Greetings from NYC!

We have arrived in Brooklyn for our rather spur-of-the-moment trip to NYC for New Year's... Jack is all tucked in and we are a quietly recovering from a LOOONG day of travel. All I can say is, I dislike the Holland tunnel a great deal. Ugh. Remind me to take the train here next time!

Jack was an absolute angel all day. Really. We ended up only stopping once in our 8 and 1/2 hour drive. Kiddo took a 2 hour nap in the first stretch, made friends at McDonalds and waved at trucks for a bit at our stop around the 230 mile mark through PA, then sat and played, babbled, sang, looked at books, ate snacks, and played peek with us for the next 4 and 1/2 hours without a single complaint. He is a trouper. I think I complained far more than he did, when we encountered the general inability to drive that is Manhattan...

As we were driving I realized that it's been a while since I posted a good, old-fashioned update of Jack's current progress. So, as we have not yet gotten any exciting pics of Jack in NYC, here are some recent accomplishments and changes:
* Tooth number 14 has come through! Jack currently has 2 out of 4 of his incisors in and wow are they pointy... Buckets of drool and continued, sporadic whining indicates that another tooth is on the horizon.
* Jack is a very proficient walker these days. He attempts to walk quickly now, which does not always go well. He also falls over a lot when he is tired, which is handy as he no longer admits that he's sleepy when asked. Another offshoot of his newfound verticality is his propensity to walk into the corners of tables, and also to stand up after crawling underneath tables. Jack is certainly learning from experience these days. It is so interesting to have this shift in his personality after so many months of Jack being more an observer than a do-er.
* Recent words include: Truck (he now points them out, consistently, when we are driving), Cheese (to the camera), Keys, water (wa-wa-wa), thanks (tek or teku)-- this one, combined with his winning smile, practically guarantees that he will get anything he wants in life. At least from Mom. Overall, his speech is much clearer these days. What was once just baby babble is taking on the resemblance of words more and more often, and he mimics so much of what we say...
*Sleep: Jack goes to bed like a dream most nights, between 7 and 8. Usually he's up once around 3-4 am to have some num-num's-- about 10 minutes of half asleep snuggle time which I don't mind at all, as long as its just once a night! He is up for the day between 6:30 and 7:30 am, and then naps around 11. He has been going on just one nap most days these past few weeks.
* Eating: continues to NOT be Jack's forte. He subsists largely on Trader joe's French Vanilla Whole milk yogurt, Kashi cereal bars, and Daddy's gourmet scrambled eggs. His diet could be worse, I suppose, but I do long for the day when he will eat a wider variety of food and whn ensuring that he has eaten enough is not such a full time job.
* Play time: Jack is hungry for novelty these days. Anything is fun, as long as it's new Christmas was a good time for Jack! Today in the car we barely made it with the number of toys I'd packed-- each one was great fun for 5-10 minutes, at which point it was cast to the floor and
greeted with a resounding "no!" and a swat if I offered it to him again...
Some current favorite toys are-- his mega-block legos, train cars, toy trucks, his new vaccum, books, wooden spoons, and any cell phone or remote he can get his hands on! He is starting to do more imitative play, such as driving his car the way I drove mine, as well as pretending to hug/feed etc his stuffed animals. He is also starting to do more "purposeful" drawing.

Pics of NY to come soon!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas take 2!!!
Jack and Alex hang out...
Jack's new cheesy grin... he says "cheese" at the camera now!
Jack shows his stocking who's boss...
Trying out his new snowsuit on Christmas day...



Little boy who loves his new hat....
Hooray for tissue paper!

Jack and mom-mom on Christmas morning...Jack explores the tree at Lulu's house...

We've been having a lovely Christmas in Aurora these past few days. It's been a combination of lots of relaxation (Claire is a sublime hostess!) and very busy visiting with family. The group here has expanded significantly in recent years, and this year's Christmas dinner had 19 guests, 5 of whom were under 5 years old. The "under 5 " set changes the dynamic of family gatherings, that's for sure. We are very kid-focused now, and the opening of presents goes very quickly. And loudly. But, lucky for us, its a family full of adorable and really, well- behaved under-fives, so its been fun.

A quick run-down of our Christmases so far: We kicked everything off on the 23rd, with fake Christmas eve-- Nat and I headed off to Severance Hall for a wonderful evening with the Canadian Brass; a great concert and all the better because it was free! :) Then, Grandma and Auntie Bec joined us for cookies and the traditional opening of one gift. The morning of the 24th we woke up and had a second "fake Christmas morning" whereupon we opened our Dollar Store stocking presents. Jack took charge of his stocking this year-- he knew exactly what to do! His favorite gift by far was the "monster truck". The boy is seriously truck-obsessed.

We then packed up and headed off and were in Aurora by 3:00. We enjoyed a nice evening with Randy and Amy and the kiddos, went to the Fargo with Jamo and Casey while Lulu stayed with sleeping Jack, then Nat and I went to church at 11... It's not Christmas if you're not exhausted and busy, right?

Christmas morning was great, relaxed and fun with 5 adults and Jack. Jackster was a good participant all around, saying "wow" about his presents and showing good appreciation for what was inside the packages, in addition to the bows and (his favorite part) the tissue paper. We made it through stockings and half of the tree presents before he needed a nap...
We relaxed through the afternoon and then (rinse and repeat!) we did it all again, only with even more presents. (Note the photo above, Christmas take two!). It was complete unwrapping madness this year with 3 4-year olds, a 3 year old, and Jack in attendance. Jack, by the way, LOVES his older cousins. He bonded expecially with Alex. They seemed to know that they were close agemates, and I think Alex enjoyed the chance to be the "big boy" for a change. Presents were followed by a lovely Christmas dinner and socializing and then BED!

The 26th, once we recovered, we headed out on a marathon day of shopping the sales, in Ithaca and at the Mall in the field. As if we did not have enough stuff already..! Today, we had planned to go skiing, but the day dawned rainy and warm and we opted to save our $80. We stayed close to home-- Jack is currently fighting either a cold or a tooth or both. Nat and I did scamper off to a movie this afternoon while Jack enjoyed quality time with Lulu. Randy et al came over again tonight. Tomorrow we visit with the Kuhn's again, to see the newly arrived Emily, Grant and Megan, before we head home...

Fake Christmas Morning

Today we spent a lovely day entirely in our Pj's. Melinda and Will hosted Fake Christmas Morning, a laid back gathering of friends in which we enjoyed the best parts of Christmas-- cookies, brunch, presents, lazing around, playing Wii-- with none of the travel or awkward small talk with Aunt Millie. (Not that I have an Aunt Millie that I am complaining about, mind you, but some people might.) I thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend lots of time just hanging out with some of my very favorite people. I love our "family of friends!" We were also treated to a visit from Laura and Steve, who ventured up from Columbus with 11 week old Noah for the day! He i so cute and little a squishy... thankfully he did us the favor of fussing a bit before Nat could decide that he needed a new little squishy thing around again....
Jack, while certainly no longer little or squishy, was a superb baby all day. He spent most of the day walking around somewhat aimlessly, doing loops around the first floor of M and W's house. That seems to be one of his favorite pastimes in general these days, since the advent of walking. He appears to enjoy the view from his vertical standpoint. He refused to take a morning nap and subsisted mostly on cookies, yet kept a pleasant demeanor from 11 am to 6:30 pm. He can be a pretty fantastic little boy.

Here for your viewing pleasure are some recent pictures.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We are busy getting everything ready for Jack's second Christmas! Sadly, we are using our artificial tree this year, as we will be out of town for a week over the holiday, and as life has been a bit of a blur recently and, with the Bedford house insanity, we didn't feel up to the tree hunt...
So, our scraggly little trouper of a tree is up, on a little table, and full of 200 white lights and as many Hallmark ornaments as we could fit, it looks all right. For a $30 tree that has been to Winnipeg and back, it's doing pretty well! We've gottene a few packages wrapped and lights up outside and in spite of busyness at school and lack of renters for Bedford at the moment.. I am beginning to get in the spirit.

Jack is enjoying the Christmas decorations. He loves to watch the tree lights come on. He also really enjoys our snow globe. He knows to turn it over and turn the key for the music, and my little detail-oriented guy noticed and pointed out, by name, the little truck hidden amongst the decorations around the base...
He is getting very good, actually, at pointing out lots of things. He is very involved in looking at books these days, and will point out any dogs he sees, as well as some cats. He says "whoo" for the owl in his Lonely firefly book. And he is loving "5 little monkeys". He pats his head during the part of the rhyme where the monkey bonks his head, and then points his finger and babbles emphatically in imitation of my "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" It's hilarious.

It also partially makes up for how "opinionated" (read, whiny) our little guy has been these days. He is so very fast to say "no" to anything-- tonight he said no to dinner all evening until just before bed when he realized he was starving, and that perhaps that was the cause of all of his whining and distress... sigh. I have to try to remember that as frustrating as it is for me to deal with Mr. Whino-pants, it must be even more frustrating to BE Mr. Whino-pants, unable to fully communicate or control anything in his little world. Poor bub.

Whirlwind of a week... and walking!!

First and foremost! Jack has upped his "step count" from 5 to 20! Today at group (reports Nat) he walked a good 4 feet across the room, and actually repeated the performance for mom tonight at home. It's very exciting. He seems to enjoy it, until he decides to chicken out again...

Now, for Jack's week in review:

Time is flying. Not only is the holiday season afoot, with all of its ensuing chaos and joy, but we are also very busy getting the Bedford house ready to rent out again. Jack has spent much of the past week traveling down to Bedford with daddy and crawling around on questionably clean floors while Nat makes repairs. We are close, now! We will hopefully be showing the house to potential renters this weekend and if the fates are with us, a lease will be signed by Christmas. Please.

Last weekend was a busy one. Saturday Jack and I headed to Lakewood in the morning and he played with Grandma while mommy went to WSC dress rehearsal, then played with Auntie Bec while mommy and Grandma did some Christmas shopping. Home again home again in time to be left with grandma again (this time at our house), while mommy and daddy went out on the town . (It was the annual holiday party for school, and was really quite fun. I even played a round of cornhole, against my better judgement. Luckily no one was injured by my errant throws....)

Sunday afternoon mommy had bookclub and daddy had work to do in Bedford-- so Jack chose bookclub. He had a great time exploring the joys of a salad spinner and eating ritz crackers while sitting on the couch at Melissa's house, while we talked away. I think we did talk about the book for about 5 minutes... Sunday evening was the WSC concert. Jack and I met up with Nat for dinner at Aladinn's and then Jack helped his dad usher for the concert. He actually sat in one of the auditorium seats for a large part of the concert. It was so sweet to look out into the audience and catch glimpses of just the top of his little head in that seat. I also got to hear his little voice a few times as he "talked" about the songs, in the quiet moments between numbers...! I had to work hard to keep from laughing. We'll see if we can hear his little "da, da, da" on the recording...

It was almost relaxing to go back to work on Monday! Almost. Nothing slows down at school. This year continues to be a doozy, with the curriculum and meetings and lots of pressure racing on towards the finish. At least my students are, for the most part, delightful kids. When I get to work with them! This week I will be out for meetings 2 1/2 out of 5 days. Next week, I will be out of the building 1 day and then we have on day and then tests on 3 days in a row. And then it will be winter break! whew!

Ok, that was mommy's little vent. All done now.

Jack, for his part, seems remarkable unconcerned with the fact that we don't yet have our Christmas cards out or our tree up. He is a terrifically happy kid almost all the time, when he is not throwing his head back and wailing at some injustice in the world. Luckily, he usually recovers quite quickly from these tantrum-ettes.

Recently, Jack enjoys:
*the song "Peanut Butter... and jelly." Belly laughs when we do the "and jelly" part with a little tickle involved.
*The book "bow wow". He anticipates what is under each flap with appropriate noises and word attempts, and asks for the book by name...
*finding his body parts on our request. So far he can identify his nose, mouth, teeth, head, hair, ears, hands, feet, and toes. We are working on eyes and knees...
*Anything to do with cars, trucks, and buses. How did he get to be such a boy????
*The microwave, or anything else he can open and close. Shh, don't tell him, but he's getting a kitchen play set for Christmas... :)

Slacker mama...

..that's what I am. I blame birthdays for the lack of recent updates. Mine, then Nat's, in quick succession. Not that it was really unexpected or unusual for them to be in quick succession, but this year it rather caught me off guard. At any rate...

Photos! Of Jack with family members, as promised, as well as Jack being randomly cute around the house....



On Thanksgiving


An old one that never got posted-- from October, I think...



Jack loves to climb up in this chair by himself now...


meeting Jen for the first time!


At a rest stop on the way home from Michigan. He's rather short in this picture, I think...


Happy boy who loves his auntie!


With Bec and cousin Laura Kay, the world traveler!

Video! Of Jack singing along with his train bank. Sorry for the dark picture quality. We seem to have no light in our home. To our credit, he was getting ready for bed at the time of this video.



15 month doctor's appointment! Jack's most recent stats:
Height-- 32.5 inches, or 90%
Weight--25.6lbs, or 60%
Head--18.4 inches, or 55%
He has gained about a pound and a half in the last 2 months! We thought he seemed heavier... He was pronounced healthy and on target, so the fact that he is STILL not walking on his own (at least not more than 5 steps) was not a cause for concern.

Mobility update! As stated above, Jack is still not really walking. Though this evening he did charge around the living room holding onto to my finger with just one hand.

New words!
Truck (g-u-CK), Sock (g-o- CK), Walk (G-o-CK-- you have to be there to hear the difference!), quarter, out (ow), and one Jack-designed sign--hands side by side, palms up, lifted in front of him-- which he uses, depending on context, to mean "all done", "where is it", or "help." He also is now saying "OHHHH" when he is excited or wants something, with a perfectly round little mouth. It is hilarious. This evening he managed to get 4 adults to all mimic his "OHHH" face and then laugh uproariously at him. He thought he was quite something.

Happy Turkey Day!

Jack just wanted to wish all his blog followers a wonderful Thanksgiving!

So far today, Jack has celebrated by sleeping in til 8 (thank you Jack!), taking a walk in the crispy sunshine to Zagara's (mommy and daddy have made 2 "last minute" runs to the store already today...), watching some of the Macy's Day parade, and taking a lovely nap. Its been a nice day...

We are off to Michigan tomorrow-- look for photos of Jack with family to appear later this weekend...

Today, Jack's mom is thankful for:
Her happy and healthy baby! Jack is really such a good little boy...
Jack's daddy-- the most amazing, supportive, charming and fun husband and father anyone could wish for!
Our spectacular dog, who is curled up with me on the couch right now...
Our family
Our friends
Our home
The sunshine outside today...

Drinking buddies

Here is Jack playing with his friend Kenny at the past few "drinking buddies" meetings-- our name for our Thursday evening working mom breastfeeding group...
This past week the boys figured out how to wrestle...

It's Official!

We have a walker! Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a video of his first steps...well, these particular steps weren't his first, but pretty close!

Steps!!!

Five of them, to be exact. This report came from Nat, who observed the 5 tentative shuffles as Jack moved from his post holding onto the vacuum, to his lego table. No repeat performances for me tonight, though I tried to encourage him at drinking buddies. So-- I don't think walking is going to happen tomorrow-- but we are sighting it on the horizon!

This new development coincides with the realization that the little book I read, Your One Year Old, was completely right. As Jack approaches 15 months, soon to be closer to 18 months than he is to 12 months, he is beginning to take on the fussy, opinionated, independent, silly, testing, loving nature the authors describe... This year will continue to be an adventure-- especially when our fussy, opinionated, independent, silly, testing and loving little man becomes truly mobile! I hope we're ready...

All of a sudden...

Jack is acting like a toddler. Overnight, it seems (or at least in just the past week) he is doing so much more, understanding so much more, saying so much more. He is even making more progress towards the actual toddling part of being a toddler, though we aren't there just yet. But today he did take one step and maybe another half step toward me without holding on to anything!
Here are some other new things he is doing. All of a sudden!
* Imitating everything we say-- Today I heard so many "words" come out of this kid's mouth. I won't add them to his "vocabulary" just yet, as I am pretty sure he was just parroting and wouldn't be able to use any of these on his own, but today he said: cup, quarter, dump, poke, coffee cup (OK, that one really sounded more like ca cuh but in the context!), go, purse, wet...
* As for actual vocabulary, he has added "num num" to ask for some boob. It is amazingly cute, the inflection he uses. Num NUM? with a high pitched question at the end. He is so very purposeful in his communication these days. The request for num num is made, recently, as he looks me in the eye and simultaneously yanks at my shirt. Not one for subtlety, is he?
* He continues to enjoy pretending. Today he pretending to drink from his the empty cup he was placing his quarter in, saying "yum!" after each "drink". He also continues to love coins! He can place a coin in his train piggy bank by himself and loves listening to the song it plays. This has become a before-sleeping tradition in the past week. He reaches out for his train as soon as we get done putting pj's on. When he's had his fill of playing with it, he waves goodnight to it...
*He understands so much. I was talking to him about standing up and he went ahead and stood up... he will hand us certain items that we request (provided he doesn't decide he wants to keep them instead)... He knows to how to check out at the store, and how to help put on his coat before we go out....

It's not all wine and roses with a 14 month old-- as he begins to communicate more, he can also communicate what he doesn't want, with great force and certainty. He is becoming more stubborn and more apt to "test" us by trying to put things in his mouth, trying to touch the stove, even right after we tell him "no." He certainly understands no, but he is heading right towards those "terrific" two's already, with his ability to disregard the word just as often as he listens to it...The amazing thing about him is how fast he can swing from being contrary and fussy and frustrating, to being affectionate and charming, flashing smiles and giving hugs and winning our hearts right back...

Today the 14 month old contrarian has a cold. He is doing fine all things considered, with the exception of sleep. (He's woken 2x already tonight in 2 hours since bed.) His cold and his sleep issues led to us returning early from our trip to Pittsburgh to meet his Babyzone buddies-- we have learned that Jack is not ready to spend the night in hotels, at least when he is also coming down with sniffles. We came home late last night after having him cry for an hour and a half with no sleep in sight, missing our chance to hang out with folks today.. sigh. Sometimes it feels that the more things change the more they stay the same, eh?

Stander mouse!

Jack's newest trick is...drumroll....standing up by himself! It was pretty amazing to see him-- one moment he was on his knees, then squatting, then boop! up on his feet, like there was nothing too it. The first time I saw him do this, I got very excited. Nat, on the other hand, said lackadaisically, "Oh yeah, he's been doing that all day. " Well. It was new to me....! :)

Today, apparently, he also stepped one foot forward while he was standing. I haven't seen that yet.. but walking may not be that far away...

This evening Jack and I enjoyed the stunning weather (70 degree sunshine... on November 5th!!) by taking a walk and then raking half of the front lawn. Jack enjoyed alternately climbing in and out of his red car, pushing around the rake, and crawling at lightning speed towards the driveway. That kid and crawling on concrete! One plus about his potential walking-- less wear and tear on the knees of all his pants. But he is the cutest crawler... I am already getting nostalgic about when he is not scuttling along on his hands and knees. My little bug...

Jack says "Wooooo hoo!"

Jack (and his dad) did some last minute canvassing today for Obama. I personally credit tonight's victory to the extreme cuteness of my son. Who wouldn't listen when this kid tells you to vote for someone???

Jack is very excited that a new day of unity and hope is dawning for his country...

Jack says: "Get out and VOTE!)

As I type, Jack is sleeping soundly, worn out from attending his third political rally. Yes, in his 14 months of life, Jack has already managed to be at 3 rallies. He's heard Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama speak. He's learned how to "woot" at appropriate moments in speeches.
I am pretty proud of him, actually.

Today he was quite the little trouper as we headed downtown and then proceeded to wait for around 3 hours in order to hear Bruce Springsteen and Obama.... I am glad we went, but it made for a long day with a kind of bored baby. He loved crawling around on on the sidewalks and enjoyed the o-ba-ma chanting. My favorite moments were seeing Obama's plane land, and the "sing along" that happened when Bruce Springsteen did his rendition of "This land is your land." Looking around at the diverse faces around me, all members of my community, all like-minded, the words of the refrain echoing around me in thousands of voices...It was enough to make one feel very hopeful. Though right now, still 2 days to go til election day, I hardly dare to dream that we really might win this...

In other, more Jack-related news:
Here's how smart this baby is-- today he took the time to explain to me that the radiator in the bathroom is hot-- he reached out and tapped it very fast while saying "hot". He did that a few times, then, he touched the sink, looked at me questioningly, and said "hot" again. We discussed the difference between the sink and the radiator for a bit. He is such a little scientist!
In addition to the word "hot," Jack is also saying mama lot more these days (yay!) and is singing along with a lot of songs. Not that he is on-pitch, or singing actual words-- but still, you can tell the intent is there..

Happy Halloween!

The last week of October went by in a blaze of fall festivity. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't actually Jack's first Halloween. It just felt that way, because of how aware he was of every detail this year, how much he really did participate in each event...
We were blessed with perfect weather for Halloween, 65 degrees and sunny. We spent the entire evening outside, carving our remaining pumpkin on the porch, pulling together Jack's "little devil" costume as we went (who knew that red sweatshirt would make the perfect costume!!), passing out candy and hanging out on the porch. Jack was delighted to be allowed free reign on the porch and proceeded to make his pants absolutley filthy, crawling around. He also discovered that it was not only possible but, indeed, a really fun thing to crawl down the stairs, onto the driveway, and all the way to the sidewalk. He repeated that process at least 5 times. It's amazing the child doesn't have 2-inch-thick calluses on his little hands by this time...

The highlight of the evening for Jack and I was definitely our walk down Somerton. We had decided that we weren't going to actually "trick or treat" with Jack this year, as he can't actually walk up to the doors yet, and it would be just too obvious that we were looking for handouts for ourselves. But, about half-way through the official trick or treat hours, Jack's tolerance for sitting peacefully on the porch was at its end, so off we went, Jack the "little devil" driving his red push car, to check out the action. Turning the corner onto Somerton was like entering a Norman Rockwell painting. That is, if Norman Rockwell had painted Halloween. It was exactly what Halloween should be, the sidewalks bustling with families, children lined 5 to 10 deep at doorways, parents waiting and chatting amiably at the curb. Houses glowed with the light of jack-o-lanterns and fire pits. Jack was entranced, and kept busy alternately waving to the children and pointing out all the pumpkins. Everyone was very taken with him. Of course. I am already excited to trick-or-treat "for real" with him next year. Perhaps next year we'll bring our pumpkins and camp out on Somerton, perhaps on the porch of someone who is out of town, so that we can really feel like part of that idyllic neighborhood...

Post-Jack's bedtime, Melinda and Will came over, Phil and Katie joined us, and we ended the evening with a fire and political discourse in the backyard. By discourse, I mean we all sat around and agreed with one another. I do love my like-minded friends.

two more...

Jack, being expressive. Baths and toy basketballs--ecstatic.
Sweaters with the hood up--not so much.

Here's a little bit of video from earlier this month, at Liam's birthday party. I finally figured out how to get videos to work here-- so watch for more to come!

Jack's first public transportation

This morning we celebrated the grand opening of the Euclid Corridor by taking advantage of free bus service and taking the Healthline from Cornell to Public Square. Despite a blustery wind and some spitting rain, we managed to have a delightful time and, as always, were left asking ourselve why we don't come downtown more often...
Jack thoroughly enjoyed his first bus ride. At first, he was a little overstimulated, I think, snuggling with us and very soberly observing the other people on the bus. Then, once he relaxed, he realized he could stand up on our laps, watch the world go by out the window, and try to make friends with all these new people... great fun! He pointed out the fact that many buildings we passed, in fact, had doors. The kid is very serious about doors right now.
Jack also thoroughly enjoyed the rather crappy fall weather. We might have felt a little guilty for randomly walking around downtown on a cold, rain-ish day with our slightly sniffly proto-toddler, if it were not for the s**t-eating grin on his face the whole time. We went into the Starbucks on Playhouse Square for a warm-up and he just wanted to get back outside the whole time.
The weather, of course, was much improved by the time we boarded the bus to head home. At a quick stop at Zagara's, we plopped Jack into the cardboard box of pumpkins. Can't miss a fall-themed photo op! We may be going out to actually purchase some pumpkins later today, so keep an eye out for even more orange-tinted photos...

pictures!

Here we are at Eddy's fruit farm on October 12th...

About time....

I posted an update, huh? Shortly, I'll post some pictures from our trip to Eddy's fruit farm, which was almost 2 weeks ago now. Wow. Fall is flying by... we've been lucky to have some lovely weather weekends. The weekend of the 11th was crispy and wonderful and spent picking apples, baking a pie, and taking some walks. The intervening week blew by in a blur of meeting and not getting quite enough done at school, and evenings of walking in the neighborhood with Jack and Cor. Thursday we had a lovely time at breastfeeding support group. Jack's drinking buddy Kenny celebrated his 1st birthday with snacks and the two boys had a good time sharing animal crackers. And by sharing I mean, sucking on a cracker for a bit, then handing it with smile to a friend. Good thing Jessica and I both have dogs and are pretty laid back about the whole spit-sharing thing! I can't believe Kenny is a year old-- seems like yesterday we were first meeting them, and Kenny seemed so much younger than Jack (though he's always weighed more!) Now that they're both in that nebulous category of "one," they are practically indistinguishable. They really play together now; for a while they teamed up and pushed around one of the folding chairs...
Friday the 17th was NEOEA day, a quasi-day off for us teacher types, and we celebrated with a real, genuine night out as grown-ups. Jack stayed home with grandma and Nat and I headed out with Melinda, Will, and Kate to Wolf-Creek Winery. We shared two bottles of wine, petted goats, enjoyed the view and talked a lot about cheese. It was lovely.
The rest of this most recent weekend seems rather nondescript in retrospect, as we did not have any particular agrarian themed activities going on. The highlight of Saturday was a trip to Trader Joe's. It's a good thing Jack seems to enjoy shopping. He continues to charm people everywhere we go. Sunday we had dinner at Melinda and Will's, where Jack was a delight, playing with trains (he can say "choo choo", or at least a close approximation thereof) and sitting at the table with us on a regular chair.

Here are some updates on our soon-to-be 14 month old:
*He has apparently been in the mood to reminisce recently, going back to waking 3-4 times a night. Sigh. Hopefully, like all things, this is a phase...
*He is still a bit of a booger about eating. Current successes include eggs with asparagus and deli sliced chicken, and goldfish grahams.
*His vocabulary is constantly evolving. It's hard to say that he's adding words because it seems that after he uses a word for a week or so he retires it in favor of new words and noises. But, new words recently include "do" for phone, a very clearly stated "hello" when answering phones (a new favorite activity), babbling in a questioning tone, "down" and "car".
*He is very into trucks and enjoys pointing at them when they drive by.
*He is a speed demon on the stairs and consistently turns around to climb down off of things.
*He is starting to like walking with his hands held. He particularly does this at the park, like he wants to show off and get around like a big boy there.
*Speaking of parks-- he is obsessed with playgrounds. He loves turtle park and I do beleive he tried to day "turtle" as we passed the park on our run today -- "tur? tur?". He also loves the "big kid" playground at Peace Park. The other day I let him crawl around and explore and he was so excited to climb up on the the platforms-- and so mad when I made him come down!
*He is a very opinionated little guy who gets upset when told no-- but generally listens. He loves to throw food off his tray at meals. Tonight when told no, he put on a dramatic whining face, then looked over the side of tray and said "no no" while he cried a bit. Almost funny...
*Tonight he sang along to the ABC song. OK, not letters. But, his do,do,do sounds were in perfect rhythm and I DO think he said "s" with me at the appropriate time.

Turtle park

Jack and I discovered a wonderful spot the other evening-- a small neighborhood park designed just for the "under 5" set. We've driven by Turtle Park before but Wednesday evening was the first time we tested out the walking distance there. Turns out it is about a 20 minute walk from home and that Jack LOVES it there. He can't decide which part is his favorite-- the sterring wheel on the climbing equipment, the sand toys, or the wide array of ride-in cars. Corydon, on the other hand, was not impressed as she had to wait, tied up, outside the fence. We weren't more than about 20 feet away from her at any given time, but she quivered and paced and acted generally miserable the entire time we were there. Jack didn't want to leave but eventually our hands were cold, the dog was about to hyperventilate, and it was nearly kiddo's bedtime, so with much protest we headed home. Thursday we went back and brought daddy instead of the dog. Turns out he was a much more cooperative park-goer. We ran into Jack's friend Van and his mom, who we know from the parent center. It's pretty neat to know people in our neighborhood and run into the around town... actually the little girl in the background of the picture lives a few streets behind us, too! We're reveling in another week of 60-70 degree sunshine and I am glad we discovered this park before cold weather set in.