Happy Birthday Jack! January 18, 2009

Today is Jack’s 3rd Birthday! He has been wanting it to be his birthday for MONTHS now.

If all you want is to see pictures, scroll down.

The party was held at Scoops, which serves crepes and gelato and has a BIG play area for children under 8. We actually got there before 10am (when the party started)! Our friends David, Melissa, and their kids Joe, Noah, and Elijah were there first, followed by Kristen and Austin.

We haven’t seen K & A since … well, it’s been a long time. They were a casualty of the “no Dads at MOMS Club events”. Even though we  like them, and Jack and Austin get along, I didn’t make it a priority to remain friends with them. That was a mistake, and I’m trying to fix that now.

Anyway, when Jack saw Austin, he ran around to the door and gave Austin a HUGE hug! I wish I had had my camera ready.

More and more people arrived. Unfortunately, several people who RSVPd yes were no-shows. I was disappointed that Jack didn’t get to see all of his friends, and it irked me that several crepes were wasted, made for children who never appeared.

Jack was happy, however. One of the new boys in his class came with his mom, and we were happy to meet her. She’s really nice, and is another possible source of playdates. I also got to meet Jack’s “girlfriend”. Candace is in the “big class”, so she’s 4. I told Jack, “You’re just like your Daddy – you like older women.”

Playing and eating occurred. Then I mentioned to Jack that we were going to open presents, and before I knew it, he was on the puppet stage ripping open a book. I got there, and got support from Max – he took pictures – while I tried to follow what Jack was doing and write down who got him what. Unlike at Christmas, he wanted to open all of his presents to see what they were. The kids clustered around him, and I felt like Tippi Hedren in The Birds. We did get 3 duplicate gifts, which is an etiquette quandary I get to face.

After presents, we barely got cleaned up before doing cake. Max baked the cupcakes – chocolate (brown) with blue icing and green sprinkles. They came out really nice!

The cafe has a “Make Your Own Animal” thing that many of the kids used. I felt bad for the parents – like they were trapped into buying more stuff. I was surprised that Jack hadn’t noticed it. (Later, Max told me that he did, but only mentioned it once, so, nothing.)

Overall, I think it was a successful party. I didn’t get much of chance to talk to any one mom, but I do think I talked at least a bit to all of the moms. There are a couple I think I missed. There were only 3 dads there – Max, David, and another David, Dad to Sophie and Emma.

Oh – that’s kind of funny. Max was looking for the treat bags for Sophie and Baby Emmy. He said “We don’t have a treat bag for Baby Emmy.” I said, “Emilia.” He replied, “Oh. I wondered who that was.” Hear that Annemarie? It’s already started.

I’m particularly proud of the treat bags. Max, Jack, and I decorated plain lunch bags, and I put in 1 ball point pen, 1 mechanical pencil with doodles on it, 1 sheet of stickers, 2 markers, 1 pack of Jelly Bellies, 1 Post-It note pad, 4 crayons, and a number of paper clips shaped like hearts, stars, feet, hands, and musical instruments. I thought it was neat. One of the kids looked at it, and said, “Oooh! I love craft stuff!” So I hope it’s popular with kids and parents.

We left just before 2, and then it took an hour to put Jack down for a nap. I kept having to remind myself that today is his birthday, and I should be nice to him. He didn’t think I was being so nice. But he finally did get to sleep, as I petted him. It was classic – one minute, he was fighting sleep, saying “I want to go to the toy store” and then he was snoring.

I tried to nap. I needed to nap. But my head was too full. Jack woke up before 5, and I got up at about 5:30. We went to Toys R Us because one of his friends gave him a gift card. We had to explain to Jack that he could not buy all of the trains. We did get him Peter Sam and Rheneas.

After the toy store, we went to Denny’s because it was close. I tell you this because of the following exchange:

The manager brought Jack’s grilled cheese… with fries. Jack ordered fruit. I was worried he’d want the fries. But he looked at the plate and said, “I wanted fruit.” So we handed the plate back, and Jack said, “I wanted fruit. But he brought me French fries. Silly turkey!”

Jack also asked to go the bathroom and really did pee in the Men’s Room toilet. Go Jack! Unfortunately, while playing trains at home, he peed in his jeans. Ah well!

Jack got to play with his trains and track for awhile after bath time. I talked to his Birthmom. She and I talked for a bit, and then Jack actually talked on the phone to her. He told her to sing him Happy Birthday, and answered a few yes and no questions about his birthday, and then said “I love you” and gave her a kiss.

Getting him into bed was a great feat, as he’s still on Cloud 9, being the Birthday Boy.

Tomorrow, the grandparents and our neighbors will be here, so his birthday will be extended a bit.

Jack Peek-a-Boo

Cupcakes!

Robyn and Baby Emmy

Jack Hugging Austin

Jack Opening Presents

Tippi Hedren? No, Robyn!

Happy Birthday to Jack!

Happy Birthday Jack

Cheers!

Exclusive!

Jack and Daddy

Awake December 29, 2008

It’s 11:21pm, and my child is still awake.

Last night, we were able to put Jack down for bed (asleep) by 8pm. Tonight, we tried to put him down at 8:30. Two and one half hours later, he’s still awake. Max has the habit of staying in his room until Jack is asleep or almost asleep. I refuse to do that. He’s been sleeping by himself since he was born, after all. Anyway, Max stayed with him, and then left Jack’s room telling me that he was done. But Jack came out a few moments later and Max went back in. Max came out at some point (I was in the bathroom) and when I left the bathroom Jack was standing in his darkened doorway. I sang him a song and left. He ended up leaving his room, turning the lights on in 3 rooms upstairs, getting his stool out of the bathroom so he could turn on said lights, and pulling out a few books. I just boomed, “NO” and turned all the lights off and shut his door tight, so he couldn’t open it. 
Then, he switched his light back on. I turned it off. He switched it back on. I taped it in the off position. I took his lamp out of his room (he has 2 actual night lights). At 10:30, I no longer heard any noise. I went up, and he was sitting in his closet, “reading” my Trixie Belden books.
At that point, I realized that the whole tough love thing had backfired. We played Duplos for 15 minutes and I ended up reading him two stories. Then I determined that he had a wet diaper, so he went to the toilet. He demanded his M&M for peeing, and I told him he could have it in the morning. He freaked out and started crying that he was hungry. I started to lift him back into his bed, and he tried to propel himself out of my arms, thus hitting the wall with great force. 
Daddy is up there now because Mommy hurt him. 
*sigh*
Most days, I like being a mom. Tonight, not so much.

A Good Night to Be a Mommy October 8, 2008

Jack was ever-so-cute tonight. The really cute stuff is at the end, so if you’re pressed for time, I suggest to scroll to the play-like dialog stuff.
I picked him up from school early so we could buy new shoes. In the car, every time we went under an overpass, he would cry “A tunnel! We going through a tunnel!”. He also pretended that we were in a plane, flying to Gramma Sandy’s house. When I told him we were going to dinner with Great-Grandma, he said, “And Nana and Grampa?”. And I said, “No, just Great-Grandma”. Well, he had a little fit, pining for Nana and Grandpa. So I told him that Great-Grandma was going on vacation to visit Aunt Monica, Uncle Ed, and some of Jack’s cousins. So then Jack asks, “Orion? Where Orion live? Where Orion house?” Orion is my sister’s oldest son, and they came to visit back in July. Jack still asks after him from time to time. I told him where Orion lives, and Jack was OK with that.
He wanted to be in the backpack (Ergo) to walk to the shoe store, and I had a dickens of a time getting him in because there wasn’t a bench nearby for us to stand/sit on. A random woman walked by – she looked like Cherry, my friend Susan’s friend, for anyone reading this who might know her – anyway, she asked if we needed help, and she helped us out. Very nice.
Jack noticed that there is a “splash mountain” near the shoe store. Indeed, there were two. So we stopped at one and I leaned in so he could get a little splashed.
At the shoe store, it took him approximately 10 seconds to find the Wall*e crocs. Yes, there are Wall*e crocs and they are $32.99. They also only come in whole sizes. So I had Jack try one on to show him, see, it didn’t fit. And he accepted that. But if he couldn’t get Wall*e shoes, he wasn’t going to get any shoes. I had been all set to get him a treat in the store. This shoe store carries some Thomas and Friends trains. But he threw a fit, so I managed to try a pair of shoes on, they fit, and I bought them. He finally calmed down when another little boy came in the store and tried to touch the Thomas stuff. Jack said, “That’s for Christmas!” and the little boy jumped back. The shoe lady did let Jack pick a sticker, and we found Nemo, so all was good.
Then, Jack walked back to the car with me. But he was confused. He said, “We going to a res-tar-rant?” Yes. “We walking to the res-tar-rant.” No. Uh-oh. Jack said, “We have to walk to the res-tar-rant. There are too many cars!”
I told Jack that I was sorry, but we had to drive. Next time, I’d pick a restaurant that was closer. We passed Fresh Choice, and Jack pointed and said, “We going to that res-tar-rant?” No. We were going to one that Great-Grandma liked. “She like THAT res-ar-rant!” OK…
Then I made the mistake of saying that I had to go to the Elephant Pharmacy. Jack freaked at the idea of seeing elephants and animals. I explained that, no, it wasn’t a zoo, it was a grocery store, and I don’t know why they call it the Elephant Pharm. Jack got very distracted and into the idea of “finding animals I can pet”. I mentioned going to a pumpkin patch and he yelled “NO! I want to go to the zoo!” Ah well.
We got to the restaurant, and Jack was relatively charming, eating some of his dinner and a lot of Great-Grandma’s.
So, here’s where it gets good. Jack was very sweet to Great-Grandma and gave her hugs and kisses. On the way home, he once again pretended we were on a plane, and that it was dark on the plane. He saw some real planes and talked about the “big jet plane” and how he wanted to get on a jet plane and go see “Gramma Sandy and Grampa Clyde”. Then he asked, “We can touch the plane?”
Me: Umm… yeah, if we can get close to it.
Jack: We can touch it?
Me: Yes, but it’s hard to reach it.
Jack: It not break-able? We can touch it?
Me: OH! Yes, Jack, we can touch it. It’s not breakable. But planes fly very high in the sky.
Jack: I need someone lift me up.
Me: Oh Jack, no one can lift you up that high.
Jack: The moon is cold.
Me: Yes, Jack, the moon is cold.
Jack: We can touch it? It not breakable?
Me: Well, Jack, the moon is very far away. If you grow up and become an astronaut, then you can touch the moon.
Driving…
Jack: I need an as-so-not to bring me to touch the plane.
Me: No Jack. You need an astronaut to bring you to the moon. You need to be a pilot to touch a plane.
Jack: I need an as-so-not to bring me to the moon.
Me: Yes Jack. You need an astronaut to bring you to the moon.
We got home, and Jack helped by getting Daddy to come out and help me with the stuff that always accompanies Jack. Daddy and Jack watched Wall*e – the one with MO in it (but that’s another post) – and they went up to take a bath.
Then, I heard Jack announce “I peeing!”
Daddy: That’s great Jack!
Jack: I get M n M now?
Daddy: Jack, just let me see in the toilet to check… You did pee! Good job Jack!
Mommy: (coming upstairs with pjs and a towel) You peed? Great job Jack!
Jack: I get M n M!
Daddy: Just let me wash my hands and I’ll get you one.
Mommy comes into the bathroom and grabs the M&M canister. She gives Jack a green one.
Jack: I can have five?
Mommy: You can have one.
Jack: I can have four?
Daddy: You can have one.
Jack: Three?
Mommy: No, Jack, one.
Jack: Two?
Mommy: If you’re a really good boy and behave in the bath, then you can have one more M&M.
And he was good in the bath, so he got another M&M. A red one.
Mommy: I figure if we only use M&Ms for bathroom-related treats, we’re all good.
Daddy: (puzzled) Why?
Mommy: Because we don’t want M&Ms to become blase.
Daddy: (confused look)
Mommy: We only want to give him M&Ms for bathroom-related behavior…
Daddy: OH! I thought you said RED M&Ms and I was confused.
After bath, Mommy and Jack go into Jack’s room. Jack asks for dots – that is, his lotion, which we put on every other night to keep his skin from getting itchy. So, I loaded him up with dots, and he smoothed them in. (I won’t include Daddy’s Silence of the Lambs reference.)
Jack gave Daddy a good hug, and we sat down to read Olivia and the Missing Toy. Not to spoil the plot, but Perry the dog chews up Olivia’s best toy. Jack commented on this while reading. Then he realized that our cat Jinxy was in the room with us.
Jack: Jinxy not chew up my toys.
Mommy: No, Jack, Jinxy does not chew up your toys.
Jack: Jinxy not chew my toys. (gets off Mommy’s lap) Jinxy can have my duck.
He fishes a cloth duck out of the block bin (I guess the duck was helping Duplo Pooh build a house) and extends it to Jinxy.
Jack: She can have my duck. Here Jinxy, you can have my duck. You not chew on it. Here Jinxy. Jinxy can have my duck. She not break it. Here Jinxy.
Jinxy: Confused, lazy look at Jack
Mommy: You want to give the duck to Jinxy?
Jack: Here Jinxy. See, I sharing my toys! (Glee!)
Mommy: Yes, you’re doing a good job Jack. If you want to give the duck to Jinxy you can, but you don’t have to.
Jack: Here Jinxy. (Puts the toy about a foot from Jinxy’s head.)
Mommy: (Picks up toy) Here, I’ll give it to her. Here you go Jinx.
Jinxy: sniff sniff look up tilt head
Mommy: I think she says “Thank you Jack” but she’s not in the mood to play right now.
Jack: Oh. (Takes duck back.)
Mommy: But you did a good job sharing.
Then, we brushed Jack’s teeth while discussing why we have cats and not dogs – dogs chew up toys. We went and read Olivia one more time. Jack giggled HYSTERICALLY at the part where Olivia looks under the cat. We turned out the light and said “night night” to the street. Then Jack put his hands up and said loudly “Up! Up!” I was confused.
Jack: I waking the sun up.
Mommy: (perhaps a bit more seriously than she should) Oh, don’t do that Jack! He’s sleeping. He needs his sleep.
Jack: (chastened look)
Mommy: The sun was awake all day, and now it’s time for him to go night-night.
Jack: He go in his rocking chair?
Mommy: Yes, he rocks with his Mommy in his rocking chair.
Jack: What’s his Mommy’s name?
Mommy: Umm… I don’t know. But I think his Daddy’s name is Zeus.
Jack: What’s his Mommy’s name?
Mommy: I don’t know.
Jack: Zeus.
Mommy: No, that’s his Daddy’s name. Hera? I think it might have been Hera.
Jack: Zeus-ee
Mommy: Zeus was his Daddy. We’ll have to ask Daddy.
And then I sang Jack to sleep in the rocker.
A very, very good night to be a Mommy.

May 14: Jack Kisses Jinxy

Hell on Wheels, Part Two May 29, 2008

So, the day after the hair-pulling incident, Jack was a model citizen at day care. We began using Jamba Juice as a reward – have a good day at Angie’s, get Jamba Juice. (The Matcha Green Tea Smoothie is his favorite. Let there be no doubt that this is my kid.)

He was normal to good for the past two weeks. On Friday (5/23), Jack proudly announced, “I kep my hands to my-self” and got a Jamba Juice. He had JJ on Wednesday (5/21) and, I believe on Monday (5/19) as well.

This Monday was Memorial Day, so, no day care. (Although, Jack did ask to go to day care.) Tuesday, he had a good day, but Max was late to pick him up, so Max didn’t know he had a good day until we were all home and I was reading the composition book from Angie’s. Yesterday, we had playgroup, and I think he was being a good guy. He might have pushed a girl.* He did scratch one of the boys. There’s one little guy he just always ends up in a fight with; sometimes it’s his fault, sometimes it’s the other kid. Life’s like that I guess.

His day care day was dismal. He had taken some toys of his own and would not share, despite the fact that he had taken toys the day before and shared very well. He sassed Angie, and got into a fight with the little girl at day care.

Today, Max called me – Angie called, and Jack needed to come home, because he was pulling little girl’s hair.

There are physiological changes going on:

• Jack has seasonal allergies. We gave him children’s Zyrtec last night, 1 tsp, per dr’s orders.
• Jack is getting molars.
• Jack is eating everything. He’s having a growth spurt.

There’s also a lot going on at home. I’m working. Jack wants nothing to do with Daddy, which is really hurting Max. We’re practicing sitting on the toilet, and occasionally Jack will pee or poop. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on how he’s getting to be a big boy. One of the boys at day care is already toilet trained, and Jack wants to wear underwear like him. We’ve told him that he can do so when he’s ready to tell us when he needs to go to the bathroom.

That was a digression. Anyway… I’m thinking that, with so much going on, Jack is just acting out. I’m hoping that we can focus on the positive. When I talked to him tonight, I just said that I knew he had a bad day, and everyone has a bad day here and there. I said that tomorrow, he just needed to practice keeping his hands to himself. He said, “I have to keep my hands to my-self. I have to practice. I have to play baseball. I need a bat.”

Let there be no doubt that this is my kid.

* At one point, another girl in playgroup screamed. I was closest and turned around. She was there and there were 2 boys close to her, and Jack a bit further away. All she could say was “Pushed me”. And I asked, “Who?” and she said, “Me!” The other boys skedaddled, so I asked Jack, “Did you push her?” and he said, “Yeah.” But I don’t think he did. He was involved in selecting toys from the bins when I looked over at first. So, I told him that we have to make sure not to push people and just let him go.

Ten Stories About Jack April 28, 2008

Work has been heating up, so I’ve not had a chance to do much, blog-wise. I have been jotting down notes, which add up to 10 stories about Jack.

Story One – “I like”

Jack is very big on sentences. His new favorite seems to be: “I like x.” and “x like me.” For example, “I like Alex. Alex like me.” (Alex is a girl at day care.) “I like Mommy. Mommy like me.”

He is also very into the concept of friends. Last Friday evening (4/18) when I was taking him home from day care, we had to stop at Trader Joe’s, which is right next to the pet store, one of Jack’s favorite places. He asked, “We go to peh-store?” I said, “Maybe.” He said, “I see birdies, fishies, and squeak-squeaks. I like birdies. I like fishies. I like squeak-squeaks. They my friends.”

The way he says “friends” is so adorable! I can’t write it phonetically. It’s just the way he intones the word “friends”. It’s almost Southern in pronunciation.

That leads me to a related topic – “mine”. In the last week, Jack has gotten very possessive. If he’s holding it, it’s “mine.” He likes to say “My Mommy.”, “My Daddy.”, “That Jack Mommy.”, “That Jack Daddy.” and so on. (Sometimes he does say, “Jack’s”, but sometimes he doesn’t.

Story Two – Boo Boo

Jack had a boo-boo on his leg – his knee, to be exact. He looked at it and said, “I am broken.” Really – all 3 words.

He then asked for a Band-Aid. He also remembered on Friday (4/18) that I told him we would get him Pooh bear Band-Aids, thus necessitating a trip to Target. They didn’t have Pooh Band-Aids, but they had Spiderman, and that was OK.

Story Three – Toilet Training

I never understood the excitement and pride that parents seemed to feel when announcing to the world that their child had used the toilet. Personally, I feel that such information is best kept to oneself.

Now, to be a total hypocrite, last week (Tuesday, I think), Jack used the toilet for the first time. He’s been sitting on it since January. We bought him a little seat that goes over the real toilet. I’m reading The Everything ‘Toilet’ Training Book (I don’t use the p-word) and it told me to get a couple books for Jack to enjoy. I found two that are pretty neat. Uh-Oh Gotta Go! and the Karen Katz book A ‘Toilet’ For Me. Anyway, we had been in the hot tub (see next story) and I took Jack out of his kick-kick clothes. He peed on the carpet. I said that was OK and asked him if he’d like to sit on the toilet. So he did. And while we were reading, he pooped! Woo hoo! Now, I get the excitement and pride.

Story Four – Height

Jack is now tall enough (34 inches) to stand with his feet touching the bottom of the hot tub, and his chin just touches the water. He’s very happy about this. Sadly, our hot tub seems to be broken, so we can’t go kick kick anymore. I hope we get this ironed out before the summer, when it’s too hot to go in the hot tub.

Story Five “Hi-Oh”

Jack now says “Hello” but he says it “Hi-Oh” like “Ohio” without the first “O”.

Story Six – Dolphin?

All I have written down is “dolphin.” I don’t know what that means. I do know that Jack can recognize dolphins as opposed to fish. But I’m sure that he did something cute involving the word “dolphin” and now I just don’t know what it is.

Story Seven – Tigo Beads

On April 15, Jack came home with a bag full of toys and books from day care. His day care provider, Angie (who is WONDERFUL!) had gone to a forum presented by First Five, about their Tigo program. First Five is dedicated to helping children ages 0-5, and the Tigo program teaches parents how to play with and read to their children. I think it’s awful that a program like that has to exist. Angie was actually supposed to give us (all the parents) a 3 hour class on how to use the toys, and the toys came with this pull out card with instructions, telling us what skills the toys develop. Anyway, one of the toys was lacing beads! I’ve been wanting to get Jack some lacing beads, but I wasn’t sure he was ready. Well, he dumped them out and wanted to play with them. At first, he couldn’t figure out how to do it, and got frustrated, so he asked for help. (I love that he asks for help instead of getting so mad he wants to stop.) I showed him how to lace the beads once, then I held his hands while he did it, then he did it all by himself! I was so excited! I took a video, which I’m putting here (Or not. It’s so big, I have to upload it to YouTube then link it, and I don’t want to do that tonigh. BTW: When he says “Wanna see Jack” he means that he wants to see himself on the camera’s LCD. He’s starting to take pictures, but that’s another post.) I did include a picture of Jack playing Tigo beads.

Story 8 – Cake

Jack loves cake. All kinds of cake. But other than that, I cannot remember why I wrote down “cake.” This story isn’t that good, is it? It’s just a reminder that Mommy created this blog because she couldn’t remember these stories, and therefore should post more often.

Story Nine – eBay

I’ve been bidding on items on eBay. In the middle of last week, the Red Sox “curse jersey” was up for auction. It was on the eBay home page. Jack saw it, and said, wrinkling his nose, pointing at the screen, “That shirt all dirty.”

Story Ten – 1, 2, 3, 4

On Wednesday night (4/23) at 11:54pm, Jack called out from his crib, “One, two, three, four!” then stopped. I have no idea what he was dreaming about. (I know the time because I was working on my computer and wrote it down.)

Plus One

To make up for the dolphin and cake stories, I will tell you about something that happened today (4/28). Jack found Max’s Wii guitar for Guitar Hero. He picked it up and said, “I wanna rock” (only “rock” is still pronounced “wok”, but close enough). Sadly, I was on the phone with my friend Anna and not able to get to the camera in time.

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.