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!