Happy Holidays

Jack's had a great 3rd Christmas. A Christmas which involved 3 separate "Christmases", to boot! Can't go wrong there! This year was our year to stay home for Christmas Eve and Day. Poor Nat was sick on Christmas Eve so Jack and I headed off without him to the children's service at West Shore with Gram and Bec. Then, a lovely C.E. supper and "first gift" opening. It worked well to go to the early service: Jack was home in time for bed and Nat and I had time to sit and enjoy our candlelit living room with presents under the tree. My favorite moment of the year. Sigh. We were actually pretty on-track this year with our shopping and wrapping, done well before Christmas Eve, but thanks to our present-obsessed little boy nothing went out under the tree beforehand. It was sad to not have a continuous display of presents-- but it was also very dramatic to go from a bare tree skirt to what you see above. As I sat there and looked at the display of consumer gluttony before me, I realized we were setting ourselves up for one very overstimulated boy the next morning!!

While that was certainly the case, Jack was pretty much angelic for Christmas morning. And, he appeared to enjoy himself tremendously. We started off the morning with just our little family, opening our stockings together. I think Corydon was among the most excited (if you don't count mommy who woke up at 5am unable to sleep any longer because it was CHRISTMAS!!) as she immediately threw her head back and sang when her stocking was placed by her on the couch. The smell of rawhide gently drifting out may have been part of it...
Jack enjoyed opening his own presents as well as helping us with ours. He was pretty focused on each individual gift, playing with them for a bit before being ready to move on. If only we could all be so deliberate.

Gram and Becca came over for tree presents and brunch. As always we overdid it with presents, and were pretty exhausted by the end of 2 hours of opening (brunch break in the middle to allow the boy to decompress a bit..) But it was great fun. I think the high point for Jack was passing out the present, even more than opening them. It was adorable, as he walked around the room with packages, some bigger than he was, saying "this one for daddy! this one for mommy!"

Yes!!

A short post to remember that one of Jack's recent speech developments is the word "yes". OK, he has said the word yes before! But he more often says "yeah". So in the past week when he began to say a very carefully enunciated "yesss", it was a change. I wish I could put into words just how adorable he is when he says this word. I will try to capture it on video..

Baker-man

Jack loves baking cookies. As Christmas season has moved into full swing, we've been busy making our annual batches of Christmas cookies, and Jack has been very excited to be a part of it. he has enjoyed cooking with us for quite some time now, and has really taken to baking. A lot of flour has ended up on the floor, and our cutout cookies are much more heavily sprinkled than in years past, but he's a pretty solid baking assistant, all told. He loves to do the cut-outs, and thinks they are ready to eat as soon as they have been cut... we've been working on the steps in the process! He can also roll a pretty mean snowball. Included are some pictures from our most recent baking event. He now thinks we should bake every day (first words out of his mouth this morning were "we bake cookies?") and is having a hard time understanding that really, 12 dozen cookies is enough! :) As in all things recently, Jack has been intensely 2 as a baker, wanting to do things right away, on his own, neither stopping nor starting when we ask him to. Luckily he's got that moon-eyed smile and a very cute voice, which keeps us all sane!

O Christmas Tree, part 2

If you thought getting the tree was fun, wait for trying to decorate it! Decorating a Christmas tree with a 2 year old is, shall we say, a very different experience from what I've become accustomed to. I should preface this comparison by noting that I tend to be very methodical in my approach to decking our tree. It is one of the few areas of my life in which I am extremely organized. Each ornament has his home, its box or its designated piece of tissue paper. Each one is carefully, nigh reverently removed and enjoyed before being placed, after some deliberation, in the perfect spot on the tree. Then the box is put back together and set carefully aside, to await repacking in January.
By comparison, last night was rather like trying to decorate with a small whirling dervish as an assistant. By the end of the experience our living room looked rather like a war zone for cardboard, hallmark boxes strewn about, tissue paper and packing molds cast aside and ornament hooks everywhere.
Suffice it to say the boy was very, very excited about the ornaments. In particular, opening the ornament boxes. "What in dis one???" After removing (and sometimes inadvertently tossing) the ornament he would then rush over to his "dool" (stepstool) which he wanted to keep in the exact same spot next the tree, and quickly "hang" the ornament. It was important for me to be there in time for the hanging as he has not mastered actual hanging per se; it was more of a thrusting of the ornament at the branch. Whereupon I would catch the ornament, reassign it to a different spot, and rush back to the ornament box in time to help with the next opening. It was exhausting, but pretty adorable, too.

O Christmas Tree

We went and got our Christmas tree this evening. It was delightful. We drive down to Bedford to go to Gale's Garden Center because we love Gale's Garden Center. It's this lovely, laid-back, family owned greenhouse with nice trees and nice prices and very nice staff. Jack had great fun running around amongst the trees, sniffing them almost constantly after we noted that they smelled so very good (there is nothing quite like the smell of a whole greenhouse full of firs. Except perhaps for our living room full of a magnificent Balsam...) Jack's version of sniffing, by the way, involves blowing puffs of air OUT of his nose. Very cute. He was also very, very excited about the little pictures on the signs for each type of tree, which had a little cartoon Santa and reindeer hauling a tree homeward. "Little timmas tree on sign! Tree like mine! Little for me! It has Santa too!" He also kept requesting a "Little tree por my hand." He is very into having things that are little like hin, as we have noted. Luckily he seemed OK with us getting a big tree (a rather big tree, actually-- we had to cut off about 3 inches of the top to get it to fit in the living room.) Much later in our evening travels, he stopped to say, "We have a Timmas tree. Tree on top of Daddy's car!" Pretty exciting stuff.

Holidays are approaching...

.. and quickly! December is blurring by, it seems. The second trimester of pregnancy has been hitting mommy kind of hard, at least in the energy department. I have been ready for a nap by 3 every day and because those can't happen, I am therefore ready for bed by about 9. Pair this with Jack's later bedtime these days (sometime between 8 and 9) and that doesn't leave to much time for blogging. Or much else. But we have managed to fit in some pre-holiday cheer and some of our holiday preparations...

The first week of December was spent on birthdays, mine then Nat's. It was a busy week at work for both of us, which we thought would mean our birthdays would be put to the side. In actuality we ended up with birthday celebrations that unfolded gradually over 2-3 days... Jack got a lot of present -opening fun, as each present on the table was "por Dack!" of course. Especially the little ones. He is very convinced that everything little must be for him.

Here's a funny little example of that:
The other night in the car Nat and I were saying something about needing to shop at Giant Eagle. We hear Jack muttering to himself and turn down the music to listen. This is what we hear: "Not giant eagle, little eagle por Jack. Giant eagle for Mommy and Daddy; little eagle is for Jack!"

This past week we decorated for Christmas and went to the Wintershow at the Botanical Gardens, where Jack's favorite thing was the train that went around the base of the tree. He showed no interest in seeing Santa so we didn't push it, not feeling the need to go home with a picture of Jack screaming on the lap of a stranger in a red suit. I think Jack is starting to get more and more excited about Christmas as the weeks go on, though. He is a big fan of Christmas lights, calling out Timmas!! when he sees them. We have yet to get our tree up but I think he will love it too. Hopefully we will be able to keep his hands off it... we have already determined that we won't be able to put any presents out before Christmas morning, though!

This makes me so happy...

That is one of Jack's new catch phrases. He has been observed to say this about a pair of pajamas and a waffle in the last 24 hours. It is the absolute sincerity with which he says it that makes it so incredibly endearing. Here's a little monologue from Jack this afternoon to help give you the picture.

(Upon waking from his nap)
"I wanna go out there. Get my black stool. I wanna stand on my stool first."
(Upon getting to the kitchen and getting out the stool)
"Waffles! I wanna waffles, get out An Jima (Aunt Jemima, of course). I wanna stir it. Look at the light, light turn red its cookin'. I wanna light turn green. Light red, mommy!"
(This continued during the entire cooking process. Each stage of the light turning green was pointed out enthusiastically.)
(Upon being served his waffle)
"I wanna eat on stool. Syrup! I wanna syrup. Right there. Mmmmm! This makes me so happy, this makes me happy mommy."

Good lord. You just have to love the kid.

Add to this that he has slept through the night for 2 nights in a row and really I think he can do no wrong...

November pictures

Quick! Before the month is over!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jack and his family have had a simply wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and thought we'd better update you all on it. First of all Jack's mommy just has to say that every weekend should be a 5 day weekend! :) I feel like we were able to get so much in to this time- travel, family, friends, a bit of housework, mommy and daddy time, and plenty of time with the boy... it was good.

We actually kicked Thanksgiving off the Sunday before, this year, with a "family of friends" Thanksgiving-- something I would like to get in the habit of doing every year. We had a great dinner, our best turkey in years and all the trimmings, with 11 adults and 5 toddlers under 4 in attendance. It was a bit of an adventure but went off without a hitch. Jack was very psyched about having friends over, I think. He took quite a shine to 2 year old Ella and kept grabbing her hand and pulling her in to his playroom saying "Come on INNN!" Another highlight of the evening was a game of catch played with our friend Scott at the base of the stairs-- tossing a soft ball at each toddler in turn and as none of them can really catch at this point it really was throwing it AT them. The giggling that would ensue when one of them got hit in the head! It was their favorite part.

For "actual" Thanksgiving it was our year to head to NY. We left on Wednesday, and took Gram Gram along for the ride :). We had a nice trip out in the van and then met the Union Springs Morehouse clan for lunch at Magee Diner before they headed off to family in Eastern NY. A table for 11 with triplets everywhere... it was a fun lunch! Jack, Hannah, and Sarah spent some quality time playing with my camera... it is so neat to watch Jack start to really interact and talk and PLAY with other kids.

We had a nice Thanksgiving day with some really unexpectedly nice weather. Lots of time walking around outside with a boy whose new trick was to grab our hands and run in circles around us and fall down in the grass. Later on in the weekend when we would ask him if he wanted to go out for a walk he would say "No, I jus fall down..." and we would have to remind him that the falling was HIS idea! ;) We also took a family trip to the lake lot and Nat and I renewed our promise to each other to someday, somehow build a lakefront home. That water, the sound of the waves, the way the sunlight hits it... I can't imagine that life would be anything but sublimely happy if we woke up to that every day...
For Thanksgiving dinner we had a great group.. our family plus 2 grandmas, Becca and Kevin who left in the small hours of the morning to join us in time for the Macy's day parade, and the Koon family. Thinking of toddlers who play well together-- Jack and Alex had a BLAST. They turned the warm room and the hall into a disaster area but played perfectly and enthusiastically for the better part of 2 hours, all on their own. Occasionally they would march through the room playing flutes. It was delightful.

Friday we had another playdate with Alex and Stephanie and got to see all the updates to their house. It's lovely. Particularly the breezeway; I have always had a soft spot for breezeways.
Nat and I stole some time for ourselves Friday afternoon and headed off to Ithaca while Jack spent time with his Lulu. It was fabulous. We shopped on the commons, at Target, at Byrne Dairy, and had dinner at a neat little bistro we happened to drive by. Very spontaneous of us! We decided that the most amazing thing about being out on our own was the startling speed with which we could enter and exit the car. At will. We also decided that while it was move convenient to be out without the kid-- it wasn't as much fun. We missed him on more than one occasion during the evening...

Saturday we came home, unpacked and promptly headed back out to Melinda and Will's, where we joined them and their extended family for some lasagna. Jack provided the dinner entertainment for the assembled crowd, who seemed universally delighted with his performances of "I've been working on the railroad" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". (Note to self: this week's goal must be to get videos of his singing. Stat.)

Today we slowed back down and time did too, somehow. Another stolen day of good weather in the midst of November. We went for a hike in the Bedford Metroparks in the 50 degree sunshine, where Jack threw sticks for Corydon and Corydon barked a lot. We managed to do laundry and clean and make dinner and Skype with grandparents too. Tomorrow-- back to the real world. For now, I am thankful for a wonderful, very full weekend with my wonderful, nigh perfect, little family. Signing off for now. More updates in December, promise!

In lieu of actual pictures, this evening, here are some word pictures of the very special little boy we live with.

Jack obtained some balloons yesterday at Bill's birthday dinner. This morning Jack and mommy spent quite a bit of time "marchin" around the first floor with our "bawoons". Jack is an enthusiastic marcher, lots of lifted feet and not too much forward movement. He liked to hoist his balloon into the air, arms straight up above his head, then pull it back down. Also fun was to "hang it up"-- ie, let it go onto the ceiling. He coined that phrase himself; I find it rather descriptive of the act of putting one's balloon onto the ceiling.

This afternoon, upon waking from his nap and leaving his nursery, Jack lifted his face, sniffed the air and proclaimed: "somethin pells reawwy guk!!" For those requiring a translation, that's "Something smells really good!" Indeed it did: tonight's chili.

He's been a super snuggly boy these past few days. When I went in to get him from his nap he said, in the sweetest tone, "oh, hi mommy! I love you mommy." I love him too, it turns out. He will actually sit and rock with me for minutes at a time these days. It's lovely to get to snuggle with this beautiful but very busy little boy.

funny boy

Here are a few of the things Jack has done recently to make me laugh out loud.

While putting Jack to bed one night, he began to do his new trick of spinning in a circle and dropping to the floor. Repeatedly. I explained to him that it was time to read a book now, and that he should pick one. No response. I asked him,"Are you going to choose a book, or are you too busy falling?" No response. I ask again for him to choose a book. He stops spinning, looks at me very seriously, and says "I'm too busy fallin', mommy" in this very deadpan voice. I, of course, caused this cycle to repeat many more times by laughing my head off in response.

Last night in the car, Jack wanted to listen to music. We had an Indigo Girls CD in and suggested he sing along. He was excited about this. So, when the words started, I began to sing along... and so did Jack. He sang the abc song. He continued to sing the abc song any time there were words to the song, for the next few songs, exclaiming "yay!" for himself each time he go to the end. He was singing along, it's true... I am always a little surprised at how perfectly literal he is in his interpretation of the world at this age.

Later during this same drive, Nat exclaimed "Jesus!" at a passing car. Turns out the time has come for us to watch what we say. Jack, who had been happily singing along, switched over to saying "Jesus!" in a perfect, albeit higher pitched, imitation of Nat. And again, he said it over and over because we couldn't help but laugh. It only got worse when he changed to saying "Jesus, daddy!" It's hard to explain exactly how funny this was. You'll just have to trust me.

October in Pictures

moonfinder...

We had a busy and fun Sunday which involved travel to Pittsburgh and Youngstown, and the creation of a new song...

I was scheduled to sing in a concert in Youngstown on Sunday evening with WSC. Spur of the moment, Nat and I decided that if we were going that far, why not drive just a little further and head to IKEA? :) It was a lovely crisp blue-sky day but a bit on the cold side, so, perfect for a drive. The foliage was lovely, about a week past it's prime, I think, but still rich with oranges and yellows on the rolling PA hills. We had a fun time at IKEA, kept our spending under fair control, with our only real disappointment being that they were out of stock of the kids plastic cutlery Jack is using these days. The kiddo was adorable. He is really becoming quite adept at shopping, as on numerous occasions he picked up an item he fancied and tried to hoist it up into the cart. This was particularly cute when that item was a toddler sized chair!

After IKEA-ing we headed back to Youngstown and managed to find the church for the concert after getting only marginally lost. The concert was wonderful, actually. I'd been bitter about having to miss Melinda's baby shower thanks to the unfortunate midday timing of both events. But I have to say it may have been almost worth it. It was a really meaningful concert for John and the emotion of it carried through for the whole choir, I think. The audience was primarily members of the congregation and it was a while new experience to sing religious songs for a wholly religious audience. They really got into the spirituals section of the concert. After our first encore (and second standing ovation--- very enthusiastic religious audience!) John shared a story of being 13 years old, a member of the church we were singing in, when the Capital University Choir came to sing. He and a friend, dragged to the concert against their will, sat in the very back of the balcony, determined to not enjoy the show. “And then,” he said, “ the choir sang this arrangement of A Mighty Fortress is Our God-- and it changed my life.” We ended with that song and I think there were tears in a lot of eyes by the time we finished.

Jack managed to sit through about 2/3 of the concert pretty quietly before Nat had to take him out for a walk. After the show we snacked a bit at the reception and then headed home-- with a stop at Dunnkin Donuts on the way. While Nat ran in for our snacks, Jack and hung out in the car, and Jack decided to look for the moon. He's been very into the moon recently. He managed to find the moon, not much more than mere glimmer in the still-light evening sky, and pointed in out to me. I commented that he was quite a “moonfinder” and thus a new song was born. Sung to the tune of “moonshadow” of course, it went something like this:

I'm in the car with a moonfinder, moonfinder moonfinder.

My little boy is a moonfinder, moonfinder....

The moon is shining in the night

Shining in the sky so bright

Shining for my Jack to find,

Moonfinder moonfinder...

OK, so its a little insipid all typed out here. But he decided that he loves the song and all week, any time he has seen the moon he has wanted to hear the song. “Ting moonfinder!” he will say. “Tine-ing bright!” He is very cute!

Finally Fall!

Happily, the month of October has taken a turn for the better and we actually had a day of fall sunshine, golden leaves shining against the blue sky... this is the way fall is supposed to feel! insert sigh of relief here....

Accordingly I figured I had better do some blog updating, now that I haven't got depressing weather to blame.

Recent developments in the world of Jack include:

Leaps and bounds in conversational skills. He can now chat with us in 7-8 word sentences, and can come up with alternate ways to express himself when we don't understand him the first time. He continues to say all his "S" sounds at "t" and so those sentences are exceedingly adorable.


Some favorite Jackism's:
When asked what he will be for halloween: "I be Max wearin wolf suit. Max from wild things are!"
Greeting me today upon returning home: "Hi mommy! one mitititppi, two mitititippi...." (he ad been watching daddy make kettle corn, and listening to him counting the seconds, apparently.

Singing continues. This week's favorite? Baa baa Black sheep have any woof, of course! We have been listening to that one on repeat...

More updates to follow soon. Promise. But for now a couple of incomplete videos of Jack's award winning rendition of "ABC's as Dinosaur"

Falling leaves, flying time

Fall is racing onward in a haze of long days at school, busy evenings of Jack-chasing at home, and a series of weeks where the sun never made an appearance. I apologize for the lack of blog updates but it seems that my motivation to write is directly linked to the weather and it's current appeal-- or lack thereof.

I have decided I am NOT in fact ready for winter. Or fall, for that matter. Or at least, for kind of wet, very grey 50 degree weather. Sigh.

On a positive note, Jack is nearly equipped to meet the approach of winter-- thanks to 3 weekends in a row of kids resales, he now has a new fall/winter wardrobe, coat, shoes, and blanket sleepers. I really love kids resales.

So, what has the boy been up to recently? Talking up a storm, as usual. Each day he surprises us with a new trick of grammar or turn of phrase. This week its been "I like this one" or "I don't like that one". He has an opinion on everything and is never shy about sharing!

This week we've also seen a spike in his interest in singing. He can now perform a very quiet, utterly adorable Jack-version of Itsy bitsy spider and Twinkle twinkle little star. Or as Jack says it, little tar. I will be kind of sad when he starts to say his "s" 's.

He can also sing the alphabet song now, with pretty good accuracy. "ting aybeetees!" he will say. This weekend at the most recent resale Jack purchased a small white dinosaure (dinotaur) from a bin of Happy Meal toys. He loves this dinosaur. He makes it talk, makes it climb up on things, makes it dance-- and has it sing the aybeetees. One day soon I will treat you to a video of Jack performing the ABC song in the voice of Dinotaur. It is indescribable, really, but does involve a very deep voice and little lips pouted out and a very serious face. It is my new favorite thing.

This weekend we also went to a 2year old birthday party for another of Jack's little friends, Grayson. I first met Grayson when he was 4 days old at a breastfeeding support group meeting! He shows up in some old blog posts from back when the "doctor's wives" playgroup was operational. It is neat to have such a history with little Grayson and his mom, to have watched him grow up alongside Jack. Jack had a fabulous time at the party-- he is really understanding and loving this whole birthday thing. He sang along with gusto to "Happy Birthday" and suggested that we immediately "Do it again!" as soon as the candle was blown out. We struggled a bit with the fact that the presents were for Grayson, not for Jack. But he did all right, because Grasyon had a ride on Mino that made very realistic engine noises. Doesn't take much to keep this kid happy, really.

Booful day!

That is my favorite of Jack's new catch phrases. Especially as he tends to utter it, all sleepy eyed and soft-voiced, when we look outside into particularly gloomy weather. He is such a little optimist. Last night leaving Gram's house, we stepped out into a blustery, spit-raining, 50 degree almost-October night. And Jack looked around and proclaimed "Iss booful day ouside!" It's hard not to appreciate life around this little guy.

Our most recent "booful day" was a trip to Woofstock on Sunday-- an annual dog festival at Holden Arboretum. I adore dog festivals. Nothing like hundreds of well-behaved, beautiful dogs out with their doting humans, booths of dog-related crap, and dog contests to watch. We had a great time petting dogs and recieving admiration on Corydon's behalf. Jack loved the "extremes" of the dog world: his favorites were little white fluffy dogs, and a huge mastiff we saw on our way out. He is most certainly NOT afraid of dogs, reaching out to "touch him" with every dog we saw. We should probably work with him on that as not every dog is a Woofstock dog...

A lovely weekend

Can't complain about the weather this week. Unfortunately being back on our new fall schedule means that there wasn't much time to enjoy it during the week... but we were able to make up for that this weekend. Friday night we went out for a great dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with Melinda and Will, spent some time listening to a festive band and wandering around Legacy before returning home, putting a boy to bed and having a fire in the backyard. Saturday Nat went down to Bedford to play henchman and Jack and I headed off to get his hair cut. It's kind of crazy how much he "grew up" in the few minutes it took to cut his hair! It's his first real "boy" cut and now instead of looking rather like a Beatles reject he looks "all-American kid", with it very short in the back. (this evening we realized that if we use a bit of mousse we can spike it up in front for a wonderful Eurotrash look. I have this feeling some boy may be wearing hair products to group on Tuesday...) On the way home from the salon, a cute place that specializes in kids cuts, complete with chairs that are actually cars to drive and a flat screen TV playing kids movies at each station, we went right past the "preston's hope" playground, a fabulous looking place we can see from the highway and always talk about stopping at. So, we stopped, and it was fabulous. As you can see from the pics above, Jack had a pretty wonderful time, running and laughing and riding in as many more cars as he could find. He and I played for a good hour before we headed home for lunch. It was a great morning with my boy.
Saturday night Gram came out to watch Jack, and Nat and I went out to our first movie in about 6 months. The Informant. Good fun.
Today, we had an exciting road trip to Wooster, for the occasion of sending Becca off to COLLEGE! I can't believe my baby sister is actually moved out, starting college... all grown up. It was neat to see all the kids moving in, all the excitement and possibility in the air.
Being only 30 minutes from Strasburg, we stopped and had a nice visit with the Cobes side of the family. Jack was so excited to see cousin Emma (he'd bee talking about her all day). We sat in Diana's yard enjoying trail and swiss and a decadent ice-cream dessert while updating one another on our lives and talking quite a bit about Strasburg athletics while the kids ran about in the yard. With all of John-Johns trucks, Emma fawning over him, as well as a real, live ride-on Mino, Jack was pretty much in heaven. Nice day.

On a side note, we have been thinking recently about some of the things that Jack says that just tickle us. Here are a few:

"Cue me" -- Excuse me. He is quite polite about this, except for the fact that by the time he says it, he's already pushing past.
"Let's do it!" -- this is a new one. Said, like so many other things, with tremendous enthusiasm.

Sparx in the city....

Jack's most recent adventure out on the town was going to the annual "Sparx in the City" tour of Cleveland neighborhoods. On a wonderful, warm Saturday, we took advantage of free buses and trolleys running loops through 7 different Cleveland "boroughs" if you will. Jack was thrilled with the chance to ride on actual buses, and we were thrilled to explore parts of our own city as tourists for a day. We drove through midtown and Asia town and explored an artists live-work community in a fabulous old factory in what is apparently known as "the Quadrangle", a neighborhood I never even knew existed. Jack got into looking at the art, standing an inch away from the canvases and saying "I like this one!" He almost moved in with one of the artists, establishing himself on the couch in his studio. We explored downtown, ran into a friend from the parent center in the East 4th neighborhood, walked to the Warehouse district, found about a gazillion new restaurants we ought to try, and then got back on a trolley to head to Ohio City and Tremont. In Tremont we were treated to an Art festival where Jack decided to sit on a chalk drawing of a cat. A very cute photo op, as you can see above, but as it turns out, a not-so-smart parenting moment for Nat and Amanda, who then spent 5 minutes attempting to de-chalk the boy. Sigh.
We were out and about for 3 and a half hours and I think mom and dad were more ready for bed than Jack by the time we got home! It was a wonderful afternoon....

Rock star

How often must I apologize for how remiss I've been in updating the blog??? As often, I suppose, as I continue to be remiss....
I blame the hectic start of school. Of course, seeing as I am now in week 4 of school, I am not sure how long I can keep using that excuse.
Sigh.

Here, in an effort to make up for my lack of constant updating, is the most wonderful video in the universe.




Yes, he is playing air guitar. Yes, he is wearing a headband. Yes, his hair is a bit reminiscent of Bon Jovi. And yes, that is "Smoke on the Water" you hear.

Isn't your day just going better now??? :)

Heard this evening...

"I can reach it" (while reaching into a bag of pretzels)
"I got him!" (upon finding his favorite mino)
"I play bubbles!" (when asked what was done with Kaitlyn, his babysitter, tonight)

Yes, we have entered the age of pronouns. Also, the age of carefully enunciated 3 syllable words.... Also heard this evening:

Bull-doze. Er.
Banan. Na

Its like he has to consider that last syllable before saying it...

Every time I feel impressed by a "leap" he's taken in his verbal skills, he goes and takes another. What a kid.

In other news, here are his official "stats" from his 2 year old appointment yesterday:

Height: 37.5 inches (81%)
Weight: 29 pounds (60%)
Head: who knows the measurement but apparently its right around 57%. Or so.

This was encouraging news; it is nice to know for certain that he is growing despite his continued erratic eating habits. Can't complain too much, though-- this evening he did eat half of a Banan. Na. on the way back from Turtle Park.

Conversationalist

Jack is becoming more of a talker each day... The other day I came in after work and and heard people talking in the kitchen. I wondered to myself who Nat was chatting with, who might be visiting.. then realized that his conversation partner was Jack! Today I listened to Jack's side of the conversation as he chatted with Nat on the phone. It was one of the cutest things I have heard in a long time! Lots of "yeah's" and "yep's" and the occasional "MINO!" thrown in. And then, he would turn to me and say "Daddy on dere!" with a look of wonderment.
Some of my favorite Jack phrases of late:
"Iss really hot!" followed by "It cool down!" He has a thing about whether his food is hot.
"tanks" and "you wedum" He is becoming much more polite these days. "Tanks" comes after almost every conversation exchange.
"HI, mommy!!" OK, that doesn't seem like an earth-shattering utterance for a 2 year old, I know. But what makes it special is the way he enunciates the words these days-- and the tone of absolute joy in his voice when he says it. And the fact that this phrase is very often paired with a "Monkey hug" (imagine a 2 year old clinging to my shin, all 4 limbs wrapped around..)
However, just to make sure that I don't feel too special, he also says "HI, torton (Corydon)" and HI, motter guck/motter van/tar/pish (monster truck, monster van, car, fish) with exactly the same enthusiasm....

Party time!

Here are a few pics from Jack's birthday party on Saturday. It was a delightful time. After a rainy, unpredictable day, the weather cleared and it was a lovely evening. We had 7 toddlers, 2 babies, and 3 kids along with their various parents in attendance. The toddlers were ridiculously cute, loved the sandbox, the swing, and the barn toy, and didn't fight over anything. The bubble station, staffed by Tina's daughter Aiwyn, was also a hit. I also loved looking back and seeing various parent/child pairings enjoying the hammock... The only real problem with the party was that it was so fast. I wanted very much to spend time with everyone there, but by the time you make the rounds... also a few guests had to leave early. It was several days of preparation for a 3 hour party-- but worth it. Jack appeared to have a grand time. I think he was actually in the act of running about 75% of the time. He loved his new rocking horse (courtesy of Gram) and his new dumptrucks (courtesy of Lulu and Randy and crew). He also loved his cake. And, of course, singing Happy Birthday and blowing the candles out. His infatuation with this started on Friday, when we had a smaller party of 8 out for his actual birthday. I think we sang happy birthday at least 10 times to the boy. "One. more. Cannle on!!" was his refrain. How can one resist? Especially when we got to hear him singing, on a single note, the entire song along with us, about half a verse behind. "Happy tutu" is a thing of the past; he can now say every word of the song properly, and is quite proficient at blowing out a candle! He can also answer, when asked "how old are you?" with an emphatic "a two!" As for gifts-- well, he received a total of 46 wheels for his birthday, between the diggers and dumptrucks and cars and motorcycles and monster trucks (he love love loves those monster trucks!) Also a fair assortment of books and a few clothes. And, we got him a new toddler chair to replace the highchair. About time, we wish we'd gotten it sooner... All told, he's been a great kid on this overstimulating weekend, with no real meltdowns and a whole lot of smiles. .. more pics to come when I find the other SD card...

Two years ago, right now....

... I was enjoying the last few hours of Pitocin-induced labor, about to give birth to the amazing little boy who has so changed our lives...

It seems impossibly long ago, but these two years have also gone impossibly fast. It is strange-- we have been thinking of Jack as "a two year old" for a number of months now, and that sometimes leads me to think that he has not changed too much this year. And, certainly the change of this year pales in comparison with that mind-blowing first year transformation. But--a year ago we had a little baby who was crawling, babbling, saying mama and dada and stick and ball... smiling and giggling and rather pudgy... In the space of the past 365 days, Jack has:

*learned to walk. And run. And jump. He loves to jump, especially off of steps. We love that...
*learned to talk-- first 10 words, then 37, then 50, then we lost count. Today-- 6 word sentences, sometimes. He can say Brontosaurus, and knows what a Brontosaurus is. Tonight, we worked on "Clavicle." He has conversations, and brings up things he remembers from his day. He wheedles and whines and even jokes. He points out diggers and minos and birds and squirrels and numbers with the most wonderful enthusiasm and the cutest, ever-so-slightly nasal, little-boy voice...
*learned to climb stairs, then walk up them, and then walk down them. On his own. He's learned to climb into his own carseat, and learned that he does NOT want any help. "Jackself!!" he will shout.
*learned to shout! He has developed such an opinionated sense of his likes and dislikes. This is good. Most of the time. Many opinions are about food; our boy is a pickier eater now that he was a year ago... but what he does eat, he feeds to himself. He can use a fork and a spoon a regular glass, all very successfully, when he feels like it...
*learned to tell us when he needs a diaper change, and help with being dressed and undressed. We aren't to potty training yet-- but he knows all about toilets and will talk about poop to a great extent. He wasn't able to do that a year ago! He has developed opinions about what he likes to wear and is starting to get attached to certain shirts and, even more so, certain shoes. "Bown shoos, boo crocs...."
*Started to sleep through the night. 1 or 2 times a week! Those of you who know Jack know this is a big deal...
*Kept on nursing! OK, so that's not a change. But I am pretty darn happy and proud to have provided my boy with 2 full years of ideal nutrition and supplementation and snuggles and security. Our late-night/early-morning nursings, fewer and further between now, are the one time this active little boy really sinks into my arms, becoming for a moment my little baby again...
*Learned to climb ladders and go down slides and pedal a tricycle and do puzzles. He can also identify at least half of the alphabet and the numbers 1,2,3,5, and 8. He can count to 20, as long as you don't mind missing 9 and 11 and hearing 15 three or four times....
*Gotten taller and slimmer and lost his baby-soft looks...now he looks like a boy instead. A mischievous, handsome, charming, 2 year old boy.

Jack is a popular little man. Yesterday he was double booked for birthday parties, invited by 3 little girlfriends just his age (2 of whom are twins!) We went first to Claire's, where the highlights for Jack included the "Par-ty hattt" and learning to blow the "noisemaker," as well as playing in Claire's wonderful playroom for a while. Then, off to Sofia and Luisa's house, where we sampled Columbian food, swing badminton rackets around, pushed a wagon in the garage, and jumped to salsa music (as you see in the video above.) The bar has been set for Jack's party next week (preparations are underway but as of now include nothing very grand, as the party planner starts school tomorrow....)

It was a fun weekend all told, in addition to the parties. Friday we went to the annual Greek Festival with Melinda and Will and ran into Jamie and Christy there. Lots of great food and Loukoumathes. Fried dough with honey, nuts and cinnamon. Need I say more?? Saturday morning we took a field trip to Kidron Ohio and visited Lehman's Hardware, to buy a broom (also in the hopes that Jack would take a early nap in the car. he did). It happened to be the day of a farm auction as well, so the place was hopping with Amish and non-Amish alike. Very festive, what with all the buggies. Jack loved the prevalence of horses.

Today Jack went and played at Gram's house for the day (he went to church and stayed in the nursery during the service! What a big boy!) Mommy and Daddy moved a lot of dirt and wood chips and finished Jack's sandbox in preparation for the party. This evening-- back to the Greek Festival! What the heck-- it's only once a year!

And tomorrow it's back to reality. Both Nat and I start school so Jack will have to get used to having only one parent at a time fawning over him. Hopefully he will adust quickly...

Tune in later this week, once I am not so frantic with the start of school, for some reflections on the fact that my little baby is going to be a 2 year old in a matter of days...

the cutest video in the universe

At least, I think it is. But, I may be biased. It is, after all a video of my 2 favorite guys. I could try to explain to you how cute Jack's talking is these days or you could just listen for yourself! This was right before bed so he was a little tired-- he is actually even more of a schnapperganz during the morning these days.



Another indescribably cute thing he is doing these past few days is giving eskimo kisses. He calls them 'momo kisses'. He loves mo mo kisses. There's no way to capture on video the view I get of his giggling, crinkle-eyed face when we are nose-to-nose. But I think I love mo mo kisses too...

Tricyle, Tricycle

We are back at Farley's for one last breath of summer before we head into the "real world" of school next week... It's been a glorious weekend thus far, absolutely perfect summer weather. Hot, honest to goodness hot, which actually felt wonderful after the cool season we've had. Of course that could be due in part to the fact that we are on the lake, where hot weather can be quickly tempered by a dip in the water. Today we've been out in the kayaks twice, swimming 3 times (once at night) and for a canoe ride. I feel like we are taking good advantage of our 48 hours here.
Jack would like to report that he still really, really likes the "bike and trike" collection here at the cottage (it took some doing and more than a little frustration to talk him away from the bikes and towards the water when we got here yesterday). His trike-riding skills have increased dramatically since our last visit. Today before dinner Jack and I did a complete circuit around the the traffic circle at the end of the point, he riding his trike independently (for the most part), me walking behind and giving him the occasional nudge to get up little hills. Amazing. So something to note-- Jack can ride a tricycle at the age of 1. :)
I am trying to very consciously enjoy these last few weeks of him being a 1 year old. It's kind of strange, as I think both Nat and I have been thinking of him as "2" for a few months now. Perhaps it's his height or the fact that we tend to be some much more focused on what is to come than the now. I am not sure. But I am trying to really notice and capture who he is at this moment, now, when he is still a 1 year old, a baby... almost, but not quite yet, a 2-year-old...

Yipper shoes

That's my new favorite "Jack-ism". He is currently quite fond of a pair of hand-me-down Stride Rites, from cousin David, which zip up the front. Adorable shoes, actually, even though they are approximately 3 sizes too big. No matter. The only shoes he wants to wear are his "yipper shoes." I love it. He likes to yip them up, too, but often needs hewup to do so. Today after nap I asked him if he was ready for a clean dap and shorts back on. He sat for a moment, considering, before shouting out "yipper shoes" with absolute conviction. He consented to the diaper change, secure in the knowledge that his shoes were on their way.

Another wonderful thing about Jack right now is the singing. He is starting to make up his own songs, tuneless little ditties that have a lot of "doot doot doot"s in them. He also tries to sing some of his favorite "real" songs, too. I put "real" in quotes because his current favorite is the Diaper Time song, which we made up for him ages ago. It goes like this:

Diaper time, it's
Diaper time.
It's time to change your little bum/stinky butt/diaper now (words are interchangeable)
Diaper time, it's
diaper time.
It's time to change your bum.

It's a work of art, no?

Jack will now launch into a rendition of this song, all on his own, when he wants to be changed or is ready to comply with our request. I don't think there is any way I can express how adorable it is to hear him sing this. " Diaper time. Isss. Diaper time. Tinky butt..... Change bummmm. "
He is even pretty close on the tune. I shall have to try to catch it on video.

Jack's verbal skills over all have been exploding these past few weeks. He is now repeating EVERYTHING we say, and what he hears around him. Farewell, foul language. This evening in the car he repeated "Kandahar" in response to a story on NPR. We even got him to try his hand at Ahmadinejad. He wasnt half bad; I'd say on par with former Pres. Bush, actually. He also enjoyed talking about Can-ah-dah during our trip.

Motorically, he loves running and jumping. The multiple scabs and scrapes on both knees attest to this. The way he enthusiastically swings his bent arms as he says "rrunnnnn!" is hilarious. He can also climb in and out of both cars and the minivan, all on his own. He is loathe to accept ANY sort of help with this process these days, which means we get to be very Zen about the pace at which we load and unload vehicles.

Kiddie Park

Here is the post I should have put up before we left town for Kipawa!

The Thursday before we left for Canada, we took advantage of a bright and hot summer morning and took Jack for his first visit to Kiddie Park, home of the oldest steel roller coaster in the US. The Little Dipper. The whole park (all 1 acre or so of it) exists to serve the under 7 crowd, and it is just the right speed for them. Lots of little ride going in circles. Lots of driving wheels. Jack was enthralled. In most of the pictures he is too busy concentrating on his job of driving to show how much he was enjoying himself. He was excited to explore the park and walked from one ride to another; he learned how to give his ride tickets to the staff members in the "yewwoh" shirts. His very favorite ride was the boat circle-- hearkening back to his fun times driving the boat in NY, perhaps. He also got into the merry go round. He rode each of those rides 3 times! We capped off the day with a corn dog (he actually ate 3 bites!)

Here are some pictures of the day.

More Kipawa...

A few pictures of Kipawa....

Slide show to follow!

A day of Islands and sun...

(written on August 6th in Kipawa Quebec)

We have been in Kipawa for 5 days and we have finally started to sink into the routine of boating, cooking, sunning, fishing and relaxing... with 2 days to go to enjoy it! Our weather has been unpredictable to say the least, with periods of sun, then cloud, then showers, then wind, following one after another in quick succession each day so far. A preponderance of clouds earlier this week meant that we relished a fully sunny day today.

Jack, of course, is not at all fazed by any sort of weather. He has been loving it here, with no conditions on that love. He mostly loves it because there is a momo boat (motor boat) and he gets to pish (fish) with his little Spiderman fishing rod off the dock, and there is sand (sadly, he is now saying “tuvel” rather than “tummy” when talking about his sand shovel. Yes, progress is grand, but I will miss that little mispronunciation of his. Sigh.) He also loves the stairs up to the cabin and the hill to the beach. I am not sure if he loves it as much as the dogs do. I am not sure anyone could love anything as much as the dogs love it here. Absolute freedom, water everywhere, woods, intoxicating pine scents abounding...

This morning Nat, Jack, Corydon and I headed off in the canoe to explore the little island at the entrance to Echo Bay. We had boated past it in the momo boat two days ago and were entranced by the collection of pine and beech trees clustered there, and vowed to explore it on foot the next nice day. We had the most lovely time and I have to say that the island is now officially my favorite place at camp. We docked at a lovely shard of glacial rock slanting gently into the water, leading like a ramp up to a profusion of blueberry bushes, soft-needle pines, and exactly 3 perfectly porportioned, split-trunk birches. Jack loved tromping about on the “iyand”. When we asked him where we were, hoping to hear that adorable word, however, he must've been looking at Cor, because he confidently said “Dog.” So, Dog Island it is, and ever more shall be.

Upon our return from Dog Island, Jack got it in his mind that a momo boat ride was in order, so we invited others to come along. Auntie Becca came along and we decided to head back out to Blueberry Island, as Jack had not been along on our first trip. Off we went. Jack greatly enjoyed island number 2 for the morning, as well. More challenging climbing and clambering here, over giant slabs of rock and boulders, tight-knit pines and, of course, blueberry bushes. We didn't stay all that long. Turns out, exploring one's way through the woods is more appealing without a two-year-old in tow. We wandered a bit, found a few stunning views of the lakes, and then headed back to the boat. We made it just about haldway back to camp before the motor died. Yep. We had to paddle the motorboat back to camp. We estimated it after the fact as about a mile, mile and a half. Took us the better part of an hour and involved lots of rowing, Nat pulling the boat while balancing along the shore, and simming alongside. I cannot say enough good things about how Jack did, sitting in the boat while we clambered about, oard everywhere, slogging our way home. It's truly amazing what being in a boat can do for a little boy's patience...

We were all ready for a nap when we got home.

Jack finished his day with time playing on the beach, throwing the beach ball around in the cabin, eating a bit of dinner, and watching some Blue's Clues on my computer. A memorable day here in Quebec!

Back home...

We have been back from Farley's for a week tomorrow and we are starting to settle into the routine of being at home again. Back to group, shopping at Target, keeping up with the house. The contrast between the lake and Cleveland Heights has been pretty surreal. I am finally adjusting to the noise level and the lack of lakefront here at home. Sigh.

Jack, on the other hand, is a flexible little monkey and slipped right back into his routine. He's been sleeping a bit better now that we are home, I think because his room is distinctly warmer than the cottage was. Only up once a night to nurse this week. I can handle that.

This weekend we took a day trip to Pittsburg to see some college friends and visit IKEA. Great fun and the boy was a trouper, going on only 30 minutes of nap and being put to bed in a strange place so we could stay later and drink and chat... He's a good kid.

Recent milestone changes center on the verbal, as per norm. We are hearing some sentence being put together.
Often heard:

"Iwanhabit" I wanna have it! Often followed by "viemin"-- vitamin-- as Jack has developed a bit of an obsession with his gummy bear vitamins.

"guy on mino (motorcycle)" Yesterday this was followed by "hat on. Go!" A very cute discussion of a motorcycle crossing the intersection.

Here is a recent update post from BZ:
Jack is obsessed with motorcycles. He calls them "my-no"-- weird huh? He will walk around going myno, myno,myno,myno....etc, on and on, kind of singing it....

He also loves to count and will start from random places and count, over and over. He can go 1-13 but he skips 9 and 11... its really funny.

Whenever we say a phrase he likes the sound of, he'll parrot it back and them repeat it for a while. TOday, DH hurt his foot and I said "poor daddy" and Jack repeated that for about 10 minutes, off and on!

He also loves to say "mommmm-eeee" and have me say "Jackie!" back in the same tone of voice. We'll play that back and forth for a while.

Also we hear "hab it" (Have it) and "want it" alot! He also says "oh no...happened!" when anything is out of place, spilled, knocked over etc...

He is also learning the concept of "mine". This is usually yelled. He is quickly approaching his second birthday after all and he likes to remind us that the orneriness is only going to increase! but he is so stinking cute. SO stinking cute. He is getting more into hugs and kisses and tickles and running up to us and grabbing our legs and giggling. Very giggly these days. Very loveable.

News of the day...

Jack's big news today is that he has learned how to ride a tricycle, all by himself! After sitting on the bikes and pushing the pedals up and down a lot, for a week and half...today he got on the trike and pushed a few times- and moved forward! When we noticed, and started cheering, he did it again.... and he was off and riding. He had quite an audience gathered to witness this occasion here at the point. Very fun! He can now ride about 10 feet forward or 5 feet backward, provided there is no real slope to the road... As you can see in the pictures, the look on his face as he experiences independent, wheeled locomotion is priceless.

One more week...

...of vacation left. I am so grateful we have such a nice long stretch at the lake this year. We are really getting into this whole relaxation thing. The weather's been perfect all weekend and we've done a lot of kayaking and lazing about in the sun at the point. Lovely big family dinner last night here at the cottages. Jack and Cousin Alex played together like champs! Alex loved being the "big kid" and was super sweet to Jack. Saturday was Aurorafest-- a parade and a real live joust to watch (Jack was fascinated with that-- very concerned when the knights 'fell" off their horses -- "oh no!! Guy! Back on horse!" said with a look of utmost concern.) as well as a concert and food on the lawn at Wells. Friday we went the 2 of us to Ithaca for a concert at Cornell. So Jack's been having a very stimulating time of it! He is ALWAYS happy to return to his bikes, though!

We had a "milestone monday" on BZ today; here's my "quick update" copied from that site...
Jack is saying 2-5 word sentences a lot more often this week. He is getting into imitating the play of older kids, thanks to being here on vacation with his cousins. This is a good thing (pretend play and gross motor skill development) and a bad thing (hitting things with baseball bats, for instance, or trying to climb up and over railings...) He is now eating watermelon and raspberries (this, the kid who would eat NO fruit). He is very into bikes and can get onto one by himself and will sit there and pretend to pedal by moving the pedals up and down really fast. He is also into "pretending" to fall and being very dramatic-- "OOOF! Uh oh!" and then giggling. This may be because he's taken a number of real falls this week as he runs full tilt on the gravel road. We've currently got scabs on both knees and the side of his nose. He can also help to paddle a kayak and a canoe and love love loves to help drive the boat!

And, here are some photos from the vacation thus far!

Updates from the lake...

Jack and I write to you today from the porch of the little cottage. Barb is rigging her sailboat and there are a couple of kayaks rounding the point. The cove is still and sunny and all is well here at Farley's..

Jack is loving his trip to the point so far. One of the best things about this place, in his opinion, is the large collection of bikes that have been amassed at the yellow cottage, for his cousins. The bikes are slowly migrating across to our yard as Jack pics new favorites. He like to sit on them and practice climbing on and off. He knows to put his feet on the pedals but does not yet have the concept of pushing them around. Pedaling, and indeed moving at all on the bikes seems to be irrelevant to him. He loves just visiting with them. He has learned to push them to the side of the road when there is a car coming, and now pretends that there are "Carsh comeen" just for fun.

He has also been exposed to a large number of watercraft. As of day 3 of our stay, Jack has been out on the lake in a canoe, 2 different kayaks, and 2 motorboats. He's watched daddy waterski and get gas for the boat. He loves, let me repeat LOVES, to drive the boat. He's learning the ropes we getting sunscreen applied and a lifejacket on before we head out, as he simply adores all of the boats. He is a great passenger, sitting very still and investigating both the scenery and the interior workings of the boat as we go.

So far we have gone on one day trip to Ithaca, had 2 dinners with Uncle Randy, Aunt Amy, and the cousins, engaged in numerous conversations in the front lawn with fellow Farley's residents, and played at the playground 1-3 times daily. I have gone on a run all 3 days and have, at current count, made 5 scrapbook pages. It's shaping up to be a pretty nice vacation! Pics to follow soon!

Wonderful Wade Oval Wednesday!

We went to our first WOW of the 2009 season tonight-- and the first one ever where Jack could be such an active participant. And active he was!! Here's a quick run down of his antics.
Arrival: We got rock star parking, which happened to be right behind a motorcycle. Resounding chorus of "Ooooh! Dat!" from the backseat. This was made even more momentous when another motorcycle pulled in and parked beside the first, as we got out of the car. It took some serious convincing and a small amount of complaining on Jack's part to get him across the street.
Inflatables: Jack, as it turns out, is magnetically drawn to giant inflatable bounce-castles. He spotted them from across the Oval (along with 3 different planes) and stared at them the whole way. We were pretty much against him going in, but he was not about to leave that area without getting a turn, somehow convinced that he loved inflatable bounce-castles, despite having never gone in one before. We gave in. I must say he was fabulous about waiting in line, once I explained it. His turn came, I helped him in... and promptly scooped him back out, screaming in terror. Porr guy. Those things can be pretty intimidating. See below for a funny and potentially very embarrassing-to-future-Jack video of this experience.
Wandering the crowd: We saw a total of 5 acquaintances from the Parent Center, and were stopped numerous times by people wanting to pet and complement the dog. As we left the food and booths of crap area, we spotted the mounted police. Jack loved seeing the horses. On our way back to the center (AKA reggae central, an interesting amalgam middle class families and swaying hippies) we talked to a man with a Barred Owl.
Dancing and Frisbee fetch: Okay, so Jack didn't really dance. He was too interested in VERY seriously studying the drummers in the band. He did enjoy being assisted to jump off the low wall into the grass, as well as trying to pick up stones out of the asphalt. Frisbee fetch really happened, though. Turns out Jack will chase a Frisbee and return it to us. Handy.
Seed Statues: We were trying valiantly to leave and take our tired pumpkin home when he spotted the seed statues by the Botanical Gardens, and was pulled by a siren song equal to that of inflatable bounce-castles: Other Children Playing. He had a blast climbing around on the seeds. My camera battery died before we could get a picture of him in the radish. That was the best. It was a lovely little moment in time, there by the seed statues. Corydon's fan club swarming around, including a 16 month old girl who did not stop hugging her. Monkey-like little boys swinging around on the statues with Jack watching in awe. Beautiful slanting sunlight cutting though the cloud cover. I was so sublimely happy to be right there, right then, with my wonderful little family. It was a great way to spend our 3rd Wedding Anniversary.

Pictures from Aurora and Strasburg