September Web Site Update September 6, 2008

As usual, Jack is surpassing the milestones of other kids his age. This September, Jack will be 32 months old. (Soon, we can stop keeping track of months. Woo hoo!) In terms of milestones, he’s at about a  4 year level in his language, cognitive, social, and emotional milestones. He’s about average in his physical milestones. For example, he can throw a ball, but can’t catch it. He can’t draw letters, but he can draw lines and other shapes. He can alternate feet going up and down stairs (who knew that was a milestone?), but he can’t pedal a tricycle. 

For the record, Jack is just about 30 pounds and is 35 inches tall. 

Jack started Montessori preschool in July, just after July 4th, actually. We’d love to show you some pictures from Jack’s first fireworks display, but the camera is gone. It was either stolen from my car, or a gremlin has taken it from the house. I’m very distressed about this. In the end, Jack really did like his first fireworks. Once they were done, he said, “Wan’ it again. Jus’ one more time.”

Jack is learning a lot in school. He can put on his own shirt, shorts, and shoes. He can wash his hands, and indeed hates having dirty hands. His vocabulary continues to grow, with words like “reservoir”, “Neosporin”, “happenstance”, and “dame la mano”.  Jack speaks in complete sentences, with pronouns, although they’re not always grammatically correct. He remains ahead of the curve, verbiage-wise. He asks for many of his books by name, and has practically memorized B is for Bulldozer. He has some pretty impressive words from that book too – he knows the names of many big trucks, including the excavator. Furthermore, Jack enjoys hearing “Once ‘pon a time”s, especially the one where “Pooh Bear gets stuck in Rabbit’s house”. 

Jack has many friends at school, and he’s continuing to make more as the summer ends and “real” school begins. 

Jack saw his second in-theater movie, Wall*e and LOVED it. He now has four Wall*e books, a Wall*e lunchbox (thanks Nana), and a transforming Wall*e and the Reject Bots (thanks Grandma and Grandpa).

Jack really started to love drawing back in May, and will now scribble on anything he can find. He has crayons, markers, pens, and pencils everywhere. He’s pretty good at drawing ovals and circles. He also loves drawing with his sidewalk chalk. Jack doesn’t write letters, but apparently his cousin, our nephew, Orion does. We got the chance to visit with Orion and his brother Cyrus at the end of July. Pictures forthcoming, we promise.

Jack has gotten to the stage where he tells everyone what to do – where to sit, what to draw, what to read, and so on. It’s very cute, in a small dictator kind of way. He’s also into pretend play. He loves his play food, and will share it with anyone. He has a great imagination too. He’s pretended that a basket with cloth napkins is a bucket and shovels. He’ll throw a birthday party for any of his stuffed animal friends. 

Jack knows his colors, and recognizes most capital letters. He understands things that are the same and things that are different. He enjoys pointing out similarities between himself and Mommy and Daddy, for example. Jack can count to 20 (though he sometimes skips 16) and can recognize most numbers from 1 through 11. 

Jack loves playing outside, and since we had our front and back yards re-sodded, he spends lots of time out there. 

One task Jack hasn’t mastered is toilet training. He was very into it at the beginning of June, and we thought our gDiaper days were numbered, but, upon starting preschool, Jack became very anti-toilet. We need to be more consistent about it here at home, and encourage him to use the toilet more often. 

We just got back from Pennsylvania, where we visited with Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Clyde, GG (Great-Grandma Trimble), Aunt Pam, Aunt Molly, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Lolo, and cousins Bryan, Joe, and Marie. We went to the zoo for the first time, and played at Pleasant Kingdom. Again, pictures will come soon. 

January Year-End Update January 16, 2008

Jack is 2 years old! We will celebrate his 2nd birthday with a small party on January 30. (We had to postpone the party due to illness.) His grandparents are here for his actual birthday on January 17. Jack is 28 pounds, 8 ounces. He is over 33 inches tall; he will not stand or lie still long enough to get a measurement. We continue to believe that he is the smartest baby boy ever. At age 2, most kids will have 50-70 words, but Jack’s vocabulary keeps growing. Fortunately, he has not yet learned to ask “Why?”, but we’re sure that’s coming. He routinely speaks in 3-5 word sentences. Some of his favorite new things to say are:

• I like this, or I like “dat”, or I like this thing (where thing is food, a person, a toy, etc. with which he’s playing)
• I want “dat”, or I want this.
• Appetizer
• Ginormous (as in, “Draw ginormous yucky trash.”)
• Jamba Juice. Green Jamba Juice. (Jack’s favorite Jamba Juice is the Matcha Green Tea Blast, which we get twice a week.)
• Mommy do it, Daddy do it, or Jack do it.

In October, Jack was a cow for Halloween. Mommy dressed up like a farmer to take him trick-or-treating. We only went to about 10 houses. Jack was a big hit, but he was too shy to say “trick or treat” very loud. This Thanksgiving, Jack was old enough to actually eat a turkey dinner, which he generally enjoyed. He requested “apple pie” for dessert. Jack began going to day care twice a week in November, in anticipation of Mommy getting a job. He made Mommy & Daddy a lovely Christmas present, which we will cherish for quite some time. Jack himself was completely spoiled on Christmas. However, he did not want to open his presents! To read more about our Christmas, see Robyn’s LiveJournal entry, Christmas at the Chittisters’.

Jack is still obssessed with trash, and Jack and Robyn seek out David the garbage man every Thursday morning and follow him around the block. The garbage man now stops and waits for them at the corners, so he’s sure they can see him picking up the trash. Thanks to the yucky trash, Jack can now accurately identify green, blue, and brown. Now Jack can correctly identify the major colors, although he sometimes gets orange and yellow mixed up. He loves to draw! He really likes it when Mommy or Daddy draw “ginormous” yucky trash cans, lollipops, or cups of tea for him.

Jack tries to be helpful by throwing things away in the yucky trash, getting shoes from the basket at the door, and putting his toys and bibs away.

So, according to the Milestone Charts, Jack should be able to: Name at least 6 body parts, make 2-3 word sentences, speak so that about half of his words are understood. About half of kids at age 2 are also able to talk about themselves, arrange items in categories, walk down stairs. More advanced 2 year olds can understand abstract concepts, jump, and be aware of gender differences. He can do all of that, except put items into categories. He’s learning about opposites, and understands that, even if two colors are different, they can still be blue. (There are 2 shades of blue and 2 of green on a drawing web site that we frequent, and he asks for “blue” or “other blue” and “green” or “other green.”)

Jack can count to 12, although he can’t always stop counting. For example, if the snowman has 3 buttons, Jack will sometimes count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. He can recognize the existence of letters, such as looking at a sign and knowing it’s comprised of letters. He now calls them “ABCs”. He knows the entire ABC song. He recognizes the letter O by name. (Robyn thinks it’s because of Cheerios.) He also recognizes J (for “Jack”), and sometimes A and E.

Jack has the vocabulary and communication skills of a 3 or 4 year old, according to the milestone charts. He’ll at least try to say anything you ask him to say, including “apocalypse”. You haven’t heard cute if you haven’t heard Jack say “pocalypse”. Signing Time! and Johnny and the Sprites are his most-requested shows. He knows almost all of the body parts; he certainly knows the major ones – ear, eye, mouth, etc., and is learning some others – forehead, cheek, and chin being recent additions.

Jack also loves to sing! He’s getting better and better. His repertoire includes “Row Row Row Your Boat”, the ABCs, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Old MacDonald”, “Rock-a-Bye Baby”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Johnny and the Sprites”, and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?”. He also sings his own tunes while playing. He also correctly identifies ALL of the Winnie the Pooh characters, and he’s getting better at saying “Christopher Robin.” He now knows that Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Pa, and Great-Grandma have other names. He always knows Mommy’s, Daddy’s, and Nana’s names, but he’s not so consistent on the others. We are teaching him his last name. The day after Christmas, we were working on it, and he said, “Chi-ister. I like Chi-ister.” Again, so cute!

Robyn loves this story from September: Last night, in the Costco parking lot, Robyn said “Chocolate momma, Chocolate up the milk.” and Jack said “Drink milk. Black tan.” The line is from the book Black is Brown is Tan, which is a new favorite of his (and one we highly recommend).

Jack can toss a ball, but not catch it. He likes to play with our neighbors, who are 4, 6, 9, and 10. The 4 year old likes to hug Jack. He likes to run, and is actually understanding the difference between the sidewalk and the street. Another fun playtime activity involves feeding a baby bottle to his baby, his rabbit, his cow… really, all of the stuffed animals. He can sort shapes and put the blocks in the proper slots to get them back into the shape sorters. Jack also loves to play with Mommy’s scissors. Fortunately, she has the decorative ones that cut in waves, so no sharp edges. Of course, he really likes to spin the scissor holder around. I don’t think Aunt Ann knew she was getting Robyn a child’s toy when she gave her those scissors for Christmas in 2004. Jack likes to play peek-a-boo with us, himself, or inanimate objects. Sometimes, he’ll simply cover his own eyes and say “Where’s Jack?”. Hilarious! Jack likes pillow pits, which is a big stack of pillows, often on Mommy & Daddy’s bed, into which he is thrown or jumps. He likes to “fwoomp”. Jack is also learning to jump, and boy is he getting good at it! We began playing hide and seek about two weeks ago. Jack is getting much better at climbing, though he still hasn’t figured out how to climb out of his crib.

Jack enjoys the typical boy toys – cars (“car says vroom”) and trucks. He also likes puzzles, which he can do better and better each day. He seemed to master the shape sorter overnight. One day he couldn’t do it without help, the next day, Great-Grandma’s telling him how wonderful he is for putting the blocks in the right spaces. As part of putting things away, he will often take his toys and rearrange them in the play area or on the shelves. It’s really amusing to see him so seriously place each toy exactly where he thinks it should go. Then he generally knocks them all over or dumps them out of the container. He spied the Duplos that we were saving for mid-year (thank you Great Aunt Sue) and now dumps them over on his floor everyday to play with them. He really likes playing with other kids, so enjoys going to day care and playgroup.

Jack still chooses not to feed himself with a fork (but he does with a spoon). He plays with his food too much, stuffs it into his mouth and spits it out, it’s just too messy. Apparently, children in Guatemala don’t feed themselves until age 3, so we’ve got some time.

We got Jack a little seat for the toilet, and he sometimes asks to sit on it. He loves toilet paper and flushing, so we’re slowly getting him to think that the toilet is super-cool.

Jack doesn’t take off his own clothes yet, though he can and does take off his socks and shoes. Jack can now walk down the stairs, while holding hands, but doesn’t usually walk up (he climbs). Usually, he slides, scoots, or jumps down the stairs (with parental supervision of course). And while Jack loves to draw, he can’t draw anything recognizable. (Apparently, some children can draw straight lines at this age.) Mommy saw him kick a ball for the first time on November 12. Speaking of kicking, Jack has entered a violent phase, and is biting (through clothing) and sometimes hitting people for no discernible reason. We use time outs, which work relatively well, but not always. Something else Mommy isn’t entirely proud of, the day after Christmas Jack got up on a stool and started yelling “Damnit damnit damnit damnit!”. So, yes, Jack has learned how to repeat words and snippets of conversation.

And what is Jack eating these days? Crackers, especially goldfish (he can say “goldfish”). And “mac and cheese” which he says and signs. He simply loves mac and cheese, which fortunately means any pasta with cheese on it. He can say “pasta” and kind of signs it. Tomatoes are his favorite fruit. He can successfully eat an entire container of yogurt by himself. At Halloween, Jack discovered candy. Especially “lollipops”. We’re going to hide it all after his birthday and try to convince him that candy only exists from October to January. It might work.

We spent a couple of weekends in September sick. Jack got a cold, then gave it to Daddy and Mommy. Daddy got it the worst. Mommy introduced Jack to Jamba Juice, which he really liked! The last weekend in September, Jack got a stomach bug, then gave it to Daddy and Mommy, who were hit worse than Jack was. Jack got sick again when he started day care two days a week in November. He had a persistent sniffle that turned into a sinus infection on December 31. Max and Robyn have also been hit with colds, though Max’s is far worse than Robyn’s. So, we began the New Year ill. Hopefully, we will avoid so much sickness this year.

Abbreviated Post August 29, 2007

Jack has the vocabulary of a 3 year old, and no, that’s not hyperbolic. I was looking up toddler milestones, and 1 book and 2 different web sites all said that a child at 24 months should be able to say “several” single words, and, perhaps, 2-4 word sentences. It’s not until age 3 that a child will generally speak in sentences, or speak and be understood by people outside the family. Jack has 80 million words. OK, not so much. But he does have TONS of words, and about half of them sound like what they are, including “strawberry” and “helicopter.” He also has the sentence concept down: “I love you, name“, “I like x” or “I like it”, as well as several command sentences – “Mommy pick up!” He totally understands what we say, and fortunately hasn’t repeated any of our swear words. Not that I care so much, as I think swearing is a valid form of expression, but I’m not sure I want to explain that to everyone in the MOMS Club.

I have finished scrapbooking Jack’s first year. It takes up 3 scrapbooks, plus – I ran out of scrapbooks, and it looks like the final pages will just fit into one more, but it could take two. I still have to journal everything since August, and embellish. Searching for just the right embellishment was taking hours, so I decided to scrap the pictures, then go back and look at the stickers I have, page through to find the right page, and go on. I will be doing that this coming Friday night at a crop at a friend’s house. She’s a Creative Memories consultant, and I hope she won’t find out that I joined TLC. I only did it for the software!
I’ve become a gMum, with gDiapers, and I’ll write about that some more, per my agreement with the g people.

Jack sings! He likes the ABC song, and has the melody, but not the “words” – he sings “EFP” with great pitch though. He’s signing more too, and loves Signing Time. We’re trying to find the DVDs on the cheap, as our TiVo is full.

I’m taking Jack out insanely early tomorrow to go to a place with those jump houses with other moms.

Max is here to tell me to get away from the computer.
BYE!

 

Ten Months November 18, 2006

At 10 months, Jack is meeting almost all of the 10 month milestones, as well as several of the 11 month milestones in What to Expect the First Year. One of the neatest to watch is Jack practicing his fine motor skills. He can pick up very tiny objects with any combination of thumb and fingers. This means that he cleans our carpets for us. Fortunately, he’s getting better about obeying the command, “Not in the mouth.”
The most amazing event that happened this month? Jack crawls! We even have the movie to prove it. We believe the first sight of this crawling was on November 6. It’s a funny kind of crawl in which he tucks one leg under the other and kind of tries to get up off the ground. Jack is standing while holding onto objects and is starting to cruise. He can stand by himself for very short periods of time. Usually, by the time he figures out he’s standing, he falls. However, when he holds onto pieces of furniture, he does squats to see how far he can get to the ground without falling. Sassy is getting used to this mobile Jack, and will generally move at the last possible moment before Jack can get to her. However, Jack does appear to be learning patience in dealing with Sassy. He will now just look at her instead of always grabbing.

Jack loves to topple towers, especially of the nesting blocks that Michael F. gave him. We play zoo with the stuffed animals, and he knows that Simba goes “wiggle wiggle wiggle pounce!”. His favorite book is currently Amazing Baby, I Love You, given to us by Melissa G. Jack can turn the pages himself!

We’re also getting naps under control! Many thanks to the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Jack is a much happier human being when he gets enough sleep.

Jack had a cold (his second, for the record) on Halloween, so he only went trick or treating at our next door neighbors’ house. We ended up getting the cold too, thus illustrating our need for a baby-sitter. Any volunteers? Suggestions?

Jack has been making a very funny face for the past month or so, which can be seen on his official ten month photo. He likes to scrunch up his face and show his teeth, kind of like a shrew. Mimicking is also big with him, like shaking his head when Mommy shakes her head. We think he understands the word “no” he just doesn’t obey it. Stop! works much better.

His culinary horizons have been broadened with the introduction of chicken and sweet potato dinner and Cheerios. He’s eating more solids each day and is just now beginning to prefer them over formula, it seems.

Jack still has two words: Hi and Daddy. He loves to babble, and sometimes you’d swear he was really saying real sentences. Like, “Not that” for example. We’re still signing certain words to him in the hopes that he’ll pick it up. He’s waved twice, kind of by accident, but we think he’s almost there. He does get that waving means something, and will usually say “Hi” to us when we wave.

Nine Months October 27, 2006

At 9 months, Jack is meeting pretty much all of the milestones listed in What to Expect the First Year. He’s figured out the “If I drop it, it still

exists and Mommy and Daddy will pick it up for me” game. He does not crawl, but he does creep, schooch, and roll himself all over the place. Thanks to Auntie Trisha, he now walks when he stands holding on to someone’s fingers. While we were in NH, he finally learned how to sit up from a lying down position. This has brought his schooching to a

whole new level. Now, all he wants to do is stand! Holding onto us, holding onto a table or chair, holding onto the crib rail.
Most importantly, Jack has TWO words: “Hi” and “Daddy.” “Hi” definitely means “Hi” but “Daddy” may mean “Mommy” and “Daddy” as he often says it to Mommy. The cutest behavior is watching him

saying “Hi” to himself in a mirror. For the record, he first said, “Hi” on October 2, and “Daddy” on October 13.
Jack will often respond to his own name, but he usually responds to “Jackson” better than to “Jack” or “Jack-Jack”.
At his 9 month check up, Jack was 20 pounds and 26 and 3/4 inches.

He is 50th percentile for weight and is finally on the chart, length-wise, in the 5th-10th percentile. His head circumference is in the 90th percentile.
His two bottom teeth are in, and his two top ones are still growing. He loves to bite and chew on anything he can grab. Yes, we have teether toys, but items that he’s not supposed to chew are so much tastier,

including human fingers. As for food, Jack does like yogurt (Yo-Baby), and combinations of cereal and fruit from the jar, in addition to his orange foods.
Jack’s favorite toys are blocks. He now has a few different sets, and he loves them all. He loves knocking towers down, and banging blocks t

ogether. He has also learned how to drum on empty containers and tables.
We were in New Hampshire for 18 days this month, and we were happy to see a lot of our friends. Jack didn’t take too well to the time change, so spent the first week being cranky and not sleeping well at all. The

second week, he was great, but because we lost the first week, we didn’t have a chance to connect with everyone we wanted to see. On October 8, we had a small dedication ceremony for Jack, at which his godparents and parents promised to look after him in all ways, including spiritually. As we are not members of a church, this occurred at his godparents’ home. His godparents are Marc & Joanne Gamache, of

Bedford, NH. Jack was a big hit at the Swonger household, where our flower girls, Jenn and Katie, clamored for his attention. They spent lots of time constructing elaborate towers and then letting Jack destroy them.
He still sleeps well at night, going to bed between 7 and 8pm and waking

up between 5:30 and 7am. Naps continue to be a challenge. So what else is new?

Eight Months September 18, 2006

At 8 months, Jack is meeting most of the milestones listed in What to Expect the First Year. He loves to stand up, usually holding onto our hands or fingers, but in the last few days, he’s also been standing holding onto our legs, the stair rail (don’t worry, we measured and his head can’t get through), and his crib. When we try to sit him down on the floor, he first stands, bearing his weight for as long as we’ll let him. He’s getting more and more stable. If the timetable for him sitting applies, then he should be standing on his own at about 9 months.
Jack loves to grab and pick up anything he can find, then usually puts it in his mouth. He will try to get what he wants, even if it’s far away. Indeed, he will sometime push or throw toys away just to try and get them. He will not crawl, though he can and does roll onto his tummy and lifts himself up. Of course, once he sees us watching, he rolls back over onto his side. I should add that he does “schooch” – moves his body and leg and turns around, and he also does the “roll and schooch” – gets himself facing in the proper direction, then rolls over to whatever he wants. Ingenious!
He has also become fascinated with Mommy’s earrings. One day, he was on my hip and turned to look over my shoulder. He then did a doubletake, and craned his neck to stare at my earrings. They still surprise him, and every day he must look at them and feel them. Also, Mommy’s ever-present ponytail now serves as a way for Jack to hold on to keep standing. And if the ponytail isn’t there?!?!? Yay! Fun with Mommy’s hair time. Daddy has the same issues with his glasses.
Jack does not yet respond to his name, but does respond to new voices and looks for mommy or daddy when he hears our voices specifically. Jack has recently discovered separation anxiety, so the sling he hated as a newborn he enjoys as a very heavy 8 month old.
On August 6, Mommy peered into his mouth and saw: TEETH! Two pearly whites sticking out of his little red puffy gums. They continue to grow. On September 16, the upper left front tooth started popping out. Jack is now an official drool bucket, and chews on anything he can. At this point, he enjoys our fingers encased in clean socks as well as any type of cloth. Jack is beginning to like “solid” food. He currently enjoys carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, apples, and pears. The jury is still out on peaches and yogurt. His dislike of peas may be genetic. He also enjoys eating paper, which, while we don’t particularly mind this, it can get very messy, so we try to keep it away. We are also trying to tell him that books are not for eating.

Having sat by himself for the first time on July 3, and mastering it by July 10, Jack is still working on his ab crunches, trying to get up to sitting from lying down. He has amazing abdominal muscles already!
Sassy and Jack have an odd relationship. Jack will follow Sassy with his eyes, leaning or peeking over our shoulders if necessary. As long as we help him pet her, they are usually fine together. Sassy will even come up to Jack sometimes, or purposefully come to the side of me that has Jack to look at him. She has purred once or twice while he’s petting her. However, if left to his own devices for even a moment, Jack will try to grab and pull Sassy’s fur, tail, or ears. We then separate Jack from Sassy. Grandma & Grandpa bought him a book, Tails Are Not For Pulling, which we read to Jack on a regular basis. We prefer that neither small mammal get bitten.
He still sleeps well at night, going to bed between 8 and 9pm and waking up between 5:30 and 7am. Naps continue to be a challenge. We thought we had him on a schedule, then the teething pain came. Then, we thought we had another schedule, but we covered three time zones in five days. We’re still working on those naps!
Jack’s adoption was finalized on August 25, 2006, in Kansas City, MO. The following day, we went to Pittsburgh, PA to see Grandma and meet Grandpa. Great-Grandma was there, and Great Aunt Pam, as well as the entire neighborhood, past and present, Max’s former Scout Master and his wife, and two sets of college friends of ours. It was an amazing open house, and Jack entertained us all day, without much protest. He impressed us all!