Drawing and coloring

 

 Jack's latest obsession is coloring. Well, it's not really coloring because he insists that he's drawing the alphabet. He'll yell out a letter and then draw it. And then he'll hand the crayon to me and make it clear that he wants me to draw an "A". And then a "B" and then a "C" and then he proceeds to go through the entire alphabet and I write down every letter. He really never tires of it. He thinks it's so cool.

We are really fascinated by the fact that he's also started holding the crayon/pencil correctly. Crazy. And, to tell you the truth, a couple of times he has made shapes that look like a "C" or "O" or "A" or whatever he shouts out. Most of the time he's getting lucky but I just don't know...

But to encourage his mad skills, we purchased an inexpensive little table from Ikea which he loves. He sits down in the morning and asks for his crayons and goes at it. Of course, the downside to his new obsession is that he draws on EVERYTHING. The new table, our coffee table, our couch, our WALLS. That was the worst one. He knows not to do it but does it anyway. Sigh. At least he's pretty darn cute working hard to make those letters.

 

Underwood Farms Harvest Festival 2012

This past weekend we headed back to Underwood Farms for their Harvest Festival which we visited last October. It turns out that Jack has changed a lot in a year.

This time he could walk around which was a change and pretty darn helpful...although he still likes to be carried a lot and, in that way, it's a bummer he's outgrown the Baby Bjorn. We visited some of the same places this year and took some of the same pictures (so that mommy could get a kick out of the comparisons).

 

Daddy, Jack, and scarecrow last weekend

Daddy, Jack, and scarecrow one year ago

Look at all that hair...

Ahh, a year ago he would wear a hat.  No more.

And remember this cutie pie girl?

Violet came with us again (and her parents because, frankly, she needed a ride) and I think she's changed a little too.

 

Anyways, as usual, Jack was wary at first and it took a long time for him to warm up. This kid is so suspicious of crowds and unfamiliar places. He climbed up high to get a better view and assess the situation.

   

 Last year Jack sort of tried to crawl up the giant hay pyramid but this time he climbed up like it was no big thing. What's up mom?

 

 

They had this cute little height measurement setup where you could take a picture there every year (right up my alley!)  Jack was so distracted by counting all the numbers that it was hard to get him turn around.

   

 But look! He's almost 3 feet tall!

   

Of course, the real highlight of the pumpkin patch harvest festival was the run of the mill bouncy house that Jack LOVED. He loves bouncy houses but, as I've discovered recently, in a situation where there is a time limit, it is a major disaster. Because he does not want to get out. At all. I mean, does he look like he's done bouncing?

 

 

The fun times ended with daddy having to climb into the bouncy house and drag Jack out kicking and screaming. He bounced back quickly though with a miniature train ride!

 

 

 We took so many pictures so here are a few more...

Making their way through the corn maze


driving the tractor

 

taking a break with daddy

counting pumpkins


enjoying the hayride


He found one his size!  Plus his sad little sunflower that he refused to let go of.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere!

Our little guy certainly has grown up and he is so much fun now.  Our family sure has changed and we are loving how much more more fun and communicative he is now.  Can't wait to see what the next year's visit brings.

Me and my boy then...


And now...

Our family then...

and now....

Leaps and Bounds

This post has been a long time coming and, truthfully, writing it is more of a record for me than anything.

Jack is over 19 months now and, at 17 months, we were worried about his lack of talking.  He hadn't said much of anything other than the occasional "pop" and "mama".  Then all of a sudden at 18 months his vocabulary exploded.  It's like he knew all the words (which, logically, I knew) but he decided it was time to show mom and dad what he could do before they threw him in speech therapy. Amazingly, he almost immediately, in probably the span of a week, went from saying one letter to all 26.  Actually, strike that...25.  He still can't say W but he can say the rest of them.  He points them out in street signs, he spells out every letter on the cover of books, and he loves writing them in chalk on the ground.  And he's working on being able to sign the whole alphabet.  The middle is still a little muddled but he's working on it...

The nerd alphabet kid also loves his numbers.  He's got 1 through 10 down pat and just today he seemed to have 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 down too.  

More than anything I'm just amazing at how much he LOVES books.  Like I am not exaggerating when I saw we spend hours every day reading books.  And he doesn't flip the pages impatiently or get bored.  He sits still ("couch!" "sit!") and watches and listens intently as I read a book.  The books are getting way longer with a lot more text.  It's also amazing that he's starting to learn how to spell some words...or at least sight words.  Like zoo, farm, pets, moo, etc.  So cool.  Lately, if it's a book he knows really well, he'll point out every single thing on the page...each animal, each tree, each flower.  I almost fell out of my chair last week when we picked up his baby color book and he proceeded to "read" it to me by telling me each color on the page and what the colored object was.  ("blue fish", "orange flower", "purple snail")

He definitely has some opinions when it comes to books.  He'll make me go through an entire pile, pushing the ones he doesn't want out of the way until I get to the one I want.  And the other morning at 6am he kept crying "buh-ee, buh-ee!" and I couldn't figure out what he wanted.  I went through the enormous stack of books in our family room but wasn't successful.  Finally I was like, "Bunny?" "Yes."  "You want the book Bobby Bunny?" "No."  "You want the book Runaway Bunny?" "Yes."  So I went and retrieved it from his room.  Crazy stubborn child.

So, what can I say, he's a reading nerd.  Not surprising considering how many books I devoured as a child.  And, just because he knows his alphabet and letters better than the other kids his age, I am by no means calling him a genius.  He's good at that stuff and the other kids are good at other stuff.  Things he can't do at all yet.  Blow bubbles, eat really well with a spoon without making a gigantic mess, be super social and say hello using kids' names.  Clearly everyone has their strength and Jack's is more academic and less social.  Yay for passing down your personality to your children!

And for posterity's sake, a few more things that he can do at 19 months:

- get excited and tell me if the stop light is red or green or orange (oops...damn kid, I thought you were smart.)
- command the automatic store doors to "open!" or "close!"
- notify me when we are driving up a hill - "up!!" or "down!"
- started understanding plurals and now will add an S to some things "two Ds", "three snakes"
- is pretty good about saying please when he is asking me for something.  still working on thank you.  

And let's end with another ABC video because he's so darn cute when he's trying to sing.

Little friends

 

 There really is nothing cuter than toddler kids playing together. Whether Jack knows it or not, he has a good little group of friends. They are all about the same age and totally adorable. Of course, the only downside is that they are all girls except for one. Some day (perhaps very soon) the girls won't want to play with the boys because they are starting to be way more rough and tumble than them. But, for now, they are cute and their play dates make for some great photo opportunities.

 

Violet and Jack bouncing in the bouncy house

Jumping on the bed and ensuing tickles

I don't think they enjoy posing for pictures.

Story time

Going for a wagon ride to the park with Violet

Fun family time

A week or two ago we got to go down to San Diego for a short trip that was less than 48 hours.  But we managed to pack in a lot of fun.  I was excited that John could be with us and experience some fun with Jack.

First we went to My Kids Clubhouse near my parents' house and I have to say that it was one of the neatest indoor playgrounds I've ever been too.  Mainly because there was this giant climbing structure with tunnels and slides and nets and a ball pit - that adults go on on!  It was so much fun to crawl all around with Jack.  He had a ball.

He, of course, enjoyed the other toys and even made a friend as he played make believe with the food.  Too cute.

The next morning Jack was very intrigued by the guest bathroom and the shower so he decided to jump in.  I think his favorite part was squeegee'ing the shower door.  What a fun activity!  And he did it with such gusto.

And then it was off to Sea World.  We had free passes so we didn't feel bad about only going for two hours.  We headed straight to the Sesame Street Toddler Town which is Jack's favorite part by far.  He and his daddy had fun climbing all over the nets and through the tunnel.

Then he played on the big bouncing floor with all the blocks.  So much fun!

We didn't see many animals... We stopped by the seals and the dolphins and took a slight detour to pet the bat rays.  

On the way home we stopped for a sandwich and Jack, of course, found the only fountain in the strip mall.  The kid loves water.

Knowing how much Jack would enjoy some water play, we decided to check out this "splash ground" we had heard about in Santee.  To say this place was a hit would be an understatement.  Jack squealed with delight the whole time.

The weekend was topped off by a date night for John and me.  Dinner and a Beach Boys concert.  Lots of fun!  And thanks to my parents for helping us make it happen!