Twenty Months

I remarked to Jeff that Jack turned twenty months old this morning.  We both started talking about how quickly this year has gone by and, before you know it, we'll be celebrating his second birthday.  Truthfully, the days may be long but the years are short!  I have to decide when I'm going to stop taking his monthly progress pictures with his stuffed puppy.  I don't want to be that mom that responds, "My kid is 40 months old" when asked when her child was born.  I should probably stop now, and just start telling people that he'll be two in November.  That way, people don't have to do any math in their heads.

  

Jeff and I were talking this morning about Jack's favorite things.  We made a list of Jack's favorite things, which are as follows and in no particular order...

1.  Mickey Mouse

Seriously, I know I've written about Jack's affinity for Mickey, but it seems to reach new levels every single week.  It's gotten to the point now where I'm excited every Monday night because there's a new Mickey episode on Demand and I don't have to listen to the same songs over and over and over again.  Yesterday at Target, I was in the diaper aisle and Jack started pointing and screaming, "Geek-ee!  Geek-ee!" and I turned around and, sure enough, there was a tiny picture (seriously, the size of a silver dollar) of Mickey on one of the diaper boxes.  Then, in the check-out aisle, there was a Disney gift card for purchase and again, this hailed calls and frantic gestures from Jack to make sure I saw Mickey on the card.  

His Nana and Baba brought him back a t-shirt with Mickey on it from Oregon.  When I tried to put it on Jack this morning, he became upset because he could not see the picture of Mickey on the front of his shirt.  He kept trying to pull it off his chest to look at it.  So yes, Jack loves his Mickey Mouse.  It seems his favorite thing to do in the morning is crawl into our bed and watch Mickey on the television while Jeff and I get dressed for work.  Also, I cannot tell you how handy it is to have an iPhone with the Netflix app on it so I can pull up an episode of Mickey Mouse anywhere I feel like it...

2.  His Baba

I actually think that this is pretty cute, but Jack loves his Baba.  Jeff mentioned the other day that Baba is probably Jack's most favorite person.  Ever.  Even Mom and Dad come in second in Jack's world.  My parents have been in Oregon the past month and came home this week.  My mom came up for dinner on Thursday.  Jack saw her and ran up to give her a hug and a kiss and then ran to the front door, looking for his Baba.  Yesterday at church, he walked in and gave his Nana, Gammy and Gampy hugs, but then went into the church to look for Baba.  He points out Baba to me in all the pictures around the house and even a casual mention of Baba brings incessant chatter from Jack.  

3.  Water

Jack loves water.  He loves to drink water, he loves to play in water, and he loves to splash water.  He is probably the most hydrated kid on the planet with all the water he drinks.  I try to keep the water consumption down to a minimum around bedtime, mostly because I don't need him soaking himself during the night, but if he gets too thirsty, he'll go and drink from the dog bowl.  Which is, of course, awesome.  It was pretty hot this past week, and so we spent some time outside.  I have a little pool out there for him and his water table.  He had so much fun swimming around in his pool and splashing everything he could.  He loves to to take baths.  Well, sort of.  He does not like the getting-clean part of bath-taking, but he likes to swim around in the tub.  

    

4.  Bubbles

Again, bubbles rule.  He's learned how to blow bubbles himself but I have to wonder how much of the bubble solution he ends up eating.  He also loves to watch Blue jump up and try to pop the bubbles.  When we blow bubbles, Jack will shout, "Whoa!  Boo-booooooooos!"  and he loves to follow them until they pop.

5.  Blue

I've written so much about these two, but they really are quite the pair.  Jack loves to give Blue hugs and Blue is so patient with Jack and tolerates endless fur-tugging and hitting.  But, Jack really does love Blue.  He smiles every time the dog comes into the room and loves to help me take care of him.  Yesterday, we were outside riding his tricycle and Jack kept calling for Blue and clapping his hands.  Maybe that's because he thought Blue had run away, but I kept reminding him that Blue was inside and then he would look at our front window, see Blue watching us, and then go back to his bike.  

6.  His "Guys"

These are the things that he sleeps with at bedtime.  He's got Spidey-Bear, a blanket, and two smaller blankets with bear heads on them.  These are his "guys" and he loves them.  If he's upset, he will open and close his fist and ask repeatedly, "Guys? Guys?" and will only be quiet once he's settled down on the couch with all his guys and is watching a Mickey.  This is my secret weapon.  Combining the "guys" with Mickey is a surefire way to get him to stay put for a solid thirty minutes.  Which is invaluable.  I've learned that I can do quite a bit with thirty minutes of uninterrupted time.  

7.  Cleaning

It may be obvious that Jeff and Jack are father and son just by looking at them, but you'll know Jack is also my kid with the amount of cleaning he likes to do.  He loves to help me with the Swiffer, and he likes to put his toys away.  He loves to help me wipe the nose prints off the windows.  It's reached the neurotic level, however.  Everything has his place.  Spidey-Bear must be put back in the same corner every morning and his toys must be in the same spot.  He's got a sippy-cup that doesn't fit in the holders on his high chair tray and he refuses to drink out of it at dinner time because it doesn't sit just right on the tray.  Weirdo.  

And I think that about covers it.  There are lots of other things that he likes to do, but these are his current "loves" and things he'll drop everything for.  I wonder how many moms pull out the Windex bottle or the Swiffer to curtail a temper tantrum.

We had a pretty good weekend otherwise.  On Friday night, we laid low and grilled out.  I'm always exhausted by the end of the week and it's nice to wind down and stick close to home.  Jeff got home early and we started a new television series on Netflix.  On Saturday, the weather was cold and rainy.  It was so bad that I actually turned the heat on in our house for an hour or two so I could warm up.  My mom and dad came up for a short visit to see Jack on Saturday morning.  True to form, Nana had bought Jack a ton of outfits for the fall - and of course, the Mickey shirt.  It (almost) made me excited for colder weather to get here because he's going to look so stinkin' cute in everything she got him.  We were talking about the fact that it's getting harder to find cute clothes for boys as they grow.  Most of the summer clothes available are limited to shorts and t-shirts and there's not much else for them to wear.  Maybe that's okay.  But, in Target yesterday, I saw the cutest little outfit.  It was a striped jumper, but it was meant for babies and not for the man-child.  I just have to get over the fact that he's not my tiny human any more.  

Anyways, after Nana and Baba left, I spent some time around the house doing our chores and cleaning up.  The workmen were at the house all day on Saturday, continuing to put up the drywall.  Jeff and Jack went to the mall for a bit and then Jeff and I had a REAL date on Saturday night.  By ourselves!  We also tried out a new sitter, and Jack loved him.  Seriously he loved him so much, it kind of caught me off guard.  I opened the door to let the sitter in when he got to the house and Jack ran up to him and asked to be picked up for a hug.  That's kind of unusual behavior for him and there was a part of me that wondered if Jack thought it was his Uncle Alec.  So, Jeff and I went to dinner and then caught a movie.  It was blissful.  

On Sunday, we went to church.  My nephew was there and my sister and I got the giggles when we were in the back crying room.  Wim was sitting quietly at the table, playing with his toys.  Jack had decided to climb up on the table, bang the window and scream for his Baba...

    

After church, we went up to a friend's house.  We had planned on swimming, but it just wasn't warm enough, so Jack took a nap and I got to sit outside and chat.  It was wonderful.  Afterwards, we went home and got a few things done around the house and then we spent some time playing outside.  

And now it's Monday and Nana and Baba have resumed Grammy Camp.  I think Jack was pretty excited when I dropped him off with Baba today.  We've got yet another busy week ahead as well - I'm hoping that the work crew will be back to make more progress on the basement and Jeff and I are going to the Twins game on Wednesday night.  We're leaving for New Jersey in a few weeks and then summer will officially be over...I keep crying every time I walk by the "Back to School" display in Target.  

Week in Review

We had a busy, action-packed week!

To begin, they FINALLY started the rebuild on our basement and I'm pleased to report that the sheet rock has been put up.  It'll be a while before the walls are finished and we can move on to the next phase, but I'm just happy that the work has started.  I'm getting sick of staring at our couch in the place of where our dining room table used to be.  

Anyways, on Monday, I went to pick Jack up from school.  And he had a ponytail, which he thought was SO cool.  His teachers told me that a bunch of the girls in his class were getting their hair done and he wanted to be part of the party - so he got a little 'do as well.  To make it even more amusing, he had worn his Batman cape to school.  So, Batman came home with a ponytail.  Very unlike Christian Bale...

I spent a lot of the week working from home as we had workmen in and out of the house.  It was so hot all week that every day after work/school, Jack and I would come home and climb into his little pool on the back deck.  Most nights, I wouldn't even change him into his swimsuit - I'd just strip him down to his diaper (or nothing at all) and let him run wild.  We spent a lot of time playing in his pool, going down the slide, splashing in his water table or blowing bubbles.  He loves his bubbles.  I asked him to show the camera how to blow bubbles and this is what I got.  

We even ate dinner out on the back deck, much to Jack's delight.  However, on Thursday night, he was still fully dressed and standing on one of the deck chairs.  I asked him repeatedly to sit down and he refused to do so or would stand right back up when I made him sit down.  Finally, I decided that he wasn't going to listen to me, so I was going to take his dinner inside and strap him in his high chair.  Well, he figured out that plan and ended up tipping the deck chair all the way backwards attempting to avoid me, and he landed, fully clothed, in his little pool.  Fortunately, he was totally fine, if wet, and decided that maybe it was better to listen to his mom because he stayed sedentary through the rest of dinner.  Still, his pool was filled with the remnants of his soggy chicken nuggets, so I drained, cleaned and refilled the pool, only to discover it had deflated the next day.  

So back to Target I went to comb over the clearance rack for yet another kiddie pool.  

Anyways, on Friday, Scott and Samantha came to visit from Wisconsin.  Uncle Alec also came up to spend the night with us, so we had a full house!  Jack wasn't really on his best behavior, which is understandable, even if it's unacceptable.  He'd had a long week at school and hadn't had the best nap on Friday.  So, we all had dinner on the back deck and Jack went to bed early.  

On Saturday morning, we were all up early.  Samantha and I took charge of Jack while the boys worked around the house.  Jeff had big plans - they drilled out the remaining portion of the basketball hoop in our driveway and got the treadmill out of the basement.  Finally.  Those two projects have been on our "To-Do" list for about a year.  Anyways, they also had plans to take out the sandbox in the back yard, but Jeff ended up throwing out his back, so he had to remain horizontal for the rest of the day.  Anyways, Jack had a pretty great time with his Aunt Samantha.  We took him for a hair cut and then to pick out a new toy at Toys 'R Us.  

Again, if you couldn't tell, he absolutely hated getting his hair cut.  But now, he looks like such a little boy.  Afterwards, we came home and had some lunch and Jack went down for his nap.  Samantha and I went out for lunch and then came home with enough time to squeeze in our own naps.  When we woke up, we went out on the back deck and spent some more time in the pool.  We even got to Face Time with Grandma and Grandpa Storms.  Jack actually "got" what was going on and he kept giving Grandma kisses - meaning he just slobbered all over the iPhone.  

Anyways, we all went out for pizza on Saturday night.  We went to Broadway Pizza, mostly because Jack loves watching the "choo-choo" go around the restaurant.  This keeps him entertained enough so that we are actually able to scarf down our dinner.  Anyways, Jeff got a plate of spaghetti and meatballs and I put a little on Jack's plate - and he adored it.  He got it all over everything.  I think Jeff and I went through an entire container of wet wipes just to clean him up enough to get in the car to go home...

Anyways, when we got home, Samantha and I gave him and bath and then she put him to bed.  I told her over and over this weekend that I wished she lived closer because she would be the FIRST person I'd call when I needed a sitter.  After that, we were all pretty tired - I mean, we'd had a busy day!  So, we all went to bed early.  

On Sunday morning, Jack lounged around in bed while Jeff and I got ready to go out to breakfast.  Seriously, he loves kicking back in our bed and watching a Mickey.  

He looks pretty comfortable, don't you think?  Anyways, we all went out to breakfast and then Samantha and Scott hit the road to head back to Wisconsin.  We came home and Jeff occupied Jack while I cleaned up around the house and got things ready for the week.  Jack and I made a late afternoon Target run, but other than that, we stayed pretty close to home.  

Early this morning (read: 4:30), I woke up to hear Jack crying from his bedroom.  By now, my listening skills have become pretty honed - I can tell a scared from angry cry, or a frustrated one from a hurt cry.  And this wail meant Jack was terrified.  So, I went into his room and to be honest, I think he had a nightmare.  So, I picked him up and spent some time rocking him, but he was clinging to me and didn't want to be put back down, so I brought him back into bed with me.  He saw Jeff and launched himself across the bed, wailing "Dada!" and then curled up in Jeff's arm and went right back to sleep.  I don't really know what that was about.  Anyways, about 5:30, I woke up because Jeff was sneaking downstairs to the couch to get some more rest.  Jack was stirring and we spent the next hour with him happily talking away while I dozed.  We had such a great morning in bed.  He was all smiles and giggles and loved to give me kisses.  It was one of those days that I really regretted having to get up and go to work, because I would have loved to lay there with him all morning.  

He was in pretty great spirits too, especially for having such a rough night.  He has a little drum/music set in the bedroom for him to play with while we get dressed in the mornings.  He took all the instruments out of the drum and was happy to play and sing for us.  And then, he thought this was fun too:

He also realized that he could run into things with this on his head and not get hurt, so he spent some time this morning bouncing off the bathroom cabinets.  Future footballer, anyone?  

Jeff has a bunch of marketing events this week, so Jack and I are kind of flying solo.  We've got a swimming date on Sunday that I'm looking forward to and Nana and Baba come back from Oregon this weekend as well.  Other than that, its business as usual and we'll keep on partying in the kiddie pool!  

Ketchup and Mosquitoes...

We had the MOST fun this weekend.  Seriously.  It's weekends like these that make me sad to get into work on Monday morning.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm (usually) sad to be working on Mondays, but there are some weekends where the work week can't get here fast enough.  Meaning, I can't wait to send Jack back to school.  It usually has to do with whatever mood Jack has decided suits him over the weekend.

Well, this weekend, he was in a very lovey-dovey mood.  I picked him up from school on Friday afternoon and he was so excited to see me.  He ran up and gave me a big hug.  He also said, "Bye-bye" to all his teachers and even gave them all hugs and kisses.  

When I got to his classroom on Friday, he was busy picking up all the toys in the room.  I laughed because the kid just loves to clean.  Again, I'm being serious.  Everything has its spot.  If this isn't concrete evidence that he's my kid... Anyways, I told him that he was a great helper to his teachers, which made him smile.  His teachers then told me that they tend to put him down for his nap about a half-hour after all the other kids go to sleep because he refuses to sleep until he's helped his teachers clean up.  The other night at school, he actually took a rag and got down on his hands and knees to clean the floors.  I will tell you that I will not be discouraging this behavior.  Ever.  I've seen the filth that boys can live in.  If Jack grows up to be a clean-freak, his future wife will thank me one day.    

We came home and had a pretty low-key evening.  Jeff was at a client event, so Jack and I had a tea party and a cook-out.  

One of the things that's been bothering Jeff and me is the fact that Jack has absolutely refused to eat any kind of animal protein.  On Friday, I made him a hot dog on the grill, thinking that he'd definitely eat that, even if it's a pretty crummy source of protein.  But, we have to start somewhere, I guess.  Anyways, he absolutely turned his nose up at it and refused to even let it touch his tray.  That is, until I put ketchup on his plate.  I have no idea why I even thought this would work.  I've never been a huge ketchup person, and neither is Jeff.  However, Jack loves ketchup.  That ketchup-saturated hot dog got eaten faster than you can imagine.  The problem now - he wants ketchup on everything.  I made him chicken nuggets for lunch yesterday and put some mango on his plate as well.  He dragged the mango slices through the ketchup and ate them whole.  Yuck.  Last night, he took a piece of his chicken and kept dipping it over and over into the ketchup and sucking it off.  Gross.  Still, it's a small price to pay if it gets him to eat animal protein.  He's kind of been on an all-carbohydrate diet the past few weeks.  He mostly eats cheese and crackers, peanut butter, grilled cheese, yogurt, and fruit.  The kid hasn't met a piece of fruit that he doesn't like.  We're still working on incorporating vegetables in the diet.  Maybe I should serve them with a side of ketchup?  

Anyways, on Saturday, we went over to a friend's house for some swimming.  I got Jack all dressed and greased up and then, he didn't want to go in the pool.  He wanted to sit on my lap and watch all the other kids swim.  I put him down for a nap and when he woke up, he was ready to dive into the water!  For a while, he was pretty content to splash around in the shallow end of the pool.  He liked watching the other kids go off the diving board.  He liked it so much, that he walked over to the edge of the pool to get a closer look at them jumping into the pool.  I can read my kid's mind, so I knew that he was going to try and jump off.  So, I swam down to the deep end of the pool and Jack climbed up on the diving board and promptly jumped off.  No fear.  All my friends screamed but everything worked out just fine.  And, Jack liked doing it so much, he did it again and again...

After a while, he got a little bored of diving into the pool, so we got out to have a snack.  And this is where we discovered he has an affinity for mangoes.  He must have eaten about two mangoes in a single sitting.  He was shoving the slices in his mouth without even stopping to chew them.  

So, when we got home from swimming, Uncle Alec had come over for dinner.  Jack loves his Uncle Al. Probably because Uncle Alec teaches Jack how to do fun things like honk the horn in the car and throw golf balls and chase after them.  Anyways, Uncle Alec and Jack played for a while and I got dinner ready and then Jeff took Alec to play some golf.  All in all, it was a pretty low-key, but fun night.  

On Sunday morning, the weather was pretty crummy.  They kept predicting storms, flash flooding and power outages, so I was trying to hurry up and get everything done around the house in the event we actually lost power.  Jeff even slept on the couch on Saturday night in case the power went out and he needed to change the battery on the sump pump.  Well, it didn't even sprinkle.  Which I guess is okay.  All our worries were for nothing.  So, Jack and I headed out to buy some new shoes for him on Sunday morning and then came home to have some lunch.  After lunch, I took him upstairs to put him down for a nap.  He ran into one of the bedrooms, picked up a picture of my parents and brought it to me, asking after his Nana and Baba.  I think that this is pretty cute, but it's another milestone - object/person permanence.  He remembers who his Nana and Baba are and knows that they're not around.  I actually think he said "Baba gone" the other day, but I could just be hearing things.  It'll be interesting to watch this develop.  And one thing I don't know is if he connects to Nana and Baba because he spends so much time with them when they're in town.  I guess he hasn't brought me a picture of my sister or Alec and exclaimed, "Auntie!" or "Uncle Al!" or anything like that and I think they're probably the two family members he sees the most, outside of Nana and Baba, of course. So, I think it's developing with people who are a constant presence in Jack's life - he points to pictures of me and Jeff and exclaims, "Mama!" or "Dada!" and does it with pictures of my parents as well.  The rest of the relatives...well, I can tell you that we're working on it!  He has book that I made him with everyone's picture and he brings it to me every once and a while to go through it and talk about all his family that lives out of town.      

Anyways, since we did spend so much time outside over the past week, Jack has been subject to a ton of mosquito bites.  They don't seem to itch, but they swell up.  A lot.  Last weekend, he had so many bites on his head, it looked like I'd taken a baseball bat to it.  He also got quite a few more over the weekend on the back of his neck, his arms, and even one on his butt.  I can't even tell you how much they swell.  His school actually called me last week to tell me that Jack's arms had swelled up that badly from the bites on his forearms.  So, I do what I normally do - call the pediatrician and ask my girlfriends for advice.  I'm pleased to report that, while I can't stop the bugs from biting, I now have a plan to combat the after-effects.  This involves drugging my child.  Well, in a good way.  He gets a dose of Claratin in the morning (which has actually helped his allergies, so bonus!) and a dose of Benadryl in the evening.  This puts him right to sleep - no questions or fights at all around bedtime.  Double bonus!  For the bites themselves, I've got a Benadryl spray and hydrocortisone cream to put on them.  It seems to control the swelling - at least he doesn't look like a victim of child abuse from the bites.  The rest of his body, well... he's a typical boy.  He's got scratches and bruises all over his legs and arms from running into things and falling down.  I doubt there will be a time in the next twenty-five years when he's completely bruise-free.    

Anyways, last night, we went to Home Depot and then out for dinner.   Jack has also hit the stage where he likes to wave "hi!" and "bye" to everyone.  So, while we were in Home Depot, he would wave and say, "Hi!" to everyone that would walk past us and then blow them a kiss and call, "Bye!" after them.  This is pretty cute.  He also wanted to give me a hug every five steps in the store.  Of course I obliged.  You never know when he's going to start thinking I'm a mean mommy again.  By the time we got home, I could barely keep my eyes open.  The weekends are fun but they are exhausting.  

And finally, I have to post this picture of Jack.  It's probably inappropriate and I'll have to take it down some day, but I can't stand how cute that little tush is...

           

  

100th Post

I hadn't even realized that I was reaching triple digits until I logged on this morning to give a recap of our week.  Oddly, I am pretty proud of myself.  Also, I'm somewhat disturbed at how much I can write about a single subject.  I bet, if I compiled all my posts and printed them off, I'd have written a book akin to "War and Peace" or some other obscenely long book.  I started this blog as a way to keep our family up to date with pictures of Jack and what's been going on in our lives, but it's really become my "mom" diary, of sorts.  Its my own "virtual baby book" that I've peppered with my own thoughts and frustrations on motherhood, and I love to look back at what we were doing a year ago and how much our lives have evolved and changed over time.  I'm amazed at the people who read this as well - last weekend at my college reunion, an old friend told me that she keeps up to date on our goings on by reading the blog (Hey Jennifer!).  And come on, that's pretty cool!  So, I'm giving myself a little pat on the back that I've actually kept this thing going over the past nineteen months or so.  And hopefully, the trend will continue.  

The actual title of this morning's post was to be "Mr. Independent" until I realized that I would be posting on here for the one-hundredth time.  Obviously, the post's original title had a double meaning - we celebrated the Fourth of July last week, but Jack has been intent on asserting his independence over the past several days.  It almost pains me to say it, but we're hitting the "Terrible Twos" unfortunately.  I had hoped that my sweet, easy going boy would just skip over this heinous stage.  And this kid has a temper on him.  Oh, and he has opinions on everything.  He loves the word, "NO!" and screams this at the top of his lungs just about every time I ask him a question or tell him to do (or not do) something.  It's frustrating and patience-testing, to say the least.  I find that I'm constantly asking myself, "Is this a fight you want (or need) to win?"  I read somewhere that parents need to pick and choose their battles - if you don't let your kid emerge a victor at least once and a while, they don't develop their free will or independence.  Or something like that.  So, I constantly ask myself what the outcome will be if I don't let Jack get his way.  There are some things that are non-negotiable (i.e. playing around the fish pond or pulling the knives out of the dishwasher) and I truly pay the price for victory.  The other day, Jack was trying to jump down the stairs and swing on the safety gate and I told him firmly, "Please do not do that, Jack.  It scares me that you might hurt yourself."  See, I'm learning!  But, he didn't listen to me, so I pulled him off the stairs and locked the gate.  This resulted in frantic, shriek of "NONONONO!!!" and then he ran up and hit me.  This broke my heart.  I can rationalize things and recognize that he doesn't have the words to express his frustrations and was, in fact, mad at me that I made him stop doing something he thought was fun.  But, it still made me sad.  Generations of parents have said that, "This will hurt me more than it hurts you" and I remember thinking as a kid, "Yeah, right!" but it's not until you're a parent that you recognize the fact that doling out discipline, even when warranted, just makes you feel miserable.  There are moments when I look at him and I can just see contempt and defiance brewing in his eyes and I know that I've got to batten down the hatches because we're going to war.

So, we've got that going on.  I've discovered though, that the way to avoid misbehaving is to make sure that he's occupied and entertained.  This is no small task, mind you, since he's got a thirty-second attention span. I've also discovered that the more tired he is, the more likely he is to act out.  This should shock no one.  So, I've tried to get him out of the house when we get home from school and go on a walk or up to the park.  Last week, we went up to the park for a little playtime.  Blue, naturally, came with us.  That dog followed Jack all over the equipment.  He climbed up stairs, went down slides, walked across bridges, and crawled through tunnels.  I know he was intent on protecting Jack from the perils of the playground.  He'd see Jack to the top of the slide, for example, and then race down to the bottom of the slide to "catch" him.

In fact, if Jack is around, you can bet Blue has his guard up.  I bought him an inflatable pool for the backyard this week and every time Jack went in the pool, Blue was there, trying to pull him out of it.  I had to stand in the pool with my hand on Blue's head, and keep reassuring him that Jack was just fine and that I was on the job.  Apparently Blue did not think Jack was safe in his pool.

It was pretty hot in Minnesota this week, so we spent a lot of time in and around the water.  Jack had "water day" at school on Wednesday, and his school said he had a riot splashing in the water table.  He was not a fan of sprinklers.  Go figure.  Still, they sent along this picture and I think he had a pretty good time.

On the Fourth of July, we went to a man-made lake up in Maple Grove with Uncle Brendan and Aunt Lindsey and their little girl.  I bought Jack these water wings/life vest and he thought they were awesome.  He liked floating on his belly and loved running in the water after Uncle Brendan and Daddy.  He also thought the sand was awesome and threw it everywhere.

After our time in the sun, we were all pretty tuckered out, so we all came home and took long naps.  Yes, Mom and Dad needed some rest as well.  We didn't even go anywhere for fireworks, and I think we were all asleep long before they started.  Maybe next year.

On Friday and Saturday, we didn't really do too much out of the ordinary.  We played a bit in the backyard and Jack had a follow-up appointment with his ENT on Friday morning.  His ears look great and his hearing is perfect.  Woo-hoo!  We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning and then out to pay a visit to my grandparents.  Jeff took Jack to the Mall of America on Saturday afternoon and bought him a few Superhero shirts.  He bought him a Batman shirt (complete with cape) and taught Jack how to say, "I'm Batman!"  Although, Jack kind of just grumbles something unintelligible, but you know what he's saying.

On Sunday, we went out to the Minnesota Zoo.  It was an unbelievably hot day, but we went early in hopes of avoiding some of the crowds.  This was my favorite part of the weekend.  The animals were all active, so we got to see some bears and tigers.  Jack also got to feed a giraffe.  He loved this.  He showed absolutely no fear, which was pretty amazing, considering this giant animal was taking food from his hand.

We went out to feed the goats afterwards, although Jack wasn't really interested in feeding them.  He wanted to brush them and clean up after them.  Yes, he grabbed the goat brush and ran around brushing the goats.  He also grabbed the broom and started to sweep their pen.  He was more inclined to feed the goats through the fence.

The zoo also has a splash pad, and we brought Jack's swim suit so he could have a little playtime as well.  He was a bit apprehensive at first, but loved the water jets and playing with the other kids.

After the zoo, we got some ice cream and went home.  And again, we were all tuckered out so we all took another family nap.  After that, it was business as usual - we ran a few errands, ate dinner and all fell asleep early yet again.  And this week should be relatively calm - I should just delete that sentence so I don't jinx myself.  It's hard to believe that the Fourth of July has come and gone and now we're in the slide into fall.  It's still hot and humid here, so we've got a couple swimming dates lined up for the weekend.  And now, I suppose I should get cracking at work.  I know I've been lax on posting new pictures of Jack over the past few weeks, but I think I made up for it this week!  

Nineteen Months

One of my dear friends has been known to say, "The days may be long, but the years are short!"  I've said this, in some form or another, over and over again.  There are days that I think will never end, but then I turn around and another month has somehow flown by.  And then, somehow, a decade has passed.  

On Saturday, I went back to college.  It was a really eye-opening weekend for me, in a lot of ways.  First off, I have changed.  A lot.  Obviously, ten years of life experience will do that to you.  And, it's kind of crazy to think that in ten years, I'll look back at myself and laugh at how naive I am now.  Truly, the ten years after college are pretty formative years - and I got a lot done during the past decade.  Not only did I graduate from college, but I graduated from law school.  I also passed the Bar, started my practice, got married, bought two houses and had a baby.  Every single one of those experiences changes you, not to mention all the smaller things that happen in life every day.  Even still, there are some things that will never change - we still sat around and gossiped, got ready to go to the bar together, played loud music, danced, drank beers, and ate pizza.  Just like the good ol' days!   

It was fun to look back at myself and remember how clueless I was.  It was also fun to let loose for a night and pretend I was twenty-one again.  Still, I only let loose a little bit.  I had to remember that I needed to get up early the next morning and running around after a crazy little boy is no fun when you're hung over.  I'm glad I went to my reunion, but I was just as glad to get home and see my boys on Sunday.  One of the questions we discussed over the weekend was whether we'd go to St. Ben's if we had to do it all over again.  I still haven't made up my mind on that one.  There are things about my college experience that I would never trade - I'd never give up my friends or my study-abroad experience.  But, I wish I'd done things differently.  I really struggled my first year of law school because I wasn't prepared for it.  I wish I had realized that higher education is truly a gift and should be taken seriously.  I might have become a nurse or a teacher.  But, it's also tough to say that I'd really change anything because my past experiences got me to where I am today and I wouldn't trade that for the world.  

Obviously, I thought a lot about Jack while I was away.  I thought about all the mistakes he'll make as he grows up and everything he needs to learn.  I can talk to him all I want about consequences, but he's going to have to learn a lot of life lessons on his own.  This thought, more than anything else, absolutely terrifies me.  I don't know how I'll get through his life as a young adult.  Every time I read something in the paper about a college student gone missing, I get a little prick of fear in my heart.  Btu truthfully, this happens a lot.  I can no longer read anything in the newspaper or watch anything on television that deals with young children - especially boys.  I keep thinking, "What if that had been my child?"  It's a terrible way to go through life, I realize that and I'm working on it.  We'll just leave it at that.  I guess I made it through college relatively unscathed.  I didn't always make the best decisions, but I learned from my mistakes.  And hopefully, I can use my experience to guide Jack.  

So, before I get to the little monster, I've got a little update on our housing situation.  We discovered on Sunday that we didn't have a water back-up endorsement on our homeowner's policy.  So, the damage to our basement won't be covered under insurance.  A friendly PSA for you - call your insurance company to make sure you have this coverage.  It's not part of a generic homeowner's insurance package - it's extra and you have to specifically request that it be added on to your premium.  Seriously.  Call your insurance agent and ask.  It's cheap, and will save you a huge headache.  So, we've got to pay for everything out of pocket.  This is both good and bad - we'll pay for everything up front and our basement will get fixed.  But, if it had been covered under our homeowner's insurance, our premium would have risen so much that we would have paid for the cost to repair the damage over the next three to five years.  And we'd have a claim on our record.  In the end, it doesn't really matter one way or another, I guess, even if it does feel a bit like I got punched in the gut.  The prospect of redecorating does excite me, although I'm not looking forward to tossing everything that got trashed.  That'll probably make me sad.  

Anyways, I can't believe it's already the Fourth of July.  Last year, we celebrated in New Jersey.  Jack couldn't even crawl yet.  And, lest we forget, it was hot!  We're heading out to the east coast later this summer for a wedding over Labor Day weekend.  We'll be out there for a week - the three of us will be heading to New Jersey for a few days and then Jeff and I will drive to Rhode Island for the wedding while Grandma Terry takes charge of Jack.  I already told her to invest in a good back brace.  Still, I'm anxious to get out there and see our family.  It never feels like we get to spend enough time together.  

This year, we don't have any big plans.  I always like staying in town over holidays.  The city is usually quiet, and there's lots of stuff to do.  We thought about going up to the cabin, but Jeff is scared of leaving our house now, and I guess I don't really blame him.  It'll be nice to spend some time with my little man.  We're going to go swimming and to the farmer's market.  Plus, I've got a few other plans up my sleeve!  

So anyways, I didn't really get that many pictures of Jack over the past week because I had a little surgery on my right shoulder.  This is nothing new for me, unfortunately, but it has slowed me down a bit.  I couldn't really pick Jack up for the first few days and Jeff kind of took the reins in childcare.  It's good for him to do that every once and a while, I think.  If Jack fell down, I'd bend down to give him a hug and he kept trying to climb up on me.  That was a bit difficult.  He also turned nineteen months this past weekend - and I'm pleased to report that I had no trouble getting him to smile for the camera!

  

He's starting to hit the "terrible twos" unfortunately.  I actually got talked to about his behavior yesterday at school.  He's come home with incident reports three out of five days because he's been bitten by another child at school.  However, I should note that the biting is not necessarily unprovoked, thus the "talking to" I received yesterday.  Jack and his buddy fight like brothers, according to his teachers.  While Jack doesn't bite, he's not the best at sharing yet.  Apparently, he will take a toy away from another kid (or have a toy taken away from him) and scream, "No!" and then sort of slap or hit the other child.  Not good.  Then, the child turns around and bites Jack.  To rectify this, the teachers told me to try and stop using the word "No" around Jack.  This is easier said than done.  I caught myself two dozen times last night alone saying "No" instead of something else.  For example, if Jack tries to stick something in his mouth, I have to say, "Please do not put the iPhone charger in your mouth" instead of just hollering "No."  I've also got to start rewarding good behavior (i.e. if he takes the iPhone cord out of his mouth) and strictly enforce discipline.  Last night, we were outside on the back deck.  We've got a fish pond back there and I don't let Jack get anywhere near the pond.  He tried to go down there last night and I told him, "Please do not go near the pond.  That scares Mommy."  He looked at me and screamed, "NO!" and slapped my hands away when I tried to redirect him.  So, he got a time out.  I don't know how effective these are.  He knows where his "time out corner" is and he'll go and sit there if I tell him to.  But, he gets this look on his face that's like, "So what?  I got a time out.  It doesn't bother me!"  After time out, I always try and talk to him about why he was sent there in the first place, but he's not too keen on listening to me.  The only other thing I can think of doing is taking away his beloved water bottle if I need to correct behavior.  He's unaffected by most forms of discipline, and this has me scratching my head.

So, we've got that going for us.  

Anyways, he's also started forming random attachments to his toys and stuffed animals.  These attachments are usually short-lived, but fairly intense.  I wrote a few weeks ago about how he wouldn't leave his Spiderman Bear alone.  Then, last weekend, he had a panic attack when I washed his blanket and that didn't leave his side for three days.  We had to fight to get him to leave it in the car when we dropped him off at day care in the morning.  Now, it's his giant Mickey Mouse.  Big surprise there, huh?  He loves to sit on the couch and watch Mickey with his Mickey.  

                    

Seriously, this is his favorite thing to do.  Which again, is fine with me.  To a point, I guess.  

And I think that's about it for the week.  It's supposed to be beautiful weather, so I'm hoping we can get outside and enjoy things while we still have summer left to enjoy.  Until next week, happy Fourth of July!