Neighborhood Crime Watch

Hey Jack, do you see what's going on over there?
I think someone might be in trouble!!

This looks like a job for...
Binky Girl!

super crime fighter extraordinaire

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The...

Earlier today I was getting the kids ready to go for a walk. Annabelle, who was the first one ready, was standing by the front door waiting patiently with her effects; binky, blanky, sippy cup, soccer ball, while Jack was sort of ambling around looking for something. I ran upstairs to grab a sweater for the boy and on my way back down I spied Jack, running full speed towards his sister. I was curious to see what he was up to so I stayed back where he couldn't see me. I then watched him yank the pink binky out of her chops, stick it in his mouth and laugh... As if he knew she couldn't do anything about it because her arms were full. As soon as he saw me coming he scurried off, but I could still see that mischievous little smile hidden behind the pink bink.
Is it possible that he remembered this little incident from last year and was seeking revenge?

July 1, 2005

Eighteen Months

Jack is 18 months old today! In thinking about what to write about Jack I have decided that if every child were like him, I would probably have ten...

From the beginning Jack has been extremely low maintenance. I can even track his low maintenance-ness all the way back to his speedy conception: no stressful "trying"... One day he was just there (some people may call that an "accident", I on the other hand, like to believe it was fate). Then the pregnancy: happily uneventful with very little morning sickness. Labor/delivery was quick and painless, as was my recovery. All of that carried over to his personality...

Jack is very easy going. I would say that 95% of the time he is happy. The other 5%... Well, no one's perfect. He does get cranky when hungry or tired, and annoyed when he doesn't get his way, but it never lasts for very long. In general, Jack is a pleasure to be around.

Jack is very silly. He likes to play little games like "grab your nose" and "how loud can I make my sister scream". Usually the later game is carried out in a public place, like a restaurant. The other day he instigated a quick round of "Set Go AHHHH" in the car... As I was looking in the rear view mirror I caught Jack and Annabelle looking mischievously at each other and then I hear Jack, almost in a whisper, say: "set, go" and then they simultaneously screamed "AHHHHHHHHH". Laugh. Repeat.

Jack's vocabulary is expanding rapidly, he seems to be saying a new word almost every day. He has also become quite proficient at repeating... Just yesterday I asked Jack if he wanted a cookie and then said "Jack say cookie" and he repeated "saaaaay cookie". When I asked him to say thank you he replied "saaaay thank you" (wise guy).

Jack's favorite toys are his cars (or anyone else's). Most often he can be found with a car in each hand. Jack gets very upset if someone tries to take a car away from him, any other thing he will gladly relinquish... Just don't mess with the cars.

Jack is also very fond of his Teddy Bear, so fond in fact that Teddy has a backup (just in case). Jack doesn't like to go to sleep without his Teddy Bear and lately he's been bringing "backup Teddy" into bed as well... So, me thinks it may be time to get a backup for "Backup Teddy" (just in case).

At eighteen months of age Jack has been labeled the neighborhood vandal. He likes to go around "tagging" the neighbors' cars with chalk... Luckily they think he's cute. I bet they won't think he's so cute when he breaks out the spray paint.

Jack has recently started climbing on top of the little chairs and table. He is not very good at getting down from on top of the table and hasn't quite worked out how to ask for help... That little effort usually results in tears.

With each passing day Jack is becoming more and more of a little person and less of a baby. He is running around, climbing up stairs, (falling down stairs), voicing his opinion and growing like a weed. He has tons of teeth, tons of smiles, and he even blows kisses!

At his 18 month checkup Jack was 34 inches tall and weighed 29lbs 3oz!

Updated September 25, 2006: Today I caught the little vandal in action!

The Interpreter

Annabelle seems to be the only one who really knows what Jack says. I’m not sure if they share some secret toddler language that only those under four feet can understand or if she is making it all up... But if I had to guess, I would say that her understanding of Jack’s speech is all just a ruse, well crafted and geared toward benefiting herself...

Annabelle: "Jackie wants to go to the toy store."
Me: "What does Jackie want at the toy store."
Annabelle: "Jackie wants a red ball. And I'll have a yellow one."

Me: "What would you like for lunch?"
Annabelle: "I'll have peanut butter & Jelly and Jack wants a hot dog."
Me: "Jack wants a hot dog?"
Annabelle: "Yes. Can I have a bite?"

Me: at a store being nice "You can have one toy. What would you like?"
Annabelle: "I'll have the Dora/Diego/baby Jaguar" (action figure set)
Me: "Are you sure that's what you want?"
Annabelle: "Yes. Jackie wants this police car."

Annabelle: "Jackie wants to put his shoes on."
two seconds later "Mommy, look, my friends are outside!! Can we say hi?"

Me: "Jack, finish your dinner."
Annabelle: "Jack's not hungry."

Little Oompa Loompa

Look at those adorable little shoes... So new. So small. So clean.
I wonder who they belong to?

Blah Blah Blah

I was going through some stuff the other day and found a list that I had made last year when Annabelle was about 17.5 months old. The list was of all of the words that she was saying at the time. It got me thinking about Jack, who coincidentally, is now about 17.5 months old. I know all the books say that you shouldn't compare children, but we all do... So naturally I made a list of Jack's current most used words.
The findings were interesting (to me anyway): At 17.5 months old both Annabelle and Jack each had/have approximately 30-35 words that they could/can say and use regularly. About 20 of the words are the same, things like Mama, Dada, hi, bye, teddy, ball, car, etc... Then there were the different words... This is where it gets amusing (to me anyway). Annabelle was saying things like: Dora, backpack, and wild wild west... Possibly watching too much television?? Jack is saying things like: ready set go, cheers, and thank you... Leads me to believe we may be spending too much time in restaurants, especially when he raises a sippy cup as he says "cheers".

Cars

Hopscotch

I am beginning to wonder if knowledge of certain things is just inborn... Things like hopscotch.

Where in the world did my children learn about hopscotch? It certainly wasn't from me. And seeing as I am with them 99% of the time I was a bit taken aback when Annabelle not only asked to play hopscotch, but knew EXACTLY what to do once Jack finished drawing it out.
(and where did Jack learn to do that anyway)?

For the past two days hopscotch has been "the thing". Every few days there is a new "thing" and now it's hopscotch... From the first waking breathe to the last kiss goodnight every fourth word is hopscotch, preceded only by "can we play"...

They are getting pretty good at hopscotch.

Updated 9/2/06: When Annabelle got up this morning she looked out the window and noticed that Nick had parked on the hopscotch drawing. She then started shouting "Daddy, wake up! Silver car is on my hopscotch!"

A Year Of Blogging

I just realized that it's been a year since I posted my first blog entry... Hard to believe I've actually kept it up this long. Hurray for me for having so much extra time on my hands!!

Since I started with a picture of my favorite boy it only seems right that I post one of him on the blog anniversary... In this photo Jack has been "sectioned off" from the kitchen so that I can cook his (and Annabelle's) dinner. Since having the gate there is such a rarity, Jack decided to play a little game: Jack would chuck Teddy at me and then scurry off. When he would return to the gate I would throw Teddy back at him... repeat. He found this VERY amusing.
Side Note: That is popsicle on his face, not jaundice... And yes, he did have a popsicle before dinner.

Cruisin'

Little Annabelle went for her first official bike ride (on an actual bike path) the other day! For the most part she did pretty well with the peddling, but she did get stuck a few times on some rocks, sticks, and the occasional uphill slope.

After about 10 minutes Annabelle decided that she would rather run, so we ran... Lucky me got to run with the bike while Annabelle kept yelling "faster Mommy, FASTER MOMMY!!" (Did I mention that I was also pushing Jack in the stroller)?
August 18, 2006

Mr. Jack At The Park

August 17, 2006

Clown

Annabelle has started telling knock-knock jokes...

Annabelle: "Knock knock" (literally knocking on my forehead)
Me: "Who's there?"
Annabelle: "Mommy"
Me: "Mommy who?"
Annabelle: "YOU"

Annabelle: "Knock knock" (again with the forehead)
Me: "Who's there?"
Annabelle: "Jack"
Me: "Jack who?"
Annabelle: "Jackie my brother!" (pronounced brud-der)

Annabelle: "Knock knock"
Me: "Who's there?"
Annabelle: "bike"
Me: "Bike who?"
Annabelle: "MY BIKE!"

I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

I've also recently been "one potato-ed": "one potato, two potato, three potato, more. Five potato four potato, eight potato, more."

I'm not sure where she learned that one.

Safari Tent

I've been finding Jack playing under things a lot (the dining room table, the coffee table, the exersaucer, the highchair) so I thought it was about time I got him a tent to play in...
Super Safari Tent (complete with tunnel) arrived this morning!
Mr. Jack was so excited, he color coordinated his binky for the occassion!

Jack Confronts Mickey

Jack is still not too keen on sitting on the ride-on toys... He loves to push them around, and push all of the buttons and horns, but as soon as I try to sit him on one he immediately jumps off.

He's been having a love/hate relationship with the Mickey Mouse Fire Truck lately. He'll often play with Mickey on the back porch, he likes to hide things (like my keys) in the storage compartment under the seat, and I often find him wrestling with the car as he tries to maneuver it up the step, over the threshold, and into the house. Other times I see him trying to tip the car over in frustration... Today I caught him having a stare down contest with Mickey.

Even Better Than Christmas?

This picture of Annabelle and Matthew (the neighbor boy) was taken about two months ago. I thought it was pretty funny then but even more so now after talking with Matthew's mother yesterday... Apparently Matthew was very distressed on Saturday because our car was missing from in front of the house and he had not seen Annabelle all day. When we finally arrived back home and Matthew saw the car he started screaming "MOMMY, MOMMY, ANNABELLE IS HOME!!!!!" and then followed up with a "THIS IS THE BEST MOST HAPPIEST DAY IN MY WHOLE LIFE".

Water Babies

You've got to love those life jackets! They look adorable on but, I'm not sure how useful they even are. The kids kept flipping over with their faces planted straight in the water!!! Sure they will keep you afloat in the event you accidentally fall in, but it's up to you to work out how to flip over and get your face out of the water... not an easy task for a drowning toddler, I imagine!

Face planting aside, Annabelle and Jack had so much fun swimming in the big pool with their big cousins that they stayed in the water until they were blue. Which was great, not for the fact that they were a really cool shade of blue, but that they were both so tired they fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept through until 9am (I think we will be doing a lot more swimming this summer).

It's a shame about the life jackets though, I was sort of looking forward to just letting them loose to bob around in the pool by themselves.

Sugar And Spice And Not So Nice

This latest meltdown occurred because I wouldn't let Annabelle play with a tray of ice cubes.

Has It Been A Year Already?

Time sure is whizzing by these days... It was one year ago today that we boarded a plane at LAX and headed East for the big move. Who knew what was in store for us then. With all of our worldly possessions hauled away by what would later become known as "the worst possible moving company ever", we set off to start our new adventure. (Unbeknownst to us at the time, it would be at least 4 months until we saw any of our stuff).

What seemed like an eternity spent living with my parents has since faded into a rose tinted memory... Ahhh, the good old days of being able to go out to dinner on a whim (once the kids fell asleep of course). Yes, those days have long since past and we are now almost fully settled in to our own home, complete with a couple of carpets and newly updated electrical.

Yup, it's usually right about now that we start thinking about the next move...

Los Angeles-July 2005

Sleepy Belle

We had The Electrician here yesterday banging around for most of the day, finishing up the electrical work. Because of his loud tinkering Annabelle never managed to take a nap during the day... And fell asleep while she was having supper!

Hmmmm, Lots to Ponder

Like: Why do mosquito's dig my forehead so much?

Or: Do I prefer cheddar goldfish to the original flavor?

And: What sort of antics can I get away with today?

Also: Why is my mother constantly bothering me with that flashing light thingy she calls a camera?

Jack Invents New Use For Exersaucer

I've found him in there twice now, and both times with that same red car! Seems to be his new favorite hiding spot... or maybe a good surface to roll the car?

Puzzle

Annabelle shows Jack how to do the puzzle... Jack looks like he is saying "I don't think that piece goes there".

Happy Birthday Nick!!

Nick turns 35 today!!!

... And has finally perfected his "photo face".



The team goes out to lunch to celebrate... (no one seems the slighest bit interested in the lady with the camera).

Annabelle masters the art of drinking through the straw hole without the straw.

Jack has a good gnaw on his straw.
It was a bit chilly in the restaurant so Nick made Annabelle a special hat out of a napkin. The hat also doubles as a cape.

Jack decides to pack up his food to go...

Planes, Trains, and Motorcycles

We loaded up the gang and drove to New Hampshire for a couple of days to visit my uncle at his lake house. Annabelle and Jack had a great time exploring the new territory, Jack especially liked stealing the remotes and knocking over everyone's drinks. Annabelle enjoyed tossing her ball off of the deck, then pretending to be upset about it so that she could go and get it, all the while plotting a way to sneak over and play with the neighbor kids.

While we were in N.H. we took a ride on the Hobo Train, which is a scenic train that runs along the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee. We all had our Hobo lunches and got a special hobo sack as a keepsake. While we were waiting for the train to arrive we checked out the arcade on the pier, and since the kids couldn't work out the video games they spent most of the time on the action/adventure rides.

I would have taken pictures of the train but I was too busy trying to keep Jack from climbing out of the window. We also went on a long scenic boat ride, again no pictures... THAT Jack, always causing trouble, he just HAD to get sick on the boat.

I suspect Annabelle's favorite part of the trip to New Hampshire was discovering Uncle Billy's red motorcycle. She spied it in the garage upon arrival and begged and begged and begged, until she was allowed to go and see it up close. After she saw the bike she asked to see it again, and again, and again...