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