Mason has an interesting personality, which we're trying to decode. Sometimes he is so nice that it's almost shocking. Other times he has rages that are so terrifying that we end up locking ourselves in the bathroom until the storm passes. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but maybe not. For example, during church yesterday Emilie gave Mason some Smarties to help entertain him through the meeting. (For you Canadians, I'm referring to the delicious Smarties and not the nasty Smarties.) He dropped one on the floor, at which point I encouraged him to go pick it up since I thought he would not want it to go to waste (yes, I encourage my kids to eat off the floor ALL THE TIME). Something about this suggestion set him off and he started freaking out. When he starts freaking out he becomes quite unruly. He tried throwing the remaining candies in protest. When he gets like this you could offer him candy, soda, popsicles or anything else you want and he'll just throw it and start screaming in a fit of rebellion. If he gets mad enough his face will turn purple with rage. You have to just let him settle down on his own and then he'll pick up the candy off the floor and work out his problems himself. He does this type of thing at least once every week or two.

Adversely, he can be a very loving and nice brother. For example, while Emilie was in San Francisco with her family I was home wrangling children. Jaxon was outside playing and Chase and Mason came inside to beg for Otter Pops. I gave a "pop" to Mason (as he calls it) and he promptly ran back outside. He came back in about 15 seconds later asking for another one. I assumed he had dropped it in the dirt and wanted a new one so I went outside to figure out what happened. As soon as I got to the porch I saw that Mason had taken his Otter Pop outside to give it to Jaxon and then came back in to get one for himself.

He also likes to take things away from other people. Namely, whatever anyone is playing with. Poor Jaxon is probably horribly confused by Mason's constantly taking and giving. Welcome to life, Jaxon.