Fish Tank!

If you've spent more than five minutes with him, you know that one of Jack's favorite things is going to the "animal store" (i.e. Petco) to see the animals, mostly the fish. Justin and I talked for awhile about getting him a fishtank and his birthday seemed like a great opportunity. Man, the kid was excited!!! We are technically supposed to let the water filter and "rest" for a week before getting any real fish, but we bought two tiny goldfish ($0.15 each) just so that Jack had something to watch. (Justin calls them our "sacrificial fish" ... we will see! I had a goldfish that lived forever through grad school and trip from Tallahassee to St. Simons... so you never know.) Anyway, here are our photos from this afternoon. Jack is so, so excited to be going to sleep with his fish tonight.

Daddy getting the shelf prepared...while Jack "helps"

We went for the "Fish for Dummies" kit!

Here are the fish and the live plant Jack picked out ... the
fish are named "Nemo and Dorrie" or "Three and Four" depending
on when you ask him what they are called.

Slowly adding water...

Lights on! Fish in! Look Momma!!!!

Here they are in action...plant to come later. As Justin put it,
"I don't want the plant to die, it cost more than the fish!!"

What Jack Can Do

I haven't done one of these posts in awhile, mostly because we've been busy but also because I have been a slacker! Jack comes up with new things every day. I will have trouble remembering most of them, so I will probably edit this again once I finish and remember more things. (I have also been inspired by Mr. Reed Jarrett, who is so adorable at almost 2!)

Anyway...Here are some little tidbits about what our guy can do. He's so funny sometimes that I wish I walked around with a video camera attached to my hand!

• He's a budding engineer. I know, I know, he takes after Justin in looks, stubbornness, and personality, but apparently he's following him intellectually too. Anything that can be stacked, sorted, or separated, instantly is by Jack. His favorite activity is to line up his toys (mostly his cars) like this (I swear I didn't alter this in any way before taking this picture. This is how he left his cars before bed):

• He talks incessantly. I know I have written in the past about his verbal skills and how chatty he is, but he's hit a whole new level that I don't even think I can match! For instance, today I took him to Happy Hollow and we were in line for the Dragon Train ride. A little girl and her mom came behind us to wait in line. We did the typical, "say hi, this is Jack, this is Addison" routine, and she asked Jack, "are you excited about the ride?" He went off!!!! Telling her all about how "Danny the Dragon is hiding, oh here he comes! I see him!, it was my birthday, I had a firetruck birthday, I am two!, I have bees on my shirt, I have a bee, bees go BZZZZ, we came here in Mommy's car, Daddy has a new car, my name is Jack..." etc etc etc. The mom was shocked! She said "wow, he sure is a talker!" I was secretly so proud but also - now it's time to teach him that we don't tell our life story to every random stranger that comes along!!
• He yells (YELLS!) "Mmmm, YUMMY!" after every bite of food he takes. It's very flattering when I've worked hard to make a good dinner - not so good at McDonalds :)
• Speaking of McDonald's...he knows the golden arches and says "ohhhh McDONALDS!!!!" every time we drive by. I wish I could record how he says it; it's so funny. It comes out more like "ohhh, Mick Dunnals!!" with the emphasis on the Mick. He also likes to tell you that he had "chicken fingers" for every meal (liar.)
• He's still carrying the dead bee around in the plastic magnifying cup.
• His new favorite words are "now" and "buy it" .... both of which I am trying to discourage. For example, this afternoon I had to take a pair of pants back to Macy's, and he knows it's at the mall with the ice cream. So I told him that I would get him some ice cream if he was good while I ran my errand. What do I hear from the backseat? "Now, Mommy! Get it! Buy it!" Um, no. I am sorry, we do not talk to Mommy that way.
• I have learned the trick to a successful grocery store visit. It's very tricky, but I have done it two weeks in a row! Wednesday afternoon, after nap, at approximately 3pm, eating his snack in the cart. (Usually a bag of goldfish that he opens at the store.) You have to hand him every item and let him put it in the cart, where he then tells you to "BUY IT!" .... sigh.
• Bathtime - he used to love it and started to rebel against it lately. So I made a game out of it, where we have to wash his squirty animals the same way I wash him. Now Mr. Seal and Mr. Octopus get their hair washed, their bodies scrubbed, their teeth brushed - all by Jack, while I do him. It works! He loves the game and he gets extra clean!
• Daddy. Oh my. DADDY is the best thing since sliced bread. Daddy comes home and the whole world revolves around where Daddy is, what Daddy's doing, can I give Daddy a kiss? It's cute and sad and makes me a little jealous, because seriously kid, who wipes your poopy butt all day???
• "Walk!" is a new command. If he's in a cart or stroller, or even holding your hand, he yells that he wants to walk! I say, "Jack, you are walking, you just have to hold Mommy's hand because it's a parking lot/sidewalk/busy place and it's dangerous to walk on your own." What do I get? "NO, WALK! My walk!" Again, sigh. 
• Pronouns. He's getting better, but still slips up. He says things like "My all done!" for "I'm all done!" and "Me get it!" instead of "I'll get it!" but he's trying.
• He likes to "look." Whenever you are doing something, anything that he can't see, he holds up his hands and says (usually) "my look!" This is mostly when I have two or three pots of something hot bubbling on the stove - but at least he's curious.
• Um, back to the first point - he knows the difference and will ask for by name: computer, iPhone, TV, iPad. He will specify which show he wants to watch on which thing. Scary.
• We got this airplane book from the library, and it has one page showing a full jet plane with a bunch of different cartoon people in it (it's obviously a politically correct book, because there are black people, asian people, a blind guy with glasses, fat people, skinny people...) He likes to read this part and tell you who each person is. "Gigi here! G-doc here! SuSu here! Pop Pop here!" It's funny because each time he changes it up, but when he told me that Gigi was the black woman and that G-doc was the (old asian) pilot, I almost died laughing. 
• He remembers certain things about our recent trip home. (And no, I am not making any of this up.) Every time we get a newspaper on our driveway now, he tells me it's "Pop Pop's paper" because we used to bring the papers into my Dad. He also remembers that G-doc's house had a swimming pool, because we went swimming the other day and he told me "like G-doc's house!"It amazes me how good his memory really is...and don't even get me started on Doak. 
• He can count to five, and sometimes nine. But only when he isn't being silly.
• He's a very good artist! Gigi got him a sketch book and a watercolor paint set and he's made things that I swear are framable (maybe I am just biased...)
• Some other favorite phrases: "all wet!" and "mess." Usually because he's both. 
• Justin built a ramp for his remote control truck in the backyard and he gets REALLY MAD when the truck goes on it twice in a row. He likes to run and jump off it and he yells "my turn!" when the truck goes. If he doesn't get his turn, ohhhh boy!
• Dancing: he likes to "dance" in the car - which really means balling up his fists and moving his arms up and down like a robot - he must have gotten Justin's intellect and my rhythm :) His two favorite songs are "All The Right Moves" by One Republic and Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe" mostly because they have decent beats and drum intros and he yells "again again!!" when they are over :) As a side note, we are both a bit obsessed with One Republic's "Good Life," if only because Jack likes the whistling sound and I like the lyrics. It's very appropriate for our life right now as I am so thankful every single day for my husband and my son and my family and our new life in California. 

I am sure I will remember more later - there is so much funny stuff that he does that it's hard to remember it all!

Bees

Sorry for the poor picture quality but I snapped it on the go. Sam, Tony, Raegan and Colin Breen sent Jack an awesome gardening kit and a bug catching/magnifying cup for his birthday. This morning, I found a dead bee on the lawn outside and put it in his cup. He has been OBSESSED with it all day! He flies it around, saying "bzzzzz!!" and tells me things like "bee thirsty! bee hungry! bee night night!" He's carried it with him to the park, to the grocery store, and to his bed. He also told it "I love you!" I figured he'd want to wear his bee shirt to carry on the theme, which he thought was pretty cool. :)

Thanks for the awesome present, friends! It's a hit!!

Two Year Well-Child Visit

Today I took Jack to see Dr. Stein for his two-year-old checkup. Here are his stats:

• Height: 33.5 inches, 25th percentile
• Weight: 25 lb 7 oz, 15th percentile
• Head Circumference: 19 inches, 30th percentile

The good news is that at his visit on 5/12/2011, he was 32 inches and 26 lbs...meaning he's grown an inch and a half in the last three months! Way to go baby boy! 

He also got the following:

• DTap Vaccine #4 (doesn't need another one until age 4.)
• Hepatitis A Booster (no more until age 5.)
• Hemoglobin check - perfect!

She gave him a thorough screening, from head to toe. His heart, his lungs, his arms and legs, his belly and his male private parts are all in perfect working order. The only small thing she noticed is that his left ear tube is dislodging, which is normal and no cause for concern. However, she did see irritated adenoids  and gave me a gel nose spray to use until we can get him to an ENT. I am excited that she is proactive about referring him, because the possibility that we will have to re-insert tubes again is good. 

She also went through his emotional and intellectual development. Of course, he passed both with flying colors! Here were the milestones he is supposed to meet at age 2, along with her (or my) comments:

• Two year olds will begin to eat with a fork, enjoy imitating their parents, and may favor their father. Really??? You think?? Justin walks on water, and usually when he's around I am chopped liver. I'd say that Jack is perfectly normal!
• Two year olds walk proficiently, enjoy pushing and pulling toys, run awkwardly and fall a lot, and can walk backwards for a short distance. Um, my child can run backwards. Away from me, quickly. And the kid will turn anything with wheels into a car to push along a "road" ... so yes. :)
• Most two year olds can speak from 3 to 50 words, and use a few two-word combinations. I told her that he says things like "Mommy, buy it!" when we are at the store, can play hide-and-go-seek and count, and she had a toy that looked suspiciously like Tommy Turtle - so he kept trying to tell her all about SuSu and Doak and where's Tommy Turtle? She was impressed.
• Here are the funnily ironic ones: Most two year olds will begin to show frustration when not understood, may show strong attachment to a favorite toy or blanket (Taggies, anyone?!), resists bedtime (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA), may respond with "no" constantly (again, HA HAHAHAHA HA HA AHHAAHHAHAHA), likes to show some independence in choice and action (yea, you try putting him in his car PJ's when he wants to wear his dog PJ's...good luck.)

Needless to say, our little man is a perfect (if not headstrong and stubborn!) two year old. She was very happy with all stages of his development, diet, daily activities, and his milestones. I am looking forward to his next appointment!

Oh yeah, if you would like to read about our new doctor, Dr. Sima Stein, here is her website:

http://www.doctor-stein.com/

California Love

I tried to make this the title picture on our blog, but for some reason Blogger is telling me that I have exceeded some limit and I need to purchase more space?? So...will be resolving that tomorrow. For now, here's the super cute picture that Gigi took today :) Love it!

More Tommy Turtle

Some of our favorites from this past week! Jack still thinks that Doak stole Tommy Turtle, so Doak made an appearance in this week's photos :)

I think this one was Jack's favorite :)

Tommy's out camping in the woods.

Jack said "oranges!!" Close, baby boy :)

This is a good one! (Especially because it's of a picture of Mommy!)

Jack said "ohh bright!" ... which I take to mean, shiny. He also
said it's "Daddy's money." Nice, Jack. Nice.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jack!

Today is Jack's second birthday. It's hard for me to remember everything that has happened in the past two years, because it feels like it's gone by so fast, but it's been a lot! Not only have we accepted a new job, sold our house, and moved from the east coast to the west coast, but we have survived two New England winters, celebrated two Christmases, two Halloweens, many ear infections, a surgery for ear tubes, lots of fun at daycare, and many wonderful vacations to Georgia and Florida. 

Jack is flourishing and it's amazing the new things he does and says every day. Today, he was psyched for his birthday - saying "it's Jack's birthday! Happy birthday Jack! I am two!" all day long. It was a beautiful day in NorCal (northern California, our new home) - 75 degrees and sunny. We were lucky to host our friends Abby and Molly to help celebrate Jack's birthday. Molly will be two in a week, on August 1! We also really, really enjoyed having Gigi and G-doc here to help celebrate. They have been a big help hanging pictures and curtains, fixing various things around our house, and making a beautiful firetruck cake that Jack loved!

Here are a few pictures from our day. I will post videos soon.

Lawnmower with my cool shades.
Notice I am wearing my one-year-old
outfit from my birthday last year. It still
fits perfectly :)

Molly and Jack "posing..."

"Firetruck cake!!!"

Burgers on the grill from Daddy for lunch!! Yum! (And a Cars2
tablecloth and plates. Jack picked it out.)

Big boy cup!

Jack, Molly, and Abby!

YUM

Opening presents! Somehow I got the loud, big
firetruck that Mommy would never buy me at Target...

Opening my new Cars2 video game :)

More presents, for me?!!

Daddy helping me.

"I do it!"

We Have CABLE!

I never thought I would be so excited to see the news or network TV, but I am thrilled!! I can now feed my TV addiction (and catch up on Big Brother 13, yay!)

Anyway, this also means we have the internet and it is MUCH easier for me to update the blog now. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to (when not unpacking, which hasn't really happened much at all yet...oops.) Still on the agenda is getting a California drivers license and car registration ... should be fun!

Jack's "road" for his cars.

Yogurt breakfast!

Biiiig turtle at Happy Hollow!!

"More turtle!"

Justin is convinced that Jack is a little engineer in the making, and I have to say that all signs are pointing to yes. He loves to line up his cars, build roads, and organize things.



Where is Tommy Turtle??

At Pop Pop and SuSu's house, Jack played with this toy turtle that would swim and sing (I don't know of any other way to describe it!) when you talked to him. They named him Tommy Turtle and Jack enjoyed him the whole time he was there - but I told SuSu that toy was staying on St. Simons because it had a tendency to "play" at midnight or 4am randomly! 

Anyway, the second or third morning we were here, Jack woke up telling me that Doak stole Tommy Turtle and he wanted to know where Tommy was. (No idea where he got that!!) I told SuSu about it, and she started sending Jack these pictures so that every morning he can "find" Tommy Turtle. It's been a HUGE hit! Now Jack wakes up and says, "Where's Tommy Turtle?" or even better, "Tommy Turtle's at SuSu's house." 

So I thought I'd share some of our installments of "Where is Tommy Turtle?" They are in chronological order, as Jack started to complain that it was "too easy!" to find him. 

Tommy Turtle 1 - easy.

Tommy Turtle 2 - still easy.

Tommy Turtle 3 - harder, but Jack still found him in about 7 seconds.

Tommy Turtle 4 - harder still!

Tommy Turtle 5 - this one was really hard, we had to break out the big screen
on the iPad to find him.

Tommy Turtle 6 - a little easier. 

We are looking forward to more installments of Tommy Turtle's adventures :)

I have started reading "Goodnight Moon" to Jack before bedtime, to get him used to saying goodnight to us in his new room. Tonight, we finished the book, and he proceeded to talk himself to sleep saying goodnight to various things. First it was things from the book: "Goodnight bears, goodnight mush, goodnight mittens and kittens." Then he moved on: "Goodnight Tommy Turtle. Goodnight Nemo. Goodnight Dorie. Goodnight Doak. Goodnight Toy Story." Finally, it made my heart melt when he was drifting off whispering: "Goodnight SuSu. Goodnight Pop Pop. Goodnight Gigi. Goodnight G-doc. Goodnight Colin and Sissy. Goodnight Spencer. Goodnight Molly. Goodnight Daddy. Goodnight Mommy..."

He managed to get everyone in, and he fell asleep as he said the last words. It was pretty much the most adorable thing I have ever heard :)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Playing in the Sprinklers...Live Action

Welcome to the Hotel California

Well, we made it to our new house, as did all of our stuff. I know that everyone has been anxiously awaiting a new blog update, so here it is. Jack and I had quite an eventful ride back to Cali, with late flights and almost missed flights, and literally sprinting through the Atlanta airport, but we did make it. 

Jack and I spent our first few days with Daddy at work adjusting to the time change, and trying to unpack. More about that later. On Daddy's first night home, we turned on the sprinklers in the front yard and both boys had a blast! Jack kept squealing with delight and yelling "Daddy's turn!!" They had so much fun:

Fully clothed!!

Jack learning to conserve water.

After sprinkler time, I decided to shoot a few "this is how I found it" pictures. (For posterity's sake, when I look back and think "wow that place was a wreck!!") The movers unloaded half of it, Justin unpacked random boxes, and then we had to dig for necessities....so it was awful. But the good news is that it's four days after I took these pictures and even now things are looking much better. It will help when we hang artwork and curtains, among other things!

Living room. It is really big!

Jack's room. The crib has already been moved out,
and the big wooden shelf moved in. Much better.

Kitchen, before any boxes were really unpacked...

Main bathroom. Not too bad.

Guest room.

Dining room. Phew.

View from dining room into living room.

View outside the front door, with Daddy and Jack
playing in the sprinklers :)

Jack learned to shut himself in the entertainment center.

"Look at me!"

"Ohhh!!"

We still have a LOT of work to do, but it's slowly getting there. This weekend we got a new washer and dryer and they are super nice, so I can't wait for them to get delivered. Next up? Justin gets a new car and we GET CABLE!!!!

More later when I have time to shoot some improvement pictures :) Don't let it scare you. It really will be very nice soon!