Happy Father's Day!

Jack,

Today is Father's Day and we started out early by waking Daddy up in our excitement to take him out to breakfast.
We took him to a family buffet where you tried everything that looked good to you. You had eggs, pineapple, peaches, a cake doughnut, cake doughnut holes, a muffin, and a banana. You "sampled" little pinches of mostly the cake doughnut and doughnut holes and the little bit of sugar whet your appetite for more. You were feeling pretty confident that you could have anything and asked for an ice cream cone. For breakfast. And I ended up surprising BOTH of us, by taking you to get one. With sprinkles.

You were so enraptured with the ice cream cone with sprinkles on it that you walked very slowly back to the table balancing your treat and became very upset each time a little sprinkle fell to the floor. "OOOOH- NOOOO!" you'd say and act like you were going to bend over to retrieve it. I had to convince you to leave the spilled sprinkles where they lay, but you were doubtful.

Here's a video I made of you after the morning ice cream cone:

Then we got to see our Grandpa Rose!and then our Poppa Dough!Happy Grandfather's Day to both of them!Happy Father's Day, Daddy! We love you SO MUCH!Love,

Mommy

Garage Sale Genius!

Jack,

Yes, I am a garage sale genius. I have been looking for a little chair for you that would be comfortable that you could lounge around on without fear of you toppling off and hurting yourself.

Guess what I found today?
A little couch that folds out into a toddler bed for $4.
$4
Just as a point of comparison - a plastic chair right now goes for between $15 and $20.
I am a lucky shopper, but I'm also a genius for stopping off on a whim and checking to see if they had just the thing I was looking for!
The thing is - you love it but we only had it for 5 minutes when you tried to lean back on it, it became unbalanced and tipped over and you bumped your head on the ground.
It's leaning against the bigger couch now just in case and works just perfect! And you are happy as a clam!

Love,

Mommy

Gratuitous Cuteness

Jack,

Last night I figured out how to use the video feature on the camera and I have a bunch of clips that I recorded last night.

I have to say - it reshaped the entire night for us because I would record little clips and we would watch them back together and laugh. It felt so good. Like we were hanging and could have had a bowl of popcorn between us, arms slung around each other in good humor and mutual love. It was really, really nice.

And, watching these videos, it makes me realize that maybe I need to lighten up a bit and enjoy you a little more. You really are a sweetie.

So - here it is. Gratuitous Sweetness.

AND I MAKE NO APOLOGIES!

Here you are reading: STOP THAT PICKLE! to me (It's your favorite book):



In this clip, I try to get you to go to sleep by pretending to be asleep. This is just evidence of why this doesn't work. I can never keep pretending because of how good you are at making me smile:





We had been watching the clips from the movies we were taking and you were laughing big, so I decided to catch it on film and was lucky enough to capture your comments of: MOW TIME! with your finger out to indicate ONE MORE TIME, "Jack Rocker You" and "YOU BETTOW NOT!":





and, finally, you read me your PEEK-A-WHO? board book which you know all the words to:



Love,

Mommy

Failed Attempts

Jack,

Last night I thought I had stumbled on the PERFECT idea for what we could do in the evening. I managed to blow up your baby pool with a hand pump and my own lungs and it only took AN HOUR!!! Then I filled the pool, put a plastic slide down into it and got out your swim toys. I was SURE that this would be the activity to last the rest of the evening with how wonderful it was!
You loved playing with the hose, whipping it around every which way, but you ended up wanting to water the downstairs area, which isn't a good game because the water simply runs under the door and into our basement causing a minor flood.When I put the hose away you put up quite a protest.Finally, you tried going down the slide one time with my help and declared "JACK ALL DONE!" and then wouldn't go back in.You played a little bit with the watering can on the slideand then picked up some rocks and then declared: "JACK GO INSIDE!"
Oh, well.

They can't all be hole-in-ones, can they?

Love,

Mommy

Another failed attempt late today similar to yesterday, except this time, you barely ran through the sprinkler. See here:



Other pictures from this adventure:

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!

Jack,

You have a new cousin!Another boy!Charles Brown Dougherty!Charlie Brown! Isn't he cute?!?Charlie Brown is good peoples!Can't wait to meet him!And here are your Aunt and Uncle! Check out the smiles on those new parents!
Apparently your Aunt Lisa gets an A+ for behavior in labor. Sounds like she came through it like a pro!

Here you are "meeting" Baby Charlie for the FIRST Time!:

Took some pictures of you while you were sleeping.and some quiet play time building towers:

You've still got bed-head!Love,

Mommy