Jack Now

Once again, SuperMommy Brooke Jarrett has inspired me to do a "Jack Now" post. Jack and her son, Reed, are about the same age and it really makes me laugh when I get a chance to compare all the crazy and funny things the boys do!

• Jack is sitting next to me as I write this post. I asked him, "Jack, what are your favorite things right now?" He said, "My grandparents." (No lie!! They must have been talking about families in school today. How adorable!) The conversation continues: me: "So what are your other favorite things?" Jack: "Trains. And cars. And race cars. And waffles!" 
• One of his new common phrases: "Mommy, I need you!" Since he's become the potty champ, he likes me to wait outside the bathroom while he does his business. When he's done (usually taking all of 1.23 seconds), he yells, "Mommy, I need you!" He also says this when he's going to bed. Hmm. Too cute to ignore. 
• His favorite things to watch these days are Octonauts (the new show on Disney Junior, it's really good!), Wonder Pets, Special Agent Oso, and all the Pixar movies. 
• "I'm okay!" This is his response when you yell to him "Jack, what are you doing?!" It usually means he is NOT okay and that something is in danger of getting very messed up.
• He loves to do things that I do, including cooking, washing dishes, laundry, baking, and shopping. It's fun most of the time, but not when I am in a hurry, since it means I have to do everything twice. 
• I must have complained once that Target was too busy when we drove in the parking lot, because now he makes an assessment of any store we go to. "Mommy, it's not too busy!" or "Mommy, look at all these cars. It's too busy!"
• His sleeping patterns have gone from bad to worse. He was such a good, disciplined little sleeper and now he's all over the place (literally.) I have moved into the guest room for various reasons, mainly so that Justin can get some sleep since I am up approximately 4,500 times a night. He always starts out in his bed, but depending on the frequency of his crazy screaming night wakings, he's usually on the floor in my room or the bed / floor in Daddy's room by the morning. I am trying to cut myself some slack. The doctor said these night terrors / sleepwalking episodes will end at some point. He sometimes wakes up and sometimes not. I always try to put him back in his own bed at least once, sometimes 3 or 4 times. But sometimes I am just too tired and I give in. Sometimes I sleep in his room with him. Between Justin being on China time and trying to get back to our time zone, and me being pregnant and up all the time, we spend a lot of time cuddling on the couch or watching TV late at night / reading books and up early in the morning. It's insane. I do feel fully prepared for newborn-hood again though, because an every-3-hour schedule HAS to be better than this!! At least we both take good naps ... I feel bad for dear ole hubby!!!
• Jack loves school. I knew this would be the case, but he is doing really well and always comes home with something new. He started saying "eye" and "love" all the time, and I couldn't figure it out. Today I went to pick him up and saw this on the board. They were doing all kinds of Valentines Day associations, making heart art projects for Tuesday, and they must have read a lot of books about love. Who knew he would pick up Chinese so easily? They are having a big party with lots of cool stuff on Tuesday, and a coffee for the parents too. I can't wait to see everything they've done!
• "I'm a big boy!" He says this literally all. the. time. I think he gets mad because I obviously talk about his baby sister, and then I make a random comment about how he's my baby boy and he gets so angry! "I am NOT A BABY! I AM A BIG BOY! I HAVE BIG MUSCLES!" 
• He's still in 18-24 month clothes. Some 2T stuff. Poor kid :)
• He likes to make me "coffee" in his play kitchen. For some reason the kid is obsessed with coffee, maybe because he knows I am not a normal human being in the morning before I drink it :) Anyway, I said "cheers!" before I took a fake sip earlier today. This started a whole act about doing "cheers" over and over. He had fun doing it with his sippy cup with Daddy at dinner too :) Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDRtPT2LsI&feature=youtu.be