Jack's sweet ride

Check out Jack's sweet new ride --
courtesy of Noni. As reported Wednesday,
Jack crawled for almost one week and
now has decided that he needs to get
from Point A to Point B much faster. His
little car morphs into a "walking assistant,"
kind of like a shopping cart with a gear
shift. It has no satellite radio, no heated
seats, no tinted windows, but the gas is
very easy on the pocketbook. The wheels
don't lock, so we've got to park it against
the wall so that Jack doesn't have his first
moving violation (we've had a few close
calls.) We might be tempting fate since the
box said it was for 9 months and up. Maybe
we are just reckless parents? Heck -- we
don't even have him insured yet!

Nothing beats a Noni

Nothing beats a Noni for 3 days of shopping and
playing...Jack probably could have done without all
of the shopping but I think he might have known it
was all for him -- makes the unbearable a little more
bearable, don't you think? Noni lucked out because
Strollercize was rained out today and I was planning on
making her sweat a little bit. Jack (for the most part)
has been a very good host. Very little biting or spitting
(sounds like a girl fight when I put it like that) and lots
of smiles to go around. Minus the one near heart
attack that Rob almost gave her when he pretended to
lob Jack at her from across the room, I think the visit
is going well!

Crawling is for babies

So, we got about 3 days of crawling and now Jack
is pulling himself up on anything and everything.
The coffee table, the dog, my t-shirt, whatever.
I'm just not prepared for this yet. I thought I would
have at least a month or two to get used to the idea
of him scooting around before he got the idea into
his head that standing and walking were WAAAAY
more fun than kneeling on the ground. Along with
his new found obsession comes more bumps and
bruises and his face has met the carpet more times
this weekend than I would care to report. I'm not
sure how much longer "mommy kisses" will be the
appropriate first aid for Jack's escapades...
In other news, Jack's Noni (Grandma Suzanne)
arrived today (late flying in due to imaginary
thunderstorms) and won't be able to fill her hug
quota until tomorrow morning since Jack had eaten,
soaked in the tub and went down for the count at 7.
Poor Noni.

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?"