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!