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.