Making an impression on Santa

Jack and Alex got to visit with Santa at our neighborhood party. Jack had prepped by watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and was very excited to see the big man himself. Right before we left to go, Jack and I decided he would bring a present for Santa, a brownie wrapped in cellophane with a bow on top. You know, just to make sure Jack was put on the "Nice" list.

The big moment arrived. Jack approached cautiously and when Santa saw him he said, "Hello Jack! Want to come up here and sit in my lap?" Jack absolutely froze. He hid behind mommy, he hid behind a column, he avoided looking directly at Santa at all cost. So I thought I would try another tact. "Jack, do you have a gift for Santa?" I asked him. Jack looked down at his brownie, looked at Santa and proceeded to chuck the brownie straight at the Man for the North Pole. That's right, my son pegged Santa with a brownie.

Hmmm, Mommy may have to work overtime to get Jack on that "Nice" list.

Dinner talk

Jack finishing up his dinner and looking at the salad...he is reaching across the table to try and get the bowl to serve himself. Last time he did this, he turned the entire table over.

"Jack, what do you need?"

"That bowl, mommy."

"What's in that bowl?"

"Ummmmm...garden. Gardening supplies. Can you please put some of the gardening supplies on my plate?"

I guess that's what I get from having my 3-year old harvest in the vegetable garden with me.

A moment for mom

It was the witching hour, that time when the kids are home from school with me and hubby has yet to arrive. Things always seem a bit more hectic. Jack had already had an accident in his pants while I was downstairs with Alex. While she screamed in her highchair, I sprinted upstairs to clean him up. I dashed back downstairs to her screams, threw some cheerios on her tray, and resumed trying to get dinner ready, when I heard Jack yelling. Not again!

I stomped toward the stairway and looked up at Jack standing on the landing. "What is it, Jack,"I asked, with frustration dripping from my voice.

"I wrote you a thank you note, Mommy." You couldn't make me melt any faster if you had a blowtorch. My little sweetie...

"What does the thank-you note say?" I asked.

"It says "Thank-you note for Mommy. Thank you. I love you.""

"Honey, that is so lovely. What else does it say?"

"With liberty and justice for all."

Snuggling Revelation

As Jack and I cuddled in bed to try and induce a nap for him, he had a startling revelation. Jack likes to stroke on people's cheeks he is snuggling with. Today, he added the oh-so-adorable desire to stick his finger up my nose, something which drives me absolutely insane. But in the interest of getting him to nap, I held absolutely still and silent.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Jack"

"Your nose has hair in it."

"Thank you for telling me. Now let's go to sleep."

A departure from parenthood

My husband and I took a break from parenthood last night-and I mean a BIG break. John is a fan of Tool and they were in Austin so we went to the concert. I'm not a fan, but am working toward Wife of the Year. This should make me a shoo-in.

If you don't know, Tool is a metal band. They are V E R Y L O U D. So armed with my ear plugs and with the kids safely ensconced with their grandmother, we headed out.

As the lights went down, immediately all around us, marijuana smoke wafted up. I mean, it was like we had just stepped into a forest fire. And then the band came on...if you have never heard Tool, take a listen to get a taste:


It was cool to go see, but I could feel some pain in my back this morning from standing up for that long. OK, fine, I admit it. I'm old. John and I both had multiple moments where we looked at each other and grinned, laughing at us hanging out with people all around us thrashing their heads back and forth and shouting "Maynard, you are a god. You rock!" and women (or really, just girls) walking around in mesh tops and halters, rips in the butt of their jeans and no underwear underneath. I think more than once we probably both thought "Could our children ever be like this...?" On a good note, it would probably be worse if I had been head banging like all those around us, since my neck would probably require traction today. The amazing thing is that the band is older than we are. The lead singer is 43!

So we came home, immediately loaded our smoke-infused clothes into the washing machine, and happily climbed into bed. Only to be awoken 2 hours later by Jack coughing. And then again an hour later by Alex crying. Everyone ended up in our bed, except for John who tried to claim a few winks in the guest bed.

Ahhh, back to parenthood.

Out on sick leave

Sickness has struck via my baby. In the past few days, she has vomited, had diarrhea, ear infections in both ears, pink eye in both eyes, and general crankiness all around. Her dad joined her in vomiting and her mom joined her in tummy grumpiness. So she has been at home all week with me and I...have gotten absolutely nothing done.

But I'll have to wait on more extensive updates until I have more than 30 seconds of peace before baby needs to be picked up.

Big Bugs Halloween Mischief

Well, my little bugs (see entry below for pictures) certainly enjoyed their Halloween. Jack wore his costume to school and that afternoon they had a Halloween party. That is code for sticking an IV into his arm and directly injecting him with as much sugar as his bloodstream could take. Then they sent him home so he could bounce off my walls and terrorize his sister. All of this before we have even done any trick or treating.

Alex remained her calm, lady-bug self throughout the entire candy-fueled madness of walking around our friends neighborhood. We have no trick-or-treaters in our neck of the woods so we pawned ourselves off on our friends whose neighborhood is besieged by children from all over the U.S. Seriously, they get bused in.

Anyway, evening ended on an up note when they returned from gathering candy. Jack was eyeing his bag filled with liquid adrenaline when I stopped him with a question. "Would you like to trade that candy in for a new toy train?" You could hear Howie Mandel in his head saying "Deal or no deal?". He went for it and handed over the whole basket. In return, he got one of his dad's boyhood train cars. Everyone went to bed happy.

Bug battle

I know this is my mom blog and not my gardening blog, but I saw something today in my garden that just has to be shared. It was the most fascinating display of two unusual bugs in the garden that I have ever seen. Luckily, I was able to capture most of it with my camera. It was an interaction between a honeybee and a ladybug. The honeybee was beautiful, but a little on the bossy side with the ladybug who happened to be mulling about close by. The ladybug quickly showed her ornery side and made her displeasure quite clear and the honeybee was driven away.

Let's see if I can embed the pictures. ...

Here you see the honeybee approaching the ladybug.


Quickly the ladybug begins to show her distress at the honeybee


Finally she makes it quite clear she wants nothing to do with the honeybee by making lots of noise


And the honeybee is driven off


Such mischievous insects frolicking in my garden!

Choo choo!

We celebrated Jack's daddy's birthday by going out to breakfast (first time in over 9 months-that's what having 2 kids will do to you!) and then taking Jack and Alex to the Zilker Zephyr train. Jack loves this 15 minute ride through the park and Alex was an easy convert. We bought our tickets and Jack immediately scoped out the seats he wanted for us and didn't move from them to ensure they were ours, even though we had 15 minutes to go until the ride.

I love this picture of Jack. It just is the perfect capture of all of the excitement in his face during the train ride. He loves to point out things as we go along like the trees and butterflies and the tunnel. And he waves to everyone along the route. We had a great day.




Last night Jack asked me when I brought his dinner to the table "What have you madefor us tonight, Mommy?". I told him lasagna. "Pizza?" he inquired noticing the similarities. "Yes, pizza" I answered.

The list continues...

In the past two weeks:

Jack-croup
baby-croup
Jack-respiratory infection
baby-ear infection
Jack-fever
baby-fever
Daddy-fever
Mommy-stomach ache
Daddy-pneumonia

To say that 75% of our family is now on antibiotics pretty well sums how our month has been.

Slippery slope

Tonight I was getting dinner ready as Jack was getting the daycare crud rinsed off of him by my husband. He came running in all naked and I got him into his chair, planning to out his clothing back on him before we started eating (no, we do not eat nude in our house...at least not the main meals). The salad was on the table. The glasses of milk were in their place. Salt and pepper. I was dishing out the enchiladas when I caught an odd movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned just in time to see the table tip all the way over on it's end with Jack sliding down as the salad, salt and pepper, 2 glasses of milk, a glass of juice and all the silverware came toppling down on top of him.

After John took him in for a second shower, the salad was remade, the floor was mopped and we all sat down again, I said "Boy, that was scary, wasn't it?" He answered, "I was just trying to stir it." I realized that he had been trying to toss the salad for me so he had climbed up onto the table to reach for it, unknowingly shifting the weight of the entire table. Then he looked very solemnly at me and said "Mommy, I be more careful next time. "

He shoots, he scores....

Jack just started playing soccer at preschool last week and he is a fanatic about it. Wednesday is soccer day so I got him out of bed by announcing it was time to get ready for soccer. He quickly got up and was ready to put on his "soccer clothes" and "soccer shoes". And that is the set-up for the following exchange:

Me: Jack, what do you do when you play soccer?

Jack: I kick the ball, I shoot it into the net and ...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAT!

(silence)

Me: Do you mean "goal"?

Jack: No Mommy, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOAT!

Me: Ummmm...Jack, I think it is "goal" with a "g". Guh, Guh, Guh, like in "gorilla". Can you say "gorilla"?

Jack: Gorilla. Guh, guh, guh.

Me: Right, good job. Now what do you do when you play soccer?

Jack: I kick the ball, I shoot it into the net and... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAT!

Close enough.

Emerging from the depths of motherdom

Egad! Could it really have been three weeks since my last post? Thats just ghastly, but my final words from that ring true.

First Alex started throwing up. Then Jack got it and began vomiting and diarrhea. Jack got better and went back to school, but Alex couldn't shake it. Finally found that she had a UTI (FYI, holding down your child to help them put in a catheter is a horrible experience). Treatment: antibiotics for 10 days. And the side effects of antibiotics is...you guessed it, diarrhea. So Alex stayed out of daycare until we departed for Dallas for her baptism. Probably close to 2 weeks out of daycare in total.

Ms. Alexandra took center stage last weekend as we took her up to Dallas for her baptism. She was stunning in her great-grandmother's dress (no, not the one in this picture, that is the slip) and decided that she agreed with the solemnity of the occasion and never cracked even the slightest smile during the entire ceremony.

She fell asleep as we walked out after the service, having given her all to be cute. Then she woke up just in time for the party afterwards to charm everyone around her.

Big brother Jack looked dapper and did a wonderful job of looking after his little sister.

Now I am off to take Alex to the doctor for another catheter-assisted test since they have to test her kidneys for any damage.

What's the limit on significant events you can put in one blog entry?

Oh did I mention...

that the vomiting has started? This may be the last you hear from me until we have dug ourselves out of this sickness.

And then there was...

poop. Lots of it.

Dropped the kids off this morning and came back to get some work done at the house. Had just finished with mowing the lawn and weeding when I got a call from school. "Jack has had a BM accident." (That's parent-speak for "your kid pooped in his pants" for those of you sans kids) "And the teachers have tried to clean him but it's pretty bad so we think he needs to be showered off. Could you come in and get him?"

Well. That's one call I haven't gotten before. I got there and Jack is buck naked in the bathroom with a teacher still trying to clean him off. She said she just threw away his shorts they were so bad. She also said another boy had the same thing happen yesterday and then vomited, so I hope there's not a bug going around. So we came home and showered clean and Jack said he would just rather stay with me. So here we are hanging out.

Yesterday was the open house for the elementary school that Jack will attend in 2 years. It is a brand new school and we thought it would be neat to go check it out all spankin' brand new. So we took the kids up there. Jack was fascinated. He calls it the "big school" and he loved looking at the big classrooms and the cafeteria and the gym. He just kept saying "wow". The he announced on the way out that he was ready for high school. JOhn told them that we could look into it as soon as he poops on the potty all the time.

Being a big brother

Last night we were having playtime before bedtime and Jack was playing the harmonica and trying to show Alex how to play it. She loves to watch Jack do anything, just gets this great smile on her face.

Then Jack found my yoga strap and decided Alex needed to have it tied around her waist































Alex didn't like this much. But Jack stepped in, telling her "It's OK, Baby Alex."

Ladies and Gentlemen...

it's official. We have just completed Jack's first accident-free, no-dirty-underwear, all-toilet-all-the-time weekend. Thats right. And no, in case you're wondering, we did not stay in the whole weekend with Jack running around naked. ...That was last weekend in Florida, thank you very much. Our weekend included a variety of errands and car rides and swim time in the pool. And what it did not include was changing any dirty diapers (except the 4o or so of Baby Alex) or dirty underwear.

And that, as they say in the biz, is a wrap!

Beach delight

I'm back after a week at the beach filled with kids, sunblock, and intensive potty training. Here's my motherly advice on that...when you are exhausted with potty training and all of your reasonable discussions get you nowhere closer to getting your little one to poop on the potty, it's time to bring in reinforcements in the form of older children. We had 3 older children at the beach with us, all of whom are pooping in the potty, and I made the announcement that anytime any child went to the bathroom during the week, they were to take our son with them.

Anyway, whatever toilet karma happened, by the end of the week, Jack was pooping in the potty, even public ones, and even coming and telling me when he needed to- with a few lapses here and there. We may have turned a corner. Please god, let us have turned a corner!

Anyway, here are some cute pics from the beach...


















Nothing like a "Pile On" session with Uncle Chris
















Jack and his BFF cousin, Katy






















Playing in the fountains...

















Jack with his fabulous cousins Grayson and Katy and new friend Jesse

















I swear, those little ones and their Starbucks- we just couldn't drag them out of bed until they had their Tall Double-Mocha Half-Caf Skim Caramel Frappuccino. Jeez, talk about high maintenance...

5 days and counting!!

Just 5 days until we leave for vacation. That means 5 days that we are dodging bullets at daycare, avoiding the looks (real and imagined) for Jack having accidents, avoiding the lice bugs that are hunting down the little kids like Predator, avoiding the whole "who the hell is in charge" feeling going on in Jack's room as they transition one teacher out and another into the lead position. And when I come back, I want it all fixed, dammit!

Off to sunny vacation-ville. By the way, our first vacation with just my siblings and their familias/special someones, without the parents. Can we do it? Can we all get along? Can John quash his OCD tendencies for a week and just let things be messy? Tune back in about 2 weeks to find out...

Anyway, looking forward to Jack hanging with his cousins (did I mention we'll be in a house with 4 children under 7? We're shoving them all in a bunk room at night and locking them in.) Looking forward to cooking aimlessly in the kitchen-possibly making the best sweet rolls ever so we can all exist on a high sugar buzz for 2 days. Looking forward to being a one child family again as Alex is staying here, at the house, alone... What? She is 7 months old for christsakes. She'll be fine! ... OK, OK, I'll tell my mother-in-law to check in on her. Jeez.

So anyway, go team. Let's make it to Saturday.

Lice...yuck!

Yuck...lice outbreak at Jack's school. Multiple kids down in the class next door and one kid down in Jack's class. All blankets and pillows not provided by the school have been sent home. Kids are getting checked constantly. But man, you know the Lice are like "Whoo Hoo! This is awesome- fresh meat!"

We are remaining vigilant, biding our time trying to stay clean until we leave town.

Finally, a success! And a strange twist at school...

ell, we finally had a poop success on the potty last night. And the size of what came out caused a moment of silence across the household. How on earth could that boy have had it all in him? We celebrated by doing the poopy cheer and marching straight downstairs to turn on Handy Manny, who has been on sabatical from our house for a good 2 months. And we also got to put a stamp on our poopy chart that says "TERRIFIC!" Thank you, Target Dollar Bin!

We all went upstairs to ready for bed feeling like we had turned a corner...until Jack was reading on his big stuffed dog in Alex's room and both peed and pooped in his pants...not more than 45 minutes after producing the Poop That Engulfed Texas. The now wet big stuffed dog was put in the shower, Jack was put in the shower, and we forced ourselves to chin up, after all, we had the success, didn't we? That all felt fine and good until...Jack pooped in his pajamas and got it all over his PJs and both sheets. OK, screw this chin up crap. What the %$#@** is going on?

I felt fairly confident of Jack going to school today and not having an accident since there is no possible way in hell he could have another bit of poop left in him. And I was right. But on the way out, the director informed me that Jack's teacher had said he was having accidents "all the time" (not true) and that they had decided they wanted to "scare him a bit" by taking him back to his old room (i.e. not the Big Boy Room) to get changed, making him feel as if he were being demoted (punished). Now, John and I have struggled with remaining positive through this whole poopy period. And it is a big struggle, which sometimes we fall off the wagon, but we try to get right back on because experts say not to punish your child for having accidents. And here is his school (I believe that puts them in the "Expert" classification) telling us that they are going to "scare" him? Hmmmm. Does that seem right?

Well, I put the kabash on it anyway since Jack will be out of school for a week coming up and this will create too much random change in his schedule. But this has given me pause. Any advice?

Current list of bribes to get Jack to poop in the potty

1. Gets to watch Handy Manny or Blue's Blues (all TV currently banned until poop happens)
2. Gets to watch any movie he wants
3. Gets one train car (John's old electric trains from when he was little) everytime he poops
4. Gets to eat bananas regularly again
5. Gets to watch DVDs occasionally in the car again
6. Gets A MILLION DOLLARS, if he WILL JUST START POOPING IN THE POTTY!!!!!!!!

tooth grin

GUESS WHO HAS TEETH???? Here she is showing off her pearly whites.

So sweet...

The perfect summer evening wrap-up. Having watermelon on the back porch after a good dinner.

My angels

Today I was blessed to have some help in my garden from my son and niece. They are vegetable-gatherers-extrodinaire. They donned their new gardening gloves, which we bought at Target, gathered our basket and vegetable bag for the bounty, sprayed on lot of bug spray (have you seen those Asian Tiger mosquitoes-yuck!) and headed out. I prayed as we walked to the garden that we might have just one or two cukes and tomatoes so the kids could enjoy it. Well, someone up there heard my prayers, because my first look into the cucumber patch revealed 4 giant cucumbers. They picked the lower tomatoes and I got the ones on the top and gave to them to drop into their baskets. We got 3 Black Krim tomatoes, dozens of Juliet, quite a few Sweet 100, although I must admit they ate at least 10 on the spot, and about 6 cucumbers. Thank you, my vegetable-gathering angels.

Stars and Stripes Forever

Come rain or shine, we were going to be in our neighborhood parade for July 4th...unless our neighborhood canceled it. We've never been here for the 4th so this was our first chance and with all the rain we have had in Austin, no parade was a real possibility. But we chose to laugh at the forecasters who predicted 100% chances for rain. C'mon, when have you ever heard 100% chance of rain. But here we were. Absolutely certain we would be wet. But on the night of the 3rd, we spent our evening with the two kids decorating the stroller and tricycle and taking out our flags and practicing the Pledge of Allegiance (yes, Jack can say it thanks to his school having them say it every morning! Except I think he say "One nation, undergob, invisible, with libirdyand just four.")

And on the 4th, I got up at 6:30am to finish the amazing sweet rolls (thank you Pioneer Woman!) that I would bring to the potluck brunch after the parade. Rolls made, kids dressed, we headed out to the parade...just as it started to rain. The banner you see on Jack's trike started bleeding all over his leg. But dammit, we were going to celebrate our liberty and freedom and all that other crap. So we threw on raincoats and headed out for the walk up the hill to where the parade would start. While waiting around with the few dozen neighbors that had also ventured out, we were approached and asked to be the grand marshals for the parade (I like to think it was our stellar decorating job and the glitter glasses. You can never go wrong with glitter glasses) So we started the parade and were immediately passed up by every kid riding their bikes at top speed to get to the potluck. Which is great because we just rolled along and chatted with neighbors walking along as the rain came and went the whole way to the brunch. And during the brunch. And on the way home from the brunch.

Jack kept his spirits high, shared his flag stickers and dutifully recited the Pledge of Allegiance when called upon. Alex...well, she fell asleep in her Baby Bjorn after about 10 minutes, even with the barking of dogs, shouting of kids and rain coming down all around her.

Happy 4th!

A new addition to the 'hood

Jack and Alex have gotten some brand new neighbors, and boy, these are the kind of neighbors they like! The grandparent kind! You got it, John's parents have made the move from Connecticut to Austin. And not only in the same town as us, but in the same neighborhood. I know, I know, you're taking deep breaths thinking, my god, is that a good thing? Yes, we are so excited to have them close to us. And Jack and Alex are both THRILLED! Jack talks about going to Nana's and Papa's all the time, he asks where they are 10 times a day. And the wonderful thing is that we can drop by on walks and have them over for a swim or dinner. Jack has had his Papa reading him books as much as possible and he tells Nana "C'mon Nana, come with me" whenever he walks into another room. And Alex, well, she is all smiles.

What being a father is all about...

Well, our father's day truly showed the full gamut of being a father. The day started off in our usual weekend style as we stayed in our jammies until 11am since it took us that long to make breakfast, get Jack on the potty, feed the baby, clean dishes, get Jack back on the potty, check email, clean Jack up from not making it to the potty, and finally decide to just incorporate cleaning up with going in the pool. Reminds me of summer camp when I was little when they would send u all to the lake with our shampoo and soap and tell us it was a soap party, just to ensure we actually all scrubbed at least once a week.

As Jack and I got in the pool, John decided to take a go at finishing weed wacking in the back by the pool equipment. This job was started by me on Thursday and aborted quickly when something stung me on the hand. John insisted it was a spider since it stayed swollen for three days. Let me go on record that I thought it was a wasp. So John bravely wades into the weeds and begins his fatherly duty of finishing tasks that mommy finds undesirable... And within 2 minutes, is being stung by yellowjackets! Oh, maybe that's what stung me! He ran out of that grass pile so fast...and still managed to get stung 4 times. So a benadryl, some cortisone, and four icepacks later, Daddy was sent off to nap with the Jackelope, a task for which the benadryl highly qualified him.

Upon awakening from his drug0induced nap, John took on the task of giving Alex her bottle and putting her down for a nap while I got a father's day dinner prepared. Alex had just finished her rice cereal and was fussy about the prospect of both a bottle and of taking a nap. Upon hearing shouts of "Help!" coming from the nursery, I opened the door to find both Daddy and the baby covered in baby puke. We directed all involved into the bathtub to cleanse.

I think it was a day that pretty accurately encapsulates what being a dad is all about.

A little here, a little there...

We are in the throes of potty training. And the good news is, we have the pee in the potty pretty much down. Jack can do it sitting, standing, at home, in a restaurant...Do I sound like Green Eggs and Ham? "Will you eat it in a house, will you eat it with a mouse?"...Anyway, the point being that we are now comfortable with the potty. Jack knows it is a regular part of his routine and is used to our every-20-minutes prompting "Do you need to go potty?". "No" he says in this exasperated voice, like duh, I'll go when I need to go. He's even gotten to the point where he doesn't want to go pee in the pool- and I know a lot of adults who've never reached that stage.

But now we reach the bigger hurtle. Poop in the potty. I've learned from my beloved sister-in-law to just throw the underwear away when that accident happens. No reason to kill yourself over a $1 pair of Thomas underwear. That's why God invented Target. And Jack insists that he knows he goes poop in the potty. But actions don't match words. So we'll keep pestering, maybe move it up to every 15 minutes.

Daddy takes the reins!

John called me last Thursday and said "It's time for you to go away and find your smile." I'd had the kids all the week before while he was in California and wasn't able to shake a cold the next week, so I was operating on just fumes, and John could see I needed a recharge. Well, if someone offers you a life jacket, grab it and swim! So that's what I did, going to visit my brother in Jackson, Mississippi. No babies, no diaper bags, no schedules. Just a wonderful weekend wandering wherever the day took us. But fate wanted me to know I was never too far from home, so she played a wonderful joke by having me contract pink eye en route to Jackson. Thankfully, no one at home got it and my brother stayed clear. Not so lucky was his friend Scotta (so sorry Scotta. I suck. )

Mommy getting R&R (and yummy pecan pie) in Jackson, MS

So in honor of his heroic efforts in taking the kids all weekend while Mommy was out playing, John will be guest blogging this entry. And without further ado...

Well, this weekend Daddy was on his own. After suggesting that Bonnie take some time off and go visit Chris in Jackson MS, the reality hit that I would indeed by on my own with the terrible twosome, the nervous dog and the 2 noisy cats.

All in all, it was very manageable. The only tricky time came when 8 pm rolled around. As the squeaky wheel gets the grease, Jack got 3 quick stories and then was left to his own volition as I attended to Alex - all the time with Jack asking "Mommy, I want Mommy". And the response to this question every time was "Mommy is coming home tomorrow" hoping that he has not figured out how time works yet.

The funniest moment of the weekend came at bath time on Friday night. All 3 of us were in the bathtub together and Jack decided to stay in by himself when all the washing was finished. I drained the tub, dressed Alex and began to get her bottle together when I hear Jack begin to yell, kind of frantically. (Precursor to the next few sentences - Jack has not mastered #2 in the potty yet.) I walk back into the bathroom and Jack repeats over and over again "I peed on it, I peed on it!". I turns out that he had a massive #2 on the anti-slip mat and just to make sure he had taken care of things decided to pee on it, just in case.

Is that a glimmer of light...

at the end of the tunnel? Perhaps?

Jack came home yesterday from school with an exuberant note from his teacher saying he had peed in the potty 5 times that day. Still some accidents but dramatic improvement from the day before. And he peed again in the potty when we got home. The later, he was watching Bob the Builder while I fixed dinner and I went in the room to find the potty again filled with pee. He went WITHOUT ANYONE ASKING and didn't even tell anyone. He must have wanted to get back to Bob.

Anyway, he was very excited and he does the "potty dance" whenever he goes, while we sing "Jack pee peed in the potty, he pee peed in the potty!"

Alexandra finds the whole thing humorous, thinking "who the heck is the insane family I have been born into?"

Nothing like a lifelong friend

Jack is visiting in Dallas this week and getting lots of time with his cousins Katy and Grayson. Last night, he jumped on the trampoline with Katy and got to play Wii with Grayson. Today we visited Katy at school to see her sing in the school program and tomorrow we will be visiting the Aquarium with Katy.

So good to see him and Katy togather, they are only 3 days apart in age and just seamlessly start to play when they see each other it seems.

Catching my breath before going under

What a crazy week it has been. Upon returning from our weekend away, we finally got Jack recovered from the hives he broke out in from the resort. They ended up being the worst on his face, but also got on his chest, back and began on his arms and legs. No sooner had that cleared up then the next plague hit us in the form of diaper rash from hell. I'm talking the kind that you have to hit with the prescription cream ("Happy Hiney" compounded ointment for those of you not in the know, interestingly enough prescribed to me when I was in the throes of an allergic reaction to the adhesive bandage used in my c-section)

So I kept Jack home to clear up the diaper rash and thought, why not kill, or at least injure, two birds with one stone by letting Jack go naked waist down all day and do some potty training boot camp. So we did it. By 9:30 am, Jack had peed twice in the potty, pooped twice in the potty, pooped once on our door mat and peed down his leg on the patio. I knew I was in for a hell of a day.

So that was 5 days ago and today was mother's day. We decided lazy day around the house was a good theme so we did Naked Jack again today with his potty accompanying him everywhere. And damn if that boy didn't get right to it and announce before breakfast that he needed to pee. He sat right down and did it. We're all cheering and clapping except for baby who thinks we're insane and Ginger who is eating Jack's breakfast which has been set on the counter.
And it didn't stop there. By the end of the day, Jack peed 8 times in the potty and pooped twice (of course, he got so excited on the first poop that he jumped up to show me and didn't realize he still needed to go. 30 seconds later, we had poop on the living room floor and all over Jack. Yikes!

So tomorrow, we head to Dallas, with potty accompanying us again to visit Dotti and Pawpaw and continue our quest for a life without diapers.

Weekend of flowers and viruses

This past weekend, my family took our annual trip together, sticking close to home this year because of baby Alex, we just went to a nearby resort. They had gorgeous wildflowers spouting all over the site, like much of Texas has these days. So we were able to get some shots of the kids amongst the flowers, including this one of a mopey Jack walking the wildflower path (I think he had pooped in his pants and didn't want us to know-we found out soon enough!)

Unfortunately, we also had some mishaps along the way. My brother, sister-in-law and two kids all came down with a 24 hour bug that had them all vomiting in their room and quarantined for the weekend. Being sick with kids is bad enough but being at a hotel trapped in your room and no convenience of a kitchen, totally sucked. And Jack came out with a total rash on his face that spread all over by the end of the weekend, we think the result of an allergic reaction to the detergent used to launder the sheets. But hard to say. All is clearing now that we are home. Ahhh, travelling with children- such a joy!

Handy Dandy

Jack has moved on to a new phase in love for TV characters. Those of you who don't have kids or neices or nephews might not be aware, but your child's age is directly proportional to the TV characters they respond to. It starts out with Baby Einstein and the Teletubbies. They move on from there to Sesame Street, Pooh Bear and Thomas. From there to Bob the Builder, Dora, Diego, Handy Manny or Blues Clues. Kids move among these in different orders but it never varies that much. Some kids hold on to certain characters longer.

Jack is in Blues Clues mania. He is also wild for Handy Manny, the Hispanic fix-it man. He can recite the songs for both. But Blues Clues he has taken a step further as he walks around the house looking for pawprints (Blue's indication that you have found a clue). And Steve, the host of Blues Clues, always records his clues in his "handy dandy notebook". So we bought Jack his own notebook to record his clues in.

Steve's notebook:

Jack's notebook-close enough. By the way, he just calls it his "handy dandy" for short.

His most recent foray into clue solving had the following clues (they always come in 3s):
1. cracker (we were having snack)
2. Pooh Bear
3. The #s 4,5, and 6

I'll leave it up to you to figure out what Blue was thinking of with those clues.

a busy boy

Sometimes potty time gets out of control for Jack. Check out this scene after a recent morning on the pot. So much can be accomplished while sitting there: coloring, reading, playing with tools...

My mama said...there'd be days like this

Wednesday was a down-day for the Jackelope. And I'm talking wave after wave of negativity. It all started with the departure of the grandparents (otherwise known as Nana and Papa). Nana and Papa had been here for over a week and Jack had gotten used to this new fangled routine of having four people loving on him rather than just two. But they said their goodbyes as Jack headed out the door to school with Mommy.

All seemed fine with only a small glitch in that Jack insisted on bringing a game with him in the car that we knew he would want to take into school. Usually I can distract when we get to school and get him out of the car and toss the game back into the car as he faces the other direction. But this morning, he caught me in the act...and started screaming "I want my toy, I NEED it, I NEED it!". I held strong and walked down the hall with him, as he cried the whole way. When we got into the room, he was desperately upset so we had a little hug session until he had settled down and was feeling up to assembling blocks. I left without incident.

Fast forward to 4:30 and the phone ringing-and you know when the caller ID says the school is calling it is either bad or REALLY bad. Director on the phone asks when we are coming to get Jack. "I'd like to talk to you before you go to his room. Jack bit two children today and hit some others." That's right, Jack went on a pre-school rampage. Two bites although no skin was broken and he "punched" (her word, not mine) the new teacher 4 times. And that's what I think all of this comes down to. Last week, Jack got a new teacher. And I think he is just experiencing some change pains with his grandparents leaving as well (although gloriously they will be coming back permanently in 2 months when they MOVE here!!)


Of course, to top off his day from hell, we all went in the hot tub (really just warm) and Jack, 5 minutes into his playtime in the hot tub, pooped. And it escaped from his swim diaper all into the hot tub. There has never been a faster evacuation of a body of water. (Don't worry friends of ours that come over to swim, pool guy came today and shocked the heck out of it). But Jack was heartbroken to have his swim time end so quickly. So we cut our losses, bathed and read books in bed. Tomorrow is another day...

Ansel Jackelope

Jack received a Fisher Price digital camera for his birthday from Nana and Papa and it has been a huge hit. You see, Jack is obsessed with looking at the pictures on our camera when we take them. Immediately upon taking one, he cries out "I need to see it!". In fact, this perfectly encapsulates this generation of toddler, introduced to digital gadgets at such a young age and wanting instant gratification. No film developing wait-time for them! (Of course, I was the polaroid instamatic generation so who am I to talk?)

So this camera is perfect because it makes a loud clicking sound, it takes an actual, (although grainy) picture and shows it on a tiny screen in the back and it is toddler-resistant. No, not against bacteria but against dropping it. He loves it. So he has been walking around with it for days and it's like he is shooting a photo essay of his life. He just snaps and snaps and snaps. So, without further ado, here is the first photoessay from the Jackelope (with extensive editing by Mama to remove all the solid black shots when the camera is pointed into his lap and the 100 pictures of the carpet in a variety of light treatments).

Picture at an angle






Mama, with dog emerging






Feet








Abstract of curtain

Closet in motion

Fan

More feet

and more feet (very popular shot with toddlers to point down)

Mama with Alex

Nana

Action shot

Daddy

Mama changing baby

Baby tooshy