Lil' Engineer

Over the past week Jack has been really into his train set, building endless combinations of train tracks. He then connects every train he has and runs the track. His only problem was his insistence on using 6 or 7 trains connected together, causing him to derail on every curve. After the first hour or so, he finally figured out that he needed to slow down on each curve and was much more successful in staying on the track. It was really fun to watch his creativity flow as he built different tracks; he has a l-o-n-g attention span for such things, and built the tracks for a few hours every day for about a week.

On another note, Daddy loves that Jack is now interested in building instead of destroying things, and loves to build train tracks with Jack. It's quite amusing since I have to remind Jon that he needs to let Jack help him and not to take over. Jon is now eager to buy more tracks for Jack. I think it's cute, because I think the new tracks are for Jon and his dreams of creating an incredibly elaborate railroad. I guess when you think about it, we're all just really big kids at heart.

4 months and counting!

Jason turned 4 months old this past Monday, the 22nd. Time is flying by with our second boy. He is just developing so quickly, I can hardly keep up with him! His stats from the doctor's office: 13.8 lbs (25th %) and head circumference is in the 25th % too. They mis-measured his length though...saying he was 24.5 in (25th %), meaning he only grew 3/4 inch in 2 months....I don't think so! Once home, I got out my fabric tape measure and Jon helped me measure him from head to heel and he was 26 inches long (75th-90th %). That is consistent with his previous height percentiles. Do ya'll ever get irritated with your doctors' offices for mis-measuring your kids? One time they shrunk Jack's head circumference from one visit to the next, seriously.

Anyways...he also got his latest vaccines, poor little guy. He gave a good scream- he has the most blood-curdling scream you have ever heard. Or maybe you did hear it, it was around 9am this past Thursday; if you heard a baby screaming, chances are it was Jason. Haha.

For memory's sake here is what Jason is up to now:

-easy to smile

-he is charming with his killer combination of blue eyes, smiles, and endless coos

-ticklish in his ribs, and has a quiet laugh that almost sounds like hissing when he wants to laugh really hard (it's too funny)

-has a sweet and sensitive spirit to him

-rolls over from back to tummy both ways

-pushes up onto forearms while on tummy, holds head level to floor and looks around

-reaches for and grabs toys

-loves to eat his fingers

-puts himself to sleep without a paci or any help from me (AWEsome!)

-knows his name and looks up when you call it

-locates sounds when heard

-grabs his feet

-loves to stand up

-loves to be sung to, spoken to, or cooed at....he just loves sound!

-converses with anyone within a 10 ft radius who happens to be speaking at the time (this boy is a talker)

-lets me put him down and plays with his toys contentedly

-sleeps thru the night 70%ish of the time, and the other times wakes up once to eat

-born with tons of hair...now he is rubbing lots of it off sadly, making me have to cut it soon to keep him from looking crazy with long hair and bald spots alternating on his head

-he is all eyes- big, round, blue eyes that just lock you in....irresistable

-he is a peaceful, happy baby to be around and is the *perfect* addition to our family

back-bending curl, don't know how he does it

We love, love, love our Jason.

1st day of school

I can't believe it. I officially have a kid in school. Jack started preschool this past Monday and attends every day for 3 hours in the morning. Because of his speech delay, he qualified for our district's preschool, so I'm excited to see him learn even faster than he currently is!

Monday morning I walked him to his classroom and spoke with his teacher for a few minutes and told him goodbye, at which point the tears and freak-out ensued. To be honest with you, since he's so independent all the time, it was kinda nice to have him cling to me for a bit. He gave a few good screams and I gave him one last hug and left. Talk about hard! I just wanted to soak up his clinginess for awhile, but I knew it'd be harder on him so I didn't draw it out. 3 hours later when I picked him up, his teacher reassured me that about 1 minute after I left he was fine. That sounds about right. Glad he recovered. The second day back- zero tears, zero clinginess. We kissed goodbye and that was about it.

Below: Jack is a little unenthusiastic to have been walked back inside the school after dismissal to have his picture taken with his teacher:Once we walked back outside the school and towards the car, his smiles started back-up:

What a little model! He posed about 4 different poses for me with his cool new "Cars" backpack.

He has not taken off that backpack except to bathe (and that was a fight) for the past several days. I'm so proud of my little man. I can't believe he is in school!

Brothers

Anytime we wake Jason up in the morning, Jack asks me "up" so I'll put him in Jason's crib. He then wants a blanket to be put over both him and Jace, so they can cuddle. Just give this boy a blanket and he's tamed. I love how it looks like Jason is telling Jack a secret in this picture!

And three years later, Jack finally wants to play with his baby playmat. Hmmm, I wonder what could possibly be motivating this change of heart? It couldn't be that his baby brother, unlike Jack at that age, actually enjoys the mat. No, that couldn't possibly be it.

Jason loves to grab for the hanging animals and coo at them. Jack is also much obliged to knock the animals around for Jason's pleasure. I'm just amazed Jack was able to get under the arches without smothering Jason, or collapsing the whole mat.

Field trips around town:

Over the past month, we've had fun visiting a couple of trusty favorite spots and then tried out a new one.

We ate at our local BBQ place which has the best bread ever, and afterwards chilled out in their fabulous lawn chairs on their shady lawn. We not only love their food, but love the atmosphere of sitting beneath the trees and feeling the summer breeze. We went to a tried and true favorite: The Zoo! (twice!)
I love the look on Jack's face in the above picture, classic Jack. He has the best faces.

Below, I made him pet the bronzed frog. On our second trip back to the zoo, he must have thought you were supposed to pet the frog because he went out of his way to pet it that time.

I let Jack pet the snake, even though they are my least favorite creature in all the world.

Jack posing with Jon's brother, Uncle Brian, and his younger cousin in action behind them.

Jack and his cousin Eloise, looking at some type of monkey

me with my friend/sis-in-law Aslinn

swans....

I like this shot since it shows my 2 boys in their differing physical stages, with Jack on top of the fence and Jason looking on while in the stroller

The new spot we visited- our local flying museum!

This was Jon's favorite plane there, as he's picture below with it:

Bomber plane with super cool graphics on the side, called the "Pacific Prowler." (Its propeller is in the above picture)- this plane was quite intimidating to stand next to, it was BIG, with guns all over it (Jon would probably be embarrassed that I don't know what type of guns they were, but there were lots of them)

a navy plane....'hey Jack, look at the camera!!'

Since there are 3 boys in my family, I figure I had better learn about all the boyish activities/sights in our area to do. The airplane museum was a success, and I bet will get even more popular the older my 2 little ones get (Daddy already loves it). The zoo is a classic favorite. Next stop is the Children's Science and History museum downtown!

Roly-Poly

It's official. Jason has started to roll. He started his latest trick with such subtlety, that we weren't sure at first what he was up to. About a week ago, Jon and I alternated laying Jason down, and then a few minutes later Jace would be on his side. Jon and I both doubted ourselves as to whether we had put him on his back or his side. Well, now Jason is a full-blown roller. No doubts about it.

See for yourself below (he rolled so fast in the video at first, that I had to keep it running, to catch more action than just the first 5 secs):

So far he prefers to roll to his right. He is not an ambi-roller. Haha.

One of those mornings...

It's been one of those days. You know, those days where nothing seems to go right, in fact it's almost comical how wrong things go. It starts out with me feeding Jason around 5am in my bed, and I decide to just leave him there once he falls asleep, with me heading to the couch for a couple more hours of shut-eye before Jack wakes. Jack gets up and I lure him to the couch with the promise of his latest favorite cartoon, in the hopes that I can snooze longer. Only I feel his pj bottoms are wet, and now the couch cushion is wet. Darn. So much for that idea. I quickly change Jack, and then attend to the couch.

A couple of hours later, I decide to take Jack and Jason to Chick-Fil-A where Jack can play in the A/C for awhile and have fun. I thought myself clever to have timed our visit at 10am, so as to avoid the lunch crowds. It just so happens, that this morning was the one morning every 2 weeks that they hold storytime. So not only are the tables in front of the play place taken by the kiddos and their parents, but the tables adjacent to the play place are reserved by their deserted trays and diaper bags. Thanks. Oh well. I order their breakfast item, the chicken minis, and Jack and I both enjoy one. It's pretty tasty. Then he runs off to play, leaving me and Jason to play amongst ourselves. Not 2 minutes later does Jack return with an odd look on his face, when I notice throw-up on his shirt and shorts. For some reason I think to myself, "it's just a little, I'll wipe it up and he can go play." After wiping him down, I realized that no, we really must just go home. During the wipe-down, the Chick-Fil-A manager informs all the other moms that the play place is temporarily closed while it's being cleaned, and it'll only be a few more minutes. MORTIFICATION ensues. I'm hoping that nobody notices that it's my kid, who I'm discreetly wiping down, that dirtied the play place. And then the inevitable walk of shame out the door and to the car. I think we were there about 10 minutes total.

So my day began with pee, with some throw-up in the middle- I'm too afraid to think how it'll end.

jump & swim!

We love the water here, and get to the pool whenever we can. So of course, I have to post the latest video of Jack swimming. He is a natural in the water and it's so fun to play with him. His endurance and strength has really improved since last summer.

I have to brag just a little, because he doesn't wear his "ears" in the water, meaning he can't hear you at all. So he learned to swim without any verbal instruction, just visual cues and instinct. I'm so proud of him. He gets many stares from adults as he jumps in the 4 ft and swims past their kids in life jackets.