The Wonder of The Pumpkin Patch

It's been way too long since I last posted, between potty training, the new school, my new job and the normal chaos of life with an active 3 year old, I probably shouldn't be surprised how the time zips by...and yet I always am. I'm also a little torn between blogging and journaling and am probably just doing a poor job of both at this point and will need to choose between the two eventually, but for now I'm going to continue to allow myself to believe that doing both is somehow possible...the risk of reading way too many fairy tales, I imagine...LOL

Last weekend, Jakey and I found ourselves with a little time on our hands and in spite of the fact that we already had two trips planned to the pumpkin patch (one with his school this past Fri and one coming up with the Posse and his donor sib, Hallie and her moms), I decided to give it a test run to see how he might react. Of course, I still haven't learned that it's just plain silly to try to predict these things, they never and I mean NEVER turn out as expected. And this was no exception.

I was sure we would only be there less than a half hour as I just couldn't imagine what about a bunch of pumpkins would actually keep his attention for long. I imagined him going, "ok mom, yeah, that's cool, their orange and round and wow, they're all the same...ok, once you've seen a dozen, you've seen them all, right?" Well, I could NOT have been more wrong!!! Who knew there was such magic hidden in the pumpkin patch?!?!? Clearly, not I!

So...we arrive and pick out one of those old time metal radio flyer wagons that look as though they were used to pick cotton in the civil war era and off we go. My little man (who insists on being referred to as my "big boy") is off and running pulling the wagon, and I'm off an running to keep up with him. We walk the long, bumpy, muddy (which he loved...me, not so much) path to the BIG pumpkin patch and he's content to pull the wagon the entire way...which was about 99% further than I had predicted. If I'm being totally honest here, after the first 2 minutes I contemplated returning to the car to get something to lay down in that dirty, muddy old wagon so he could sit on it when the time came that he no longer wanted to walk. Again, totally wrong!

As we round the final bend of that little dirt path, he catches a glimpse of the very first pumpkin in sight...now, this was one that had been passed up by thousands of people, looked like it had been kicked around a little bit, and partially squished, yet you would have thought he had found the most perfect pumpkin in all of the world. Off he went running, pulling that rickety wagon along behind him as fast as he could go...as if someone might beat him to it. The whole time yelling "mama, look, mama, look...a pumpkin (pronounced punkin)!!!!" And he drops to his knees and hugs this ugly, dirty, muddy, somewhat squished, lopsided pumpkin, like it's the last one on earth and begins to struggle to pick it up and place it in our wagon. OK, as anyone who has ever tried to talk a 3 year old out of something he thinks he must have knows, I had less than a snowballs chance in Hell of changing his mind, so I help him load it in.

The rest of the time spent in the pumpkin patch reminded me very much of that little book called "everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten" (or something like that). Here's what my incredible little guy taught me that beautiful fall afternoon:

1. There is NO such thing as a bad pumpkin...they all have things that make them special in one way or another

2. Don't judge the pumpkin by what's on the outside, sometimes real beauty is only hidden beneath a little layer of dirt or mud, and with a little extra care those pumpkins can be shiny and new again too...of course, licking your fingers and rubbing the muddy pumpkin may not be the best approach...LOL

3. Some pumpkins aren't ready to be picked yet...these are small and still attached to the vine and you really shouldn't pick them yet because they're just taking a little longer to grow up (to become "big boy punkins", as my son would say) and really, what's the rush?

4. Some that were picked too soon and then left behind, may not have ever had the chance to turn orange, but that's ok too, don't leave them behind, because there's no reason that they all have to be the same color. If everything was the same color, we wouldn't have rainbows, right? And what fun would that be?

5. Size doesn't matter... at least not the size of the pumpkin...Except, however, when picking pumpkins for gifts, the size of the pumpkin should be relative to the size of the person...this one made me a little nervous about the size he would eventually pick for me...LOL So, Pops got the biggest one, and JJ the next biggest one, and down from there to Nanny, Mommy, LaLa, Hallie (who he now includes among his FAV 20, usually in the top 10), one for his girl Jordan and the three kids across the street. (Are you getting a visual of our little radio flyer wagon right about now?)

6. Pumpkins that others pass by can be the greatest find of all...because they'll try extra hard to be a really good punkin for you because they really, really want to be picked. (Again, amazing words from a 3 yr old, no?)

7. You can't pick all the pumpkins even if you like them all, because then there wouldn't be any left for other little boys and girls to pick and God says you have to share...of course, that's a line I'd love to hear more often from him...LOL...would have come in especially handy this afternoon when I had to carry him out of a birthday party at one of those kids play places after he picked up two 5 year olds...one in each hand, and threw them across the room for touching the light rods he was playing with...not so good. As I carried him out to the car kicking and screaming I asked what God was thinking about this lack of sharing...needless to say, the answer was not good.

8. And last but not least, my favorite two lines of the day from the punkin patch..."Momma, I know we can't fit another one in our wagon, but can you carry this last little one 'cause he told me that he really, really wants to be MY punkin and I got one for everyone but me?" And... "Momma, I feel bad leaving all those other punkins behind, can we go back and tell them not to be sad because somebody else will come and pick them?"

So, needless to say, we left the pumpkin patch with close to a dozen pumpkins...11 in the wagon and 1 in my arms...and a gazillion memories...Whatever it cost me at 50 cents a pound, it was worth every single penny!!!!!

Who knew a trip to the pumpkin patch could be SO magical?!?!?!?

A couple of shots from his class trip to the Pumpkin Patch and meeting the farm animals...

Be Careful What you Say... (The 2nd installment in my "Be Careful" series - LOL)

I can clearly remember wishing (yes, yes, I know how that gets me in trouble, but this was wayyyyyy before I had figured all that out) that Jake would be a little more attentive to what I was saying. The speech therapist that he saw for a little while used to say that getting him to repeat back what I said was one of the best ways to increase his vocabulary. OK, well, that sounded all well and good at the time...however, it's become abundantly clear that I really should have thought harder about exactly WHAT he might be listening to and IF those were really the best words to use to expand his vocabulary?!?!? You see where this is heading???

Fast forward about 9 months and here we are with the second installment in my "Be Careful" series..."Be Careful What You Say" (ah, heck, you have to be careful about what ANYONE within earshot says...and that's much, much harder than it sounds)!!!! This past week has been particularly well suited to reinforce this lesson for me...oh, where shall I even begin?!?!

So...Jake has started to use his little potty seat (the part that comes off the potty chair for use on the big people potty, as he calls it) on my potty. And, of course, this has only served to reinforce his belief that he and I SHARE a bathroom. Prior to this, he's claimed the second sink in my bathroom as HIS and moved his little potty chair in as further claim to the space. NOW, he's using my potty!! So, one day last week, he decided that he didn't want me to remove the little potty seat from the top of MY potty and was fairly insistent that I use his seat. So, in an effort to reason with my 3 year old (side note: reasoning and 3 year olds are really mutually exclusive things, but mommies, having been worn down over time, are the only ones who continue to challenge that law of nature...yes, and LOSE big), I try to explain to him why it's impractical for a mommy to use a little seat like that. Eventually, when every last rational argument failed to deter him, I simply said "Mommy's heiney is way, way too big to sit on that little potty seat". And NO, it didn't work and I had to pee sooooo bad that I ended up sitting on the stupid little thing...NOT a pretty picture.

OK, so fast forward a couple of days...I'm carrying in a new potty seat to his new school to see if it might help him to be more comfortable on the potty there (do you get the sense, most of my life these days revolves around the potty?? Sad, but true). We get inside and his teacher greets us and says "wow, what do you have here, Jake" and my little parrot proceeds to tell her that we've brought in a new potty seat, but that "my mommy can't use it because her heiney is way, way, way (yes, he added a third) too wobbly to use it" (not sure where the heck the "wobbly" came from and very, very thankful he can't explain it to me as it might actually make me suicidal). I'm quite sure I was a very nice shade of Macintosh red for most of the day...

This reminds me of another time, back around last Christmas, which will obviously show that I'm no longer able to claim that I'm capable of learning from past mistakes...I was recording our big Christmas morning as Jake ran from present to present and I happened to catch Nanny scratching her head...not once, not twice, but a few times. So, later when we watched the tape on the big TV, and Jake said "nanny scratch head", I told him "Yes, Nanny has bugs", which of course prompted my mother to chase me around the house. Oh, how I thought that was soooo funny!! Fast forward about a week to Jake's check-up at his pediatrician's office. The nurse was checking him over and said "does anything hurt?" "does anything itch?" to which he replied innocently "Nanny has bugs in her head"!!! The nurse turned and looked directly at me, and of course, I tried the 'ol ..."Jakey, now don't joke around like that, why would you even say that?" (Yes, yes, yes, just DIG that hole a little deeper, mommy!!!!!) To which he seriously replied, "because nanny scratched her head and mommy told me she has bugs, right momma?" I'm thinking, Fire Engine Red would describe my complexion for most of that day!!! Like those southwest airline commercials say..."Want to get away???"

The other lesson you learn as a new mommy is that there are things you say ALL THE TIME, that you are totally and completely unaware of...and I mean ALL THE TIME! These things will become VERY, VERY evident to you as your little one begins to repeat them back to you. For example, I now realize that I say "maybe so" an awful lot. So, when I say, Jake can you pick those toys up please? I get a very nice "maybe so" in return. I also say "what did I say?" a lot, probably when I get to the 20th time of making the same request without any compliance. So, now when asked to do something which is absolutely NOT possible, like serving my son ice cream for breakfast, he says "Momma, what did I say?" Nicceeeee. It's also interesting to have your 3 year old begin to count backwards from 3 in an effort to force you to do what he's asked (as you do to him)...especially when this happens in public. Nicceeeee!! Nanny recently added her own little "line of fame" by saying "I'll smack your little face" to him in total and complete jest... Two days later, we're in line at Shoprite and he's pressing all the buttons on the credit card reader machine which is wreaking havoc with the cash register and driving the clerk insane and I say "Jake, I'm not kidding, you stop that right now" to which he responds, hands on hips, "Momma, I'll smack your little face"...Niceeeeeee!!!! Trust me, that one turned a few heads...

I've also noticed that now that he's reached this parrot phase, I've become hyper sensitized to anyone using any curses or profane language. It's like my ears are constantly sweeping the area in search of some word that needs "bleeping out" and/or someone who needs to get the "mommy look"...that look that means, HEY ASSHOLE, can't you see there's a child over here? Don't make me come over there! As a group, the Posse has somehow learned to adapt to the situation...when the kids are present, there's very, very little cursing going on (and any slips are met with multiple mommy looks, even from the non-mommies). Then, when we're in one of the rare of "adult only" moments...we go almost back to our pre-kid selves...which still isn't all that bad. VERY funny how Jake and Jordan have completely altered our lives...heck, they're at the very center now! Who would have thought it?

Line of the weekend... "Momma, my po-po (that's what he call his penis) says it doesn't want to wear didies (what he calls diapers) anymore"...OK, so my question is...is this 'my penis talks to me' thing going to be a recurring thing? And if so, OMG, what else is it going to tell him/me? And what's the consequence if we choose to not listen?? LOL

Back soon...

Note to Self...Be Careful What You Wish For...

I have a feeling the old "be careful what you wish for" thing is going to be a recurring theme as Jake grows up. I can't count the number of times I wished (unfortunately, out loud) that Jake would be able to say the words "mommy", "momma" or "mom" way back when. Now, I can't count the number of times he says it every minute of every waking hour of every day;-) And, of course, I have lots and lots of people who are kind enough to remind me about that wish...yea, you know who you are!

So, anyone who has read any of my recent blogs knows that I've been wishing really hard for Jake to take an interest in potty training...well, these past couple of days, that wish has come true. Each night, when I put him to bed in his pull-ups, it takes about 10 minutes before the wave of potty requests start rolling in...

So, here's how our new little routine plays out...Picture me, having just put him to bed, after bath, teeth brushing, what seems like a dozen stories followed by back rubbing, and neck pinching (don't ask). I finally sit down at my computer to get a little work done and the first request rolls in..."momma, I have to go potty". Now, admittedly, the first time this happened, I was OVERJOYED!!! I thought, YES, YES, YES, we're really getting the hang of this potty thing, he's even calling me from bed to tell me he has to go...Woo-hoo!!! The second time, I was a little less excited, and by the fifth time, I was totally over it. So, why don't I just tell him "no"...because he somehow manages to go a little EACH and EVERY time. So, what's a mom to say..."no, just go in your pull-up"... somehow, that doesn't seem like a good idea...especially when I've spend a good part of the day asking "so, why did you go in your pull-up and not in the potty?!?!?" Can you say..."mixed messages"??? Sooooo, off I go back and forth between his room and the potty...and back and forth....and back and forth...I assume you get the picture now?

After last night, which was Pilgrimage to the Potty- Day 2, I found myself wishing he would just go in his diaper/pull-up. After the thought entered my mind, I snapped upright in my chair, and thought OMG, what did I just say/think?!?!?! And once again, I found myself thinking...be careful what you wish for!

Jake's still doing really, really well at his new school!!! He loves going (which is just wonderful to see) and he's like the teacher's little helper in the classroom. The teacher puts every one's name cards out on a table in the morning, and Jake is the only one who can identify his name. He takes it and puts it under the fish tank and says good morning to the fish. Then, he proceeds to alphabetize the names and bring the other kid's name cards to them, say each letter in their name for them, and one by one walk with them to the fish tank to deposit their name and say good morning to the fish. Of course, if they should happen to put their cards in upside down, he's quick to fix it...wonder where he gets that from?

Of course, as we all feared, he now loves his new teacher and has absolutely NO desire to move up to the next level (which he is more than ready for...just needs to be potty trained). And she loves him too because she says he amazes her each and every day. Last week, he was telling her what letter every one's name started with and when he got to hers, he said your name starts with "F'... and she said "yes, Jake, that's right, it does!" Then he proceeded to call her Mrs. Kedora instead of Fedora and even overemphasized the K...she said it was the funniest thing. I'm totally expecting that he's going to remain in this class for quite a while and probably will eventually begin giving the other kids formal lessons...LOL

Jake, Nanny and I are still enjoying our nightly rides on the tandem with the tagalong behind it. We've gotten pretty good at riding down to the little elementary school that's almost 2 miles away. We've started a new ritual of singing "20 bottles of milk on the wall..." and he's really got the hang of singing all the words and knowing what number comes next. Of course, we get some wild looks as the 3 of go riding by singing our own little version of this song;-) Riding on the tagalong seems to have helped him with his confidence on his own new big boy bike as he can regularly be seen speeding around my kitchen on it these days...YES, he rides it in the house! We're thinking he's probably going to be ready to take the training wheels off in the not too distant future considering how much riding we all do and how confident he is now. Of course, we'll need to outfit nanny in full body armor when we make our first attempt at removing the training wheels in case he clips her coming around the island...LOL

Last night was a real milestone for us...we took the outside rail off of Jake's crib and he slept in what he's calling his "big boy" bed without it for the very first time. We're planning on buying him a loft bed with a little desk area underneath (or something like that), but thought we'd try this out in the meanwhile...so far, so good. Of course, when he strolled into my room at about 5 a.m. both Quincey and I nearly had a heart attack because we're not used to anyone being able to walk in during the night...this, will undoubtedly, take some getting used to!!

Jakey and I were able to attend an incredible NY Liberty playoff game last Friday night (thanks to tickets from Aunt Amy) and we had a blast!!! What a great game too, as the Liberty pulled out a come from behind win at the end of the game. Ever since, Jake has been walking around spelling L-I-B-E-R-T-Y (though sometimes he forgets the R) and saying NY LIVERY (which is how he pronounces it)...VERY, VERY cute!! He was sort of good at the game, though he didn't watch very much, just likes the music and the cheering and clapping...especially that one song where they say "everybody clap your hands..." At one point, while walking back and forth between our two sets of seats, he decided he needed to "get something" and walked right out the gate to the concourse...not sure who jumped first or ran faster, but Aunt CC and I made a mad dash to catch up to him. When we got there, he told me "momma, I'll be right back, I have to get something". And as you might have guessed, this was at one of the most exciting parts of the game with under 3 minutes left to play and the cheers could be heard coming from back in the stadium. So, against my better judgement, I used my "last resort" and promised him he could have his "paci" (yes, he still calls it a paci because of his girl Jordan) if he walked back to our seats with me. I know, I know, BAD mommy...what can I say, even mommies cave sometimes!!!

Ohhh, and I almost forgot...we got the exciting news this week that one of Jake and Jordan's recent pictures would be up on display at Picture People at Bridgewater Commons!!! So, of course, my mom and I just HAD to go up there to see it...and we walked in both thinking that it was going to be the humongous wall sized picture that they have at the entrance to the store...well, not exactly, but it was on display and of course, it was cute!! So, I take out my camera to take a picture of the picture on display and the high school kid twirling her gum around her finger behind the counter proceeds to tell me that there is a policy against taking pictures in the store. So, I ask, though I know it will fall on deaf (or dumb) ears...isn't that policy to keep people from taking pictures back in the studio part when your photographers are taking pics of the kids?? And she says, as you might have guessed..."uhhh, I'm not sure, but I the policy says no cameras and no pictures, so I can't let you take a picture of that picture"... somehow I doubt the person who created that policy (assuming they had half a brain) would mind if someone took a picture of a picture on display...eh? This, however, was not a battle worth fighting...

So, here's the picture that was on display (just not a picture of the picture...LOL)...

Last, but not least, we received an email from another of Jake's donor siblings, well his mommy, of course. She said they live just outside of Washington, DC and that they would be willing to come up to meet up with Hallie and Jake sometime soon. This time it's one of his half-brothers, and his name is Ben and he's 2 1/2 years old. His mommy said he looks a LOT like Jake, so it would sure be very cool to meet him and have them all spend some time together!!!! We'll keep you posted on that one...(We invited them to join the Halloween fun on Oct 25th, just not sure if they're available on that date or not yet)

Line of the week: Jake saying to Mommy while saying good-bye as mom leaves to go to the Jets football game with Pops... "Have good fun, momma!! And tell Pops J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets"

All for now...