Friday, April 30, 2010

Smiling Friday...

Today is going to be a great day...

Just look how it started....

J is getting so good at drinking from a big kid glass... I've found it actually helps him drink his milk, when really he wants to get down & run around...

And the weather is predicted to be high 70's, but already feel like the 80's will be crossed... Playing outside & park time - here we come...

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

a week ago, last Friday...

yes, I late in getting these posted.  But you know, a mom's life is always busy, busy, busy...

J was able to finally share his basement fun area with a friend.  A friend he specifically asked to have come play.  I am just so amazed at how his little brain has grown & how much he 'gets'...

Enjoy...





Monday, April 26, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

They say...

...IMITATION IS THE TRUEST FORM OF FLATTERY...

And I've always pretty much subscribed to this notion too.  Until last Saturday, when (in public, mind you) my son pulled a stunt that was his mom obviously only done in the privacy of her own home all day long.  And sadly, not knowing anything else to do, I promptly removed the plate & handed it to our waiter as he passed by to check on us.

Then, last night as I was cleaning up the kitchen, I witnessed J doing it again.

What is this shame inducing imitation you ask?

This.

Yes, I've been known to lick a bowl or never mind clean.  Granted I do it with decadent things like - ice cream, chocolate, cheese - especially cream cheese.  My son, he'll do it with syrup (hence, Saturday's public shaming) or no sugar added applesauce.  He's not picky.

And it is just not me he imitates... He gets some of it in his gene pool.  You see, he followed Mr. M & Uncle Jon down the path of having furniture come crashing down as a result of him trying to scale it.  Although, Mr. M - who was sleeping while I was working & thought J was sleeping too, bares no blame for this.  Some how, I was supposed to *know* J would do this & teach him how dangerous it is.

Seriously!?!?!?!  How exactly, would I teach a 2 year old that?  :rollingmyeyes:

Oh, and by the way - J's fine.  The dresser landed on his right arm, but he didn't even show any signs of bruising last night.  The dresser however, needed some repairs.  I think I may be investing in some wood glue to help secure stripped screws from one of drawer slider rails.

Moving on...

On to less mortifying news... It seems we've graduated from sleeping on the floor, when J wakes up a night - to moving back to his bed.  Last night, J woke Mr. M & I up around 3 - something.  I managed to sleep through most of it, as Mr. M was already on top of dealing with J's screaming down the hall for mommy.

J - MOMMY!

Mr. M - J, mommy is sleeping, do you need a diaper change?

J - No, MOMMY!

Mr. M - Okay J, go back to sleep, it is still sleeping time

J - sniffle, OOOOOKKKKAAAYYY

And sure enough, he went back to sleep.  And when I checked on him when my alarm went off (4'ish), he was safely tucked back into his bed. 

For the record, had I done my usual & gone in to comfort him - he'd have still been awake when my alarm went off & proceeded into a full out meltdown. 

Daddy has mastered this task, and I am so thankful.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Surviving the Car Wash

I'm not sure why, but J has become scared of the car wash.

Probably because I rarely use it. 

oh be quiet, if you worked where I do - you'd know it is pointless because the next day I go to work, I will get a layer of who knows what raw material coating my car in a layer of dust

However, since Spring is still new here, I've been better about trying to keep my car clean.  So I took it for a swing through after getting gas on Saturday.

And J managed to find a way to make it through without doing much more than a small whimper.
Granted, it took my hand, and he was not hapy when I moved it to drive forward.

However, he was so happy when I said "All done"

Wow... I just realized, he still looks pretty distressed.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Spring Blooms

I know this is not technically about J, but I have to share...

The year Mr. M & I moved into our house, my grandmother P passed away.  I've always loved lilac bushes, and as a way to remember her, my parents dug up some of her bushes for me to transplant.

For that summer, and the next three summers, I've been so worried they wouldn't make it.  That they would never bloom.

This summer, I'm relieved and happy to share... They are blooming!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Constantly Changing...

J keeps me on my toes.  Constantly.

His mind is growing at lightening speed.  All of the sudden, airplanes (a-panes) have become a reason to shout out in the car.  Great for driving, let me tell you.  Repeating what you say.

On Sunday, he thanked the lady for holding the door for us to leave the bagel shop, without prompting

And all Mommy could think is "Wow!  How cool, things are sticking!"

Yet, some things don't change.  He loves to wear Daddy's hats, he just fits into them better these days.  And he loves his remotes. 
And finally  so cool big news...

J went to sleep around 7 last night, waking up at 8:30 to ask for the potty.  We've started making big praise deal out of his pottying on the potty.  But we are not pushing this, as I'm not ready to make it a fight.  

Especially since it took till 11 to get him back to sleep. 

But in honor of this event, I think we will be trying out our Thomas big boy pants soon to see how he does.  He has demonstrated full understanding of not pottying without a diaper on at all, so it'll be interesting to see how quickly he picks up on his big boy pants...

Friday, April 16, 2010

My Little Engineer…. Or… Curious George

I am constantly calling Jacob "my little monkey".  He is really into jumping off things.  He's halted my heart rate more than once at the park.  Although, I do get a mommy kick out of watching the wheels turn toward common sense when he realizes 'it would be a long way down' from the second mushroom - as opposed to the first he has already mastered.

But lately, I've seen some Engineering genes come out in him.  He is so curious (get it... Little Monkey + Curious = Curious George?  Nope!  Okay, moving on) on how things work.  He will lie down on the floor and work his tools while I read him a "Lightening McQueen" book, and sometimes he just does it on his own. 

For Easter Mr. M & I got him a "You Are My Sunshine" singing card.  He was so intrigued by it he kept investigating how it worked.  When he finally figured out what was making it work, he proudly discarded it, moving on to the next thing...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Being Stalked

This has been a rough week for both J & me.  Started on Sunday with my working 10 hours at work, followed by a 12 hour Monday.  As a result, J has been having a really hard time going to sleep this week.  Generally, Mommy falls asleep first, leaving J to wake her up continuously in hopes of more playtime.  Releasing shouts of unhappiness when his request is denied.

Plus, I think our little man is getting ready to grow again.  As he is eating us out of house & home these days.  Last night, and please don't judge - like I said, it has been a rough week so I wasn't up for fighting about fruit & veggies, J ate 2 hot dogs, 5 oatmeal cookies - small kid sized, a couple handfuls of Doritos’s, and drank 2 Kool-Aid waters plus half of his plain water straw Nuby sippy.  He sampled my raw green pepper - promptly spitting it out in disgust, and a carrot off my plate - which he immediately offered to Payton.  Sigh...

I had a half of my last Cold Stone visit still in the freezer, because my brain has finally conquered the idea - it's okay to save it for later.  So I pulled that out, while J was eating his cookies on the couch while catching a few minutes of "The Goodnight Show" on Sprout so I could sneak my ice cream clean up the kitchen.  To which Payton started stalking him. 

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

However, one commercial later, and it was me was being stalked by a short little man... Cookies were left on the counter ledge & off he was to join me in the kitchen.

As I cleaned up the dishes, something caught my eye - Yeah, Payton had not forgotten about that left behind cookie, and in retaliation for not being given a cookie - or a bite of ice cream jumped up on the couch & following J's lead for leaning on the back of the couch - shimmied herself right up to eat off the counter like any other member of our family.

I may or may not have wished thought about recreating even I had a camera to capture her boldness.

Fabulous... Does this mean I have to look forward to a 60lb dog hanging out on my counter now? 

Relax, if it does, it means I will be rearranging my living room.  As much as I love my dogs, that would be more than I could bare.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

2 year old clarity…

Recently J has said some things that have had me cracking up over what he says. And I’m certain he is laughing at me – or annoyed, depending on the situation…



How do I know this?

Example 1:


J had eaten a good nutritious breakfast of 2 eggs with cheese, pineapple, and water, because I’m a good mom like that… However, being me, I followed his breakfast with my own of Tostitos covered in cheese & salsa with a Diet Pepsi.

And of course, the bottom-less pit J had to join me.

J: Mommy I love ‘potato chips’

Mommy heard: Mommy I love ketchup

Mommy looks at the salsa…

Me: Oh Jacob, this isn’t ketchup, this is salsa. It is much spicier than ketchup.

J: (laughter) I didn’t say ketchup Mommy. (big smiles laughter)

Mommy heard: I didn’t say ketchup Mommy. You big moron.

After some back & forth, I figured out J was saying potato chip. However, we both got a good laugh at what a moron I was trying to guess what he was saying…

Example 2:


We had just finished breakfast at Cracker Barrel with my BFF Kari. This came out of nowhere, and actually ended up finishing while we were grocery shopping a short time later.

J: Cock

Me: cock? Do you mean peacock J?

J: Cock

Me: or do you mean cop?

J: Cock

Me: coP where you puff out that p sound?

J: Yeah cock

Lovely… Just what I need J to refer to our neighbors as…

Oh, then I really laughed, as we were in Meijer’s, and as we went by the window, J says it again. I look outside & see a TRUCK driving away.

And there was clarity.


Me: Jacob – are you talking about that TRUCK that just drove off.

J: Yeah tr-uck

And mommy can sigh a relief, the other word may just have parted our company for a while. Hopefully.

Example 3:

J was playing downstairs & I said it was time to clean up so he started cleaning up... During the process he dropped his box of crayons...

J:  Oh No!  Crap!

And there was no mistaking who he got that one from... In all of its clarity...

And when he said it the other night after I had just gotten done admonishing Mr. M for his use of the F-bomb in front of J, he threw it in my face lovingly pointed out that word was all me... And to further his point, he said "You don't hear him repeating F-U-(well you know the rest)" 

To which, I'm just thankful...

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Glimpsing at the Future, Seeing the Past

It is so fun to watch J grow & develop into his own person. When I see glimpses of the past, it gives me an extra boost to my day. I’m certain Mr. M experiences this as well.

I grew up in a pretty basketball friendly home. My parents even leveled out & expanded our driveway to create a real life size half court for my brother & me to practice. (Okay, so I preferred sitting on my rear end eating Girl Scout cookies & drinking Mt Dew playing with my Barbie’s, and Uncle Jeff preferred me to fetch his ball)

Mr. M and Uncle Jon have told Jacob, and therefore I’ve gleaned into their past – of days playing basketball in the house on a hoop similar to one J has now. Let me tell you, theirs was MUCH nicer than the ‘over the door with only a Nerf ball' Jeff & I had indoors. You can actually get a real life feeling with it…

And much like my brother, his dad (aka Mr. M) & his dad’s brother, J loves to play basketball. Last Thursday, I had a ton of errands to run in preparation for Easter, and since it was going to be such a great day – I wanted J to enjoy it – rather than be cooped up in the car running errands with me. Granted, I’m sure he would have loved a trip to Toys ‘R US, but the running in the yard at daycare with all his buddies was waaayyy more fun. And I have no doubt; he would have hated the trip I made next door to DSW.

Plus, this ensured, J got a good nap to keep him in good spirits for Grandma M when she came over that night so I could attend Mass & present the Oil of Catechumen blessed for 2010 at St. Michael’s.

And the point of all this is… Before we started the day, J, happy to have Mommy home on a rare Thursday morning, took full advantage to get her up & moving with a quick game of basketball.
Followed by a refreshing drink…

Looking so much like memories of my past with my brother I get weepy, because his personality is completely his own & I know I’m seeing the futute.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Soaking Up Spring

I have more pictures from Easter, however, since I didn't take them - I have to wait for family to share (hint, hint)

So instead, here's a picture of J's new found neighborhood love

It's funny, I just introduced him to it, but he has already grasped the concept so well that in addition to constant requests for 'pizza', 'hot dawg', 'cheese' (aka Mac-n-Cheese), 'apple' (aka pineapple or applesauce - have fun guessing), 'color', 'bball' (aka basketball), etc...  You now hear 'outside', 'park', and if you just don't respond quick enough - the door as he attempts to exit on his own.  :)

He's also been known to grab you in an attempt to "show" you what he wants.  We are working on that one, but it is slow because I kind of find it effective when I don't clearly understand what he wants too...

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter Morning... 2010

The Easter Bunny visited a special little man...

And boy was he ever happy...
Mommy is looking forward to upcoming summer days to play with his sidewalk chalk.  And even looking forward to a few upcoming rainy days to enjoy his new slide...

(Mommy & Daddy added a slide to J's indoor playground)

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter

Busy weekend... And I will get to pictures, just not tonight...

Big news...
  • J was very excited by his Easter Bunny visit
    • To the house, not for pictures
    • Grandma M tried, but that was a no go
  • While not much into 'hunting' the eggs, he did love popping them open
  • I was baptized during the Easter Vigil (yes, it really was 3 hours)
  • Mr. M, Grandma M, and my best friend Kari all celebrated it with me
  • Aunt Liz supported from the sidelines of J Duty
  • Spring is finally here...
    • celebrated with shorts
    • celebrated with trips to the park
    • celebrated with many trips outside
  • J can now open the sliding glass door
Alright, that is all my brain can process right now...

I will try to get pics up this week...