Aunt Cathy was over this morning, and she noticed a couple of the fantasy football magazines on the coffee table. She said, Oh, is this your magazine? Before I could say anything, Jack comes over, says "No - " then goes over near the TV, where my magazine, Fantasy Football Index, is on the rug. I think I showed it to him when we first got it a few weeks back. He gets it and holds it up. "THIS is Daddy's magazine." Cathy says, oh, OK, can I see it? She reaches for it, and Jack walks around her, over to me. "No....it's DADDY's magazine."
Random funny Jack stuff:
Jack knows he has to eat his dinner to get dessert (even though he doesn't always get dessert, we've slipped a little in that respect, and it's more frequent). Regardless, he knows we'll say no if he doesn't eat his dinner.
So he repeatedly asks us during dinner if he has, in fact, eaten his dinner. Plate gets put down. He has a few bites of something. A minute later: "Are I done eating?" Us: What? No! You just started. A little bit later: "Did I eat all my dinner?" At least half his meal remains on his plate. Us: No, there it is right there. Of course, on those occasions when he does eat everything, he lets us know. "I ate all my green squash, Daddy. I ate all my green squash." You sure did, Jack.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday
Pretty soon -- August -- Jack's going to start going to daycare on Thursdays, too. I'm getting busier with work, we've got a new baby on the way, he enjoys school, and one day he'll be going 5 days a week anyway (sigh). Because of that, I can feel my Thursdays with Jack starting to dwindle, and I thought I'd keep track of everything that we did this past Thursday. It's two days later, but it should be pretty close...
Getting up: I hear Jack calling for his Daddy, and it's about 6 a.m. (which is usually as late as we get), so I head in. Jack's sitting up in bed, holding his current favorite sleep toy the baby Dragon, talking to it, which he does some time. He looks up at me. Smiles. "Is it morning time, yet?" I say, close enough. Jack jumps up out of bed, announces he stayed in bed, announces he had a bad dream (it's hard to know whether this is true or not; he says it like it's no big deal, or rather like he doesn't completely understand the concept; maybe he just heard us talking about one once), and then runs over to play with his pirate ship. Just one of many presents he had little to no interest in when he first got it and now, a year or more later, plays with regularly. "Are I going to school today?" he asks. No, you're staying home with Daddy. This sounds fine to him and he continues playing. I tell him he can stay in his pajamas, which he prefers (not allowed on school mornings), we change his diaper (not poopy), brush his teeth (something he's more interested in now that he has Thomas the Tank Engine toothpase), and head downstairs. Mommy has drifted in to say Hello and gone downstairs to make coffee, good job Mommy.
First breakfast: Jack's first breakfast is usually some kind of fruit (raspberries, blueberries, cantelope) and cereal, either Cheerios, Shredded Oats, or Puffins. These things go in cycles. Might have been cantelope, he's been on a kick lately. Depending on when he eats it -- I can't recall if we watched Maisy beforehand or not, possible -- he is either mildly hungry or very hungry. When he's very hungry he sits quietly and just shovels the food in. That's always nice.
Second breakfast: At school they usually have waffles or somesuch at 8:30, so I try to give him breakfast around then too. Again. He usually takes to it, whether it's waffles or (in this case) scrambled eggs and bacon. He's particularly fond of the bacon today. Scrambled eggs can be hit or miss; sometimes he'll eat his and mine. When I make fried eggs he eats the whites but doesn't like the yolks. Last week I ate four over-medium yolks and he ate four whites.
Home Depot: The movers lost our crib hardware so I've been trying to match it, and it's taken me a few trips. Home Depot with Jack is interesting; they have a nice racecar cart that he enjoys, but it seems like it was designed for much wider aisles than Home Depot's. We squeeze by other shoppers and I give him random things to play with (socket wrenches, drill bits, circular saws....no, just kidding) while I look for the right sized screws. Naturally, I'll end up going back on Sunday anyway, but at least Jack had fun.
Train Station: Jack likes to go look at trains; he started doing it with his grandpa. Oddly, it's kind of a love-hate thing; he likes seeing the trains, but he's also a little afraid of their size and the noise, so he doesn't like to get too close and sometimes not even onto the platform. We're there 15 minutes and see 3 trains, and then it's time to go.
Playground: Then it's off to the playground, which Jack insists on even though I can see he's getting tired. I don't think we ever see the same kids there, and it's always a little different. Once there was some kind of head start graduation thing going on and we left; it was so crowded I was worried that I -- I mean, Jack, of course -- would get trampled or something. Once it was a little cool with a threat of rain but still okay, and we were the only ones there. You just never know. Today there are a few kids, and Jack sleepwalks around a little and then perks up. We go on the big teeter-totter, and he laughs happily, and we ride the motorcycle and sidecar type of thing; that's fun. It wouldn't be a trip to the playground if Jack didn't 1) stare at some other child for a few minutes, or 2) ask to climb on some dangerous looking ladder that I ultimately relent and then have my heart in my throat the entire time. But, a good time is had by all.
Lunch: I keep Jack awake all the way home -- if he falls asleep in the car it's hard to move him without waking him up and screwing up the nap -- by offering him raisins or poking his foot or whatever. It's only about 2 miles anyway. Lunch is yogurt, cheese, cherries, and a little turkey, which I think he eats a bit of between shoveling in cherries.
Nap: We read his favorite stories these days (Personal Penguin and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs, both by Sandra Boynton) and lie down together for a few minutes ("Daddy, lie down with me. Stay a couple minutes. Just a little bit.") I sing a couple songs, and if he asks for one I don't know -- which happens, Mommy and apparently school have different songs -- he says, "Just a little bit," so I make something up which uses the title of the song he's asked for. Usually he stops me: 'That's Mommy's song." Allrighty then.
Driveway: He has a good nap, and when he wakes up we go play in the driveway. Sometimes this is basketball, but lately it's been worrying ants with sticks. I might have mentioned this before, maybe even last blog. I tell him not to hurt the ants, because I'm soft that way, and mostly we just watch them and occasionally he pokes at them with a stick. The ants are a little faster than Jack so it's mostly okay.
Yard: We hit the baseball around, off his tee-ball set. Sometimes he looks into the Big Kids yard; nothing doing. Haven't seen them much lately, maybe they're at camp or whatever it is kids that age do in the summer.
Dinner: Mommy is home, and we usually have something easy on Thursday, because we're both too beat to do anything major. For the life of me I can't recall what we had, just two days ago. Hmm. Hot dogs were Friday....maybe pasta, I dunno.
Bed: Mommy puts Jack to bed, because Daddy needs a break from Jack. And that's pretty much Thursday, more or less, these days.
I'm going to miss it.
Getting up: I hear Jack calling for his Daddy, and it's about 6 a.m. (which is usually as late as we get), so I head in. Jack's sitting up in bed, holding his current favorite sleep toy the baby Dragon, talking to it, which he does some time. He looks up at me. Smiles. "Is it morning time, yet?" I say, close enough. Jack jumps up out of bed, announces he stayed in bed, announces he had a bad dream (it's hard to know whether this is true or not; he says it like it's no big deal, or rather like he doesn't completely understand the concept; maybe he just heard us talking about one once), and then runs over to play with his pirate ship. Just one of many presents he had little to no interest in when he first got it and now, a year or more later, plays with regularly. "Are I going to school today?" he asks. No, you're staying home with Daddy. This sounds fine to him and he continues playing. I tell him he can stay in his pajamas, which he prefers (not allowed on school mornings), we change his diaper (not poopy), brush his teeth (something he's more interested in now that he has Thomas the Tank Engine toothpase), and head downstairs. Mommy has drifted in to say Hello and gone downstairs to make coffee, good job Mommy.
First breakfast: Jack's first breakfast is usually some kind of fruit (raspberries, blueberries, cantelope) and cereal, either Cheerios, Shredded Oats, or Puffins. These things go in cycles. Might have been cantelope, he's been on a kick lately. Depending on when he eats it -- I can't recall if we watched Maisy beforehand or not, possible -- he is either mildly hungry or very hungry. When he's very hungry he sits quietly and just shovels the food in. That's always nice.
Second breakfast: At school they usually have waffles or somesuch at 8:30, so I try to give him breakfast around then too. Again. He usually takes to it, whether it's waffles or (in this case) scrambled eggs and bacon. He's particularly fond of the bacon today. Scrambled eggs can be hit or miss; sometimes he'll eat his and mine. When I make fried eggs he eats the whites but doesn't like the yolks. Last week I ate four over-medium yolks and he ate four whites.
Home Depot: The movers lost our crib hardware so I've been trying to match it, and it's taken me a few trips. Home Depot with Jack is interesting; they have a nice racecar cart that he enjoys, but it seems like it was designed for much wider aisles than Home Depot's. We squeeze by other shoppers and I give him random things to play with (socket wrenches, drill bits, circular saws....no, just kidding) while I look for the right sized screws. Naturally, I'll end up going back on Sunday anyway, but at least Jack had fun.
Train Station: Jack likes to go look at trains; he started doing it with his grandpa. Oddly, it's kind of a love-hate thing; he likes seeing the trains, but he's also a little afraid of their size and the noise, so he doesn't like to get too close and sometimes not even onto the platform. We're there 15 minutes and see 3 trains, and then it's time to go.
Playground: Then it's off to the playground, which Jack insists on even though I can see he's getting tired. I don't think we ever see the same kids there, and it's always a little different. Once there was some kind of head start graduation thing going on and we left; it was so crowded I was worried that I -- I mean, Jack, of course -- would get trampled or something. Once it was a little cool with a threat of rain but still okay, and we were the only ones there. You just never know. Today there are a few kids, and Jack sleepwalks around a little and then perks up. We go on the big teeter-totter, and he laughs happily, and we ride the motorcycle and sidecar type of thing; that's fun. It wouldn't be a trip to the playground if Jack didn't 1) stare at some other child for a few minutes, or 2) ask to climb on some dangerous looking ladder that I ultimately relent and then have my heart in my throat the entire time. But, a good time is had by all.
Lunch: I keep Jack awake all the way home -- if he falls asleep in the car it's hard to move him without waking him up and screwing up the nap -- by offering him raisins or poking his foot or whatever. It's only about 2 miles anyway. Lunch is yogurt, cheese, cherries, and a little turkey, which I think he eats a bit of between shoveling in cherries.
Nap: We read his favorite stories these days (Personal Penguin and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs, both by Sandra Boynton) and lie down together for a few minutes ("Daddy, lie down with me. Stay a couple minutes. Just a little bit.") I sing a couple songs, and if he asks for one I don't know -- which happens, Mommy and apparently school have different songs -- he says, "Just a little bit," so I make something up which uses the title of the song he's asked for. Usually he stops me: 'That's Mommy's song." Allrighty then.
Driveway: He has a good nap, and when he wakes up we go play in the driveway. Sometimes this is basketball, but lately it's been worrying ants with sticks. I might have mentioned this before, maybe even last blog. I tell him not to hurt the ants, because I'm soft that way, and mostly we just watch them and occasionally he pokes at them with a stick. The ants are a little faster than Jack so it's mostly okay.
Yard: We hit the baseball around, off his tee-ball set. Sometimes he looks into the Big Kids yard; nothing doing. Haven't seen them much lately, maybe they're at camp or whatever it is kids that age do in the summer.
Dinner: Mommy is home, and we usually have something easy on Thursday, because we're both too beat to do anything major. For the life of me I can't recall what we had, just two days ago. Hmm. Hot dogs were Friday....maybe pasta, I dunno.
Bed: Mommy puts Jack to bed, because Daddy needs a break from Jack. And that's pretty much Thursday, more or less, these days.
I'm going to miss it.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Been a Busy Week, so...
I'm going to go day by day since the last post. Here goes:
July 4: Independence Day! Which for Jack meant, staying in his pajamas most of the morning, Daddy going out to get donuts, and then heading over to Aunt Cathy's to play with his cousins in the scorching heat. Jack first wanted to ride in his big car, and then the girls were on tricycles, and so HE wanted to be on a tricycle, and then there was a bit of a scene where he wanted Stacey's and she wouldn't give it up and of course Lyndsay wasn't even using hers which was exactly the same, but Jack didn't want that. Then I took Jack home for his nap, and after he woke up he immediately wanted to go back to his cousins, which we did, for hot dogs and salad and I'm not sure but I believe Jack ate an entire grove of grapes. It was overcast that night so fireworks were limited and Jack slept through them and I'm pretty sure we didn't see a one, except on TV. Oh, aside from Ian setting off a few bottle rockets off the porch which mostly fizzled, but about 1 out of every 5 actually went "Bang," and when it did the girls and Jack all jumped happily in the air and said Hurrah! It was pretty funny.
July 5: Drive to Vermont, dinner in Vermont, ice cream for dessert, and then Jack having a bad cold and cough and not sleeping well, and us not sleeping well, and all being very tired. BUT, Jack immediately took to Vermont and Nana and Baba, like he'd never been away, and wanted Baba to read stories to him before bed, and so he did (Harry at the Beach, for the record). It was all very nice.
July 6: Everyone's tired, but Daddy and his Daddy go off to play golf and Mommy and Nana entertain Jack with puzzles, books, and the like. When I return from my 18 holes of golf and big lunch, Jack is napping and everything went well. It's a long nap, which figures since he was exhausted. That evening we get food takeout from the Country Kreemee -- burgers, hotdogs, fries. Not memorable. Nana and Baba get fried scallops and we discuss the risks inherent in getting seafood from a Southern Vermont greasy spoon, but no one got sick as far as I know. Tonight Nana reads Jack stories, and Jack -- perhaps because he had such a good nap -- doesn't sleep until 9:30, a record for him I believe.
July 7: Jack's 2 and a half! And a wreck from sleeping probably 7 hours or so, tops. Still, we're a hardy bunch and we head out to the Agricultural Fair anyway. Jack falls asleep in his car seat halfway down the driveway. We stop by Mrs. Hunter's, because Nana said we would, and she gives us a jar of homemade strawberry jam (with the benefit of having now eaten it I can say, top-notch!) and admires Jack through the car window as he sleeps in her driveway. We head off to the fair, waking Jack up when we get there, and although I was worried, he immediately shows an interest in walking around, seeing the big tractors, sitting on them, and seeing all the animals. The bulls are huge, he pets the sheep, and at the very end comes the highlight: three little pigs! Jack touches them and they snort and he literally jumps with glee. And runs around the pen (Pigpen, get it?) trying to touch them again, while they run around trying to avoid him. Lots of fun, and then we go home and he actually naps again, to everyone's great relief. That night he enjoys his bath again (we play with the rubber shark that I had when I was a child and clearly says 1976 on its side), gets his best night sleep (as do we all), and of course Daddy and his Daddy play Yahtzee, because that's what we do when we're in Vermont.
July 8: In the morning, Mom makes pancakes, which are outstanding. Has to be the secret ingredient: being cooked in bacon fat. Jack eats waffles and bacon, which is great except I don't get any bacon, drat. We drive back to Connecticut, stopping at a Mexican restaurant for lunch, and once we're back I go out to buy an air conditioner because it's 95 degrees outside and 10 degrees warmer in our apartment.
July 9th-July 11th: Too ... hot ... to ... think .... or ... remember ... or ... write .... anything.
July 12th: Today. My first day alone with Jack for a while. And it's good to have these days, to remember that man, he can be a real challenge, and I have no idea how anybody raises a child on their own or stays at home with their child full-time, because it's exhausting, and I have a huge amount of respect for it. But fortunately, he's also wonderful, for example...
-- Telling me to lie down when I tell him I'm tired, and then carrying his little rocking chair over to the couch so he can rock in it, and say "I sing to you. I sing you to sleep." And singing this song called "Pitter Patter" which I don't know where it comes from and if he made it up or not, but it has a line about Winnie the Pooh, I know that much.
-- Talking to his new favorite toy, a soft plastic dragon which is actually part of a game Aunt Robin gave him, but he pretty much disregards the game and just carries the dragon around everywhere. Sometimes he talks to him ("How are you dragon? OK? Shhh. Daddy, I'm talking to my dragon.")
-- Playing out in the driveway, where a brief basketball game is quickly forgotten in favor of sticks fallen from the tree and then ants crawling across the pavement. "What's THAT? Go away, buggy! Hey, what's that buggy DOING?"
And that's pretty much Jack.
July 4: Independence Day! Which for Jack meant, staying in his pajamas most of the morning, Daddy going out to get donuts, and then heading over to Aunt Cathy's to play with his cousins in the scorching heat. Jack first wanted to ride in his big car, and then the girls were on tricycles, and so HE wanted to be on a tricycle, and then there was a bit of a scene where he wanted Stacey's and she wouldn't give it up and of course Lyndsay wasn't even using hers which was exactly the same, but Jack didn't want that. Then I took Jack home for his nap, and after he woke up he immediately wanted to go back to his cousins, which we did, for hot dogs and salad and I'm not sure but I believe Jack ate an entire grove of grapes. It was overcast that night so fireworks were limited and Jack slept through them and I'm pretty sure we didn't see a one, except on TV. Oh, aside from Ian setting off a few bottle rockets off the porch which mostly fizzled, but about 1 out of every 5 actually went "Bang," and when it did the girls and Jack all jumped happily in the air and said Hurrah! It was pretty funny.
July 5: Drive to Vermont, dinner in Vermont, ice cream for dessert, and then Jack having a bad cold and cough and not sleeping well, and us not sleeping well, and all being very tired. BUT, Jack immediately took to Vermont and Nana and Baba, like he'd never been away, and wanted Baba to read stories to him before bed, and so he did (Harry at the Beach, for the record). It was all very nice.
July 6: Everyone's tired, but Daddy and his Daddy go off to play golf and Mommy and Nana entertain Jack with puzzles, books, and the like. When I return from my 18 holes of golf and big lunch, Jack is napping and everything went well. It's a long nap, which figures since he was exhausted. That evening we get food takeout from the Country Kreemee -- burgers, hotdogs, fries. Not memorable. Nana and Baba get fried scallops and we discuss the risks inherent in getting seafood from a Southern Vermont greasy spoon, but no one got sick as far as I know. Tonight Nana reads Jack stories, and Jack -- perhaps because he had such a good nap -- doesn't sleep until 9:30, a record for him I believe.
July 7: Jack's 2 and a half! And a wreck from sleeping probably 7 hours or so, tops. Still, we're a hardy bunch and we head out to the Agricultural Fair anyway. Jack falls asleep in his car seat halfway down the driveway. We stop by Mrs. Hunter's, because Nana said we would, and she gives us a jar of homemade strawberry jam (with the benefit of having now eaten it I can say, top-notch!) and admires Jack through the car window as he sleeps in her driveway. We head off to the fair, waking Jack up when we get there, and although I was worried, he immediately shows an interest in walking around, seeing the big tractors, sitting on them, and seeing all the animals. The bulls are huge, he pets the sheep, and at the very end comes the highlight: three little pigs! Jack touches them and they snort and he literally jumps with glee. And runs around the pen (Pigpen, get it?) trying to touch them again, while they run around trying to avoid him. Lots of fun, and then we go home and he actually naps again, to everyone's great relief. That night he enjoys his bath again (we play with the rubber shark that I had when I was a child and clearly says 1976 on its side), gets his best night sleep (as do we all), and of course Daddy and his Daddy play Yahtzee, because that's what we do when we're in Vermont.
July 8: In the morning, Mom makes pancakes, which are outstanding. Has to be the secret ingredient: being cooked in bacon fat. Jack eats waffles and bacon, which is great except I don't get any bacon, drat. We drive back to Connecticut, stopping at a Mexican restaurant for lunch, and once we're back I go out to buy an air conditioner because it's 95 degrees outside and 10 degrees warmer in our apartment.
July 9th-July 11th: Too ... hot ... to ... think .... or ... remember ... or ... write .... anything.
July 12th: Today. My first day alone with Jack for a while. And it's good to have these days, to remember that man, he can be a real challenge, and I have no idea how anybody raises a child on their own or stays at home with their child full-time, because it's exhausting, and I have a huge amount of respect for it. But fortunately, he's also wonderful, for example...
-- Telling me to lie down when I tell him I'm tired, and then carrying his little rocking chair over to the couch so he can rock in it, and say "I sing to you. I sing you to sleep." And singing this song called "Pitter Patter" which I don't know where it comes from and if he made it up or not, but it has a line about Winnie the Pooh, I know that much.
-- Talking to his new favorite toy, a soft plastic dragon which is actually part of a game Aunt Robin gave him, but he pretty much disregards the game and just carries the dragon around everywhere. Sometimes he talks to him ("How are you dragon? OK? Shhh. Daddy, I'm talking to my dragon.")
-- Playing out in the driveway, where a brief basketball game is quickly forgotten in favor of sticks fallen from the tree and then ants crawling across the pavement. "What's THAT? Go away, buggy! Hey, what's that buggy DOING?"
And that's pretty much Jack.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Mr. Inquisitive
Jack's young, so he doesn't know a lot yet. He asks a lot of questions...
- At dinner, looking out the same window he's been looking out for the past 8 months: "What's that big tree DOING?" Us: "Um....he's just standing there." Jack: "Oh." Then: "But what's he DOING?" And then, because I think he asked the question another night, and I gave this answer, he said, "He's guarding the other trees."
- "What's THAT?" "Er, that's your chair." (Or something equally ordinary.) "Oh." And then: "What's THAT?" "That's Daddy's drink." "Can I SEE it?" "Sure, sure." Looks. Then: "Can I TASTE it?" "No, that's just for Daddys." "Can I TOUCH it?" "No, no." "Want to see it." And so he does.
- Not so much a question, but more a request that can't possibly be met. We're reading a book, that shows animals standing outside a building or something. "Want them to go in the house," or "Want him to wear his hat," or "Want him to go inside." In some respects, Jack wants to change what happens in his books -- he wants to be able to move the characters around himself.
- Jack sometimes shows only minimal interest in his meals, but he has tons of interest in his play food. His big thing now is to set up chairs on his "table," which is actually a play store, and set up meals of plastic pancakes, waffles, etc. And no, this has nothing to do with the topic, but it's what he's been doing a lot of lately.
- We've been talking up going to Nana's and Baba's house, where we're going in a couple of days. Jack's in favor of the idea, as he enjoys them and the various toys there -- ones we had as kids.
Yesterday he asked Emily, "Are we going to Nana and Baba's house?" "Yes," she said. Then he asked, "Will Nana and Baba be there?"
- His favorite stuffed toy seems to change by the week; this week it's Winnie the Pooh. The other night he wailed for us, and I thought he was saying he was poopy. Nope -- he was looking for Pooh.
- At dinner, looking out the same window he's been looking out for the past 8 months: "What's that big tree DOING?" Us: "Um....he's just standing there." Jack: "Oh." Then: "But what's he DOING?" And then, because I think he asked the question another night, and I gave this answer, he said, "He's guarding the other trees."
- "What's THAT?" "Er, that's your chair." (Or something equally ordinary.) "Oh." And then: "What's THAT?" "That's Daddy's drink." "Can I SEE it?" "Sure, sure." Looks. Then: "Can I TASTE it?" "No, that's just for Daddys." "Can I TOUCH it?" "No, no." "Want to see it." And so he does.
- Not so much a question, but more a request that can't possibly be met. We're reading a book, that shows animals standing outside a building or something. "Want them to go in the house," or "Want him to wear his hat," or "Want him to go inside." In some respects, Jack wants to change what happens in his books -- he wants to be able to move the characters around himself.
- Jack sometimes shows only minimal interest in his meals, but he has tons of interest in his play food. His big thing now is to set up chairs on his "table," which is actually a play store, and set up meals of plastic pancakes, waffles, etc. And no, this has nothing to do with the topic, but it's what he's been doing a lot of lately.
- We've been talking up going to Nana's and Baba's house, where we're going in a couple of days. Jack's in favor of the idea, as he enjoys them and the various toys there -- ones we had as kids.
Yesterday he asked Emily, "Are we going to Nana and Baba's house?" "Yes," she said. Then he asked, "Will Nana and Baba be there?"
- His favorite stuffed toy seems to change by the week; this week it's Winnie the Pooh. The other night he wailed for us, and I thought he was saying he was poopy. Nope -- he was looking for Pooh.
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