Jack has a new love in his life: his new sneakers. Or, as he would call them, teakers. He adores them. He picked them out for himself, courtesy of a shopping trip with Gram gram, because they looked like Daddy's shoes. Since he wore them home on Saturday we have only gotten them off of him to sleep-- and that is only with much cajoling and repeated assurances that the shoes will be there for him to wear again just as soon as he wakes up.
Jack is enamored with his shoes in every possible way. He asks us all the time "What you think of my new shoes??" and will point out to anyone who will listen: "see, see, they have white, and blue, and BLACK!" He loves the sound they make when he runs and stomps and insists that his new shoes are "really trong!!" I don't think I have ever seen him as consistently excited about anything as he is about these shoes.
An interesting new development related to these "strong shoes" is his other new fascination: Stomping on ants. Perhaps he has engaged in this activity before without my being aware of it, but I do think it coincided directly with the new shoes. After all, he stomps on everything else with them. At first he said he was scaring the bugs by stomping near them. But the part I am not sure how to deal with is that he is now talking about killing the ants, and noticing when they are dead. Earlier this evening he could be heard enthusiastically saying "Come on, ant! Be dead!" as he stomped. I have no idea where this came from. And while I am trying to not make a big deal about it to him, and I am sure it is perfectly normal behavior to stomp on ants, I must confess I am a little worried about the glee in his voice. In fact he assured me earlier, in his sweet and considerate, optimistic voice, that the ant "liked to be killed!" How does one respond to this in the appropriate manner to ensure that one is not raising a tiny, adorable psychopath? These are the questions I never thought I would be asking myself... hmmm.
On a more positive but still grown-up note, Jack's other new development today is that he napped--- actually SLEPT--- in his big boy bed. He was climbing around on it for fun as we got ready for the nap, and then when asked if he wanted to take his stuffed dog into his crib, he replied "no, in my big boy bed" I said, "Ok, the dog can sleep in you bed" and he said "No, I sleep in my big boy bed". What was I going to say to that besides, "Ok!" He laid right down, snuggled in... and all was quiet for about 15 minutes. Then, strange knocking noises... Nat went up to find that Jack had turned on his humidifier and placed all of his stuffed animals into his crib. He told Jack that he could try one more time to sleep in his bed but that if he got out, it was into the crib with him, too. Lo and behold, silence fell. We peeked in about 20 minutes later to find this little cherub tucked in, head on pillow, sound asleep in his bed. Have to admit that we both teared up a bit. When exactly did he grow up so completely?? Nat reminded me that he has yet to dress himself or poop in the potty, not to worry. He's not completely grown up, just yet.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
One week and counting...
..impatiently!
We are, I think, approaching a state of readiness for little girl's arrival. I was very spoiled at work last week with not one but two more baby showers, from the staff (organized by the phenomenal team I've worked with in my classroom this year) and one from the parents of my students. I left work on Friday all warm and fuzzy from the love and attention-- and the knowledge that I am DONE teaching for the year. Which is wild. And pretty wonderful, come to think of it. I was happy to have reached my last scheduled day of work, still preggo... this way I don't even have to think about whether to go back for a few days at the end of the year, or take them unpaid. Decision made, my year is over. And, now that I have reached that milestone I have to say that I am ready for this pregnancy to be over, too. After a delightfully easy and uncomplicated pregnancy so far, I have now developed one very mild complication-- an itchy rash on my once adorable baby belly. Not only is it perhaps the most horrifying thing to look at in the world, but it does a pretty nice job of keeping me up at night (which would explain why I am sitting here updating the blog at 4 in the morning, Good times.). It has also caused this remarkably fast shift in my thinking, going from hoping little girl would stay put for a long, long time (because we're not ready!!) to hoping labor starts sometime very soon. Like now.
Late pregnancy: perfectly designed to make labor, delivery, and a crying newborn seem like the preferable alternative.
Enough of the ranting from the hormonal woman. Time for some updates on the boy and life in general around here. Both of these things, thankfully continue to be uncomplicated. Nat has been working down to the wire on his thesis proposal, which means mommy gets extra time with Jack. He is, it turns out, a delightful child with an impressive emerging ability to reason and negotiate! Because I can resist neither his adorable face nor his perfectly logical arguments, he seems to get his way with me most of the time. We have been spending plenty of quality time in my car recently, letting him "Drive" (it makes him oh so happy) and practice his newfound skill of popping the trunk open using the lever inside the car. A helpful skill when we need his assistance but a stressful game when he decides he needs to pop the trunk, hop out of the car, go open and then close the trunk, and get back in...over and over.. and I need to follow him to make sure he doesn't slam his fingers. Yes, it IS a good thing he is so cute.
We are, I think, approaching a state of readiness for little girl's arrival. I was very spoiled at work last week with not one but two more baby showers, from the staff (organized by the phenomenal team I've worked with in my classroom this year) and one from the parents of my students. I left work on Friday all warm and fuzzy from the love and attention-- and the knowledge that I am DONE teaching for the year. Which is wild. And pretty wonderful, come to think of it. I was happy to have reached my last scheduled day of work, still preggo... this way I don't even have to think about whether to go back for a few days at the end of the year, or take them unpaid. Decision made, my year is over. And, now that I have reached that milestone I have to say that I am ready for this pregnancy to be over, too. After a delightfully easy and uncomplicated pregnancy so far, I have now developed one very mild complication-- an itchy rash on my once adorable baby belly. Not only is it perhaps the most horrifying thing to look at in the world, but it does a pretty nice job of keeping me up at night (which would explain why I am sitting here updating the blog at 4 in the morning, Good times.). It has also caused this remarkably fast shift in my thinking, going from hoping little girl would stay put for a long, long time (because we're not ready!!) to hoping labor starts sometime very soon. Like now.
Late pregnancy: perfectly designed to make labor, delivery, and a crying newborn seem like the preferable alternative.
Enough of the ranting from the hormonal woman. Time for some updates on the boy and life in general around here. Both of these things, thankfully continue to be uncomplicated. Nat has been working down to the wire on his thesis proposal, which means mommy gets extra time with Jack. He is, it turns out, a delightful child with an impressive emerging ability to reason and negotiate! Because I can resist neither his adorable face nor his perfectly logical arguments, he seems to get his way with me most of the time. We have been spending plenty of quality time in my car recently, letting him "Drive" (it makes him oh so happy) and practice his newfound skill of popping the trunk open using the lever inside the car. A helpful skill when we need his assistance but a stressful game when he decides he needs to pop the trunk, hop out of the car, go open and then close the trunk, and get back in...over and over.. and I need to follow him to make sure he doesn't slam his fingers. Yes, it IS a good thing he is so cute.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Countdown
With 16 days to go before the impending sibling, I feel I ought to spend some time focused on my firstborn-- namely by updating his blog before I have no more time to do so!! :)
Before turning to that task, however, I have an important question for you, dear reader. I am wondering if this blog should morph into being about both Jack and his as-yet-unnamed sister, or if I ought to try and run two separate blogs to give both children their due... What are your thoughts?
So, Jack these days...
Not any real big news to report recently. Life has been remarkably settled for as upended as it soon shall be. The family at large continues to enjoy Spring, with weather that has been, for the most part, stunning and a neighborhood in full flower. We take regular walks to the park, via Starbucks, and really life is pretty grand from my vantage point perched atop a picnic table, watching boy and dog frolic in the green, or clamber around on the slides, backlit by the evening sun. Have I mentioned what a climber the boy has become? He has mastered the equipment at Cumberland park to the point that we sometimes get to talking and realize we don't quite know where he is-- and we don't panic. He loves to climb up the slides as well as preferring the "big boy ladders" to the steps. He also loves to swing. Interestingly he refers to the enclosed toddler swing as his "big boy swing", despite the fact that he can sit on the real swings pretty well. I don't mind that he still prefers the safer swing as he does like to pushed "paster" and higher than ever and I don't have to worry quite as much when he's fully surrounded.
Jack is also quite the talker these days. He continues to amaze us with words he knows and he uses the most delightful grammar in his ever-increasing utterances. He is branching his speech out into new territory these days, in two ways. One-- he is always trying to find better words to describe and explain the tings he sees in his world. For example, yesterday on a walk we took a detour to look at these very odd scooters, contraptions with 3 wheels and an arched roof sheltering the seat. Jack thoughts these were quite fine. He talked with us about the colors of the "minos" (yes, he most certainly still calls motorcycles "minos" and I have to say we do nothing to discourage it because it is so stinking cute..) and then paused for a moment. "Look at the minos..." he said, and then appeared to reconsider before continuing, "look at the, at the.... ROCKET minos!" I found this to be a delightful description.
Two-- he makes up more words these days. He jibber jabbers in what seem to be complex sentence structures, or uses similar "words" to make up his own language for familiar tunes. My favorite of this is the tune of "Frere Jaques" sung with a strange combination of words resembling "Heeni Hanni" that ends up sounding rather like a Hebrew chant. Last night at bedtime I asked him what songs we should sing (because you know he has to say the name of the song BEFORE I sing or it JUST won't work...) and he replied, "Mookie cookie!!" I said to him, "Mommy doesn't know that song, honey-- how about one I know?" and he said with a hint of exasperation, "It a TONG, mommy!" as though he was simply amazed I didn't know that one. He's a funny monkey.
Now, lest you believe (as I tend to) that this boy must be an emerging genius (no bias here!!) I'll have you know that we are seeing considerably less progress in areas such as potty training, sleeping through the night, and using his big boy bed. As in, no progress. I am not sure the boy will ever do those things, actually. It's a good thing he is cute enough to make up for it. :)
Before turning to that task, however, I have an important question for you, dear reader. I am wondering if this blog should morph into being about both Jack and his as-yet-unnamed sister, or if I ought to try and run two separate blogs to give both children their due... What are your thoughts?
So, Jack these days...
Not any real big news to report recently. Life has been remarkably settled for as upended as it soon shall be. The family at large continues to enjoy Spring, with weather that has been, for the most part, stunning and a neighborhood in full flower. We take regular walks to the park, via Starbucks, and really life is pretty grand from my vantage point perched atop a picnic table, watching boy and dog frolic in the green, or clamber around on the slides, backlit by the evening sun. Have I mentioned what a climber the boy has become? He has mastered the equipment at Cumberland park to the point that we sometimes get to talking and realize we don't quite know where he is-- and we don't panic. He loves to climb up the slides as well as preferring the "big boy ladders" to the steps. He also loves to swing. Interestingly he refers to the enclosed toddler swing as his "big boy swing", despite the fact that he can sit on the real swings pretty well. I don't mind that he still prefers the safer swing as he does like to pushed "paster" and higher than ever and I don't have to worry quite as much when he's fully surrounded.
Jack is also quite the talker these days. He continues to amaze us with words he knows and he uses the most delightful grammar in his ever-increasing utterances. He is branching his speech out into new territory these days, in two ways. One-- he is always trying to find better words to describe and explain the tings he sees in his world. For example, yesterday on a walk we took a detour to look at these very odd scooters, contraptions with 3 wheels and an arched roof sheltering the seat. Jack thoughts these were quite fine. He talked with us about the colors of the "minos" (yes, he most certainly still calls motorcycles "minos" and I have to say we do nothing to discourage it because it is so stinking cute..) and then paused for a moment. "Look at the minos..." he said, and then appeared to reconsider before continuing, "look at the, at the.... ROCKET minos!" I found this to be a delightful description.
Two-- he makes up more words these days. He jibber jabbers in what seem to be complex sentence structures, or uses similar "words" to make up his own language for familiar tunes. My favorite of this is the tune of "Frere Jaques" sung with a strange combination of words resembling "Heeni Hanni" that ends up sounding rather like a Hebrew chant. Last night at bedtime I asked him what songs we should sing (because you know he has to say the name of the song BEFORE I sing or it JUST won't work...) and he replied, "Mookie cookie!!" I said to him, "Mommy doesn't know that song, honey-- how about one I know?" and he said with a hint of exasperation, "It a TONG, mommy!" as though he was simply amazed I didn't know that one. He's a funny monkey.
Now, lest you believe (as I tend to) that this boy must be an emerging genius (no bias here!!) I'll have you know that we are seeing considerably less progress in areas such as potty training, sleeping through the night, and using his big boy bed. As in, no progress. I am not sure the boy will ever do those things, actually. It's a good thing he is cute enough to make up for it. :)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Introducing....
.... the amazing flexible toddler!
So, Jack has been complaining, off and on, about his legs hurting. Mostly this happens at night and with our boy's wonderful propensity toward night time waking and getting snuggles out of us, it was hard to know if he was pretending, or if was that his foot fell asleep, or what.
But recently its been happening more often and a few times during the day, too. Nat took him in to the pediatrician today just to make sure that it was nothing major.
It turns out these phantom leg pains DO have a cause, and that cause is: Jack is extremely flexible. Yep, I laughed out loud about that one. Really, an extremely flexible child coming from these parents?? Apparently the doc moved Jack's joints around a bit and discovered that Jack can put his foot above his head and touch his thumb to his wrist,etc etc. All these flexy ligaments can be overextended easily leading to pain. Poor baby. But happily not a reason to worry. In fact the Dr. said that this is a sign that the boy may be very good at sports! (Surprises all the time around here...) We were told to give him Motrin if he is in pain and just make sure that it's not always one spot that bothers him.
And, we'd better get a piano, and some gymnastics equipment... time to capitalize on this newfound gift of his! Our special little boy...!
So, Jack has been complaining, off and on, about his legs hurting. Mostly this happens at night and with our boy's wonderful propensity toward night time waking and getting snuggles out of us, it was hard to know if he was pretending, or if was that his foot fell asleep, or what.
But recently its been happening more often and a few times during the day, too. Nat took him in to the pediatrician today just to make sure that it was nothing major.
It turns out these phantom leg pains DO have a cause, and that cause is: Jack is extremely flexible. Yep, I laughed out loud about that one. Really, an extremely flexible child coming from these parents?? Apparently the doc moved Jack's joints around a bit and discovered that Jack can put his foot above his head and touch his thumb to his wrist,etc etc. All these flexy ligaments can be overextended easily leading to pain. Poor baby. But happily not a reason to worry. In fact the Dr. said that this is a sign that the boy may be very good at sports! (Surprises all the time around here...) We were told to give him Motrin if he is in pain and just make sure that it's not always one spot that bothers him.
And, we'd better get a piano, and some gymnastics equipment... time to capitalize on this newfound gift of his! Our special little boy...!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
More things Jack says...
Have I mentioned that I wish I could freeze time right now? I just love this age. I just love my son. I used to be a bit of a cynic regarding that mush-gushy idea of absolute, unconditional parental love. But suddenly these days I am understanding it. Because I am so absolutely, unconditionally in love with this 3 foot tall, charming child that lives in my house. The one with the most wonderful sparkling smile, the contagious laugh, and the funniest little patterns of speech you have ever heard. He is perfect (I say that without the slightest hint of bias!).
Here are a few of the little "turns of phrase" that I love right now:
"You ready por dis??" or the variant "Ready por show?" when he wants us to watch him do something.
"What think of dis?" when he wants us to respond to whatever "show" he just put on...
"choo-choo house" Yes-- he's been saying this for a while but I thought I should capture that he still uses it to refer to any location with a train table -- ie, a place to play. But he now differentiates between all of the different choo choo houses we frequent. For instance-- driving past Legacy Village he noted to us that "Dere a different choo choo house at Legacy Billage!"
"timilar"- he is now able to use the word "similar" appropriately in conversation. I don't know about anyone else but I am astounded by this...
Here are a few of the little "turns of phrase" that I love right now:
"You ready por dis??" or the variant "Ready por show?" when he wants us to watch him do something.
"What think of dis?" when he wants us to respond to whatever "show" he just put on...
"choo-choo house" Yes-- he's been saying this for a while but I thought I should capture that he still uses it to refer to any location with a train table -- ie, a place to play. But he now differentiates between all of the different choo choo houses we frequent. For instance-- driving past Legacy Village he noted to us that "Dere a different choo choo house at Legacy Billage!"
"timilar"- he is now able to use the word "similar" appropriately in conversation. I don't know about anyone else but I am astounded by this...
Saturday, April 10, 2010
fire hydrants
Meet Jack's latest obsession: the common urban fire hydrant. The kid is VERY into fire hyrdrants all of a sudden; "pire hyrants," he calls them, and he is constantly on the watch for them as we drive. This makes for exciting drives as we are never out of sight of a fire hydrant! We had never realized just how many differences there are among fire hydrants: combinations of colors, top sizes and styles, body sizes and styles... Jack likes to point them all out to us.
Some of the running commentary heard on our drive down Monticello this evening:
"oooooh! Look, dere's one! It have a short top. .... It's RED! Dat one have a large top..... OOOH!! I tee one. I tee dat pire hydrant. It's behind me now..."
Etc, etc.
Some of the running commentary heard on our drive down Monticello this evening:
"oooooh! Look, dere's one! It have a short top. .... It's RED! Dat one have a large top..... OOOH!! I tee one. I tee dat pire hydrant. It's behind me now..."
Etc, etc.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Just have to share the incredible cutenss of my son.
Yesterday I was reading a book and relaxing on the patio while Jack played with his bubbles in the backyard. (yes, life is pretty good sometimes...)
Jack came over to me, looked at me and my book, then put his finger on the text and carefully moving across a line of text (from left to right, I must add!!) he "read" to me: "When mommy is sitting, she has a sister in her tummy! It's my sister." Then he walked off to play again.
Melt my heart.
Yesterday I was reading a book and relaxing on the patio while Jack played with his bubbles in the backyard. (yes, life is pretty good sometimes...)
Jack came over to me, looked at me and my book, then put his finger on the text and carefully moving across a line of text (from left to right, I must add!!) he "read" to me: "When mommy is sitting, she has a sister in her tummy! It's my sister." Then he walked off to play again.
Melt my heart.
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