Slides!

We've had beautiful weather lately with the temperature in the 70's. We get to the park whenever we get a chance, and it's getting more and more fun as Jason is starting to play. He went down the slide alone, and loved it. I figured he'd be apprehensive. In fact, I thought he was terrified, because once he slid down, he let out a loud scream. But once I saw his face, it was obviously a scream of delight as he had this huge grin on his face and furiously tried to crawl up the slide to go again. Check out his electrified hair in the video, it's one of my favorite parts.

 

After about a dozen slides down the toddler slide, we ventured to let Jack hold Jason going down the big kid slide. Jack was a very good boy and held his baby brother gently. They both loved going down together, evidenced by Jason repeatedly trying to climb up the slide for more. Love it.

Slumber Spots

This can't be comfortable-

ah, much more comfy-

 The top picture was Jack's naptime spot yesterday, while the bottom picture shows him catching zzz's when I made him sit down for some quiet tv time. I love the shot of him sleeping on the window sill; I mean, how do you even begin to fall asleep in that position? He's so resistant to napping anymore. I'm betting that he probably was so tired, but stubbornly wouldn't climb into his more comfortable bed. Silly boy.

Individual happenings

A quick update-

Jack started potty training 2 weeks ago, and is doing pretty well. Because of his language delay, potty training was also delayed...but we decided it was definitely time for this not so little boy to get out of diapers! It took a long time for him to "trust" the toilet, but now he happily does his business without too much nagging on my part. The only hitch is he does not trust the potty enough to put his #2 in it.  If anyone out there has wisdom for persuading a kid to do his dirty business in the potty, I'm all ears!

Jack is also growing leaps and bounds with his language skills. He's using more sentences, and longer ones at that. The other day Jon and Jack were playing a game with the basketball, and Jon tried to get up from the couch, when Jack told him, "Daddy sit on couch." We were so impressed with him! And he put his language to good use when Daddy got out the vacuum cleaner, of which Jack is terrified, and Jack told him, "Daddy stop!" So instead of chasing Jack with the vacuum cleaner, Jon was stuck with merely cleaning the carpet.

Jack is also becoming somewhat of a bossy big brother. I told Jon I was nicknaming him "The Enforcer," because he pounces on the opportunity to stop Jason from doing something. Jack will pick Jason up under his arms and carry him around the house. Usually he does it when Jason is crawling into forbidden territory such as the kitchen, or my bedroom. Jack also is the enforcer when it comes to toys. Jason is allowed to play with "Jack-approved" toys, which typically do not include any of big brother's cars. We are teaching Jack to share, but Jack prefers the "exchange" method. An example of this method: Jason is playing with a car, and Jack takes the car and replaces it with a stuffed animal, while exclaiming loudly "share!" Not quite sharing, is it?

Jason is the best baby ever and I'm addicted to him! I miss him if we're apart for too long, though since he's still nursing, it's never that long. He's just a sweet, peaceful boy to hang with. He speed crawls when something catches his eye. He is cruising furniture more and more, and stands up unsupported for several seconds now. He's acting like he's going to take that courageous first step soon, but not quite yet.

Jason is too clever for his own good. He figures his way around our babyproofing quickly, and now has a favorite drawer to open in the kitchen. The kitchen is his favorite room, because he gets to feast on any crumb he crawls upon. Nicknames we're considering for Jason include: hoover, dust buster, and/or goat. I have to sweep daily now, just to keep up with these boys' messes....but Jason will find that one speck of a crumb and devour it. If you can't find Jason anywhere, chances are he's under the kitchen table eating leftovers from the floor. And he knows it's a no-no, because when I call his name, he literally laughs and crawls faster to get under the table.

Jason is eating 3 meals a day now, in addition to 4 nursing sessions. He's getting to that toddler stage now of eating and sleeping and I LOVE it! I love that he eats table food, and naps twice a day and goes to bed by 8:30 and sleeps til 7:30. He will be 10 months old in 5 days...I can't believe his 1st birthday is right around the corner. He still has just 2 bottom teeth, a bit surprisingly since those came in early...but I'm totally okay with no top teeth yet, since ya know, I don't want him biting me. He is also becoming more and more attached to his teddy bear and blanket, and lights up when he sees any stuffed animal. And perhaps my favorite development of Jason's....he is saying "ma ma"! He says "mama" all the time, and I like to think he's saying it for me.

Jon is good and spends much of his time downtown working. When he comes home, he hangs out with his boys and helps me with the house...and spoils me with tasty treats after the boys are in bed. He likes to play basketball at the church, and is taking his hot wife out on a date tomorrow night! I forgot to mention before, but for my Christmas present he painted our bathroom a beautiful gray, and installed some new hardware. It looks awesome and I love it!
As for me, my days are mostly the same. Take care of the boys, do the dishes, fold the laundry, drive to and from preschool, go grocery shopping, pay bills, blog, indulge in my latest favorite tv show....and repeat. I'm looking forward to warmer Spring weather and the days at the park with my kids, and Jack riding his scooter around the block. I'm also looking forward to my new calling- Laurels advisor. I'm so excited to be in Young Women's! And I'm sooo looking forward to the weekend getaway to San Antonio that Jon and I are planning for this summer; it's going to be a combined celebration of our birthdays and my weaning Jason....it'll be nice to be alone for a few days, can't wait!

That's all folks- (if you're still reading), sorry no pictures this time.

Clapping Cuteness

Oh my gosh, the cuteness.  Jason learned the fun of clapping last Friday night. I didn't realize he was intentionally clapping, until after he kept doing it repeatedly throughout dinner. Once we paid attention to his new trick, he was quite pleased with himself.

Brotherly bonding

I got Jack's ride-along Mater out of the closet the other day, thinking Jason might enjoy pushing it and walking behind it. And he did! He let out the happiest squeal of delight once it went forward as he pushed it, and enjoyed walking across the room. Every time he sees it he speed crawls for it. Jack got a scooter for Christmas, so once he saw Jason with the Mater, he had to run and get his scooter to join in the fun. I am very impressed with Jack for sharing his Mater with Jason, in fact he was thrilled to have a friend ride beside him across the house. Once, while standing on his scooter, Jack exclaimed "Jason, come here!" beckoning Jason to push Mater alongside him. He really does enjoy having a new playmate in house.

only the cutest video ever

random phone video

I wasn't really planning on taking a quality video of Jack here, just playing with my phone out of boredom....but then he was just too gosh darn cute that I kept it and am now sharing it with the universe.

He's talking more and more everyday, and loves his little brudda Jason.

A long way for a hashbrown...

It was last Wednesday morning. Still suffering the effects of my ear infection (going on 2 weeks at this point), I had an appointment with an ENT doctor at 9:15 that day. I decided to see a more specialized doctor than the local clinic's doctor, to make sure my ear was okay....even though the ENT was across town, 30 minutes away. I had everything timed perfectly. I dropped Jack off at school at 7:45, got back home at 8:00, fed and changed Jason, and then pulled out of the driveway at 8:40 for my 9:15 appointment. I should arrive at the doctor's office around 9:10, giving me 1 hour to spend there before needing to turn around and drive the 30 minutes back to pick Jack up at school at 10:50. My plan was doable, and I was going to succeed!

Flash forward 20 minutes into my drive, and despite the heavy rain, I encountered little traffic on my way there. That's about the time I came to a sudden stop, and spent the next 20 minutes moving about one mile. This is what I saw:

Hopelessly optimistic, I thought I could get through it- that it was just a bottleneck that once I rounded the corner, I'd be okay. I called the doctor's office to let them know I'd be a few minutes late. (I'm so close to their office at this point, only 10 more minutes.) And Jason has been so good for the car ride, which is a major plus, because he typically despises the car. So now I'm stuck in gridlock with no hope of escaping, fading hopes of actually making my doctor's appointment, a baby who is starting to fuss in the backseat, and my older son needs to be picked up from school in an hour. On the phone again with the doctor's office, I tell the receptionist of my dilemna and where I am....please don't cancel I'm thinking, I've already come all this way and need to have my ear looked at, I've sat in this traffic for at least 30 minutes now in addition to driving 20 minutes before even hitting the traffic.....DON'T LET IT BE FOR NOTHING!!!! The receptionist informs me that her husband is in the same traffic jam, and has been for the past hour and a half. It's at this point that I come upon a turn around, and I decide to just go back home. I'm glad I took the turn around when I had the chance, because the receptionist told me I had to reschedule my appointment. Yay.

Luckily, traffic wasn't bad once I turned around. Not so luckily, 50 minutes into our car ride, Jason finally had had enough and began screaming. I think an angel was watching out for me, because Jason only screamed for about 7 minutes before conking out....and he never sleeps in the car. So I enjoyed a quiet ride home after that. Dejected over the whole debacle, I stopped at the McDonald's by my house and got myself a sausage biscuit and hashbrown, so at least I got something for my cursed car ride. It was really good too. Just ironic that I drove 20 minutes in one direction, sat on the highway for about 30 minutes, and then drove 30 minutes back (add an extra 10 mins on for a detour), just to pick up breakfast from the McDonald's a mile from my house. What I wouldn't give for a crystal ball.

The happy news was that I picked Jack up from school on time and as of a couple of days ago, my ear seems to be near normal now.