of course, i could go on and on about jack.  he is amazing and sweet and bright and i am completely in love with him.  and daddy.  i am so lucky to have this house with these boys and all this love. 

Sample conversation with our son:

Jack:  “Sientate Mommy” (sit down in Spanish)

Jack: “Mommy Sientate”

Mommy: “one minute baby…mommy is doing something ”

Jack: “MOMMY SIENTATE!!!!!”

So  you sit, and then he hands you either a seal, bear, jirafa (giraffe), or other one of many many animals and then he sits down next to you and you stare at the walls.

If you dare not to do what the king wishes you are rewarded with a screaming tirade which than lands him in the timeout spot (blue circle rug), but this has yet to deter him from the behavior.  While he is in timeout he counts himself to ten and then gets up and makes the same or addtional demands of you.

In addition to being bossy bear, he is also a sweet, kind, smart and funny bear.  If you ask him for three kisses, he gives you three kisses.  He still loves singing and dancing, and this week will only gallop like a horse while saying “neigh”.  Jack has started swimming lessons (TRAUMATIC for mommy and daddy because of NON-STOP screaming–but we are making progress) and has also joined the Coral Gables Library toddler storytime.  We went to our first storytime this week–Jack knew all three of the books already and ruined the punchline for the other kids. ha ha ha.

 Jack is an expert negotiator…keen observer… (no more naughty words for mommy & daddy) and loves animals, books, songs and watching They Might Be Giants videos on Itunes.  Right now he is into bugs–mostly ants–and likes to try and pick them up and bring them home.  Most end up going “nite-nite” before they make it home. 

Jack collects animals and dinosaurs–stuffed, plastic, whatever.  He will line them all up (like 50-75 of them) in a perfect, neat row.  Then one by one he will lay them down and say “nite-nite sheep”, “nite-nite elefante”, “nite-nite beeya (zebra)”…and on and on.  then he picks them all up and starts over again.

Jack is VERY into ”colors” right now.  That means coloring books and crayons.  He insists (bossy bear) that you sit down and color…he waits for you to pick out your crayon and then he insists that he use that color.  He knows almost all of the colors–although saying red is proving the most challenging for him.  “geeeen”, “lellow” and “bwooo” are his favorites. 

He readily gives kisses and hugs to both human and non-human animals.  My heart bursts with love for him.  His second birthday was great fun (choo choo Thomas birthday) as he had both grandmothers, one uncle and nearly all his tias and friends with him.  He is the most incredible thing I have ever known.  We can’t wait to see what the next 6 months bring–hopefully less bossy

He brings his potty out to show guests..he doesn’t have any interest in actually using the potty, but he likes to show it to people and tell them that “ca ca” goes there.  If we had to pick his future occupation right now, I think it would be a well-read furniture mover.  Jack LOVES his books–any books—but especially books about trucks.  He loves trucks…and he loves moving furniture around the house.  Especially his chairs..he pushes them all the way to the kitchen…grabs my hand and daddy’s hand and insists that we sit down on them.  then he leaves.  if we get up from the chairs..or move the placement of the chairs…he again insists that we put them back and sit right back down.  and stay there.  then he goes off to plot another adventure…

Jack loves his blocks…and trucks…and he loves his Mimi.  She sings to him everyday on the phone and he blows her kisses (if he feels like it at the time).  Jack loves driving with mommy, and when we come to a stop (anywhere) he screams “GO GO GO GO GO” (possibly too much driving with mommy).  Jack loves being outside…helping Daddy water the plants and throwing balls for Bert.

 Jack is a happy happy happy baby…now 19 months old…going on 5.  He does throw a tantrum or two–or ten–but when he realizes no one is watching him, he gets up and moves on to something else.  He is very busy…all the time…and he loves singing and dancing and as I mentioned before reading.  He knows all his animals (described by the sound they make), and knows one color–yellow.  Everything is “lellow”.  Oh…and right now he loves to put anything on his head..usually a plastic bucket…and walk around “scaring” everyone. 

I cannot possibly write enough to describe our Jack.  You can’t look at him without smiling…you can’t be around him and be sad.  He remains our best gift ever…and our hearts grow larger and larger with our love for him. 

Jack is very independent (Aaron might say stubborn) and very sure of his wants (Aaron might say melodramatic).  These are both qualities of mommy.  Too bad for Daddy.  Jack still loves any type of music and will now bounce his head up and down and shimmy a little when he hears it.  Jack responds best to commands given to him in Spanish and often says “va va va va” when he wants to go somewhere (Vamos: “let’s go”).

Jack is sweet and beautiful and (if he feels like it) will blow you a kiss or pucker his lips up and say “mmmmmmmmmwah”.  He loves books and watermelon and chicken and apples.  Oh…and he walks everywhere.  He has no interest in crawling and gets mad when he has to..like to climb up a step.  You can tell how tired Jack is by how many times he falls when walking around.

So, including “no” and “na”, Jack says “bye bye”, “va”, “ba ba”, “buh” (bert), “mama” and “pa pa”, and “uh oh”.  We think he says about 10 more words, but we don’t know what they are, and they might be in Spanish.  He also has whole conversations with himself or his nuk that sound something like this:”gee gee gee ma ma?  kim do ma sey? doe? ah gee ah gee minstimini”.  These conversations usually occur in the car on the way home from school.  It sounds like he is telling me something very important…and I am sure it is…I just have no idea what he is saying.

So…walking and talking and curious and sweet and beautiful and amazing.  That’s the 13-month update.  Hope all are well.   Julie (ma ma)

Julie and I have one blissful weekend with no discrete plans, however babyproofing the house really needs to happen. Jackman is crawling well and starting to walk so we need to get the baby gates up, sockets plugged and all that good stuff. I also need to start my next woodworking project, a bench and cubbies for the playroom so we have somewhere to put the ridiculous amount of toys Jack has. The following weekend we take a night for ourselves and jump a boat for the Bahamas. Just a one nighter with Marci and Mark. Big thanks to Elena who will be watching the little one.

I’m also pledging to work on the site some more, really. I am. What? I am!

Then…the party planning began!!! Jack will be one on Tuesday. We are having what started as a small get-together at the house which has now turned into a pretty big undertaking to celebrate the year of Jack.  I have made list after list after list much to the dismay of Daddy–who, by the way, has been incredibly patient with me as I go into party stress out mode.  I am eternally grateful to Aaron and this party would not be happening without him.

In any case, there will be NO clown and NO Barney, but there will be good food and lots of drinks and lots and lots and lots of balloons for the prince.  I think he will LOVE all the attention and all the friends and family that will be there just for him.  Mimi and Auntie Em are coming and Nana has already arrived.  More friends come tomorrow including Aunties Marci, Nan, and Tish and TiTis Elena, Suzy and Claudia. 

For the developmental update–Jack is still amazing, and still gorgeous and smart and hilarious.  Yesterday, he crawled on his stomach under two barstools that are about 6 inches off the ground in order to get a lone, stale veggie puff that he spied.  Then he ate it.  Poor, underfed, neglected JackJack.

Jack is reading his favorite book “Ten in the Bed” all the time, he loves being read to, and now he sits and reads it himself…”move over…move over…”.  JackJack still LOOOOOOOOOVES music of any kind and now bounces up and down when he hears it.  He has learned several spanish songs including “el pollito”, but mommy and daddy don’t know that one and he looks at us like we are idiots when we can’t sing it.  Jack will respond to english AND spanish, and often will respond more readily and quickly if spoken to in spanish.  Jack is also learning all the animal noises now and if you ask him (in English or Spanish) “how does the monkey go?” he will make a perfect O with his mouth and say “hoo hoo hoo”.

Mommy is going to try to teach him the gator fight song and gator chomp next to prepare for football season

Birthday pictures to come…here is a recent one.  Much love–Julie (err..mommy)

 

So…the title of the post is Jack Monster because that is what I am afraid he is going to become very soon.  He is trying to walk and crawling up a storm–he will get 6 feet in like one second–and we think he is taking advantage of the fact that both mama and dada are new at this parenting thing and are easily fooled and/or distracted.  Jack is extremely independent (mama) and wants to CLIMB on everything (dada)–he has said his first few words including “mamamamamamama” and “BUH” (bert).  Oh, and now that Jack eats arrowroot cookies and pureed meats, bert is getting a little closer and friendlier with the baby. 

We also think he is saying “si” meaning ‘yes’ in spanish–so he could be saying a bunch of other words and we just can’t recognize them because they are in spanish.

what else?  Jack is just amazing and funny–he is extremely persistent and won’t take no for an answer (again..mama)–but he is also very easy going and so very very good (reluctantly..dada).  He greets other babies with a poke in the eye and then climbs over them when they start crying–don’t worry he greets everything he encounters with a poke from his index finger

Jack seems unafraid of anything..and he is beautiful and smart.  He loves “this little piggy” and “pat-a-cake”…and he still loves loves loves any type or kind of musical anything–he was recently riveted by a Gwen Stefani video.

So that’s Jack for today–10 months old yesterday–and l love him so much that it hurts sometimes–my favorite part of the day is going in to get him from his crib in the morning–he always smiles a giant smile when he sees me and I think he is thinking “oh..good..you again..I won’t have to train someone new”….

love to all–julie (mamamamamamama)

• he is pulling himself up to standing in his crib–and trying to stand up on bert’s couch–much to bert’s utter horror
• he is trying very hard to crawl, but it goes something like this–up on hands and knees, rocking back and forth, flopping down on tummy and screaming in frustration
• he enjoys screaming very much–there are 2 identified screams: the “i’m mad at you” scream and the “i’m bored” scream–and he has added some new noises to the babble–like hard G
• he likes banging things and loves loves loves music–even at his most frustrated, he will stop screaming if mommy sings to him
• he loves loves loves food–he had watermelon this week and we couldn’t get it into his mouth fast enough–mostly, though he loves meat (just like daddy and bert)
• he loves taking a bath, but hates his swimming pool (irony, just like mommy)
• he LOVES to be outside–even when it is scorching hot
• he watches EVERYTHING–like he is memorizing
• and yes, he is STILL waking up at 3 AM.

that is the update for now–i have a grant deadline that i am ignoring so that i can assuage my mommy guilt for 5 minutes. King Jack is absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever known–he is beautiful and smart–too smart–and funny–and just–well, just the best thing ever.  hopefully daddy will update videos and pics soon–keep posted!

 

• this only applies for the 0-6 month period
• I’ve only got 1 kid
• I’ll try and stick to the practical stuff

Now, here’s what I think I know:

• Swaddling – rules. I read about it but I really picked it up by watching the nurses at the hospital. We started phasing it out around 4 months but it still comes in handy when he’s overtired or fussing too much to go down easy. Julie and I refer to it as burrito’ing or the smack down, as in, “Aaron, JackJack’s being fussy, you want to put the smack down on him?”
• Changing table – we always played with Jack for a bit when we took him to the changing table. It became a favorite place that he enjoyed. Makes changing diapers and clothes a pleasant, if occasionally stinky, experience. I’m sure Julie will give no small credit to the UF Gator mobile that hangs above the table.
• Bottle warmer/wipe warmer – well worth having. Jack hated getting his diaper changed, then we got a wipe warmer. Instant difference. The bottle warmer is also well worth it. Drop in the bottle, hit a button. Done. Really nice at 3am. Both, especially the wipe warmer, seemed a little extraneous. Julie’s hair dresser gave us one of each. God bless her.
• Don’t be quiet around a sleeping baby. From the get-go we were never quiet around Jack. Jack would frequently sleep in the living room. We’d leave the tv on normal volume, go on about our business, talk, clean, bang pots and pans…you get the idea. Early on we also played music by the crib/bassinette. As an added bonus, Motzart and such is supposed to improve brain development too. Jack sleeps through it all. It’s very nice not to have to shoosh everything/one. Even better? Being able to have dinner at a LOUD bar and having the kid sleep right through it all. I have a friend who made the opposite mistake, always putting the kid down to quiet. Bummer.
• Get out – with the kid. I don’t know if some people will agree with this but from the first week we’ve dragged Jack all over the place. The doctor, the grocery store, couch shopping, up to Gainesville and Orlando. Jack travels well now. He’s 6 months and we just got back from a trip to Washington DC. He was no trouble on the plane, we dragged him all over town to monuments, memorials, museams and restaraunts all in cold, windy, even SNOWY weather. He was a trooper through it all. How much of this and the noise one are what we did vs. his natural disposition can be argued, but I like to think we had a part in it.
• Everyone will tell you that as soon as the baby starts daycare, it’ll get colds and such. They forget to mention, you’ll get sick too.
• If at all possible, make sure your strollers and car seats play nice with each other.
• Nipple confusion – Julie’d heard a lot about nipple confusion, mixing bottles, boobs, and pacifiers and was worried about it. We had to put Jack on a bottle only diet for a while because Julie had to take an antibiotic. Bottle vs. boobie vs. pacifier, Jack likes ‘em all. No one we actually know had problems with it.
• We prefer Pampers.
• You’re going to get tired. You’re going to get cranky. You’re going to get short with people. Be aware of it, keep that in the front of your mind. Also realize that your better half is going to get tired/cranky/short with you. Put that on the top of the pile in the front of your mind. Let it go.
• I wish I could nap.
• My baby’s cuter than yours.
• My stroller is nicer than yours.
• You’re part of a new club now. There’s a Parents club, a dads club and a moms club. Dads, don’t be afraid to bum a diaper from the dad on a bench at the Air & Space museum when you’ve forgotten to pack extras. He’ll give you 2. He knows.
• Baby is a universally accepted excuse to get out of anything.
• Learn to sing some nursery rhymes. You’re going to want to sing some when the dang kid won’t sleep. You can only repeat Slick Rick’s “A children’s story” so many times before you get tired of it and it’s only good until the kid knows words.
• Protect your back.
• Do some bicep curls.
• Realize that things that once worked like a charm to calm/entertain/sleep the kid will stop working. Things the kid hated will start working. Try new things when you need to.
• There are magazines/websites that will break developmental milestones down to the WEEK! Are you kidding me?
• Lastly, for now: Is the kid alive? Healthy? Growing? If you’ve answered yes to those questions, don’t sweat the rest.

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