Well, it's about time...

Jack decided to crawl forwards today. Enough said.

Things heard around our house this week

"No, Jack, don't touch the poop."
"Babies don't like chocolate...I saw it on the news."
"Jack, is that book delicious?"
"Jack, don't eat her hair."
"Jack, don't sit on Harper's face."
"Jack, be nice to mommy."
"Jack, please be nice to mommy."
"Can you go to one of your mommy sites and find
out how to care for uncircumcised penises? I'm
afraid of what I might find if I just Google washing
penises." (said by Rob to Amy.)

"I found my thrill..."

"...on Blueberry Hill."

This is what happens when sleepy babies eat
blueberries. Actually, this might happen to
Jack no matter what his tired-o-meter reads.
The bath water turned blue after this meal.

New foods to add to the favorite column this
week: yogurt, blueberries, plums and rice cakes.
Yep. Rice cakes. Bleech! I guess there's no
accounting for taste. It is kind of cute to watch
him hold them by himself and navigate it towards
his mouth. He just looks so proud when he gets
it right (which isn't too often.)

Sleeping like a log after a big day of baby play.

Happy happy Sunday. It was a really good one
around here. Hope yours was too!

Babies, babies. Lots of babies.

pictured above: Finnegan, Chloe and Jack
(Jack's the one in the foreground. That's the
FRONT for those of you that don't know what
"foreground" means...)


Meet and Greet Potluck today. 10 babies plus
19 parents plus lots of food (no real entrees...
just snacks and drinks since we didn't really plan
this all out very well) equals lots of fun. So nice
to get the dads involved in one of our play dates.
Food and beer is a great incentive for them! We
met in Wash Park and thought we might get
washed out but the weather cooperated and lots
of fun was had by all. Jack won a pair of girlie
pink shoes that were kindly donated by one of
our group's sponsors. We'll be exchanging them
at the store but are grateful to have won something!
Rob did a great job of mingling with the other dads
and it was actually his first time to see Jack playing
with other babies so that was a big treat. Jack
had his teething biscuits stolen right out of his
mouth by a young vixen named Harper and most of
his toys were stolen by Finnegan, but Jack was a
good sport nonetheless. (Jack is sounding more and
more like a "normal" name after reading this, huh?!)
Jack didn't fuss once -- even though we all stayed WAY
past nap time. No activities planned for tomorrow so
we'll regroup and get ready for our big week!

This is what Jack does best...

If there were a competition for spitting -- and
I'm sure there is -- Jack would win. It's not
just raspberries anymore...this kid can get some
real distance now! He can't crawl forward, he
can't seem to realize that it's okay to sleep on his
tummy and he can't chew very well, but he sure
can spit!
In other news, Jack hates cottage cheese. So, if
there was any doubt before, he is really and truly
my son. Much to Rob's dismay, Jack's new favorite
food is yogurt. Plain, sour-tasting yogurt. Rob is
saddened. Also, chicken was a disaster. I am
assuming that Jack would rather be a vegetarian
than to ever let us spoon feed him pureed chicken
breast. Even we were disgusted by this -- have you
ever seen pureed chicken?
We're working hard on saying "mommy" this week...
and by we, I mean me. Jack's favorite syllable is
"mmmmm" and he says it all of the time so it seems
to be an easy jump. I could be imagining it, but I think
he said "cat" earlier this week. Or, it could be him
knocking the wind out of himself as he lunged forward
with his entire body trying to grab for the cat. Now that
I think about it, it sounded more like "Kaaaaack!" Is
that close enough??!

How big is Jack?

"SO BIG!"

If you've ever seen a Pack 'n' Play, that is what
Jack is laying in. He covers the full width and
then some...
Such a big kid!

I don't have an exact height for you since he
wriggles around too much for me to measure him
accurately.

Things heard around our house this week -- Part Deux

"Where is all of this poop coming from?"
"Jack, don't bite the cat's tail."
"Jack, please fall asleep. Please fall asleep. See?
Mommy is falling asleep....it's easy!"
"Nobody bit Jack today!"
"No, Rob's staying home while I go to the party.
I think there are a few agencies that might be
interested if we just crate Jack for the evening so
we can both come."
"Aarrgh! Why are you ringing???" (shouted at the phone
when Jack was almost asleep)
"How about we just put you in the washing machine too?"
(said to Jack after an extremely messy diaper)
"Are you stuck under the couch again?"

The Butterfly Pavillion is for the birds...

Now, before anyone gets on my case about
how cool the Denver Butterfly Pavillion is,
please read the entire post before you judge...

We met 10 other moms and babies at the
Butterfly Pavillion this morning. It was great
to see some moms and babies that we
already know and met some others too! That
was the good part of the day...

If you want to check it out, here is the link:
http://www.butterflies.org/

It was a little pricey -- even with our group
discount and there really aren't that many
exhibits. I'm sure that when Jack is 4 he will
beg to come here because there are LOTS of
cockroaches from all over the world and they
will even let you pet a tarantula. The spider
wrangler was willing to let Jack touch the
tarantula -- she even emphatically reminded me
that "Rosie" was very tame, but with Jack's penchant
for grabbing our own pets I didn't want to take any
chances so we passed.

The only really cool part is the open air conservatory
where lots and lots of butterflies are flying around, but
Jack didn't really notice them, even with my refrain of
"Do you see the pretty butterfly, Jack?" He was, however,
very interested in tearing leaves off of the tropical plants
and one fairly large piece ended up in his mouth and he
bit me as I was trying to extract it.
So much for appreciating nature...

Also, it was about 300 degrees in there because butterflies
don't come from places like Minnesota. Jack's favorite part
of the whole outing was the exit room that has mirrored walls
so you can check for "butterfly hitchhikers." We had a rousing
game of "Do you see the baby?" and we zoomed thru the gift
shop and were on our way.

For $6 I expected a little more. I'm thinking that for $3,
I can show guests an ant hill in our back yard, some local
foliage and some bees and then, maybe, I won't have to work
anymore. I'll keep working on my marketing plan and keep
you posted.

Top 10 reasons I'm a good mommy

10. I hardly ever want to throw up when changing a
diaper.
9. I am the perfect amount of "squishy" for napping
upon.
8. Boobs beat the bottle ANY day (in Jack's opinion.)
7. I can make almost any animal noise (and for the
sounds I don't know...I make them up!)
6. I don't lie to Jack at the zoo -- i.e. other parents
will say things like "Yep -- that's an ostrich, all right!"
I check the signs and can honestly report that it's
an EMU, where it's from and what it eats.
5. I taste all of the baby food before Jack does. If I
wouldn't eat it, how can I expect him to?!
4. I'm starting to think that farts are funny.
3. I am an advocate for my son -- and by advocate, I
mean that I am a maniac that yells at medical
personnel when they are not moving fast enough
for Jack's taste (or mine, for that matter.)
2. I do things I do not want to do to make Jack
happy -- i.e. Peek-a-boo 100 times in a row, sing
"5 Little Ducks" 10 times in a row.
1. I have not once-- in 7 months and 2 weeks -- hunted
for a Kleenex in my purse and spit on it to clean off
Jack's face. Enough said.

Careful...it's addictive...

A baby's laugh is just like crack cocaine. Once you
get it, you just need more and more and more. You
become a crazed lunatic...trying to figure out what
you did to make it happen and how to make it happen
again. Luckily, Jack is pretty easy. Put a box on your
head. Bounce him on the bed. Show him his reflection
in the mirror. Stick out your tongue. He's an easy
crowd. I haven't even had to try out my best material
yet. Watch it once. You'll be hooked!