Big Boy

Jack,

Now you are three and what a birthday we had....so far!Our family's birthday tradition is to take the day off from school and work on that person's birthday and make the day about them. This year, your birthday fell on a Saturday, so we took the day off on Friday and got a leg up on the celebration!We made our way over to The Mills and spent the day riding rides and playing games together. Your Daddy and you raced cars together and you loved it.You wore a birthday crown all day so people were quick to wish you a Happy Birthday and you are young enough not to think it's wierd that they would know that. :) After playing at the Mall playground, we hit the toy store and you got to pick out one toy to bring home.You took a good nap and we headed over to see Grandma and Grandpa Rose who had some gifts for you.Movies and cars. You couldn't have been more pleased. :)Actually Grandpa admitted that he had bought the cars for you over a month ago and just hadn't had the chance to give them to you yet.After visiting with Grandpa and Grandma, we went out for dinner to the Olive Garden which was a nice little date for the three of us, but- by the end - you were ready to get on with it and head home.We felt great about the special day that you had, but the parties over the weekend still lay ahead!Then this morning, on your actual birthday, you were very excited about the upcoming party and asked about when the party was starting all day.We made a fun morning out of going to the bakery and letting you pick out a special cookie while we picked up and paid for your birthday cake.The party started after nap and it was a blast.
First you opened all your gifts and there were a lot of presents and tons of attention.You were a sweetheart and doled out thank you smooches to the gifters. It was adorable. You even got a little help with the present opening from your cousin Charlie who didn't miss a thing and saw paper flying and thought "Oh, yeah. I'm sooooo there...."
You were oblivious to his awe, but I remember when that was you looking at your Rose cousins who are all bigger than you and it seems it wasn't so long ago.Once the gifts were open, they HAD to be played with. They were practically begging for it!Thank goodness you didn't find it too hard to oblige.You were very ready for the cake by the time it came and we all got to sing to you - like we've been doing all year it seems up to this moment because you've been willing this birthday to come along for a year it seems. :) All year? Yes, so it seems.

With our bellies full of cake, the timing was JUST RIGHT for a little sugar rush!

You and Calum couldn't have had more fun if an actual circus had been at the party!It was a wonderful birthday, JJ!And I'm not even done celebrating! :)

Love,

Mommy

3

Jack,

Today I'm thinking like everyone does on their child's birthday about how far you have come and what the next year will bring and I'm struck looking back by the way that I've thought over the past years.(pictures of you at your class party at daycare...)It seems like I always think in countdowns.

5 more days till the weekend.
1 1/2 more hours till the end of the workday.
20 more minutes till lunch break is over.
5 more weeks of class.
350 more days till Christmas.
55 more minutes till bedtime.

You get the picture.

I anticipate the next thing that I want with every moment I'm awake and aware.

So, why do I think about this now? Because I look back on the sugar coated past and ahead at the sugar coated future and I realize the poop-covered present is more fantastic than I take the time to appreciate.This morning, I heard you calling for me and I went in and after our regular morning routine where you compliment yourself on what a good job you did sleeping through the night ("Took good nap, Mom!!!" and I exclaim about "YES! It was GREAT! GOOD JOB! to reinforce future sleep patterns) then headed down the stairs. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, your stomach rumbled and you looked at me and said "Mommy, I'm hungwy." I was THRILLED with those words and asked if you wanted some oatmeal and you said, "Yes. I want oatmeal."

Wow. We just had clear communication. You understood the signs that you were getting from your body, communicated them and I was able to know exactly what you needed and know exactly what to do to meet those needs. EUREKA! You really are growing up!

And I realized how long I've been waiting for this moment. The moment where there would be less guessing and more knowing. I'm so glad to be here, on this side of the age development graph in my mind. But, at the same time, I look back and see this:


and while I don't want to be there now and wouldn't trade it for where I am now, I can better appreciate it in my current perspective and wish I could go back there with this perspective for just one moment and love that moment again for what it was knowing that once it progressed from that point, it would never be that way again, not really.

And that is good - GREAT, actually. But it makes that past moment all the sweeter, you know?

I guess I don't know what I'm really trying to say here, but I think it's something like this. It's hard to live for the present completely. You're constantly looking forward so you can prepare and there's nothing wrong with that. And, you'll look back to learn from experiences. That's good, too.

I think today, though, I'd like to live your third birthday and as many days as I can remember to do so as though you are a grown kid and I'm looking back at this day and seeing how much more I could have appreciated it. How much more I we could have enjoyed the day without being bogged down with small details that won't matter in the long run. I want today to be one that SHOWS you what you mean to me. That you are a shining star in my world and you ARE fantastic and amazing and you can do anything you put your mind to.

As you grow, you may feel lost in the numbers of people around you - you may feel that it's hard to stand out at work amongst other talented co-workers. There's always going to be someone else that you think is smarter or more able in certain ways and you may look forward to a day when you think you will be that person or look back at paths you took and wonder if they were the right ones, but I want you to know today that there is NO ONE BETTER, there is NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT than YOU!!!

I'll try to remember this perspective myself and not get in lost in the journey. Easier said than done, I know, but I'm really going to try.

And now I better go because it's only 7 1/2 more hours until your party starts and I have a house to clean! :)

Love,

Mommy

Birthday Eve

Jack,

It's the day before your birthday and your Daddy and I took off from work to celebrate it with you. Before we get started on our fun day of celebrating you and doing things you like to do, I wanted to relay some fun memories that I've not had the chance to blog yet.

Things you've done that I won't forget and I want to make sure of it.

About a month ago, your Daddy and I were getting ready to go out on a date and you were going to be staying with your Grandma and Grandpa Rose for the evening. I was visiting with Grandma and you called to me "MOMMY!"

I walked to the front room, saying "yeah, Jack?"

You had your hand extended towards me and in the trusting way of all mothers everywhere, I reached out my hand to accept whatever you were offering to me.

Plop.

"I poopy."

OMG.

You put a poop in my hand. I didn't know what to do. So I showed Grandma who tried to hide a smile from me while I explained to you that poop stays in the toilet or our diaper and we don't pick it up and then I went and washed my hands 987475210 times.

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When my Grandma passed away, I remembered something that made me feel very special that she used to do. She used to defend me to inanimate objects. If I fell off a swing and hurt myself, she would walk up to the swing and swat it and give it a stern reprimand for hurting me.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it always made me feel so much better that someone was delivering some justice! :) Defending me!

So I started doing this with you and you love it as much as I used to, except when you get hurt now you demand that I "Talk to it..."

The other day, you bit your tongue and you said "Teef huwt me, Mommy. Talk to it!" and then held your mouth open so I could reprimand your teeth and tell them not to hurt My Jack. But it works and you go on about your business afterwards feeling quite sure that I have set things right in the world.

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Dinner time has become performance theater in our house. You are eating a little more so now my aim is to focus on getting you to eat more of the healthy items and less of the breaded and fried variety as much as possible, so when you eat something good, I tend to leap out of my chair screaming and yelling and pounding excitedly on the table which will cause you to laugh at how ridiculous I am and then (AND THIS IS KEY) take another bite! :)

I tend to be quite tired at the end of the meal.

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And we like to make funny sounds.

God, I'm so glad to have you in my life, Baby! I mean - Big Boy! (My bad).

Love,

Mommy

Secret

Jack,

I love your secrets!

Tell me another one!

Love,

Mommy

Faux Pas

Jack,

When you are all grown up and you make mistakes at work, hopefully you can look back at this one and - after laughing at it - you can feel better about it because, it could have been worse.

A LOT worse.

I don't know how much I've ever mentioned about my job, so I'll give you a little background on that. My title is Program Account Manager. Basically, that means that I manage projects for particular salespeople until the account is sold and off the ground and then I'm the main point of contact for that client for all escalated issues with their program.

Try saying that five times fast.

Well, recently I was working on a big program opportunity with a client. My company sells incentive cards that are like credit cards but can be either preloaded with a one-time load or can be reloaded depending on the platform that the client wants. These incentive cards can be used to give to employees as bonuses, they can be used as loyalty rewards between merchandisers and vendors that sell that merchandise over a competitor's, they can be part of a safety awards program in manufacturing companies, etc. The applications are pretty much endless.

And now, if you aren't already asleep.... the point of my story:

Custom plastic was printed for this big client with a customer service number on the back of the plastic. We recently updated all the numbers to be 1-888-900-2347. But in this case, the back of the plastic was printed with 1-800 instead of 1-888. The rest of the plastic number was the same and it didn't stand out as being different enough for me to catch it as being wrong.

Well, turns out that number with 800 at the front is a sex line.

Nice, right? And - we didn't catch it..... the CLIENT caught it.

FEE-FI-FO-PAUX!

Here's hoping my job is still intact this time next week and, if it is, we'll LAAAAUGH and LAAAAAAUGH! :)

Love,

Mommy