Saturday, March 19, 2011

Lola Kisses for Jack

Ok, don't want to leave out Lola and Jack.   Lola just turned FIVE and Jack just reached 2 1/2.   Jack continues to sometimes take out his frustrations on the dog, but he also adores her and LOVES it when she attacks him with kisses or actually fetches the ball he throws.

Here is a look back at a Lola kiss when Jack was about 8 months old and another one from just a few days ago.  Funny how the two pictures are so similar!   Plus, I will throw in a picture of Lola with her sister Lily when they were puppies.  SO CUTE!

Jack 1886



Lola 058

Jack at two and a half is quite the character.  He is overflowing with personality and determination.   He can now hold full conversations and loves to ask the question 'why' over and over.   He quizzes us about everything around him and loves soaking up all of the new things the world has to offer.  
He now knows all of his letters and even the corresponding sounds they each make.   He quite often walks around our house singing songs.  Jingle Bells is still a favorite despite the 60 degree weather outside.  He also loves listening to music and seems to like songs with a strong beat.   Hard rock I guess you would call it.   Jesus Built My Hotrod by Ministry is the song he frequently asks to hear in the car.   He seems to love all things boys, including cars, trucks, trains, dinosaurs, and all sports.   He also has a recent fascination with rocket ships and you can often hear him doing a countdown from 10 to blastoff.   When I asked him the other day what he wanted to be when he grew up he told me a fireman.

We are struggling a bit with 'big boy' things such as potty training.  No amount of bribery can seem to convince him that it is fun to pee on the potty.   He also still uses a pacifier at night.  He sleeps in his own bed the entire night about 50% of the time, and the rest finds his way into our bed usually around 4am.   He sleeps like a wild man, often with his head pointing the wrong way and kicking Erin and I in the face.    He also still has an occasional temper tantrum which means yelling, kicking and screaming on the floor for a few good minutes.   On a positive note, he has excellent manners and almost always says please and thank you without being asked.    I figure he will be a 'big boy' soon enough, so I am not stressing too much about getting him there quickly.

He is still going to the Goddard School three half days a week and seems to love it.   He certainly has learned a lot there.  He sings songs that I have never even heard!

He is quickly being a little electronics geek.   He loves our ipod and iphone.  He will sit for long stretches playing the tozzle puzzle game or various alphabet games.  And then there is Larry (see blog post on down for details).    I have a feeling his computer skills will be better than mine by age 5 if not sooner.

If he sits down in front of the TV he is almost always watching Leap Frog educational videos.  They are his favorites.  He will also still occasionally watch an episode of Calliou, but not as much over the past few months.   Elmo and Dora have been left in the dust waiting for Charlie to come along.

Overall, he is an amazing kid and I love his current age.  It is so fun to watch him blossom into this little person!

Charlie at SIX months!

Unfortunately, Charlie spent a lot of his six month alive as a sick little man.   It started off with his first ear infection.  That cleared up just in time for him to develop a CRAZY full body rash that looked HORRIBLE!   It was diagnosed as Fifth's disease, which is a virus and you just have to let it run it's course.   Just as we thought he was getting better from that one he got RSV, a respiratory virus that left him with high fevers, a horrible wheezy cough and no energy.   He had a rough time and we all had some long nights.   Finally (knock on wood), he has been back to health for awhile now.
During his fleeting moments of feeling well he has turned into a delightful little guy.  He was about 18 pounds at his six month visit and got an A+ for meeting all of his baby milestones.   He rolls back and forth with ease and eagerness.  He has developed that wonderful deep belly baby laugh that just makes you melt and he is starting to babble quite a bit.   Ba and Da seem to be his current favorites.
The first picture is of that lovely rash, the rest are much more pleasant ones of his six month photo shoot.

















2011 So far....

Ok.  Mega post coming here.   How in the world did it get to be the middle of March!!!   I feel like I just did a blog post a few minutes ago, and really it was Christmas!  Ahhhh.
So far 2011 has been packed full!

I will add commentary as I go.   Charlie's six month photos and our trip to Canada will be my next posts...

To start the year off with a bang we took Jack ice skating for the first time.   He LOVED it!   He really struggled to move without falling, so we had to pretty much hold him up the whole time (can you say ouch my back!), but it was totally worth seeing him so darn happy!
Daddy was pretty proud to lace up his skates for the first time.  


He could at least stand up by himself!   Look at that cheezy grin!


Holding tight to his security dog and best pal, Shorty.  (self named by Jack)   For awhile there Jack did not go ANYWHERE without Shorty.


Jack looks a little bit intimidated.


Here we go...


By the end he was really trying to move his legs and skate!


The Zamboni came out, followed by a young hockey team and Jack was mesmerized!


One HAPPY boy!  Somehow I feel this will probably be the first of a about a million trips to some sort of ice rink!


Next big event was my mom's Birthday!  Of course Jack was immediately on hand to help blow out candles, sing and EAT cake!!




Charlie didn't care about eating cake, he just wanted to eat the bows.


A few rare moments of two busy bodies sitting still and sharing some brotherly love.  I LOVE it!


Jack is a vigorous hugger.  Poor Charlie.


Next was Daddy's birthday!  We had Baked Alaska for desert after a yummy steak dinner.


Charlie is working on sitting up and sitting in the high chair.   He loves this particular toy that he can bang on and it makes fun music.


Sitting up can be a challenge when you have such wonderfully heavy cheeks to weigh you down!






We got just enough snow to make a very small snow man.  Jack and I geared up and headed out.


Jack didn't seem to care that this was the smallest, saddest looking snowman ever.  He was in love.


Giving Mr. Snowman a kiss


Jack even let the snowman have BOTH hockey sticks and kindly showed him how to hit a ball.


Jack showing off his 'pre-haircut' fuzzy head.


Charlie has gotten big enough to get into the baby bouncer entertainment center.  He loves it and will bounce his little feet off!


Uh, Hi Mom.


Time for my birthday.  I got spoiled multiple times with a yummy dinner and desert at home and also a great day with MVH cake and dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse in Dayton with my parents, my boys and Jess and Sam.  


After three recent birthdays, Jack is a pro candle blower outer.   He is already talking about his birthday!


Jess and Sam are going to be WONDERFUL parents!


Charlie loves his grandma and grandpa




In preparation for our long car ride to Canada, I loaded some special apps to entertain Jack for the ride on my iphone.   This has lead to Jack being CRAZY obsessed with my phone and in particular one app called 'Talking Larry'.   This is a white bird with big googly eyes that repeats any noise or word that you say.    It was a month ago that I purchased this 99 cent app and to this day Jack still asks to see Larry on a daily if not hourly basis.   He wakes up and immediately asks to talk to Larry.   It is a bit nuts, but kinda cute listening to him have conversations with this bird.   Here is Jack holding Larry.


Cracking himself up talking to his best friend Larry.


A few recent shots of my GROWING baby!






And finally, just a few days ago....St. Patty's day.... Boys in green.


Jack's GREEN dinner.