The state of our household

 

There's our boy. Not the best facial expression but he's looking sharp.

Just thought I'd catch everyone up on how we're doing with 2 weeks til my due date. We've been busy trying to get all of the baby stuff out of storage, washed, and put away. Of course, putting it away meant finding space in Jack's room for all these tiny onesies and size 1 diapers. And making room in the family room for playmats and bouncy seats. Room we don't really have. But that's okay. I've resigned myself to the fact that the house will just be a bit cluttered for the next year or so. Oh well. At least we got all the baby stuff settled!

 

Staging area of sorts in the garage

Washed and clean size 3-month clothes hanging neatly in the closet

We talk to Jack a lot about baby brother and his upcoming arrival. He seems to understand what is going on and likes to say hi to brother in the morning. Maybe he's partial to him because he knows the baby is the reason we have new double stroller sitting in the living room. Not a major side-by-side double stroller, but a little sit n' stand deal that I can snap the infant car seat in and Jack can sit or stand on the back. He LOVES it. He straps in his favorite stuffed animal dog, jumps on, and insists Daddy push him around the room. So cute.

   

 Jack is still obsessed with his daddy and loves spending time with him. In the morning he says goodbye then rushes to the window to watch him drive away.

   

 This weekend when John tried to get some yard work done and clean the gutters (exciting stuff!), Jack insisted upon helping.

   

 All that manual labor seriously tired him out though.

   

 I'm trying to cross everything off my to-do list. Running errands, making appointments, etc. Today Jack got a hair cut so he could look sharp for baby brother. I was so proud of him. Sat in the little taxi cab all by himself and didn't make a peep. My big guy.

 

 

 He really is getting so much bigger and older though. Preschool has been a great experience. At this point there's no crying whatsoever and he seems to be enjoying it. He'll never be the kid who runs into the classroom and gives his teacher a giant HELLO and high five. But he walks into the classroom, finds his number puzzle (definitely his comfort item), and sits at the little table to play with it. He'll give me a hug and remind me that "mommy always picks you up at the end" and say goodbye. We've noticed that since preschool has started, he's definitely gotten better at playing WITH his friends. He'll engage them and actually play with them, rather than beside them. It's pretty cute.

   

 So Jack seems totally ready to be a big brother EXCEPT for his current sleep patterns. After sleeping through the night for so long, for some reason he's back to waking up like 2 or 3 times during the night. And this doesn't include his early morning wake-up time (thanks daylight savings!). I've read that it's just the age and development and he'll grow out of it (obviously) but it still stinks having him wake up twice a night every night. Luckily John's been dealing with him because no one wants to wait for me to roll out of bed like a whale. :) One thing about bedtime that is cute though is that he's started wanting to read by himself. So I'll leave him in there for 15 or 20 minutes and he'll just read his books by himself. A boy after my own heart.

 

So yes, in summary, Jack is pretty cool right now.  And tall and strong.

 

P.S., he still loves watermelon.

 

A Jack Update

Well, I have literally 100 pictures to post of Jack from different activities and events we've done.  I'm so behind on blogging.  It's just somewhat time consuming and those two free hours I have between Jack's bedtime and my bedtime has been full of paying bills, doing things for my MOMS Club, and catching up on emails, etc.  But let's skip the pictures and just do a little update on my boy.

Let's start, of course, with the positives so I can brag a bit.  That picture of him above is him drawing the number 101 in chalk.  It's not bad, right?  He can really only do 1's and 0's legibly but that's pretty cool.  He still loves his numbers and counts at any chance he gets.  Up to 100, past 100.  In Spanish and in Italian.

He adores his books.  I can't even say he has a favorite one because he just loves them all.  My mom got him a science series on the planets, and Earth, and the sun, and solar system and he's really taken to them.  Some of his favorites (ie "One Little Blueberry") he has memorized and will read to me, word for word.  Other times I'll leave him alone for a second and come back and find him curled up on the couch with a book like "Sammy the Seal" or "Harry the Dirty Dog" and he'll be reading them silently to himself, turning the pages at an appropriate rate.  We will have our playgroup here and there will be 10 toddlers running around like crazy and making a mess and having fun and Jack will be in the middle of all the noise, sitting on his chair, reading a book.

Not pictured - 10 crazy toddlers and a lot of noise

He knows his alphabet backwards and forwards and I'm amazed at all the words he can read in his books.  I'll read aloud and stop and point to a word for him to finish the sentence and it's amazing.  I'd say he can read probably 50 words or so.  So clearly he loves his books more than his friends.  Oh well.  

He's still incredibly shy and reserved in big group settings.  Or even small group settings.  Pretty much anywhere outside our house or outside our family.  He will sit quietly in music class, and only on my lap.  No dancing or running around for this kid.  Quiet, determined drum playing in his mommy's lap.  But he is enjoying it in his own way so I can't complain.

I CAN complain about his recent behavior.  This I definitely don't have pictures of.  For the past two weeks or so, Jack has exhibited the worst signs of the "terrible twos" that I have ever seen.  At any minute, he can meltdown and throw the worst fit you've ever seen.  The triggers vary.  It could be me denying a fourth juice box.  It could be him wanting to hear a song that's only on daddy's computer and he's not home.  It could be nothing.  But watch out.  Because suddenly he's screaming and sobbing and writhing on the floor.  And nothing will pull him out of it.  He doesn't want to be touched but he doesn't want me to leave.  He doesn't want to play with my phone and he doesn't want his favorite food.  He doesn't want to be inside but he doesn't want to be outside.  It's just a nightmare.  And he throws things.  Anything and everything in his reach.  The other day he somehow got a hold of a glass and threw it at me.  Luckily it landed on the couch but still.  When he gets that way, it can last literally up to an hour.  

Now, I know this is part of being a 2 1/2 year old toddler.  And I know his friends are going through the same thing.  Sadly, I think Jack's tantrums tend to include more throwing and hitting (my shoulders are bruised) and physical manifestations and that's a bummer.  We are worried about taking a 5 1/2 hour plane ride this month because if he has one of them tantrums on the plane, that'll be it.  Game over.  The poor other passengers.  

I guess the most frustrating part is that there seems to be nothing I (or John) can do during these meltdowns to help him or stop it.  It just has to play out.  And that makes me never want to go outside to a public place.  Ever again.  So if you don't see me for a while, you'll know why! :)

Week in Review - 2/2/13

Another fun week with Jack and our playgroup and classes and activities. It's so much better when he's healthy.

He is learning by leaps and bounds.  Two weeks ago he could count to 10 in Spanish and now he can count to 30.  He learns how to read new words every day and it's so cool.  Often times I catch him reading by himself and it's so cute.

He continues to enjoy his trampoline every day but now he has taken to swinging and hanging from it.  He thinks it's a small miracle and giggles every time he does it.

He had fun with his friends this week.  Violet came over and she and Jack both enjoyed Pepe's company.

 

We also went to our first ever "Soup Swap" with my moms club. Kind of old-fashioned in some ways but everyone made homemade soup and then froze 6 containers of it. We all swapped and took home different kinds of soup. Meanwhile the kids had a ball playing with toys and tricycles and eating a delicious dinner.

 

And here are some more pictures from the week!

Passive Aggressive

 

So Jack's adopted quite a passive aggressive way of getting things lately. Though obviously he's not doing it on purpose...it's just how he's communicating. And, I have to say, it's pretty darn cute. Everything is a question. EVERYTHING. And with the wrong pronoun. But that makes it even cuter.

"Do you want some milk?"
"Do you want a squeezie?"
"Do you want a book?"
"Do you want some goldfish?"
"Do you want mommy's phone?"
"Do you want the CD?"
"Do you want a juice box?"

 Why, YES Jack, you do want a juice box. And I'll get one for you. And, YES Jack, I will give you yet another squeezie.  Just because you are adorable.

Letters and Reading

It's no secret that Jack is obsessed with letters.  In his bath every night he lines up all his letters in order and spells words and sings the alphabet song.  Not sure if, based on the photo above, he's a genius Type A nerd or a serial killer.  :)

What's really great though is that he's sort of starting to "read".  I mean, I put it in quotes because it's really just memorizing sight words at this point.  But he certainly seems to be able to read a lot of words.  I write them on his magna-doodle and he reads them to me.  

Or when we are reading a book, he will point out the words he knows.  For posterity's sake, I figured I'd list all the ones he can read right now so that when he's 10, I can look back and see how he was doing at 22 months.  :)  So far he can read:

Jack

hello

hi

bye

go

stop

up

no

on

in

zoo

fox

dog

cat

frog

sun

fun

book

hat

you

Pepe

pasta

And I think he's pretty much got:

owl

cow

bus

pig

tree

duck

It's all pretty exciting.  So proud of my little guy!

Week in Review - 11/10/12

 

Another week filled with fun, joy, tears, amazement, tantrums, ups and downs. :) I guess that's life with a toddler. On the plus side, his alphabet and reading skills are growing by leaps and bounds and it's so cool to see. He is constantly singing the ABC song and spends a lot of time playing quietly with his letters each day.

  

I swear I didn't help him with this...or even ask him to spell his name.

Grandma was up visiting and he made sure that she knew how to write all her letters too.

  

I think the thing that amazes me most is his new trick with books. Not really a trick but, somehow, in the last 20 months after reading book after book literally hundreds of times, he seems to have memorized most of them. I mean, duh, I guess. But still. Now I catch him sitting by himself with a book "reading" out loud. Hitting the key words and doing all the inflections. And when we're reading together, he'll help me out with the first word or two of every page. It's adorable. And so awesome! Guess he's really been listening for the past 1000 times I've read "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb".

  

My little nerd...

On the flip side, we're still working on his social skills. Man, this kid is not outgoing. He would so rather be home or play by himself. The exception is probably with his close two or three friends. He says their names and seems to look forward to seeing them. His friend Nick is super friendly and tries to give Jack hugs with varying success.

   

He also hangs with his tomboy girlfriend Mackenzie who's cool and ridiculously outgoing.

  

Before we get to the rest of the cute pictures, just a side note and thanks to my mom and leslie who let me get out for a few nights of fun. First was my friend Ali's premiere for the movie she produced. Check us out on the red carpet.

  

Felt pretty lucky to tag along with the producer to the after party and enjoy my free cocktails and reserved seating.

  

And the next night I was lucky enough to tag along with my sister to a screening of "Argo" which I really enjoyed. And it was fun to see a Q&A after with Affleck and some of the cast. Good times.

  

Okay, enough about me. Here are more pics from the week!

 

Finally we get to break out the pants and sweatshirts!

Deep in thought

His new favorite activity...RUNNING!

One key at a time, just like daddy taught him

playing the drum in his music class

catnap in the car at 8am because he won't sleep past 5

and spending quality time with the only friend he's truly excited about 

and affectionate towards...pepe the dog.