wants to be an artist.  Or an actor.  He wants to do a lot of different things, all at once. 

 This is Miles.  He is 7- he will be eight in July.  He likes lots of things in general and not so much specifically.  He is a picky eater.  He wants to sleep like a burrito, and never make his bed.  He never has a problem finding a friend to play with on the playground- on any playground.  His best friend is Michael.

These boys seek each other out, and want to play with each other, but at any moment- ANY MOMENT- it might become a violent and loud fight.  What was play one second ago becomes a battle this second.  The worst punishment I can give them is to not let them play with each other.