Playdates

Jack,

The highlight of your and my weekend has been the playdates that we have had. My friend, Laura, and her two sweet and beautiful daughters, Lilly and Viv, (Viv adorably chose to stare suspiciously at everyone around her) were in town and we had a great time playing with them at the Magic House. You liked when we got there being able to direct us all where to go, but it didn't take long before you were running here and there and so we spent what time together that we could within the confines of toddler energy.
Most of our time together was spent in the racing cars area and in the castle. The castle display is a newer exhibit and we haven't been in it that often so it held your attention the longest. It's funny - being around my friend, Laura, and her girls really highlighted for me some of the differences between having boys and girls. You bolted headlong from one thing to the next like you were in some kind of a race to play with everything first.I love this picture of you and Viv eating at this long table in the castle room. Viv sat stoicly on her seat while Lilly served her and you shoved a carrot in your ear and THEN proceeded to put it in your mouth. They are better that way, right?

It was great seeing all of them again!

After the Magic House, we went to visit Calum and you boys had a wonderful time running around together:

In addition to the running, you both crazied about in a tent that Aunt Erin and Uncle Brett got out for you two. These pictures are a little blurry, but are a great representation of what that play time looked like:It was a great weekend full of toddlers and fun!

Love,

Mommy

Fourth of July 2007

Jack,

You had a wonderful Fourth of July although it was preceeded by a night of falling asleep screaming at 10 PM, waking at 2:30 and crying till 4 and them waking at 5:45. Plus, I put you down for a nap at 11:30 and you screamed until 1 when you fell asleep.

I was ready for a stiff drink, but settled for having five servings of dessert and two dinners instead. I feel so bloated right now.

No - but, you were in heaven when we reached your cousins house for the holiday celebration. Here you are running the course you set between the inside and outside of the house that you were thrilled with for the majority of the time we were there.

Happy Fourth of July, Jack!

Love,

Mommy

Tropical Breeze 2007

Jack,

It's been a long time since I blogged. I can't think of a reason "why" - it's just been the fact.

Since I last blogged, we have been on a week vacation in Florida at Tropical Breeze - a resort that I used to visit as a child with my parents. I have many fond memories of being a kid there, so it was fun to see you there and make some memories with you in that same place - although it looks nothing like it did when I was little.I have a couple of movies of you at the Ocean, but nothing mind blowing. Your biggest joke during this time was to say "I want some milk" in a deep voice as though that phrase could ever sound manly. It really cracked me up so I tried to get you to say it for the camera as much as possible.

We did swim at the beach, although you much preferred the pool and I can't say that I blame you. I used to prefer the pool, too, because you know in the pool you aren't going to unexpectedly get slammed by a wave of salt water leaving you coughing, sputtering and rubbing your eyes blindly hoping you don't get hammered by another while still recovering from the first. Don't get me wrong - I love you the ocean - but I think it takes an older child to appreciate it's challenges.

Kelly was good enough to make you a sandcastle of Lightning McQueen which I must tell you was incredible. It was sooo clearly him that we had one person approach it and say - Hey, that's a Cars castle! I'd say that's a good job when others can recognize it for what it is.
The highlight of my vacation was a compliment paid by our cabanna boy. He actually told Grandma that if the mother of his child looked as good as I did, he'd be a happy man. What can I say - best $50 I ever spent! :)

You really took to the water on this trip and gathered confidence swimming in floaties. I was really impressed by how well you did. You loved the pool so much that you would be screaming about returning to the pool even as it was dark and I was putting you to bed.

The airline trips left a lot to be desired. I've never been so stressed out. You started resisting the minute we started to walk into the airport and didn't stop until you fell asleep during the plane ride or at all. Not even movies seemed to work to calm you. It was a nightmare. Here's just a sampling of the experience.

You are old enough that you need to sit in your own seat during take off and landings and anytime that the fasten seatbelt light is on. Also, we can't turn on the laptop for movies until it's okay to use electronic devices. Plus, on both flights we were situated over a wing and couldn't see out the window so we didn't even have that for a distraction.

We DID arrange for one day in Orlando and ended up taking you to Disney World's Magical Kingdom. It was a serious nightmare. The lines to meet the characters were 30 minutes long and you didn't understand why you couldn't approach the characters one-on-one. Plus, it was hot and sunny and the lines for the rides were prohibitive. We found some areas you enjoyed playing that were playground-ish.
Not the types of things that you would expect to do in Disneyworld, but you were happy. We did also manage to go on the It's a Small World ride which you loved with all the singing dancing dolls. It was fun to do that with you.All in all - it was a great trip, but it had it's stressors.You being two, the two summer classes that both Clay and I are taking this summer and the midterms and assignments coming due while on our trip, you settled back into a routine of resistance of sleeping without someone in the bed with you. Plus, you had to put up with your parents who were both stressed out and less than pleasant to be around most of the time.Highlights of the trip for you were the runs that you would take on the beach. You did this twice with Poppa Dough and twice with me. One evening after a late run down the beach, we encountered a jelly fish on the beach and you said "good-night, jelly. I'm so proud of you." It was adorable and melted my heart. You were also impressed when Aunt Kelly found a fish that had beached itself and tossed it back into the ocean to find it's mommy. You talked about that quite a bit, too. "Kelly put fishy back. Fishy go to it's mommy." The swimming in the pool, too.Here are some odd pictures from a game my Dad created for us to play where we needed to get five pictures of people holding this photo of Ghandi. I impressed myself by getting the night security guy to do it. The guy never smiled. I think I should have been in sales.Anyway - it was a great trip with a little bit of stress to be completely honest, but it was a great time.
It's always nice to come back home, though. :)

Love,

Mommy

Nothing Routine about it

Jack,

I started my new hours at work and they have been hard for you to adjust to. You wouldn't think that one hour would make that big of a difference, but it does. Apparently you cry the entire hour that I am not there to get you. You know when I should be there and, when I don't show - you fall apart. I don't know if it's that you miss me or if you worry that I'm not coming or if you are just sick and tired of your teachers or what, but I feel horrible.

Yesterday when I picked you up, you were sitting alone on the playground, clutching your teddy bear with a red and puffy face, snot rolling down your face, and tears clouding your vision so you weren't completely sure you were right in seeing that I had actually showed up.

When you knew it was me, you ran into my arms and said over and over again "Mommy! I go home! Mommy - I go home!" Like - THANK GOD! I GET TO GO HOME! or was it a checklist: Mommy comes (check), I get to go home (check). Your teachers heaped a little more guilt on my shoulders by telling me that you were so smart that you knew I was supposed to be there and cried till you were choking. They even told me they were afraid you would dehydrate. God... If I had anymore weight on me, I'd leave big old sinkholes when I walked.

So, I decided to make last night a great time and asked you where you wanted to go and - as if I didn't already know how smart you are - you said the toy store. So we went to a toy store called Circle of Knowledge that displays toys for kids to play with because I knew that was your primary motivation. We played for so long, I bought a toy because I actually felt like I owed it to the lady who witnessed how long we stayed. I know she did because she kept coming over to ask if she could help as though to make a point of saying - really? still here?

But it also made me feel better because I feel so bad at how red and puffy your face was for the rest of the night. And you didn't sleep well. Mommy, mommy I want my mommy.

God, I hope you are okay when I pick you up today and not so sad. I love you!

Love,

Mommy