Playin' around

Today we went to Meadowbrook Park. It's a HUGE park and there is no mulch (YAY!) instead it has rubber on the ground under the play area (like the rubber of a HS track). There were lots of kids playing, based on the time of day I'm guessing they were probably pre-K aged. You know I'm not one to shy away from complaining when big kids make it hard for the little ones to play and explore. It never occurred to me that there would be big kids there too (duh!) but they all seemed to be fine sharing the playground with our pint-sized monsters.

Jillian, Jack, Brooks and Jocelyn (who is now walking while holding mommy's fingers!) were all there. Jack got comfortable with the big play ground pretty quick. The playground has a large ramp that goes from level to level and from area to area so Jack started at the bottom and made his way to the top. He didn't show interest in the 'fire poles' or other toddler un-friendly apparati; thank goodness because some areas were 8ish feet off the ground.

He did however immediately take to the slides. He would walk over to them and then sit down and crawl backwards till he slid down them. One slide he decided to crawl face first down which lead to me grabbing his ankle and bracing myself to slowly lower us down this crazy steep slide. We got far enough down that I let go and he slid safely to the bottom. When I tried to adjust myself I lost my grip, slid down, collided with him and clumsily scooped him up so I didn't actually land on the ground on top of him as we both fell off the end of the slide. We flopped to the ground facing the sky and both immediately started laughing.

It's times like this that I think, yep, he's the perfect kid for me because I can throw him down a slide and onto the ground and he thinks it's funny.

Growin'

Here is a step by step visual of how to grow herbs in your kitchen (or another sunny room in your house). First: order something off Amazon and when your package arrives cut the box to a shallow depth.

Second: fill that box with one inch of organic seed soil.

Third: throw in some seeds. These are rosemary seeds.

Fourth: label where each herb is placed so you don't get confused. (This says: Cilantro, Oregano, Basil, Rosemary.)

Fifth: then place by the window - beware dirt is a baby magnet if they find it, they will spill it.

Sixth: water till the soil is saturated and then cover with saran wrap to create a greenhouse effect. Don't worry this one doesn't cause global warming.

Seventh: feed the baby dinner. Yay!

Girlfriend?

Today when the weather finally broke Jack and I wandered down to the end of the court. Our usual neighborhood friends were out and about Clay and 3 of her 4 sons were hanging out (one 15 year old and 9 year old twins) the oldest is on a study abroad in the UK... I'm still working through my jealousy issues there. Michelle and her 3 girls and and 'new' baby boy were also out (9, 7, 2 1/2, and 6 months respectively) and Jessica and her daughter (4) were also enjoying the weather.

The moms tend to pull up lawn chairs or patio chairs and circle up on someone's front lawn to chat and jointly watch each others' kids. This is perfect because we do have eyes in all directions. The big kids like to run around in the woods near by or in the back yards. Sometimes the dads sit with us and sometimes, like today, they'll create their own circle and then throw wiffle balls at us. Nice.

Well damn it that I didn't have my camera. Jack and Emma (Michelle's 2 1/2 year old) were together most of the afternoon. She tried for about an hour to hold his hand while they were playing around in the yards. Then she realized the palms of his hands (and his mouth from putting his hands in his mouth) were dirty so she got a tissue and proceeded to wipe him off! Too precious!!

I said to Matt, living in this neighborhood is like being a freshman in college again because if you walk down the street someone is always calling you into their house or on to their lawn to hang out. It's great!

Deals! Deals! Deals!

At today's consignment sale I found some super cool toys and some great deals!

This was one I was looking for. It's a push/pull toy that makes a sound like a wind chime. I thought about a popper or a lawnmower but they didn't have any and then I realized - wait a minute this is going to sound MUCH better!!

This is a great outside toy for playing in the neighborhood. The horn beeps and the wheel turns (which actually turns the front axle). Yeah, $4.50!

I also got some great shoes for this summer and fall. The sandals will be perfect for the heat of the summer. The 'dress shoes' will be great for my cousin's wedding and for other dressed-up type things and the sneakers look unimpressive from this angle but they are SO cute!! Take my word for it.

Later we went to dinner with Matt's parents. Jack had smoked salmon with dill creme fresh and a potato latke. I'm getting a little concerned about how expensive his palate is turning out to be... hmmm... (Really, if this is my biggest problem, life is pretty good.)

Jack has 2 Dads

There is no such thing as "ma-ma" in this house. We're both "da-da" and the actual "da-da" is the clear fave. If Matt leaves for work when Jack is not distracted by, say, breakfast I'll have 2o minutes of a screaming, tantrum-throwing child to deal with after the door closes. He gets pissed if I leave him in a room but he never gets excited when I enter it. "Da-da" gets all the perks there.

I do maintain the single greatest advantage of the "da-da" preference is that whenever Jack has a choice I get a break.

I'll take what I can get.

Progress

Jack is experiencing progress by reaching new heights. Literally. We also added 'cow' and 'car' to our lexicon. This reaching of the knobs is more memorable and more disturbing. Does this mean I can't just shut him in the master when I'm taking a shower anymore? Will he actually turn the knob just because he can reach it? What does it all mean?!

We are done with phase 2 of the deck project (phase 1 was demolition and paint stripping) now we're finished with assembly.

We even made some design changes. Who wants to sit on a bench without lumbar support? Not me! And now I don't have to!

Phase 3 will be staining, which includes weather proofing, because our chosen brand of stain was made that way- thank goodness!

Also, Jack's Easter present from Grandma and Grandaddy came today (they may be wrapping them... we haven't discussed the logistics.) But I wanted to show off the cuteness! They are a little large for him now, since he's close but not quite ready for them. We also have a leak-proof diaper cover because these are not waterproof. This was not an oversight, this was intentional. They're more breathable than waterproof trainers and much easier to dry on a line or in the dryer! Also they can be used as actual big-boy underpants because they don't crinkle, which I hear is a dead give away. They have a little extra lining, but don't add hardly any bulk at all.

Busy, Busy

We did several things today to summarize: we walked to Giant (Jack rode in the stroller, of course) and used our reusable bags to buy some groceries. How's that for green?! We ran some errands. Then we went to Miss Lindsey and Cady's house to play!
We checked our self out in the mirror.

We gestured emphatically.

We played with a baby doll.

We had some.... er.... crack....

And then Mommy and Daddy broke into Jack's room in the middle of the night and took some pictures of him snuggling with his froggy (it's a good thing we bought a second one). I hate to think what would happen if froggy got left somewhere or some other tragedy befell him...

Someone has a case of the Mondays

Today we went to the play area at Columbia Mall (they usually open it up after morning cleaning at 9:30am). Which makes it germ free. It also is usually a 2 and under crowd at this hour which means I can relax a little and just let Jack run.

Speaking of: Here he is on the go.

Then I went to Tevana and picked up some more tea. I was running low on some of my faves. Morning tea is definitely a treat I enjoy, and with all the options they have at this store it's impossible to get tired of it!

Later Kim came to visit (a friend from forever). We went out to a late lunch and then played with Jack. She has a super-cool flexible schedule because she's a nurse at Georgetown Hospital. Sadly, I got caught up in the fun and forgot to snap a picture!

Tonight we had sandwiches for dinner. Jack was actually able to eat them as a sandwich should be eaten, for the most part.

Sometimes I just shake my head.

So our deck was the deck of many colors. First someone painted it khaki, not khaki brown... khaki white. Why? Apparently they're color blind. Then someone painted it red. Not brick red or cherry wood red, but fire truck red. Finally it was painted orange, hazard cone orange. WTF people? Are you deranged?!?

So we tried a chemical stripper for decks. No luck.

Then we tried metal putty knives and some elbow grease. No luck.

Finally we rented a power washer from Home Depot for $75 (whole day charge). Good enough.

Now that we've stripped the deck we're going to stain it. Since we couldn't get off the many other colors we have to use an opaque stain. Guess what color we're choosing? BROWN. Why? You ask. Because that's the FREEKING COLOR OF WOOD.

Jeez!

Ok, so now that I have gotten that off my chest. Seriously, I think I'm in love with the power washer. We cleaned the deck, cleaned the side of the house, cleaned the patio table and cleaned the front walk. I think I'm in love.

Thanks Jared

I've always been a little concerned about Jack's round-ness. Not that I think he needs a diet or is actually over-weight. He's only in the 50 or 70th percentile for weight. But between the cloth diapers adding some bulk and his big baby belly he has never really been able to wear jeans. When I put jeans on him with a cloth diaper I couldn't zip the zipper to the top. Well, this morning I grabbed his pair of jeans that we've just had sitting around collecting dust and I try them on him ::zip:: right to the top! These are the same jeans I've been trying to get him in since Christmas. The pants are now also the right length! So out of curiosity we hopped on the scale. He weighs the same he did at his 1 year check up (at least according to my scale). Clearly he has reached critical velocity where he now moves so much that all of his calories are spent helping him to grow up not out.

How gratifying for me that this now opens up a whole new world of big-boy fashion opportunities! Yay!

Projects

Today Brenna (the crafty one) taught us how to cut freezer paper and make stencils for t-shirts.
Jack had a wardrobe malfunction which was caused by leakin through his diaper, which has not happened since the 6 month mark. He was a little under-dressed for play group today.

This is half of Jack's finished shirt. (The other half isn't finished yet.)

My other on-going project right now is our deck. First, who paints a deck orange? It's disgusting (I'm sorry if you're offended because you have an orange deck). Second the 'sunburst' is a little over kill people. Third, I'm trying to do this project all by myself - this should be interesting.

Sassy

We certainly had some shenanigans yesterday.

It's time

I've been in denial for a while. But Jack clearly has the manual dexterity to draw. He has informed me that it is high time to provide him with some age-appropriate writing utensils.

Also, Happy St. Patricks Day!

Average Weekend

Another average weekend. Home Depot, here we come. We're pricing out the new windows and doors for the house and researching the deck, patio and garden improvements we plan to make. Turns out the deck is going to be a relatively 'easy' job! Yay!

Jack's Lexicon

Word [pronunciation] definition

Ma-Ma [Ma-Ma-Ma] mommy; female parental figure

Da-Da [Deh-Deh-Deh or Deh] daddy; male parental figure

No [No-No-No or Doh-Doh-Doh] (accompanied with right arm swinging across his body and shaking his head) i'm all done with dinner; i'm acknowledging you're telling me 'no'; i'm telling you no

Cat [kitty or kitteh] feline friend

Truck [tuck or tuck-tuck] large hauling-capacity vehicle; semi

Duck [duck or rack-rack-rack] anything duck-shaped with a bill; quack, quack

Cracker [kah-kah or cra-kah] feed me a cracker, now

This/That [dis/dat] (accompanied by frantic pointing) have you seen this, mommy; please tell me what this is so i can increase my vocabulary; i want this, give it to me

Round and Round [raw-raw-raw] round and round, as in, the wheels on the bus go...

Vroom [vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr] i'm driving my truck/car/bus can you hear it? it's on the move

Sometimes I blog for the enjoyment of others, sometimes I blog for my own catharsis and sometimes I blog so that I can reference this information later to make sure any sub-sequent children are on-par with the first. (Hopefully, if they're not, we'll be able to find the receipt and the store will accept them back even though the tags have been removed.)

Snow?

Call me old fashioned... but when I go to the beach I'm expecting there not to be snow. We played inside this morning. We took a 2.5 hour nap while Mommy and GiGi went out to a big-girl lunch! YAY! We went to Berlin. It snowed. Then we ate eggplant parm for dinner (just the little man) and, yes, he is my son because he LOVED it. Then we had a much more successful bath time, no screaming, no shaking.... but also no sitting.

Oh well, you can't win them all.

You spin me right round...

Baby, right round! (You'll get it later.)

Yesterday I planned to have a late lunch (to accommodate Jack's nap) with my roommate from college, Laura. Well I was running VERY late and I got home from a library playdate at 12:30 instead of the usual 11:00. I was planning a dinner with Uncle Tom so when I called to explain the situation he offered to babysit while Jack napped so Laura and I could go out to a big-girl lunch while the baby slept.

I left some snacks and the potty and diapers ready, in case someone woke up before we got back. He woke up, Uncle Tom went to get him, took off his diaper, put him on the potty and put him back in his new diaper before I got home. This was Tom's first diaper change (Jack was also my first diaper change... weird huh?)

Then Jack had a snack and Uncle Tom said "So he feeds himself now, sweet! This is easy!" It's true. When I think back to the nursing and spoon feeding stages, it was so sweet when he was more dependent, but this independence is nice too. It's very freeing.


Then Jack carried around the watering can. Just for fun.

Today

We spun Jack around. Ok, technically we did it the day I locked him in the car -after, not before-. But this is the first photo documentation. Here he is on the way to my parents. Since Matt is working again this weekend I decided to call in the reinforcements. My parents are freshly back from Florida, rested, tanned... they needed a little Jack-time and I needed some willing extra hands.

When we got to my parents Jack played with the new toys (donated by my mom's friend whose grandkids are bigger). Yay for recycled toys!!

Jack ate bean stroganoff for dinner. This was a FAVE growing up. Except for the mushrooms, I'm not a fan of fungus. But who am I to deny my son some shrooms just because I'm not loving them...

Then it was bath time. I think not having the duck tub anymore, not having daddy bathe him and being in a scary large soaking tub scared the crap out of the baby. He hyperventilated, screamed until he was purple, kept clawing at me trying to climb out of the tub. The only time he calmed down enough for me to wash the dirty boy was when I got in with him. It was so cute that he needed me. He never needs me, but I can't do this forever.... hopefully it's a phase.

Now he's sleeping and the eggplant parm is cooking and I am, of course, enjoying some vino.

Cheers!

Camera Games

Brenna and Amedeo arrived first for mom's group today. She spent a fre minutes playing with her camera. "Familiarizing herself with some of the more complex settings" as she put it. It occured to me that I had not done that with my camera. So I copied her.Here are the babies... er toddlers getting into trouble.

Jack and his horse.

Eating a car.

Then we put Brenna in a box. Just to see if she would fit, and she did!

Now that's what I'm talking about!

This is the finished product.
Today Jack played with the vacuum (it was out because there was some MASSIVE clean up involved from the door-change-up).

I cannot wait till he's big enough to vacuum for himself. Mwah ha ha!

He also sat and 'read' this note pad. He looked like such a big boy sitting like that on the steps I had to photo-document.

Here is the full view. I cannot wait till spring when things really get growin'!

This morning Jack woke us up at the crack of dawn to make sure we got an early start on our work.I painted the door frame and all the 'filigree' white. It was white before... it just didn't look white.

Jack supervised, though he was not excited about it.

TA DA... ok.... not really 'Ta Da' yet - but the front door and storm door are on. I sanded and painted the shutters (they're a much better shade of green now). Not that I don't like pine green, I just think there was too much contrast between the bright green and the brick. Now everything seems to 'go' so much better.

So: imagine the front door is also going to be painted the same olive green, and all the shutters missing from the upper windows have been replaced. And Voila! That's the new and improved house! Yay!