Meet Jake Anthony

Signs of Growing Up...And Not...LOL

2011-09-29T22:55:00.000-04:00

It's been an interesting past few weeks for Jake. There are some new "firsts" to report, some past troubles that have stopped (thank God) and some that continue (which may cause us all to drink heavily before he gets out of first grade).

Let's start with a few exciting "firsts"... After 5 years of only wanting to take baths and absolutely HATING having water on his face, one day Jake decided that he wanted to take a shower ALL BY HIMSELF. Now of course, his Nanny insists on overseeing the entire process (and believe me, it's a process...you know the boy, everything is a set process). Every day he comes home from school, plays for a while and then announces that he's going to take a shower. It may sound like a small thing, but you try bending over the tub for 5 years and see if you're not dancing the "woo-hoo shower" dance too when bath days are over!!!

Jake has also finally graduated to his booster seat. I'd been holding off saying he hadn't quite hit the 65 pound limit on his big car seat, but those days are gone as he's regularly over 65 pounds these days. Personally, I still feel safer with him in the big car seat, but he does look a bit like a teenager sitting in a milk crate back there at times. Not to mention that he was relentlessly asking for his booster each and every day...so OUT with the car seat and IN with the big boy booster! At the rate we're going, he'll be asking to drive next.

To my complete and utter surprise, Jake has been beginning to experiment with different foods lately. The last attempt was with a bean burrito, which he actually really liked. And at the Jet's game, he asked to have a taste of my meatball sandwich and all I ended up with was one bite of meatball. He ate it all, right down the last little corner of the roll which he so kindly gave to his momma. Now, keep in mind, this is the kid who has NEVER eaten a meatball in his life!! LOVES them now...go figure?

This past weekend, Jake completed his FIRST level of Mental Math and passed the test with an A for speed and an A for accuracy!!!! The teacher said he's really picked it up fast and that he has a real knack for math (no, really?). He's earned 2 weeks off and then we're back to start Level 2. If you're wondering if it really makes much difference, I can tell you it DEFINITELY has. The other day, we were talking about something taking 3 weeks and he was quick to tell Nanny and I that 3 weeks was the same as 21 days because 7+7=14 and 14+7=21. Aunt No No will have him down at AC playing Black Jack with her any day now...

School has also been an exciting series of new firsts for Jake. Some of them good, some not so good. On the good side, he was given the Dolch Sight Word test by his teacher and went through lists 1, 2, 3 and 4 without missing a single word (about 20 on each list). So the teacher had him skip to the last list (#11) and he was able to go through that one without missing a word too, so she said he's basically done already with what kids need to know at the END of 1st grade. Everyone else is working on either list 1 or somewhere in the first 10 and he's now onto learning how to spell the words. And of course, Nanny is already coming up with creative ways to teach him to spell some of the harder words. Let's hope for all our sakes she doesn't resort to singing them like she did when she taught him his home phone number. I'm still convinced he learned to memorize it just to get her to stop singing...lol.

Jake is also way ahead on reading and is the only child who is reading chapter books. Some children don't yet know the sounds that each letter makes, and yet others are reading fairly well, so he's a little ahead of some and a world ahead of others. He really enjoys reading and sometimes even reads by himself now, which is VERY new for him.

Yet another first for Jake... he officially started CCD (defined as the catholic catechism class that all kids dread, but is necessary in order to make your First Communion and Confirmation which is non-negotiable in a good Italian family). So far, he complains less about going there than to Mental Math, so counting my blessings on that front. Although, if I'm being really honest, the very first day that he went there (and yes, it was a disaster because I had actually not signed him up and then had to do everything to get him enrolled all in one day while at work and so I had rushed home early from work to drive him there like a crazy woman), as we pulled in (on time, I might add...and Stac, I heard you say "yeah, right!") he looked out the window and saw the church and said "Momma, what are we doing here? You know I HATE church!!" I said "Jake Anthony, how could you say that, God can hear you and he's going to be SO disappointed". To which he replied... "OK, hey God, I'm sorry, I was just kidding." Then asked "Momma, does he also know when you're not telling the truth too?" Left me wondering if it was possible to flunk CCD?????

So, on the not so good part, Jake continues to struggle with managing and controlling his emotions. He's a pure and simple PERFECTIONIST to the extreme and feels that he MUST do everything exactly right and be the absolute BEST at everything. Obviously, in a class of 20 other children, things don't always work out that way for him and he's having a hard time dealing with that reality. He also doesn't like to do anything that he feels he won't be GREAT at right from the start. This really worries me because it translates into not being willing to work hard to get good at anything. If he's not great right away, or it doesn't come easy to him (as most things have), then he gives up and has a meltdown over it. Piano is a great example of this because every week we go through the same painful experience. He gets 2-3 new songs to play and expects to play them PERFECTLY the first time he tries. When that doesn't happen, he ends up in a rage on the floor, throwing things, banging the keys and shouting that he's the "worstest" piano player in the whole world. Forget about the fact that he said the very same thing the last week and now plays those songs beautifully without even looking at the music. There's absolutely NO reasoning with the boy...NONE!

In school, the teacher has this discipline system which involves "turning over a card" from green to yellow if you don't heed her first warning. Jake has had to turn his card over 3 times already and even went one step further and had a note sent home yesterday. One day it was because he refused to take a guess at how many objects were in a jar. It was meant to be a fun exercise to demonstrate the art of estimating and it was done in conjunction with the guess that your parent (in this case, Aunt Bear, who attended Back to School Night for me since I was in Belgium on business) made the night before. He absolutely refused to make a guess... Why? Because he was sure he would not get it right. Can't be perfect, why try? Why play? Oy vey! And over goes the card...

Yesterday, the note came home from school because he got in an arguement with another boy over who was going to be last in line going to lunch and eventually got so frustrated that he spit at him. (Luckily he hasn't really learned to spit yet, but just read about it in the book "Holes" and decided to give it a try.) Needless to say, the teacher was not at all pleased. Earlier in the day, he had his card turned over because the assignment involved drawing a picture of yourself doing something and he refused to draw himself because why???? Because he knew he couldn't draw it as well as other kids could. So, can't be perfect, why try? Hmmmm... anyone sensing a pattern here?

I asked the pediatrician for the name of a counselor that specializes in working with children and we now have an appointment for this Saturday. At the rate things are going, I'm the one that's going to need therapy and possibly some really strong meds...lol. Who knew 1st grade could be so damn stressful?!?!?!?

On another good note, the extreme and never ending hunger pangs have seemed to subside. For a while there, all Nanny and I ever heard was "I'm STARVING", which usually was screamed less than a half hour after eating some big meal. I was starting to think I was going to have to bring Nanny out of retirement and send her back to work to be able to afford to feed him. I owe a BIG thanks to Ellen (Amy's sister) who was kind enough to listen to me go on and on about how worried I was about his insatiable appetite. As always, she had some very logical and sound advice for me and was able to quickly talk me off the ledge! (Thanks, Ellen!!)

That's it for now... Hope everyone is doing well!!

Checking In and Catching Up...

2011-09-08T16:28:00.000-04:00

Where did the summer go? Seems like it was here and gone in the blink of an eye!! Last I checked we were getting ready for Kindergarten graduation and "blink", it's the first day of 1st grade. Personally, I think that's taking this whole "time flies" thing a bit too far. So, where to begin...

I signed Jake up for 2 weeks at Rambling Pines Day Camp, which is this unbelievably awesome camp on 120+ acres of open fields, 4 pools, ponds (including one fully stocked to teach fishing in), streams, rivers, tennis courts, street hockey, basketball courts and a hundred other sports fields. I was excited for Jake to try this as it would be his first experience at a camp where 90% of the activities were outside. I was also a bit nervous because his past camp experiences have all been in what you might call very "pampered" places where this was a place where kids really did have to rough it a bit.

Well, to my surprise, the first day he walked off the bus he couldn't wait to tell me that he wanted to go the WHOLE summer. I waited till the end of the first week to see if maybe this excitement would wane, but it only seemed to grow with each passing day. So, he ended up attending 7 of the 8 weeks of camp and loving every day!!! (there was one week where he, Nanny and La La came on a business trip with me to CA and visited with Jake's cousins, Darian and Shay, while I worked) I know this will come as quite a shock, but he even ended up with a tan this summer...yes, my little casper the ghost with a tan!! lol

As I mentioned, in the beginning of August, we took a trip with Nanny and La La to CA. Jake had a good time visiting his cousins and we all spent quite a full day at Disney where he rode every roller coaster in the entire place, including space mountain. Of course, I still wasn't able to go on any rides that went "around" without feeling sick, but luckily he had his cousins and Aunt Mahsa and Uncle Mike to ride with for those.

Later in August, we held Jake's 6th bday party and it was a rock'in time at his favorite Bounce U place. We took everyone over to our pool club after bouncing and had a great time swimming and eating pizza all afternoon. A week earlier, Jake finally PASSED his deep water test at the swim club!!!!!!!!!!! I could NOT have been more proud of him...he did it with ease this time!!!!! (This was his 3rd try) So he spent all day going off the diving board and down the two water slides with all of his friends.

Gotta love those handsome Bilotti Boys!!!

Lotta love going on here!!

For his birthday, he got a very cool basketball set up for our driveway (from his Aunt Bear and No-No) and we've spent hours and hours out there playing. He's becoming a real good bball player and will definitely have the height to excel at this game should his interest level continue. One thing we continue to work on is demonstrating good sportsmanship... he loves to play the game O-U-T, but frequently stomps off into the house when he reaches O-U...he says those are his least favorite letters of the alphabet now...lol

He also got a very cool razor electric go-kart and he rides it like a speed demon up and down the sidewalk and over everyone's lawns. It's very low to the ground, which I'm hoping means he won't be flipping over any time soon...and has a tall flag on it so that cars can see him flying by. I've got some video of his first driving experience which I'll try to attach here.

We also had a chance to attend one of the Jets pre-season games and as you can see here, he was very happy to hang out with his Nanny and Pops!!!

Today is the first day of 1st grade in his new school and his first time attending Public School (instead of Montessori)!!! I'm convinced that I'm more nervous about it than he is... I even had the urge to run after (or drive after) the bus when it pulled away this morning. I wish I could sneak up there and take a quick peek in on him to see how he's doing. We met his new teacher yesterday, Mrs. Francescone, and I now understand why they call her "Barbie"... Nanny was with us and the first thing she said was "wow, we didn't have teachers like that when I was in school" Of course, Nanny went to Catholic school and had nuns for teachers, so that's probably not a fair comparison. lol

The classroom was AWESOME!!! Very big room, with a bathroom right there attached to his room (the school is HUGE and we even got lost trying to find his room so I did have some worries about him finding his way to the bathroom and back by himself...but not any more) and little library area and round tables of 4 children each. And as luck would have it, the one child he knows in his class is sitting right across from him at his table!!! And his table is front and center in the room, so hopefully this will help him to stay focused and pay attention (and not talk when he's not supposed to). I actually considered attaching one of those small wireless lapel microphones to his shirt collar so I could listen in on how his day was going. Thought I could park out on the street within range and monitor the situation...it's the electrical engineer and mommy combination to blame for these crazy ideas!!

Jakey continues to progress in his Mental Math class, which is a really interesting approach to teaching kids to add, subtract, multiply and divide in their heads by using an abacus to start. He's able to quickly add and subtract now to sums under 100 and is one chapter away from finishing the first level. He's also continuing on with his piano lessons and still amazes us on a daily basis with the songs he can play and how he can translate them to his clarinet, saxophone, flute and trumpet. His teacher feels he has a real talent for music and could one day be a fantastic musician...again, just depends on whether his passion here continues.

Just to catch everyone up on how he's growing (and man, is he growing)...we had his 6yr check-up and he grew 3.25" (he's 4' 2" now) and gained 14 pounds (he's 67 lbs now) this past year. That puts him at the 99+%...which basically means OFF the charts. When I look at the chart, he's the size of an average 8 year old!!!! All other things checked out perfectly...eyes, hearing, etc. And he looked very cute in his little blue gown...lol

While at Nanny's house last week, I was determined to get him to ride his bike without training wheels. Nanny's street is really flat (which ours isn't) and so I knew this would be our best opportunity. After convincing him (translation...bribing him) to give it a try, we were off and running (well, one of us was running). He was able to do it!!!! After riding a little ways without me holding on, he made the mistake of trying to just put his feet down to stop and as you might imagine, the bike just kept on going and he ended up tangled up in it...seems I forgot to teach him how to stop...bad mommy!!! That was it for day 1. The next day, we gave it another shot and although my head was clearly saying stop running next to him, he's got it now, just stop running...my heart just wouldn't let my legs stop and so I spent the entire time running along side the bike up and down the street. I'd say we're 98% of the way there...with the 2% being left on my side of the equation and not his!

Over Labor Day, we attended the 3rd annual donor sibling reunion in the Virginia mountains (and I mean backwoods mountains) and had a great time. This year the kids that attended included Hallie, Baby Lea, Ben, Jessica and Jonah. Unfortunately, Abby (one of Hallie and Lea's moms) wasn't able to attend this year because of work, so Sharon and I made the trip together. For those who know Abby, you know that she is usually the one who has everything planned out and is ready for any and all eventualities...so I was a little nervous to see how Sharon and I would fare on our own. I'm happy to report that we managed to return with all 3 children in tact and even managed to keep them fed and rested and happy while we were away...though we did certainly miss Abby a lot!

The kids picked up as thought they just saw each other last week (and not a year or more ago) and it was very interesting to see how much they've all grown and how much they still resemble each other. We were fortunate that Ben's moms, Rebecca and Claire, hosted the event at their new weekend home as it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place with 5 bedrooms and a big pool in the backyard. It's wonderful to have this connection to them all and for Jake to continue to develop these relationships with his half-brothers and sisters!!

Well, I think that about catches us up now. As always, here are some memorable Jakey quotes from the past couple of months...

"Momma, it's not fair (which is by far, his favorite thing to say these days) that you and Nanny get to stay up and I have to go to bed. You told me that you have to sleep to grow and you and Nanny need to grow as much as I do because Nanny says you're both munchkins."

To his sister this past weekend "You're definitely part of my family because your dad is my dad and even though he doesn't know it, we know it so that's all that matters."

To his Nanny while I was away on a business trip... "Nanny, why can't we ride with the top on your car down just because it's raining? We each have an umbrella and we can put it up while you drive." To which Nanny replied... "because a policeman will see us and arrest Nanny for being a nutcase". Which only made him want to try it more.

"Momma, I don't want to go to mental math today. Why do I need to know how to do math anyway? Pops bought me my own adding machine and I can just take it with me everywhere and add anything I want."

"Momma, how old do I have to be before I can have my own car?" To which I reply, "well, you have to be 16 to drive, but even then you don't automatically get a car when you get your drivers license." And he said... "OK, well then I want to start saving now for my car, ok mom? I have that jar of quarters that I've been saving for practicing my piano and doing my math homework, so I should be really close to having enough already." Hmmmm...maybe for a matchbox car?

After asking why his Aunt Bear had to go and ride her bike in the middle of his birthday party... "Why does Aunt Bear have to ride her bike all the time, Momma? Does she need money for gas for her car, I can give her some of my quarters? As long as she pays me back when I'm ready to buy my own car." Wow, if that's all it took, we'd all give her gas money...lol

Walking out of the pediatrician's office after his 6 yr check-up... "Mom, why did Dr P ask me if I knew the alphabet? I bet she was confused and thought I was only 3 today." Hmmm, not likely considering you're as tall as an 8 year old.

After passing his deep water swim test (on the 3rd attempt and after significant bribing to even try again)... "Mom, why did you look so worried, it was "easy peasy". Well, sure, after I had to drag you here kicking and screaming.

To his friend at the pool... "We have to go now because I have to go and meet "MY posse". To which his friend replied... "what is a posse?" Then, with a look of confusion, Jake asked "what do you mean, don't you have a posse too?"

After one of our all too frequent debates about him always being hungry... "Momma, I'm starving!! Why won't you let me have any more to eat? I know, you're starving me so you won't have to buy me any new clothes." Hmmm, would that actually work?

Well, that's probably more than enough for now! Hope everyone enjoyed the summer...or the blur that appeared to be summer, anyway.

Separation Anxiety, Reaction to Medicine or a Little of Both???

2011-05-29T02:00:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I've always thought of "separation anxiety" as something that only happens during the infant and toddler ages. Ironically, Jake never really suffered from it and instead, has always been really good at transitions, especially between people who were very close to him (for example, staying with his Aunt Bear while I go to see a Broadway Show with my mom for her birthday). As a matter of fact, I often thought "wow, I don't think he even misses me when I leave" because I would typically get a "running away kiss" (the kind where you have to grab what you can get because they're already running to the other person) and barely a "bye momma" as I was leaving. I always took comfort in the fact that he felt that secure and safe and that he never worried that I wouldn't return or that he wouldn't be safe with whoever I left him with.

Well, that was then and this is now and now he's 5 (about to be 6 in 2 months) and now, is a whole different story... Over the past six weeks or so, Jake has had some really difficult times at school. He's been in varying degrees of "trouble" ranging from the not so atypical (for his age) not listening days to actually hitting/kicking/pinching other children. The worst incident resulted in him being sent home from school. (YES, sent home!! His mommy definitely lost countless nights sleep over that one.)

This happened to coincide with a span of time when I was traveling a little more than usual for work, but since this has not been an issue in the past, I wasn't really thinking this had much to do with it. That is, until I left for a course at Harvard where I had to be gone almost 6 days...definitely the longest I've ever been gone. During that week, Jake was literally in trouble at school EVERY SINGLE day. By Thursday, things were so bad that after having absolutely no luck trying to reason with him (AKA... me talking, him not listening) where he was basically inconsolable on the phone, I called my assistant and had her book me an immediate flight home that same night.

I didn't arrive from Boston until almost midnight and he was, of course, fast asleep already. As I stood there by his bed and rubbed his hair, he opened up his eyes groggily, closed them, then opened them quickly again and reached out to touch my face...almost as if to see if I was really there. When he realized I was indeed there, he jumped up and into my arms and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed while wrapping himself tightly around me. I held him all night long and he finally fell back to sleep while I lay there struggling to figure out what was going on???

My mom suggested I talk to my cousin Michael's wife, Mahsa, who works professionally with adults and children (as a psychologist or psychiatrist out in CA) and during the conversation we started to piece the whole thing together. During the prior weeks, there had been some unusual things that had happened that I hadn't really put together. First, Jake had a very bad nightmare that Nanny had died. He cried the next day as he told me that he didn't want Nanny to die and although I tried to reassure him that Nanny wasn't sick, you could see that he was still very scared about it.

A few days later, we were leaving his piano lesson and out of the blue he said to me "momma, I don't want you to get married". I actually had to laugh at first because I would imagine that I'd have to even have some time to date and then someONE to actually date for that to even be a remote possibility, so I wasn't sure where this had come from! LOL But then I realized he was very serious, so I asked him why he didn't want me to get married? He said that he just didn't and that he didn't want to share me. Then, while we were riding down in the elevator, he said, "Momma, if you do get married, can Nanny and I come with you?" At first I thought he was asking about the honeymoon or something, but then quickly realized he was asking if he could come and live with me or if I would leave him behind???? Needless to say, this came as quite a shock to me!!! Once again, I tried to reassure him that we are a "package deal", but he still seemed worried.

Next, he progressed to a very bad nightmare where he refused to talk about what happened in the dream and all he would tell me was that I had died, but nothing else. Then, while driving home after finding out about yet another incident at school he had a complete and total meltdown...he started crying, yelling, kicking the seat and all of these things started pouring out of his mouth..."you wish you didn't have a child, you wish you had another child, a good child, you want to send me away, you want to give me away, you think I'm "bad", you're sorry you have me, you're disappointed in me, you're mad at me, you don't love me, you're going to make me live with someone else..." and on, and on, and on. No matter what I said, he wouldn't listen to me. Needless to say, it SCARED THE CRAP out of me!!!!!!!!!!!

When Mahsa and I discussed all of this, she felt as thought he was definitely experiencing some sort of extreme separation anxiety and that he didn't feel safe/secure. She asked if I spend time with him "one on one" and I had to laugh because anyone who knows me knows that I literally have NO life without Jake!! I have work and Jake and that's it. Anything I do outside of work, whether with family or friends or both ALWAYS includes Jake. I have no personal hobbies, nothing I do just for me, nothing other than my time at work that keep me from Jake. And most of our time IS spent one on one or involved in one of his many activities...gymnastics (where I stand and watch), piano (where I sit in on the lesson and watch), t-ball (where I'm there cheering), etc.

However, I did have to admit that I often times find myself trying to "multi-task" while with Jake. Let's be honest, Nanny takes care of all of us the 2-3 days she's at our house, but the other days, I do have things that I have to get done...pay bills, wash dishes, cook, clean up, get stuff ready for school/work, etc. And I know that at times, he can tell/feel that I'm not 100% with him, even when I am with him, especially when my work bubbles over into early mornings and late nights. So, I've made a commitment to be more "in the moment" when I'm with him and that seems to be making a big difference (so far).

This week and last week, Jake basically had a GREAT day EVERY day at school. As I was thinking about the possible reasons for this remarkable improvement, I realized that the trouble began exactly when his allergies had flared up (badly) and I started to give him allergy medication both in the morning and at night. Now, Jake has had issues with certain cold medications in the past where they made him edgy and aggressive and so we avoid those (like the plague). That was a long time ago (I know, how long ago could it have been since he's only 5 right?), and considering how BAD (and I mean BAD) his allergies were I didn't really think about it before giving him the medicine. Coincidentally, the trouble stopped exactly when we stopped giving him the medicine. And (a BIG, HUGE knock on wood happening here) we haven't seen any signs of that kind of behavior since.

So, question is, could this truly be a coincidence or could it have been a reaction to the allergy meds??? I can tell you this...we won't be running any controlled experiments to find out!!!!! For a while there, I was wondering if we were both going to require a lifetime of therapy. LOL (OK, I can almost laugh about it now, but was truly on the verge of a nervous breakdown a few weeks ago)

Here are a couple of pics from our recent trip to Punta Cana and some from t-ball, which he LOVES this year and is actually doing really, really well!! (And of course, looks so cute in his blue uniform!!)

The gang in Punta Cana

T-ball team is the Rockhounds (LOL)

Sort of in a ready position

A little better

VERY excited about the ball coming his way... and he caught it and threw it to 1st!!

Just looking cool (and cute)

If he ever really puts his weight into it, it's going to go a long, long way

Pops says there may be hope for him yet

A Couple of Recent Conversations With Jake...

2011-03-24T22:00:00.000-04:00

In an attempt to put a stop to some recent bad behavior (talking back, not listening, etc.), we've begun to use Super Nanny's (the show on TV, not our Super Nanny who used to be Bad Nanny) timeout technique which she refers to as the "naughty step" or "naughty seat", depending obviously on the spot you select. We've gone with the "naughty step" and needless to say, Jake is NOT at all fond of the technique and/or the step or me when I use it. (And to be honest, I shouldn't say "we're" using this technique, because truth be told, Nanny prefers to put HERSELF in time out and just retreat to her room when he gives her a hard time...she might be the smart one here.)

A few days ago, he was particularly riled up when I placed him on the naughty step and began what turned out to be a 5 minute rambling of various little things to try to get me as riled up as him. Here are some of the excerpts (which are fit for printing)...

"Momma, you are the "worstest" and meanest mommy on the block, in NJ, in the United States, in North America in the world...oh, and on Saturn too." Who knew, there were mommies on Saturn?!? LOL

"Momma, you let me off this step right now or else I'm going to write a letter to Santa and he's not going to bring you ANY presents next year"...

"Mom, when I get bigger than you, I'm going to make YOU sit on this step all day and all night until your butt hurts"...(hmmm, lucky for me that I happen to have a lot of padding back there)...

"Mommy is a big bad baby, and nobody likes her...Quincey, do you like her? I don't either. Mommy, Quincey doesn't like you either." Hmmm, didnt know Q was harboring all of those bad feelings inside all these years... the little traitor dog...LOL

"Momma, you're in BIG trouble now because God is watching you and you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do or you're going to have to go to that place with all the fire now. And Nanny isn't going to say anymore prayers for you either!"...

"Mom, I'm just "agnoring" (his version of annoying and ignoring) you now. So you should just let me off this step because you're going to feel worse than I do when it's done"... he's sometimes right on that one.

"Mommy, when I get off this step, I'm calling my Nanny and she's YOUR mommy and she's going to make YOU sit on the step and that's a WHOLE lot of minutes that you'd have to stay here"... (it's one minute for every year old you are...so that translates into you are a WHOLE lot old, mom)

"Mommy, I have to go potty really bad and if you make me hold it that's going to not be good for my body and everything will back up into my large intestine" and then Aunt Bear is going to get mad at you because I'll have to go to "my" emergency room and she'll have to come there because you can't ever be there by yourself and I don't think you want Aunt Bear to be mad at you too, do you?... (First Santa, then God, then Nanny and now AB?)

Now the technique calls for absolutely NO talking to him while he's on the step and it takes EVERYTHING I have to not go over there and get into some useless debate with him about the things he's saying or drop kick him into the neighbor's yard. Can't be sure who's happier to hear the 5 minute timer go off...him or me?!?!? LOL

Conversation #2:

As I was putting Jake to bed tonight he's tossing and turning and I'm trying to rub his back and praying that he will settle down and go to sleep (already). As his eyes are just beginning to close, they pop back open wide and he says "Momma?" To which I reply, "no talking Jake, it's bedtime." But he continues... "Momma, I have to ask you something really important." OK, Jake, what is it? "Momma, is 24 + 24 equal to 48? Because I know that 25 + 25 = 50 and I think if I take 1 off of 25 and 1 off the other 25 then that would be 2 less than 50, which would be 48. Is that right, Momma?" YES, Jake, that's right! "So here's the real question, Momma...how can you add two odd numbers (25+25) and get an even number like 50 and also add two even numbers like 24+24 and ALSO get an even number like 48?" Now, it's 8:30 and I haven't eaten anything yet for dinner and I'm still in my work clothes and I left the house early this morning and haven't stopped all day at work and then took him to gymnastics, fed him and gave him a bath and now, he wants to have an in depth discussion about mathematical properties?!?!?!? One side of my brain is saying... "encourage him, this is fantastic, he's only 5 and he totally has a brain made for math" while the other side is saying..."you're tired, you're hungry, you're still in your work clothes, for Christ sake, just say you don't know and make him go to sleep"...Any guesses which path I took?

A couple of days ago, Nanny made her daily trip to WaWa for her sacred cup of coffee and picked up a "surprise" for Jake. When she got home, she told him that if he was good, he would get a surprise. Of course, he asked what it was and she told him that it was a "surprise" and that she couldn't tell him. Well about 5 minutes later, he picks up the receipt from the store and says "Nanny, I know what the surprise is! It says on here that you bought a coffee, the newspaper and a DONUT for me!!" Well, this shocked Nanny so much that she had to call me at work to tell me...I didn't have the heart to tell her that he can read just about anything now!!!

As I always say...Life with Jake is NEVER, EVER boring...

Catching Up With Jake

2011-03-16T00:07:00.006-04:00

This morning started off with one of the funniest emails of the year... it came from Aunt Amy and the subject was: "I would like to lodge a complaint" and it went on to point out that it has been half past forever since I provided an update on our boy. So, here I sit at midnight in hopes of somehow catching you all up on the past couple of months...

Since my last post, Jake has officially hit 4 ft tall and is closing in on 65lbs (so much for the super duper car seat that was supposed to last him until he was 7, little did I know he would hit the 65lb weight limit at 5). If I'm being honest, I'm not sure how the boy manages to grow like he does when you consider what he eats...or better yet, what he won't eat. He's still a great vegetable and fruit eater, which I'm sure helps, but still VERY fussy when it comes to any kind of protein (Aunt Bear will not like to hear this). The only beef he's eaten in the last 3+ years has been maybe a half of 2 hamburgers and the beef he gets in hot dogs, which is only because he doesn't know they're beef.

His typical response these days is that he's going to eat "meat" when he turns 10. Not sure what's with the age of 10, but it seems a lot of things are going to start happening when he hits that magical number. I'm embarrassed to say that the only chicken he eats is chicken nuggets and even though I buy the all white meat kind, I still don't feel all that good about feeding it to him. But without them, he would literally eat NO meat at all. What's a mommy to do?!?!

His absolute favorite food continues to be the special pumpkin bread that his Pops makes for him every 2 weeks. Poor Pops is coming up on his 3rd year (yes, YEAR) of baking pumpkin bread and the worst part is that he's not even allowed to experiment a little. Jake knows if even one ingredient has been changed and he sends Pops back to follow the original recipe. I guess there are worse favorite foods to have and frequently remind myself that it's at least not candy.

Speaking of candy... In spite of the fact that he eats VERY little candy, we had quite a shock at his last dentist visit. The boy had 4, yes 4, cavities!!!! I felt shocked, scared, mad, sad, guilty and was on the verge of a breakdown when the dentist delivered the news. I completely over-reacted and went directly to the store and bought a flossing electric toothbrush, a waterpik, 12 packs of different flossers, and went on line to purchase a bunch of these xylatol candies that kill the bacteria in your mouth. Yes, I was freaking out!!!

So, the cavities were between his back teeth (something I had never even heard of) and we had to go to a pediatric specialist to get them fixed. Aunt Bear volunteered to come to the specialist with us, more for morale support for me than for Jakey. And in the end, he did FANTASTIC and didn't even know that they had drilled at all!!!!! Aunt Bear and I sat in the waiting room and watched a movie (for bad and neglectful mommies) and he was in there all by himself and didn't cry a tear or make any fuss at all. After all those sleepless nights I had worried that he would be traumatized for life...he came out smiling. I was SO proud of him!!!

I have to tell you though, I still can NOT believe that with all of the brushing we do, he had any cavities, let alone 4, but the dentist proceeded to tell me that he had to floss at least twice a day to keep it from happening again. Now OK, I can see that for an adult (not that I do that), but for a 5 year old child?!?!?!? Floss twice a day?!?!?! Let me tell you, we've been on this regiment for the past 2 months and it would be easier to get the devil dog, Quincy, to let me do it. I'm convinced that five year boys and floss just don't go together...lol

OK, enough about teeth... On the school front, he continues to excel and is now totally obsessed with learning how to write in cursive. This wouldn't be an issue if his printing was really good, but being a boy and being lefty makes for not so great handwriting...when you add cursive on top of that, it's anybodies guess what the heck he's writing. He's turning into a really amazing reader and even reads with inflection, understanding how to use question marks and exclamation points. He still prefers to be read to vs reading to someone else, but he can certainly do it when he wants to. The only downside is the better he gets, the harder it becomes to tell him he can't do something because something "says so"... now he sounds out the words and comes back and tells me that he thinks I am mistaken. I guess I knew that day was coming...

He definitely inherited his "cleverness" (otherwise known as "common sense") from the donor since my dad has been telling me my whole life that I have absolutely none. I was trying to distract him while brushing his teeth one night and I asked him how many teeth he had and he said "20". So, I asked him what letter that would be, again just trying to buy myself some time, and he said "T". Now, I really wasn't sure it was T (I know, WHY do I doubt him), so I suggested we check and started to count up from A. I got to about E before he stopped me and pointed out that it would be much easier to count backwards from Z because we only would have to go down 6 instead of counting up 20. Can you say, Scary freak'in smart?!?!?... and bound to be a total handful when he's a teenager.

He frequently comes out with some good remarks and I always find myself wishing I had the time to write them down... here are a few recent ones that I can actually remember:

* "Momma, can you ask the Easter Bunny to leave me a note with the number of eggs he leaves inside and outside so I can know when to stop looking? He doesn't need to add them up, I can do that part myself." (well, won't the Easter Bunny be relieved to hear that...lol)

* As we pass by an ambulance stopped on the side of the road..."Oh well, there's another dead person." To which I replied "WHAT?!?!" And he said "well, every time there's an "ambilance" on those shows I watch with JJ on TV, the person is dead". Now I know why I don't like to let him watch TV with JJ.

* In response to me telling him that I wouldn't do something he insisted I do... "Mommy, you HAVE to do it because it's your JOB to make me happy!!" Hmmm, I don't like the sound of that.

* In response to my request to clean up his dinner plate and spot at the table... "Mommy, that's not right, everyone knows that kids make the messes and mommies clean them up." Well, guess I missed that in the fine print.

* After hitting the ball off the T and running down to 1st base with the bat still in his hands the next batter came down to get the bat and he replies "hey, get your own bat, this one is mine" LOL When the coach comes down to try to explain that he has to leave the bat by home plate...he replies "but coach, you told me to hold onto the bat"... and he was right actually.

* As we're building the 300 piece world puzzle (for like the 100th time)... "Mommy, do you see the country in Africa that looks like the same shape as the United Kingdom?" I'm lucky I know which is Africa and without labeling, I'm not sure I can even pick out the UK.

* In response to my mom telling him that she and La La had visited Spain and Morocco... "Sure, Nanny, that's because they're only separated by about 9 miles." WHO knows this stuff at 5? Heck, who knows this stuff period?!?!?

*On the first Sunday after Super Bowl Sunday, he says to Pops... "Pops I'm so happy because Sundays are actually going to be fun again because NO MORE FOOTBALL!!!" Breaking his momma's heart!!!!!!!!

Speaking of sports...On the T-ball front, after an initial rough start when No-No and Aunt Bear took him to the first session and he had a total meltdown (lol, lol, welcome to my world)... he's actually doing FANTASTIC. OK, so you need to keep in mind that we tend to define anything athletic related that he does without crying, pleading, begging, refusing to get out of the car or off my lap, as basically GREAT. So, fantastic is a step or two beyond that. He actually really likes T-ball now and has even moved up to the Majors now!!! Woo-hoo for Moo Moo!!! Here's the real shocker, though, our LEFTY hits and throws RIGHTY. Go figure?!?!?! I'm just happy to see him out there running around and having fun. (And believe me, there was a time that I thought it was going to take years of therapy for me to say that...) He's also still in gymnastics and continues to be the only boy (and not notice this) and at almost 65 pounds is certainly giving the instructors a work out as they lift and support him on the bars and rings.

One last exciting piece of news... I finally got off my butt and found a place for him to take piano lessons and he's gone for a couple so far. The teacher last Saturday asked him how many sets of 2 black keys there were on the piano and Jake quickly looked from one end to the other. The teacher tried to show him how he could count them by pointing to them and he said "why would I do that when I already know there are 7". Then when asked about the sets of 3, he said "there are exactly the same number". The teacher just looked at me...another one of those times that I'm just not sure what to say.

He's SO into music these days and can actually play some simple songs on ALL of his instruments...the keyboard, clarinet, flute, sax, trumpet and even his guitar. He can even tell you the notes as he's playing them and just seems to have an "ear" for figuring out the tune. Nanny bought him a few beginner books and he's already playing songs like "Beautiful Brown Eyes" from memory... I thought he was reading the notes from the book (which I was already impressed with) and then Nanny told me that the book wasn't even open. My only hope is that the teacher goes fast enough to keep him interested. They only do 15 min lessons for 5 year olds and for a kid that can sit at his keyboard for 90 mins, that just doesn't seem like enough. But, we'll see how it goes.

Jakey also took his first and second ski lesson a few weeks ago. The first one was a private lesson and it went really well (after some initial tears over falling). The second one was with Jordan and they were both part of a group lesson which was not well organized. GG and I complained and we were able to get a free private lesson for them both, so hopefully we'll get one more lesson in before the season is over. Good news is he considers himself a "good skier"...not sure about the accuracy of his rating scale, but I'll take it!

OK, I'm sure I've left out a hundred things, but that should hopefully catch everyone up somewhat anyway. I won't even promise to add in some pictures, because truth be told, I just finished his 5 yr book tonight and there will be plenty of pics to share when it arrives.

Hugs and kisses from Jakey and me!

Has Anyone Seen My Missing Blogging Time?

2011-01-19T21:05:00.006-05:00

I seem to have misplaced or maybe even totally lost the time I used to have to blog. Oh yeah, I think I actually use that time to sleep once in a while now. LOL Isn't it funny how life always seems to get in the way????

Jakey's doing great these days and he continues to grow like a weed. He's hit 60 pounds and is almost 4 feet tall (yes, at 5 he's the size of an average 7 year old) and has the brainpower to match. Now if only his emotional and social skills could catch up we'd be in business;-)

Kindergarten is going really well and he's reading and continues to enjoy math a lot. His latest favorite math thing is to tell you how multiplication and division work "together"... like 5 x 2 = 10 and 10 / 5 = 2. It was quite a hoot watching him try to explain that one to Nanny!!!

His other favorite thing these days continues to be geography. Something he CLEARLY got from the donor because I couldn't even put a map of the USA together if my life depended on it... I tend to get lost in the middle there somewhere. He, on the other hand, can do it in his sleep. And he's progressed to doing puzzles of Europe, Africa, South America, North America (including Canada) and Asia. One day while he was sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner with Uncle JJ, he asked (very innocently) "JJ, what's around France?" After looking at me with a "deer in the headlights look", my brother said "water???" Then Jake said, "no, JJ, do you know what countries around around France?" My brother said "no", so Jakey proceeded to tell him the countries and when he got to Luxembourg, JJ stood up, took his plate and said "this is wrong on SO many levels" and went downstairs to the "man cave" to finish his dinner. It was priceless!! So, be careful, if you run into him these days, he may have a world geography quiz for you.

It's amazing how math and geography come into play in so many of the day to day things that we do too. Tonight, he wanted to try my toothpaste and I was trying to explain to him that I thought it was going to be too "hot" for him and so he asked me to put a "Rhode Island" size drop of toothpaste on his toothbrush. "Rhode Island size"??? Who says that??

A few weeks ago he was telling me about how the kids in his class were telling him that the difference between countries and states was purely related to size. He says "momma, that's not at all true because look at Luxembourg, it would easily fit within the state of Texas. But I didn't tell them because I didn't want them to feel bad for being wrong." Left me wondering how many times I'm wrong and he spares me the embarrassment?!?! LOL

Aunt Bear, Scuzzle and Poppy came over for Christmas dinner and AB was telling a story about one of our trips to the Dominican Republic and she couldn't remember our personal concierge's name. After asking me, which is the equivalent of asking a rock these days (since I gave ALL of my memory brain cells to Jake), she all of a sudden thought wait a minute...I can just ask Jakey. He was in the middle of working on something and without even looking up he says "his name was Oliver". No hesitation, no extra time to think about it, just boom...his name was Oliver. The kid never forgets a thing.

We had a Santa close call this past weekend... Jake has figured out how to climb up onto the roof of this big playhouse that we have in his play room (what normal people would call their formal living room) and slide down with a big BANG onto the floor. Now, when JJ is downstairs, this sounds like about a 7.2 on the Richter Scale. So, I was asking him to please NOT drop down when JJ was downstairs and he was laughing saying he was going to do it because he, of course, thought the whole thing was hilarious (I haven't managed to catch onto 5 yr old humor yet. Luckily though, he and Nanny seem to be on the same wavelength most of the time.). I told him that if he did it again, I was going to remove the roof on the house and that I put it together and I could take it apart. To which he replied, "you didn't put it together, Santa brought me this house". I could hear JJ chuckle in the kitchen like...oooh, you got yourself into this one, Sis. So, I quickly said that Santa leaves directions for these types of things for all parents. And moved us on to another subject. Whewwww...close call, but glad to know that the whole "Santa thing" is still alive and well in our house!!

Speaking of Santa, Jake got an amazing set of instruments for Christmas and has been playing them every day. He now has 3 trumpets (a tub one, a play one and a real one), a clarinet, flute, recorder, drum, saxophone, xylophone, violin and the most awesome keyboard you've ever seen. On Christmas day, the conductor assigned everyone an instrument and Nanny, Aunt Bear, Poppy, Scuzzle and I played song after song (though truth be told, I think we laughed more than we played). I've got to find the pictures of that event, it was quite funny to see everyone and even Poppy was playing his assigned instrument!!! Later Sunshine Mary stopped by and we had to strike up the band again so she could join in. I'm sure the neighbors were loving it...especially the real trumpet.

Back before Christmas, Jake and I had a chance to spend a long weekend out in Flagstaff Arizona visiting an old Chico State University friend of mine, DC and her 5 year old daughter, Izze. (Who, of course, is counted as one of Jake's many "sisters" now) We had a blast and the kids seemed as much like longtime friends as DC and I by the time we left. It was during this trip that Jakey got the chance to try a real bugle and surprisingly he was able to play it on the very first try. DC convinced me that he had a real talent for music and that's where the idea came from for all of the instruments for Christmas. Hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and find him a place to take some lessons soon.

After way, way, way too long, we also were able to catch up with our Fav Four Pak... Hallie, Baby Lea (who isn't a baby anymore but the closest thing we have these days), Abby and Sharon for a day at one of those cool play (more like exploration) places. I have some good pics from that day too, just have to find them. The kids had a blast together and Jakey just loves, loves, loves his sisters!!!!!

Well that's it for now... here are couple of new pics and I'm going to add a couple new ones to the website too. Back soon...(I hope)

Jakey and Izze in Arizona

Jakey and his girl, Jordan

Too Cute To Forget...

2010-10-04T23:54:00.004-04:00

Well, the boy has certainly come out with some good ones these past couple of weeks. I have such a hard time remembering most of them, so I figured I better get some on here before I forget them all.

I was in the middle of a little project at home this past weekend and Jake kept wanting to help me with it. And as anyone who has a little one knows, HELP is truly a four letter word or at least leads to many of them said in a grumbly voice under one's breath when they offer and you find yourself trapped into accepting. Well, this time, I was not in the mood for any "HELP" and asked him to just go and find something to do while I got my little project done.

About 30 seconds later, I'm standing up on the chair, balancing the drill in one hand, a pencil in the other and a screw in between my teeth while holding a level against the wall and wouldn't you know it, I drop the screw and it bounces down onto the floor. So, I look to my left where Jakey is slowly exiting the room and then I look down at the screw slowly rolling across the floor. And he says in just the cutest little voice... "See momma, everyone needs a little help some times"

Today on the way home from school I handed Jake a new healthy snack for him to try. As he took the first bite, I had my fingers crossed and looked back to see the verdict and as is the case 90% of the time, it was a No Go. So, I said... "Oh come on Jakey, how can you not like that, it's so good?!?!" To which he promptly and matter of factly replied... "We all have different taste buds, Momma. Just because your taste buds like it doesn't mean that mine will too." Now WHERE did that come from?!?!?!?

I took Jakey to my college softball alumni game this past Saturday and after the game he wanted to see where I slept/lived when I went to school there. So, I took him up into one of the dorms that I lived in and we went in search of the exact room that I stayed in. Well, that door was closed, so I just walked down the hallway till I found an open door and said "here it is, my old room". Well, he took one look inside (and clearly this one was occupied by two VERY messy boys) and then looked at me with eyes WIDE open and said "you really lived in there, momma? So, why do you always tell me to clean up my room then if that's what your room looked like?" Needless to say, it was just about impossible to explain that although I lived in a room just like that, it NEVER actually looked like that. Note to self...pick a female dorm room next time!!! lol

After dinner the other night, Jakey proceeded to walk away from the table and into the family room to go back to a puzzle we had both been working on. So, he calls me to come in and finish it with him to which I reply, well if someone would come and clean up their dinner stuff then maybe I could come in and play. To which he was very quick to inform me that "that's a mommy's job...a kid's job is to eat, go to school, play and have fun" Funny, I guess I didn't read the fine print...

As most people know, one of very few things I miss since becoming a mommy is my sleep. I'm typically up very late during the week (case in point, the time of this post) and get up early to get us to work and school on time. So, on the weekend, I implemented a very strict policy from the time that Jakey was old enough to play by himself for a while where as mommy is not to be woken up until the clock say 10- 0-0 (yes, that's 10:00). I leave him breakfast and a puzzle or some other project to do and he's been able to work the TV remote since he turned 3, so he's usually all set with enough to eat to hold him over and enough to do to keep him occupied until he notices the time and comes up to announce that it is 10-0-0 and time for momma to wake up. Well, this past Saturday, he just didn't want to be downstairs by himself and so he came up to my room at 8-0-0, climbed up on the bed, opened my eyes with his fingers, and told me "momma, I want to renegotiate our deal so that you get up at 8-0-0 instead of 10-0-0!!" OMG, "renegotiate"...where the heck did that come from?!?!?! Needless to say, although it was a cute and very savvy attempt, momma vetoed that idea.

Well, those are just a few of the many, many things I've forgotten. And if you're wondering HOW I could forget these kinds of things, you just have to spend one day with the boy to realize that he talks NON STOP from the moment his eyes open to the moment before they close (when I threaten him with his life if he utters even one more word). Did I mention NON STOP?!?!?

That's all for now...

1st Day of Kindergarten Tomorrow!!!!!!!!

2010-09-09T21:38:00.012-04:00

Boy, did this day sneak up on me BIG TIME!!!! Last time I checked, I was waiting for Jakey to learn how to crawl...which he eventually all but skipped in favor of walking. Now he's 5 and ready to start kindergarten tomorrow?? How did THAT happen?!?!

We're both a little nervous about the big day tomorrow (ok, so truth be told, he's sleeping like a baby and I'm the one pacing around nervously...checking his list of supplies, double checking his extra set of clothes, making sure I have the camera ready...which come to think of it, I actually don't...crap) See?? Nerve wracking!!!! You'd think I was sending him off the college. Which, unfortunately, if time doesn't slow down a tick or two will end up seeming like only next year.

A couple of weeks ago, Jake had his 5 year checkup and true to form our boy remains off the charts. He measured in at 46.5" and 53.2lbs, which ends up being 97% for height and 95% for weight. That means in the last year, he grew 3.25" and added close to 12 pounds (which anyone who has tried to carry him, dance with him, or just even pick him up for a big hug can attest to). It also means he's added 3 or more inches each of the past 3 years in a row and the year before that he grew 5"!!!!!!! As the pediatrician always says...man, that's amazing, what are you feeding this kid?!?! Little does she know he lives on only about 5 or 6 basic foods, most of which are breakfast foods... though there is some exciting news to note on the food front. Jake tried and actually liked his very first HAMBURGER a week or so ago. (And yes, I know, that really did deserve a very own blog of its own) For those who don't know, he NEVER, and I mean NEVER, eats beef (other than all beef hot dogs, which he only eats because he doesn't know they're made of beef). Not a bite of steak, hamburger, meatballs and not even meat sauce.

Then one day while at our swim club, I bribed him with the promise of having an ice cream from the snack bar IF he tasted my hamburger. He took a bite and actually said "mmmm, that's good, mommy". I nearly fell off my chair!!!!!!! The next day, we returned to the pool with Aunt Bear and Aunt No No and he actually asked me to order him chicken nuggets AND a hamburger...which I was SURE he was not going to eat. Well, he not only ate some, he actually ate HALF. Not sure how many mommies actually celebrate their child eating half a hamburger, but for me (and bear and no no), it was BIG!!!!!!! And no, I didn't have the camera...uggh.

Jake has really made a lot of progress over the summer when it comes to reading. He now will read the signs we see while we're driving and of course, the "literal" reader that he is, this generates all kind of questions and interesting discussions. Such as..."mommy, that sign says No Stopping or Standing, but why would somebody stand there and get run over by a car?" And I go on to try to explain that they're not referring to someBODY standing there, but a car. At which point we get into an endless debate about how cars can't really "stand". Ahhh, so true.

Last time I was in Belgium and was being driven from the hotel to the office it really hit me what it must be like, as a child, to NOT be able to read signs and billboards and store names. I honestly had never really thought about it from that perspective before and it certainly makes a lot of sense to me now while he's so excited to be able to read everything. And, of course, point out to me when I'm going over the "speed limit", etc. Still unbelievable to me that he can actually read a book to me at the age of 4-5... but I guess we old timers were all just slackers back in pre-k and kindergarten;-)

A couple of weeks ago, Pops and I took Jake to his second Jets pre-season game and for the very first time, he made it all the way through the entire game. Actually, truth be told, I was so disgusted by their play in the second half, I was the one who wanted to leave with a few minutes left and he told me I needed to sit down and be "patient" and wait until the game clock said "0:00" (which is what I used to try to convince him to do). It's a lot of fun to take him and to see him there with his pops and actually learning about the game. Though he still finds some way to make it more about the numbers than the sport as his questions still often sound like "momma, why do the numbers only go up to 50 and then back down to 10 again? where's 0?" He'll likely be the one who can tell you all the stats on every game, as compared to him mommy, who rarely ever even remembers the score (though anyone who is a Jets fan knows that's more of a defense mechanism than anything else). So, this year he was able to go with both his pops and nanny to the pre-season games and fingers crossed, maybe we're only a year or two from attempting a regular season game.

In addition to seeing the Jets play, we've also been VERY fortunate to be able to attend 2 of the Liberty playoff games and sit courtside. This was quite a thrill for the boy and of course, quite a risk for the rest of us. Armed with "thunder sticks" he was frequently seen poking at players. towel boys and refs and it took many, many threats to keep him from launching one or both of his out onto the floor during play. He loves to go to the Garden though because he's convinced that his Aunt Amy runs the place and loves to tell everyone we meet (in line for twizzlers or the bathroom, etc.) as much and the highlight of his night is when we walk over at half time to go and see her. He just knows that some big security guard is going to try to stop him and that once his Aunt Amy sees him he's going to get to run right past that duffus and into her arms. During one game he even got to hold the game ball during a couple of time outs as one of the officials walked over and handed it to him and was on camera up on the big screen with his aunt bear. VERY exciting!!! Here's a picture of him and his Aunt Bear and Aunt CC on their way into the game.

Over the Labor Day Weekend, Jake, Nanny, La La and I went to visit our cousins Gerard and Amy and their 4 boys (2 of who are twins and are the same age as Jake). The boys swam the whole afternoon away in the built in pool in their backyard and for the very first time, Jake was able to swim in the deep end withOUT his life jacket!!!!!! We sort of tricked him into it by removing all of the flotation pads from his life jacket and not letting him know that the jacket itself has no buoyancy. Once he jumped off the diving board and swam to the side like that, we broke the news to him and although still a bit nervous, he jumped in without it. From there on out, he never put it back on the rest of the day!!! What a difference from a year ago when he wouldn't even put his face in the water.

Here's a picture of him and his cousins (same age, though preemies and twins, but not sure that accounts for the "slight" size difference??) ...

and a couple from the board walk with Nanny where he picked up 2 older girls so that he could ride on the Himalaya (neither mommy or nanny were signing up for that).

OK, I'm off to find the camera now!!! Back with his belated birthday post another day soon...

"Why do people have to wear underwear?"

2010-07-14T22:43:00.003-04:00

OK, so I've gotten pretty good at all of these "why????" questions and believe you me, it has not been easy. The kids is just too damn smart for his own good. Gone are the days when I could simply say "Oh, I never knew that!" when I was caught multi-tasking and not quite really listening (which led to a full 2 years of "momma, did you never know?" questions). Now, he even throws in a trick question here and there, just to see if I'm listening. With that cute, innocent little "right mama?" behind it, just to see if I'm paying attention.

So Monday he started swim lessons at our pool club and afterwards, I take him into the locker room and begin to change him back in to dry clothes. At which point, with a number of ladies standing around, he begins to question the usefulness of underwear. It goes something like this...me saying, Jakey please pick your foot up and put it into this leg of your underwear please and him not moving said foot, but instead asking "but why do people have to wear underwear, mamma?" In hopes of moving him along a bit, I respond...ah because otherwise your shorts would rub on your bottom and give you a rash. Nope, doesn't end there. "But mama, my shorts are very soft so why would they hurt my bottom?" Me... "well not all shorts and pants are soft, so you need to wear underwear and besides your underwear keeps your bottom, which can get dirty and smelly during the day from touching your pants or shorts"

The Boy..."But then why does my Nanny wash my shorts and pants if they don't touch my bottom? And if my bottom does touch them, she washes them anyway, so it's OK" Me... "It's just a law of nature, you have to wear underwear (can you tell I'm running out of solid rationale here? and getting close to the "because I said so" line I swore I would never use) Boy Genius... "But mama, I could get dressed much more faster (he's big on "much more" these days) if I didn't have to wear them and you could save your money and buy me toys, I would much more (see what I mean) rather have toys than underwear"

A starting to get frustrated me..."Jakey, can we possibly have this debate at home and not here in the middle of the locker room with you and your naked bottom hanging out...cause mommy is tired and hungry and I'd like to get home sometime tonight?!?!?" The negotiator... "Then I shouldn't wear underwear and we could get home much more quicker, mommy"... An exasperated me: "OK, at this point, you're about to have to walk out of here butt naked boy, so pick what u want to put on and let's GO" Any guesses what he picked? Yep, NO underwear.

And the whole way home, "But Momma, WHY do I have to wear them, my bottom feels much more better like this?" Oy vey!!!!

And the truth is, I really could NOT think of one good reason why he had to wear underwear?!?!?!?!?!?!? Any and all suggestions (because this subject WILL arise again) are totally welcome...

1-800-Pimple Store... LOL LOL

2010-07-14T21:49:00.002-04:00

One of Jake's new favorite things to do is to write down the 800 numbers that come on during the many commercials while watching "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" or "Americas Funniest Videos". A couple of weeks ago, he took the initiative to write one especially interesting one down. Then, when Uncle JJ came up from the manhole (AKA, the basement), Jakey proceeded to present him with the number and said "Here, JJ, this is the number to the Pimple Store for you". Now JJ, who insists of getting into serious conversations with an almost 5 year old went on to try to convince him that he didn't even have one pimple on his face...any guesses regarding who won that debate?

Just this past week, Nanny, Jake and I were watching TV together and of course, for those who know Nanny, you know she has a battery that never quits and can rarely, if ever, manage to actually SIT and watch TV for more than a few minutes at a time. So, during one commercial where I was distracted with my bb and Nanny walked into the kitchen to wipe a speck off the counter, Jake took the liberty of writing down the number for one of those electric carts that normal senior citizens sometimes use. He then proceeded to get the phone and dial the number and explain to the lady on the other end that he was calling to get one of those cart things for his Nanny. Then he went over and handed her the phone and here's how the conversation went...

"Hello, who is this? Oh my, I'm so sorry, my grandson dialed the phone and we didn't realize. No, no, I don't need an electric cart. No, really, I have no need for ...oh, what did you say it has? It does what? Ahh, wait a minute, no, no, I DON'T need one. Thank you, good-bye" Then she proceeded to chase Jake all over the house...him giggling out of control and her trying to catch him.

It leaves me to wonder what will happen when he figures out how to use my credit card to pay for things. We all know he could easily memorize the number and then who knows what will be showing up on the doorstep!!!

One more interesting update on our boy...so last weekend, Aunt No No and Aunt Bear came over to go to the pool and play. Afterwards, we decided to have an impromptu bbq so No No and I went off to the store to pick up a few things and Jakey and Aunt Bear stayed home and started playing one of Jake's states game. When we returned, Aunt Bear was so excited to show us how Jakey had learned to count syllables!!!! And sure enough, any word you ask him, he can tell you exactly how many syllables it has!!! I'm fairly sure I was in middle school the first time I even heard the concept of syllables...our boy never ceases to amaze us!!!

Hope everyone is having a good week! (And YES, 3 posts in the same month...woo hoo for mommy)

"Where's My Daddy?"

2010-07-10T23:55:00.005-04:00

A month or so back, we were on our way to a birthday party and from the back seat of the car the question comes... "mommy, where's my daddy?" Now we've talked about this subject many times before and we've ready many, many books about it, but I could tell by his tone, this time was going to be different.

I started to explain about him not having a daddy and how lots of kids don't have a daddy and how he has SO many people who love him. And the question comes back..."BUT, WHERE is my daddy? I WANT to see him! I JUST WANT him!!!" Hmmmm, tough conversation to have while driving, no? I decide to take the "logical approach"... I AM an engineer, after all. And I ask, so what is it exactly that you feel you're missing with a daddy???? And the answer comes back "I JUST WANT HIM!!!"....hmmm....this is clearly not going well.

So, I try to explain the whole thing again about how I don't know who he is and he doesn't know about us. Now, here's where him being a little smartypants gets me into big trouble. So he says "then how can his sperm have met up with your egg if you never met him?" Oh boy, now I'm talking about sperm and eggs with a 4 year old...while driving, no less!!!!!

So, I calmly explain the the doctor took the egg from mommy and the sperm from the donor and put them together. So he sits straight up and says "then let's ask the doctor who my daddy is!" Hmmm...makes sense, no? So, I try to explain that he's not allowed to tell us who his daddy is because it's a secret and he'll get in big bad trouble if he does. And he laughs and says, "that's just silly mommy, he'll tell me who he is because he's MY daddy!!" Oy Vey...

At this point, I can tell that he's getting a little bit upset so I decide to pull over and get out his picture book and show him the only picture we have of his daddy FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. (Yes, on the side of the road...and NO, not what I had planned) I pull over and ask "would you like to see a picture of your daddy?" And OMG, you'd think I just told him Santa Claus was on the roof of the car with a bag of toys just for him.!! So, I take out the book (which he's looked through a hundred times, but never known who that boy was in the middle of one page) and I show him the picture of his daddy as a child. He bends down and kisses the picture in the book and says "momma, wherever my daddy is he knows that I just sent him a kiss." OK, so it's breaking my heart at this moment. And I sit there on the side of the road wondering was it fair to have made the decision to bring him into this world knowing he would never be able to meet his daddy? Was it cruel? Was it selfish?

As I try to fight back the tears, he looks up at me, closes the book and says "mommy, why are we still sitting here, I'm going to miss the cake!" And reverts back to his non-stop chattering about the "beautiful clouds" and how "much more better" he is at something or other than anyone else in his class and on and on and on. And just like that, we returned back to life as we know it...

Though I'm quite sure this is not the last conversation we will have on this subject...

Holy Cow!!

2010-07-10T23:11:00.006-04:00

Recent pics

Nanny and her Chuchee's on Easter / At Jet's training camp with Pops

OK, so "Holy Cow" was about all I could say when I logged on and saw that it said my last post was on April 17th!!!!!! OMG... in the life of an almost 5 year old, that's really just about a lifetime ago. I could come up with a ton of excuses, but I'm fairly sure I've used them all already at one time or another. So, as I'm fairly certain every mommy has to do for one reason or another each and every day, I'm going to forgive myself and move on...

The question is, where to even begin???? We had yet another awesome vacation to the Dominican Republic and yes, it was our 5th time returning to the very same resort. At this point, we're almost like family. Nanny, Aunt Bear and Aunt No No were with us this time around and other than a little rain on the first day, we had beautiful weather.

Jake was absolutely AMAZING in the water this time around. Nanny and I had to laugh thinking back only just a year or so ago when he would cry anytime water even came close to splashing on his face because this year he was jumping, sliding down the slides and swimming (still with his vest) in the deep water in the big pool. To see him DIVING for rings though, honestly left me speechless!!! Just two weeks earlier during his swim lessons at the YMCA he would barely put his nose into the water when the instructor asked him to put his head under...so it was just amazing to see what a difference two weeks can make (and the incentive of diving for something).

The trip was fairly uneventful, other than a little episode at the Japanese restaurant. At home, when we get sushi, Jake typically eats sweet potato rolls and loves them. Well, at the Japanese restaurant they served sushi as an appetizer before the actual cooking began. Before I could say anything, Jakey ate 2 or 3 of the rolls that contained God only knows what kind of raw fish. I wasn't sure if I should stop him or panic or both, and so I basically just sat and watched and waited. Well, about 5 minutes later, he laid his head on my shoulder and I had a feeling things were about to get interesting. As I turned to ask him if he was ok, up and out came the sushi (and just about everything else he had eaten all day, it seemed). Aunt Bear, who was on the other side of him, sat there in a state of shock for at least the first 2 minutes and then I think No-No must have slapped her to force her into action. Luckily the others sharing our table were VERY understanding and after a complete change of clothes and a showering off, he was back at the table good as new (with a bowl of dinosaur "opameal" brought down from our room).

All in all, a great trip and I have lots of pictures which I'll hopefully get around to posting sometime before he turns 10...lol

Jake has made a ton of progress in terms of gross motor skills... he swings a bat with authority now and likes to play hockey in our driveway with uncle JJ (and make him use the little stick), he road his bike around our entire block for the first time and it's a mile around, with a few pretty tough hills, he's gotten good at gymnastics and is even going to move up a level in Sept. To my surprise, he even asked if he could play soccer when he turns 5, so I've signed him up for the fall session and hopefully, this time around he won't spend the majority of the time sitting on my lap.

He's going to start kindergarten in the fall at his Montessori school because our public school only has half day kindergarten and there was no way to make that work! Academically, he's still just amazing and the teachers have started to call him Doogie Howser because of his math skills and now even his ability to read and learn new words so easily. I think a lot of it has to do with his amazing memory...the kid can really just recall anything he's seen or written back till what seems like 5 days after he was born. Most of our conversations these days start with "mommy, remember when..." and most times, mommy doesn't remember AT ALL until he spends the next 10 minutes telling me everything that surrounded the event...what I was wearing, where we were, who else was there, what he said, what I said...until finally this old brain of mine locates the memory in between all of those cobwebs.

He's frequently heard telling people how to spell his name backwards, his phone number backwards, and all kinds of other freaky smart things. I have NO idea where he comes up with this stuff, but I'm quite sure he has some form of photographic memory that allows him to visualize whatever it is he's repeating backwards...whatever it is, he continues to just amaze us each and every day with something.

He still struggles a bit on the socializing side of things and truth be told, he probably gets that from me because I'm not good about getting to know new people or talking with strangers. It seems he's much more comfortable talking with adults than with children and when asked who was his favorite friend from his first day at camp, he answered "my teacher, Ms Jane" ...which, sadly, did not surprise me. He had brought in his geography floor puzzle to school that morning, and the other kids really wanted to do it with him, but he got very frustrated when they were trying to put the continents in all the wrong places and especially when one tried to put North America below South America...you would have thought the other kid had insulted him momma!! LOL

Jakey Line of the Week...

We had a bit of rough start at summer camp this year and he was basically crying and every morning about not wanting to go. One day, he even almost negotiated his way out of it when he promised his Nanny that he would be good if she would take him home with her to the shore. So, yesterday, we tried a day at a new camp which just so happens to be on the same campus as my office (can you say, oh so convenient?). As with any first day at a new place, he was a bit nervous and shy and I arranged to stay with him for the first hour and we brought in his picture book so he could have something to show his new friends and talk to them about.

Well, in the course of page flipping with his new teacher, we came upon the picture of him and Jordan and when the teacher asked who that pretty little girl was, he said proudly "that's my sister, Jordan". I wasn't about to correct him, I know better than to get into that debate...been there, done that, not pretty and no intentions of going back ANY time soon. Then we came to Hallie and baby Lea and the teacher asked who are these 2 adorable little girls and he answered "that's my sister Hallie and my other sister, Baby Lea". Well, at this point, the teacher was definitely looking at me and I was still not talking.

Then we turn to the page with all of his donor siblings and the picture of the donor in the middle. Well, at this point I was seriously questioning what the heck I was thinking when I had agreed to bring that damn book in... And in the very next breath, he points to the picture in the middle of the page and says "that's my OWNER (aka, donor), he's my daddy, but he just doesn't know it". Now it was the teacher's turn to be speechless. So, he goes on to add "he gave he sperm that my mommy's egg needed to make me, but mommy never met him either because the doctor put the sperm and egg together". Again, I don't look up and she says nothing...mouth clearly agape at this point. So, on he goes sensing he has a captivated audience..."the doctor knows who my daddy is, but he can't tell me because it's a secret and he'd get in big, bad trouble if he did. But that's ok because I have a pops and a JJ and a nanny and mommy says daddy's aren't always all they're "smashed up" (aka cracked up) to be. Plus, I have a posse and I don't know anyone else who has one of those, do you?!"

Needless to say, I had a lot of explaining to do... LOL LOL

The "Average" 4 Year Old...

2010-04-17T21:22:00.002-04:00

I was reading online on babycenter.com about what the "average" 4 year old is doing when it comes to math and it was just too good to not share... Here's what it said:

Your 4-year-old now
The average 4-year-old can count up to ten, although he may not get the numbers in the right order every time. One big hang-up in going higher? Those pesky numbers like 11 and 20. The irregularity of their names doesn't make much sense to a preschooler.

Don't get caught up in trying to persuade your child to count much beyond ten or 20 right now. Most fours can't fully comprehend how larger numbers correspond to actual quantity. They usually count between four and ten objects correctly.

I'm guessing that means that counting by 2's, 5's, 10's, 100's, etc. is considered a "little bit" ahead?!!? The other day, when Nanny got lost driving to meet me at the finish line of my 20 mile training run, he counted from 1 to close to 800 on the way... just a tad over 20. LOL The boy is just plain AMAZING!!! And hey, I'm his mommy, so I CAN say that!

Today we had a great time playing at Chuck E. Cheese's with Jakey's sisters Hallie, Baby Lea and Abby and Sharon. Then we went to see the Lori Berkner band in Princeton and had a blast dancing and singing along with the music...especially Aunt Bear's favorite song... "Buzz, buzz, buzz..buzz, ba, buzz, buzz". It's is SO awesome that the kids are able to grow up together and we feel SO lucky to have our favorite 4 pack live so close by!!!!!

Pictures next time...promise!

Bike Riding with Nanny & La La

2010-03-26T11:21:00.009-04:00

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more risky than having Nanny & La La on the loose on bikes in an adult community, we added Jakey into the mix. This was, BY FAR, the longest he has ever shown an interest in riding and even in spite of a few spills, no tears were shed (other than laughing) and no pedestrians were harmed...LOL

I had thoughts about trying to remove the training wheels in the near future, but when I mentioned this to Jake he was quick to inform me that he wants to keep his training wheels on FOREVER. Hmmm...we'll see how long that lasts, eh?

Here are some shots of the biking extravaganza...sort of like a three ring circus on wheels! LOL

In an effort to maintain "fair balance" in these updates...we've been having a little trouble at school these days on the listening front. Although I always thought that children were born knowing that THEY are the child and that children must listen to adults, including parents and teachers, etc., it seems this is not the case...or maybe Jakey was missing this gene (obviously from the donor's side...LOL). This equates to a total lack of understanding of WHY he needs to be the one who LISTENS and why everyone else gets to tell him what to do?

I've exhausted many, many attempts at describing how this whole "I talk, you listen" thing works and last week, in a last ditch effort, I broke it down into the simplest language I could come up with (he is, after all, only 4). I told him that a parents/teacher's job is to TEACH and that involves telling children what to do and a child's job is to LEARN and that involves listening and doing what you're told. He thought about this for a few minutes and then said "Then I choose to be the parent". Oy vey. When I explained that that was not possible right now, but that some day he would actually be the parent, he had two questions for me. First, how long till we can switch? And then when I explained about his OWN children, he asked how that was possible since I had told him that boys could NOT have babies. Double oy vey!!

I had to have a special meeting with his teachers and the asst head of school and all joking aside, this really has me TOTALLY stressed out. Bottom line, the boy has a total lack of respect for authority. He feels that he is among equals and expects that he TOO be listened to and that HIS opinion can, at times, outweigh mine or his teacher's. He is frequently heard saying "you're not listening to me". During the conference, one of the teachers was telling us about what had happened just that very day. Jake was sitting doing his work in his kindergarten book (what he does when the other kids his age are napping) and a little girl from kindergarten walked in and was working with the teacher on learning some new words. Well, it seems she was struggling a little bit on the words, so Jake started saying the words for her before she had a chance to say them. Needless to say, the little girl was NOT happy about this, so the teacher asked Jake to please stop and explained that the girl needed to practice/learn them herself. Well, mr. stubborn proceeds to continue to say the words and the teacher threatens to move him to another table...long story, short, he gets moved. (Who among us didn't know that was coming?)

So, he moves to the other table and proceeds to write a note in his workbook that says "Mrs. Byra is a nauhty (his spelling) girl. She was rude to me. She doesn't listen." As the teacher was telling us this story, she stopped and said, I have to tell you, I was just so impressed with how he wrote those sentences that for a minute, I forgot that I needed to respond appropriately" and we all laughed, we just couldn't help it. Even when he's being a TOTAL buster (Bad to the Bone), he's amazing.

Over this past week, I've tried taking away his TV priviledges, but that didn't seem to bother him too much. Then finally, one night, I hit on what might be our saving grace... I told him that instead of the 5 books we read at night, he would only get 3 if he didn't have a good listening day. Talk about a TOTAL meltdown!!!! You'd think I told him he couldn't have ice cream for a year...oh wait, that would be me who would get upset about that, not him. So that's the new rule and since that night, at the risk of jinxing us, we've had 2 GREAT days in school in a row. Which effectively doubles our previous longest streak!!!!! LOL

Now, as you would expect, he's negotiated some modifications to the arrangement and he now has the ability to earn 7 books if he's able to have 5 great listening days in a row. God help me if we hit that, because I'm going to be reading for hours. But, at least for now, we may have found something that works. And for those thinking, hell, the belt/shoe/wooden spoon worked just fine for me when I was growing up...believe me, I'm right there with you. But that's just not "in vogue" these days and besides, I hate to hear him look up at me and say "you hurt me". Now, it's just "you hurt my feelings"...and that, I can live with.

Bye for now...

A Day At The Zoo...

2010-03-26T10:36:00.006-04:00

Well, maybe not a whole day at the Zoo...anyone who knows us, knows we don't get out early on the weekend and this was no exception. We had hoped to go with Jordan and GG, but we were having a pancake breakfast with Pops, so we couldn't go late morning and then Jordan's afternoon nap got in the way (we're basically on opposite time lines...Jordan gets up hours before we do and just when we're ready to rock and roll, her battery needs recharging). We certainly missed them, but tried to make the best of our time at the zoo.

Jake was totally into the zoo map this time and wanted to be sure he was giving direction as we made our way through to see each and EVERY animal on the map. Sort of like a "turbo zoo" trip and we did everything but check off every animal we saw (if I had a pen, I'm sure we would have ended up there). I have a feeling that I have a backseat driver in my immediate future...LOL

Later that evening, we met up with the Posse for a pre-race dinner for No-No to help her load in some carbs before her half-marathon the next morning. Jakey was surrounded by both his girls...Jordan and Christiana and of course, all of his Posse aunts whom he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES. Can't be sure how many carbs No-No got, but I can assure you that Jakey got his AND her share as he ate 3/4 of a plate of pasta and countless slices of Italian bread. Lucky for him, Jordan doesn't mind his version of "sharing"!!

Here are some pics from the dinner event, as you can easily see...lots of love and fun going on here!

And we HAD to document Aunt Bear eating short RIBS!!!!! What's next, seafood?? LOL

Was an awesome day all the way around!!!!

OMG...Multiplication & Division at Age 4?!?!?

2010-03-18T23:16:00.012-04:00

OK, so let me start out by saying that I am just SOOOOOO far behind on these posts that any hope of catching up is nothing more than a pipe dream. Yes, yes, yes, I know, I'm a BAD mommy... let's just get that out of the way as well. I have a bunch of excuses (training for marathon, crazy job, Lyme disease, etc.), but they all sound so lame, they're not worth wasting any valuable typing time on them. After all, this blog is about THE AMAZING BOY we all know and love.

So, what's he been up to these days (and all those I've failed to write about)...Well, I know it sounds CRAZY, but it's TRUE...Jake is learning how to multiply and divide in school now. And not just the easy stuff either, he's gone all the way through to his 10x tables and is learning to divide by 2, 4, 5 and 6. And for those non-believers who may wonder if this is just a little mommy white lie or exaggeration, not to worry, I have pictures to prove it. (And to be totally honest, I didn't even believe it myself when Nanny told me until I saw the worksheets and quizzed him a little)

Now, I was considered pretty darn good at math when I was growing up and they even brought in some high school work for me when I was in middle school...BUT, I'm sure that I was in 5th or 6th grade when I learned multiplication and division. And even if I'm off by a grade, I know for certain I was NOT 4!!!!!!!!! I'm scared to think what he will be doing when he's in 5th or 6th grade...maybe teaching it??? LOL

Here's the proof...

And for those who were thinking, oh that's not so hard, he just had to count by 2 or count down from 7...here are the mixed numbers problem sheets. Since this time, he's started doing problems like 2,222 x 4, which for him is as easy as 4x2. CRAZY!!! I'm running out of room on the refrigerator to display all of these amazing pieces of work. Anyone with any spare room on theirs, please let me know...LOL

When he's not totally wrapped up in math of some sort, he's really into puzzle balls these days. Regular puzzles were starting to be way too easy, so these puzzle balls (3D puzzles) are SO perfect for him. Unbelievably, they even include a link to his favorite things in life - numbers - as the back of each piece has a number...some up to 540 pieces. His absolute favorites are the ones that I found that include the 8 planets in our solar system. It used to take US days to put one together and that was with quite a lot of team work, but these days, he's able to do them ALL by himself and this usually buys me a little more sleeping time on Saturday mornings. Today we donated a set to his classroom at school which made the teachers chuckle a little when they told me that Jake would likely be the only one who could actually do them. Which again is a little shocking considering some of the kids in his class are 7!!

Here's a picture of the entire solar system (I did my best, but I'm sure I don't have them in the right order...I still can't tell Mars from Venus and Neptune from Uranus...oh vey)

and a close up of Jupiter (my personal favorite).

Last month, in light of being hit by snow storm after snow storm, Jake had a chance to go sledding quite a number of times. We even dragged Nanny along with us one time and had a BLAST listening to her SCREAM the entire way down the hill. Of course, I have NO pictures of these events because I've somehow slipped into this no picture coma and try though I may, I've not managed to snap out of it. I have like ZERO pictures of the boy from the month of Feb and so far in March...at this rate, next year's picture book is likely to take much less time to put together and cost a whole lot less. I think I may be experiencing second child syndrome with the first child...is that even possible?!?!? Whatever it is, let's hope I snap out of it SOON. (And it doesn't help that Nanny's camera has gone MIA...yes, another one!! Nanny goes through cameras like Jake goes through shoes...LOL)

A late addition to this already late post... I DID manage to break the camera out of retirement and take some pics of our recent trip to Turtleback Zoo, a pre-race dinner for No-No with the Posse and some cool bike riding pics with Nanny and La La. Will continue that in the next blog... and yes, that new one will come before he enters college...LOL

Back soon...

When I Was In Your Tummy...

2010-01-30T23:37:00.005-05:00

Every night I read a 3-5 books to Jakey before bed and we always read at least 1 about nature (planets, mountains, glaciers, etc) and one about the human body. Now these books are written for children, just not really for 4 year olds, but he loves them, so I figure what's the harm, right? I must admit, though, there are times when I'm reading about veins and arteries and platelets, etc. that I wonder "am I just really reading to myself here, is he getting any of this???"

Well, last week as I was reading to him about the heart and about how it pumps blood and about the job of white blood cells and platelets in fighting germs, he says "wait, mommy, the other page showed that purple cell eating a germ". Now, truth be told, I had NO IDEA what he was talking about...but I've learned better than to doubt him. So, we flipped through the pages of the book and just when I was sure it had to have been another book, or that maybe he read about that in school, wouldn't you know, there it was!!!!! A purplish cell eating a germ...just like he said!!!! We hadn't read that book in at least 4 months, and it just blew my mind that he remembered that page and the color of that cell and the fact that it WAS eating a germ!!!!!!! I could not have recalled that if my life depended on it... NO way, No how. Left me wondering, if I shouldn't be less worried about what HE'S getting out of these books and more concerned about what I'M getting out of them...LOL

Lately, he's been very much into talking about what it was like when he was in my tummy. He knows about the umbilical cord and I've shown him the ultrasound pictures that I have (and with the high risk pregnancy, I was fortunate enough to have some almost every other week, so I have a lot) and he just loves the idea that he was somehow inside my tummy.

So, a couple of weeks ago, after having this never ending debate about how he doesn't eat meat, I decided to invoke one of the stash of mommy white lies that you're given when your child is born. I said "wow, you know what I just thought about? When you were in my tummy, you used to LOVE hamburgers!!!" This just blew his little mind...he was stunned at that news. So, I continued (once you burn one of those little white lies, you might as well make the most of it...LOL), "yes, you loved them so much that when I would finish the first one you would say more, more, more mommy and kick and fuss until I had to give in and eat another one and Nanny would say you're not going to eat another hamburger are you? And I would tell her that I had to because you just loved hamburgers and you were asking for more." Well, he just LOVED this story and he was so intrigued with the whole deal that he asked for more and more details and I embellished the story further and further...just short of having moved into the local burger king...LOL

When we arrived at school that day (this conversation took place on the drive there), he proceeded to tell his teacher that maybe he just thinks he doesn't like meat, but maybe he really does like it because when he was in his mommy's tummy he used to love hamburgers and kick and fuss until I ate more and more of them. Needless to say, she saw me wink at her and played right along. Then we saw Aunt Bear that night at gymnastics and he asked her about it and luckily she was filled in on the whole deal and she played right along.

Now, before anyone gets excited about this, we still haven't gotten any closer to trying a hamburger yet...but maybe the door just inched open a tiny, tiny bit?!?!? I know, I know, some day he's going to be 6' 3" and be sitting across from me at McDonalds eating 2 Big Macs and a double cheeseburger while I eat my salad and I'm going to laugh at myself for ever worrying about this...but I've come to realize, that's what mommy's do, they worry!!!

Catching Up (If that's even remotely possible)...

2010-01-30T23:16:00.005-05:00

I'm convinced that having a child pushes you into some parallel universe where life runs at much faster speed than normal. My last post was Dec 30th and here it is, Jan 30th already...how the heck did that happen?!?!?! And where did January go exactly???? At this rate, I'm going to be 70 in the blink of an eye...LOL

I never did get a chance to catch up on Jake's Christmas, but it seems a bit late for that now, no? All in all, it was WONDERFUL!!! I'd have to say, 4 years old seems to be about the perfect age for whole Santa experience and he was really, really into it. We had to leave milk and cookies for Santa (and a note for Uncle JJ telling him NOT to eat them), and we all had to be in bed early for fear he would pass us by.

In the morning, we woke up in my bed (he's allowed to come in anytime after 5) and for a few minutes, he actually forgot it was Christmas. We laid there and laughed and snuggled and we were playing and then it was like he just suddenly realized what day it was. He was mid sentence talking about something else and then, WHAM, he jumped to his feet, vaulted off my bed and bolted for the door. The morning was just magical with Jakey running down the stairs yelling "mommy, nanny, he came, Santa came!!!!" And as nanny and I tried our best to get ourselves downstairs he came up and down giving us a report of what Santa had brought... "Mamma, did you never know that Santa brought me my own BIG house?!?!?" And on and on and on... Then we had Aunt Bear, Scuzzle and Poppy over to our house for Christmas dinner and we all had a great time (especially shooting Aunt Bear's marshmallow shooter).

January seems to be mostly a blur, with Jakey getting back to school and me getting back to work. The Jets shocked everyone by making the playoffs and Pops and I actually went out to San Diego to see them beat the Chargers and then this past weekend, we flew to Indy to see the Colts beat us. All in all, we had a crazy and fun time and even with the loss it was well worth going...though I still haven't caught up from being gone.

As always, lots of germs going around in school and we've had several colds, fevers and the dreaded stomach virus (twice now) where it isn't possible to even keep water down... not fun. But despite a runny nose or tummy troubles, he's still one of the happiest kids I know and still remains the best part of every day!!!

Jake's New BIG Big Boy Bed...

2009-12-30T23:23:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post for now with some pictures of Jake's new "BIG big boy bed", as he likes to refer to it. On Christmas morning, Jake found a note by the chimney from Santa letting him know that he had a new big boy bed for him, but that he didn't want to wake him up by putting it in his room, so he was sending some of his "friends" the following Monday to set it up for him. Luckily, at 4 years old, this still seemed to make a lot of sense to him. Whew!!!!!!!!!

So, we counted the days from Friday to Monday and boy did they seem to go slowly for him. Then Monday rolled around and we counted the hours and waited, and waited and waited... And as luck would have it, at about 3 in the afternoon we received a call letting us know that the truck had broken down (now Jake's first question was "why don't they just borrow Santa's sleigh, he's not using it today?!?!...hmmm, good question) At first, the lady from the store asked if they could just deliver it tomorrow? To which I replied TOMORROW?!?!?!...obviously she had NO idea what kind of trauma that would cause for my anxious little 4 year old who was pacing back and forth by the front door!!!!! Not to mention the fact that I had already taken his toddler bed and moved it up to the attic and we had carefully prepared the spot. Oh, I just couldn't see myself bringing that bed back down and I saw nothing but a restless night of sleeping with a disappointed little boy in bed with me. So, I asked if she could do everything she could to TRY to get that bed to us that night some time and she said she would.

Well, at about 6 we received a call from the driver, letting us know he was still coming and that they would likely be at our house between 8:30 and 9. Hmmm, so much for the 7:30 bedtime, eh? Then 8:30 came and went, and 9 and 10 and at about 10:30, they rolled into our driveway. Well, Nanny and I were dead tired, but not the boy... oh, no, he was raring to go! And oh so excited to meet "Santa's friends".

So, in come the "friends" (from the look on his face, I have a feeling he was expecting elves...and that, these 2 men were not) and off he goes to get his tools and his construction helmet with the light on it and his measuring tape. Yes, these lucky men, out until almost midnight delivering beds, were blessed with an excited little 4 year old who was determined to "HELP". And I thought I was having a tough day...LOL

And help he did...he organized their screws and bolts and washers for them...by size, of course. And told them exactly how many they had of each. And he measured all of the pieces to be sure they knew exactly how long and tall they each were. And when threatened with his life (by me) to get OUT of their way (at the rate they were going, they were going to be sleeping over), he proceeded to draw them pictures to take with them...some for them and a special one for Santa. This, they definitely got a kick out of.

So, the bed was set up and nanny came up to inspect and when asked what she thought, she gave one of those looks that makes it VERY clear that you are trying to be supportive, but thinking "oh God, what moron puts a bed like this in a room like that?" But, the boy LOVED it...and I don't think there's a font size large enough to emphasize the word LOVE appropriately. So, we put him to bed and decided to deal with the possibility of rearranging it in the morning.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a little bit of a perfectionist at heart... I just like things to work out... I'm a fixer...you have a problem, I'm going to be thinking about how to solve it before you finish telling me what it is. Just the way I'm wired. No problem too big and nothing is impossible. That said, as you might imagine, I did not sleep a wink that night thinking about all the possible ways to make that bed look good in that room.

Jake had an AWESOME first night in his bed, and thankfully, was totally oblivious to any issue with the bed, the room, Nanny or his neurotic Mommy. First thing in the morning, I used my little paper layout of the room to evaluate other possible configurations and with Nanny's help, we came up with what we thought would help. Only problem was, that the bed itself didn't just have to be moved, it had to be partially reassembled as the end with the dresser needed to now be at the opposite end, which meant the ladder had to move as well. Up came the tools, apart came the bed, and back together it went. Here's what it looked like after our first attempt...

Would you say he looks a little happy?!?!?!?

Then, while showering I thought to myself, now why should we waste all that empty space behind the dressers (since they are only deep enough to go half-way back under the bed)? So, I tried pushing them to the back of the underside of the bed and it created what he now considers his absolute favorite part of the bed...the cave, tent, special hiding place.

Then we added the "curtain" (the top sheet to his set) and WOW, now we had the magical space behind the curtain!!! Here's a picture of the improved configuration. And although we obviously would have a difficult time utilizing the top drawers, considering we replaced a 3 drawer changing table with 12 new draws (9 of which remain empty), I think we'll be ok without those 2.

See, no worries about it being dark under there either, he has his construction helmet on with the flood light on the front...LOL

That night, I knew that he must really, really love his new bed when he asked me at 7:00 if he could go up and get his pjs on (which he did ALL BY HIMSELF)? Then at about 7:30, he asked if he could go up to bed?!?!? Maybe I should have asked for the BIG big boy bed much sooner?!?! LOL

Wow, so much for a short post, eh? Anyway, looks like it's all worked out for the best... Nanny's happy and our boy is ecstatic which all equals mommy being very, very, very happy as well. More on Christmas later... hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and looking forward to the New Year!

The Story of Baby Jesus ... As Told by Aunt Bear

2009-12-11T23:52:00.002-05:00

As they looked at our newly decorated Christmas tree tonight, Aunt Bear asked Jake if he knew the story of Baby Jesus? When his answer fell short of her expectations, she set off to tell him a somewhat more modern version of the story... as I was eavesdropping, it went something like this:

So, there was Mary and Joseph and they were married. Somehow Mary got pregnant, she drank from this river and then she was pregnant. Then there was an announcement that a census was going to be taken and so everyone had to go back to the place where they were born...but Mary was pregnant. So, they went back to where Joseph was born, but there weren't any rooms available in the hotels...not at the Holiday Inn, not at the Fairfield Inn, not at the Hyatt and not even at the Residence Inn, so they had to stay in a barn with all of the animals. Then Baby Jesus was born and then these guys came to visit and they had all kinds of presents for the baby.

And God, (at which point she asked, do you know who God is? To which he replied by pointing up to heaven) sent Baby Jesus down here so that he could save us all so that we could go to Heaven. And she summed it all up with a "ok, you got all that? make sense? good"

Let's just hope he doesn't recount that version during Sunday School some day in the not so distant future...LOL

"Momma, Best Friends Forever!!!!"

2009-12-11T23:40:00.002-05:00

Just a short post about a very memorable moment during our Thanksgiving trip to Florida...

It had been a VERY long day and mommy, nanny and La La were all exhausted, sprawled around the hotel room. Jake, of course, was still running on 3/4 of a tank and was no where near ready for sleep or any form of rest. He was coloring busily and playing with his puzzles and running around from room to room making the rest of us even more tired just watching him go.

We were watching that tear jerker "The Dog Named Christmas" and of course, in the hotel room, we did not have the benefit of having our little Tivo remote to pause live TV or back-up if we missed something. The combination of that, having just finished packing, a long day and the thought of traveling the next morning had our nerves just a little bit frayed.

At that moment, Jake decided that he absolutely HAD to have the marker set that was already packed away for the airplane. He asked Nanny who said "no", he asked Mommy who said "no" and started to pace back and forth right in front of the TV asking please, please, please. Now, normally this would have triggered a "mommy meltdown" and believe you me, I was ripe for one. But I decided to just give in and get my tired self up off the couch and go and get them.

When Jake saw me get up, I honestly think the first thing he thought was that he was in BIG trouble, and he took a few steps back. (I think even Nanny was a bit nervous) When I went into the bedroom to my suitcase, he was only brave enough to watch from the doorway and dared not venture any closer. When I turned around and held out the markers he wanted so desperately, he came running in, jumped up into my arms, put a hand on each side of my face and said "thank you, thank you, thank you, momma...BEST FRIENDS FOREVER" and sealed it with a kiss.

It's moments like that that remind me that I'm the luckiest mommy in the world!!!

Our Boy Can READ!!!!!

2009-12-11T23:08:00.002-05:00

So, I knew the day was coming and I knew he was very close to reading because he's been asking "what's that word?" "what's that say" type questions for quite some time now... BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, I never realized how quickly it would happen.

Last Thursday night when I put Jake to bed he was so excited about getting "his book" the next day. It sounded as though one of his teachers was making it for him to bring home to read over the weekend. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole "his book" thing because frankly, anything that consists of a few pages (no matter what's on them or not on them) stapled together is a "book" to Jake these days. And with the recent spike in creativity and affinity for arts/crafts, we've had quite a number of "books" being developed every hour in these here parts... which is probably why my printer and fax machine NEVER has any paper anymore.

So Friday afternoon when I arrived at school, he could NOT have been more excited to proudly show me "his book". It came in a very special "reading" folder that only the kindergarten children (usually) get and had instructions for his reading "homework" for the weekend. He held it in his hands the entire ride home and when we arrived, we sat at the table (me in my assigned "listening seat") and he READ the "book" to me!!!! OK, so truth be told, the "book" was simply 6-7 pages of a photocopied "story" with 3-4 word sentences and pictures. Yet, I could NOT have been any prouder!!!!!!!!! My boy, my just 4 year old boy, READING to me!!!!!

The next day, we were off to Jordan's 3rd bday party held at none other than 1 Todd Terrace and yes, we just had to bring the book with us. During an intermission between delicious courses, the Posse and some others (Goobie, Gail, Christiana, Andrew... etc) gathered round and Jake proudly read his "book" to everyone. It was one of those moments when I'm so touched by the loving friends (more like family, really) that we have in our lives. It felt as if they were just as proud of him as I was and the feeling could not have been any better.

Jake returned the book to school on Monday and spent the better part of this week getting in mischief. Every day I arrive to a report of someone he "harassed" or some teacher he didn't listen to and by the middle of the week I was online late at night researching boarding schools...LOL So, I had a little sit down with the Asst Head of Schools and we agreed that they would not force him to lay on his mat and nap during the day any longer...as this seemed to be the time when he got himself into the most trouble and frankly, I absolutely DON'T want him to nap. Instead of napping, they decided to try to give him a workbook that the kindergarten children use and wouldn't you know, he loved it!

Today, when I picked him up, though not a perfect report for the day, we certainly had a much better one and no nap time troubles at all. The best part of the pick up, however, was seeing him excitedly run over the show me the REAL BOOK that he was taking home this weekend for reading homework. His teacher came over and explained that he just blew through the whole first set earlier in the week (typically takes 2-3 months) and so she had no choice but to start him on this real series of books. Funnier still, she said that she caught him trying to sneak ALL of the books from this set into his backpack to take home and when she asked him what he was doing he said he "I really, really, really want to read them all please". She explained that she had to have some to send home with the other children and with a little bit of a struggle was able to get him to leave with just one.

We were lucky enough to have Aunt Bear come over to visit tonight and so Jakey actually had a 2 person audience for his first read through his new REAL BOOK. It was amazing and we were both stunned to be sitting there watching him read this book to us...a REAL book!!!

Days like this, it's just too cool to be a mommy...

Heading off to Florida

2009-11-26T13:33:00.004-05:00

This morning I woke up to a kiss on the cheek and a gleeful "momma, today is the first day of our vacation...so you can't sleep late!!!" Well, officially, I don't consider us "on vacation" until we actually leave home and arrive someplace else. However, it seems, for a 4 year old, vacation is more a state of mind than where you are physically...

So, I sat up and asked in return, "where are we going on our vacation?" Now, for those who haven't had a chance to see (or should I say "experience") Jake during this recent geography stage, you might be expecting an answer like "Florida" or "to see Uncle Sal, Uncle Michael, and/or my brother Cole. No, not these days... This morning I was treated to the state by state tour from NJ to Florida. Including the 2 states whose pronunciation I love to hear the most - "North CALORINA" and "South CALORINA".

It AMAZES me, especially in light of the fact that I couldn't put together a puzzle map of the United States if my life depended on it. I clearly got more than my share of math related braincells and just enough geography brain cells to be able to find my way to and from my house...LOL And he clearly got his from the donor.

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of attending a children's concert with Jake's sisters, Hallie and Baby Lea. Here's a picture of him with Ralph (the singer) and a couple of the kids playing at the playground. It was a wonderful day and we continue to feel SO lucky to have Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Baby Lea in our lives!!!

Jake has been progressing in leaps and bounds this past month or so. (or should I say since he was born) He can now add two 2 digit numbers together (thanks to his Nanny) like 20 plus 20, 30 plus 40, etc. He can also tell you answers to questions like this one which I challenged him with on the ride to school one morning... If you have 50 slices of pizza and you need to give the same number to JJ, mommy, nanny, pops and yourself, how many would each of us get??? To which is promptly answered "10 momma, because it goes 10, 2o, 30, 40, and 50". Well, OK then!

One of the most amazing advances though has been his creative play, including drawing, coloring, writing and other art related things. This is the kid who would color for 5 seconds max only a month or so ago and now he's managed to blow through all of the paper I have in the house by stealing it from my printer, fax machine and even out of my briefcase, when necessary. He can write basically anything he wants to and I've been having him write out his Christmas list for Santa and continue to put things on my grocery list for me. At school, they said he writes his name on everything and always adds a "mommy" right next to it.

Speaking of school, I had Jake's conference a couple of weeks ago and they had nothing but great things to say about him (other than a little tattling that seems to be making it's way through the classroom and also some occasional name calling like... hippomapotomus face, which it seems does NOT go over well with the other kids). They told me amongst the teachers they call him Doogie Howser (sp?) now because they fully expect him to be attending medical school or at least college by the time he's 10. How scary is that? Heck, his college fund will not be ready by then!!!! Though, I guess there would be a pretty good chance he'd be getting a scholarship, eh? Then I could use that money to buy a cool new house...oh, sorry, I digress! LOL (And yes, Aunt Bear, you can use some to buy a new cyclo-cross bike...LOL)

Obviously, academics has never been an area of worry for me, but his early athletic endeavors, well, that's a whole other story. The good news is that gymnastics continues to be something he absolutely LOVES!! So much so that I've signed him up for 2 nights a week now. And starting last week, his "sister" (clearly he has a VERY broad definition for this word) Brianna has started attending Thurs nights with him. For him, it's like a big added bonus! We're still working on some muscle weakness, but he's getting better with every class. Best of all, he feels very confident out there and isn't afraid to try anything. Could not be better for balance and body control and self-esteem.

Well, that's all for now. We're off to the airport to visit family and Jake's adorable half-brother, Cole and his mommy, Tammi. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Halloween Sneak Preview

2009-10-30T18:53:00.004-04:00

Hello from the land of illness...

After being cooped up in the house for the past week...first with H1N1 and then with pneumonia, (because God knows when we get sick in this house, we get REALLY sick...NO messing around!!)...Spiderman is ready to hit the neighborhood in hopes of scoring mega candy (not that he even likes 10% of it, but it's the hunt that matters).

Here's a few pics of him trying out the costume. Taken seconds before he tried out his best Fly Off the Bed... "Catch me Mommy!!!!" Worked out well for one of us...can you guess which one?

Happy Trick or Treating everyone!!

G and Jake

Our 1st Trip To The Principal's Office...

2009-10-21T22:55:00.007-04:00

Incident Report:
When: this past Monday around 3 pm What: The call every mother dreads Why: Who the heck knows why kids do what they do? (Though, as you'll see, I've got no shortage of excuses)

Let me take you for a short walk in my shoes...
Ring, Ring... "Ms. Bilotti, I need to talk with you about Jake's behavior at school today..."
(Silently I'm thinking...Hmmmm...this doesn't sound good. Followed by..Ya think? Followed quickly by... Oh God, did he bite someone again? Is he back to tackling people? And already thinking that whatever it was that he did, it wasn't his fault!!!)

"The past few days of school, we've been seeing some behavioral problems in class with Jake" (I'm thinking...OK, so why the heck did you wait so long to call me? Notice how I'm already deflecting...I think this comes naturally to mommies...LOL) "He's been calling the other children names and not following direction" To which I reply... "Oh my, that's terrible, I'm so upset to hear that" (While thinking... hey, maybe they deserved to be called those names? Maybe they called him names first? Maybe they're being mean to him?)

"Ms. Bilotti has anything been going on at home that may be upsetting Jake? Has he been sleeping OK?" To which I reply "No, there's nothing out of the ordinary going on here...he does have a cold though and he didn't sleep well last night and was up at 4:30 this morning, so I'm sure he's very tired today" (While thinking...as am I, which is why I'm feeling a little cranky about this call and your questions about what trauma I may be exposing him to at home and after all, the poor kid has a cold, and is really tired and when I'm sick and tired, I also sometimes want to call people names...actually, I'm really tempted to call you some names right now, if I'm being honest, that is...LOL)

"We tried to get Jake to go down to the Principal's Office today and he refused to go. So, I told him that I would be calling you and he got very upset by this, but I felt it was important for me to still call" To which I reply... "He wouldn't go? Oh, no, that's terrible. I'm very glad you called so I can talk with him and get this straightened out" (While thinking... Well, of course he wouldn't go, hell, I wouldn't go either if you gave me a choice? And yes, I'm very glad you called because now I can find out who's picking on him and straighten THEM out...actually, maybe I'll send Nanny, she's really good at that...LOL)

Call ends and off I go to pick up my little Angel turned Devil early from school. I drag him kicking and screaming to the Principal's office and as it turns out, the Principal suggested that it may actually be the new cough/cold medicine that I started giving him at the exact time that they started seeing these changes in his behavior. (Turns out she has even better excuses than I do...go figure?) But seriously, we were also seeing signs of this at home as well. Think 4 year old on a combination of ice cream, cotton candy, cake, cookies and a few doses of chocolate on top...that's what he had been like (withOUT any of that crap). Nanny and I had been drawing straws to see who got first dibs to hang themselves on the flagpole out front should he decide to get up at 4:30 am again. She pulled the "senior citizen" card again...SO unfair.

So, needless to say, we immediately took him "off the juice" (oh no, wait, that's JJ)... off the medicine and we've been witnessing a slow and steady return to a normal state of chaos. Might be hard to discern with the naked eye, but crystal clear to Nanny and I. I've also had to reinstate the "no TV if you have a bad day at school" policy. Which ironically only works because he wants whatever it is he can't have...even though we typically don't even watch TV after school.

While putting him to bed that night, I asked him what names he was actually calling the kids at school and in light of the fact that I was expecting something like "butthead", "stupid", "poopy head" (a house favorite)...it shocked me when he said "Momma, I called them Giraffe, Hippamapotomus (Hippo in Jake speak), Cow, Cat, Duck" It took everything I had not to laugh out loud and of course, I did my best to reinforce how "bad" it was to call someone a Giraffe, while all the while thinking "oh come on now, that's all he did?!?!?"

Fingers crossed that we've seen the last of the Principal's office, at least for quite a while!!! Cause I think I may be all out of viable excuses at this point. That's all for now...

Searching For State Quarters...

2009-10-09T10:55:00.006-04:00

As our boy continues to learn the states, he's become very interested in collecting state quarters. In an effort to avoid having these quarters lined up randomly all over the house, I bought him one of those state quarter US maps and he's been putting them in all the right places over the past month.

Nanny and I have exhausted every source of quarters that we might have (and some we never even knew we had...LOL) and yet there are quite a few he's still in search of. Last night he asked if we couldn't just "get some help from some of the people who love me"...which I thought was way too cute. So, here's the official call for help...

The list of missing quarters includes:

California

Wyoming

Minnesota

Tennessee

Texas

Alabama

Massachusetts

Maine

Guam

Puerto Rico

US Virgin Islands

American Sanibel (huh?)

He's offering a BIG kiss and even BIGGER hug for anyone you might be able to find!!! Happy Friday!!

p.s. Attaching a few pictures from his pumpkin picking school trip yesterday. As you can see, always surrounded by the ladies!! Last night was his first night as his new gymnastics program and finally, some kind of sport that he LOVED!! More on that, including video and pics, later...

Do you even see any other boys in sight?

Holding hands...

"Momma, is that my daddy"

2009-10-07T20:25:00.008-04:00

Tonight when getting ready for our bedtime ritual of reading books, Jake selected a very special book that was created for him by his Aunt Amy and Aunt CC not long after he was born. It was the first time that we had read it where he could really understand what the words meant and could actually follow the story. To say he was fascinated by the book, would have to be the understatement of the year. There, in writing, was the story of his birth...what he weighed, how long he was, who came to see him, and how much we all adored him.

As we made our way through this incredible book, we stopped and talked about every picture on every page and he was quick to make up some memory that he was sure was real about what we were doing on each page. (He loves to tell me what he remembers about being a baby) It was such a special experience to read these pages with him and see the fascination at hearing about his own birth. I had read it to him many, many times before, but always when he was too young to understand what it was I was reading. Then, somehow, we managed to "lose" the book among the hundreds of books we've amassed over the past 4 years...that is, until tonight.

So, we get to the very end of the book and the last page shows a picture of a man walking with a woman who is carrying a baby. And with pure innocence comes the question I knew would someday come, but still somehow have no good answer for... "Momma, is that my daddy?" It was as if time stood still. I felt myself actually catch my breath and I thought for a moment that my heart skipped a beat. Such a simple question, right? Should only require a simple answer, right? And yet, I had none, and thus, I said nothing.

And so, he asked again... "Momma, that man there in the picture walking with you...is that my daddy?" In the 3 seconds that followed, ten thousand things flew through my mind... All at once I felt sad...for not having a simple answer and knowing that I never would, I felt guilty...for making what one might deem a selfish decision to have a child on my own, one who would never know what it's like to have a "daddy", I felt a sense of panic... like maybe he was asking because he felt that something or someone was missing in his life...because he saw the other kids at school with daddies and felt deprived to not have one of his own.

Not wanting to let him sense all of these random thoughts, I said the first thing I could think of ... no, I think that's Pops walking with us. And just as he had done on every other page, he came up with a memory and said "oh, that's right, I remember when I was a baby and Pops was helping you to bring me in the house so we could watch the Jets play". And with that, for him, the conversation was over. No second thoughts, no lingering "daddy" questions, just our usual hugs and kisses and snuggles in his bed. I, on the other hand, remain a little shell shocked by the whole event.

And so the questions remain...what do you say to a 4 year old who has an anonymous donor for a daddy? If I tell him some of what I know about his daddy, how do I explain that he can't EVER meet him or talk to him? Is it easier to not miss something/someone that you know little or nothing about? Do I say things that are easier to understand, but not quite the truth knowing that I will likely have to explain why I was untruthful at some point? (Those things never seem to turn out well) And knowing Jake, and how bright he is, do I risk creating some alternate reality that he, even at age 4, sees right through?? This is, after all, not your average 4 year old we're talking about.

He reminded me of this just today when we were leaving his school and I looked up to find the American flag at half mast and he turned to me and said "momma, did you never know that they put the flag half way down the pole when a policeman or fireman dies (this one is in front of a fire station) and when it's way up at the top, that means that nobody has died?" And that was only minutes after he had shown me on the globe how places that are located close to the "line" (AKA, the equator) are really hot and those at the top and bottom are freezing cold with polar bears. So, I'm thinking some little made up story isn't going to cut it...

Well, no answers tonight, just questions. So, I'm off to my favorite website (Amazon.com) to order a bunch of books on the subject...will be sure to let you know what I find out. Oh, and any and all advice is welcomed!!!!!

Jake's 4 Year Pictures

2009-09-29T21:11:00.004-04:00

Just a quick update with some of Jake's 4 yr old pictures... and a word to the wise...don't even think about sending any comments about how old he looks...LOL

"Yeah, I'm 4!!!" "And I'm still bad to the bone"

"Yep, I can spell it for you"

That's our boy!!! Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!!

Gina

Special...Even Without a Reason

2009-09-13T22:44:00.003-04:00

Just a short post without any special reason or any reports of some unbelievably special things Jake's done or said (though, there were without a doubt, a bunch today)...

Just a couple of pictures of the love of my life...lying there sound asleep (paci free!!) and looking like the very best thing any mommy could ever wish/hope for.

Hope everyone has a great week...

The 4 Year Check-up: The Good, The Funny & The Painful

2009-09-09T21:08:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was Jake's 4 year check-up with our pediatrician. Overall, the pediatrician said he looked GREAT and was progressing incredibly well. His assessment of the whole event wasn't quite as positive...First he told me that he didn't know he had to pass a test to be 4 (based on all of the questions she asked him and the things she asked him to do). Then he said "mommy, it hurts too much to be 4, if I give all my presents back, can I go back to being 3 again?" Thus, the inclusion of "The Painful" in the title of this post...

The exam started with a review of nutrition and we all know how expansive (NOT) Jake's diet is. Although she at first seemed a little concerned about the fact that he eats little or no meat, when she subsequently took a glance at this height/weight chart, she agreed that we were, indeed, still growing a "big'n"!!! LOL LOL

As far as the stats go...Jake's ratio continues to trend in the right direction with his weight (41.4lbs) in the 85th percentile and his height (43.25") in the 95th percentile. The nurse remarked that at least his height was back on the chart this time...well, a little bit anyway. All sounded good to me!! And for those keeping track...this means he gained 7.4lbs in the past year and grew 3.25"!!!!! He's been consistently growing over 3" a year, let's hope that slows down just a tad, eh?

The next part of the exam included a series of very interesting questions regarding developmental progress, including:

What is a banana? (He gave several very funny responses before she convinced him that she was looking for a serious answer)
What is a lake? He mentioned something about seaweed and she asked him to tell her more and so he continued on to say you could swim in the lake or fish in the lake and that means that fish live in there and swim around in stuff that looks an awful lot like seaweed. Seemed to be enough of an answer for her.
She asked him if he could draw a face and when he did with his hand, she asked him if he had drawn a circle. He said no, and she tried to lead him back towards a yes until he made it clear that only Mickey has a circle for a head, we all really have ovals. Hmmmm, she wasn't sure what to make of that one and decided to move on??
She asked him to point to a circle in the room and he not only did that, but he showed her an oval, square, rectangle and then began to show her the difference between acute and obtuse angles in some triangles. At that point, she gave me quite a look. I just shrugged, what could I say?
She asked him if he could count to 20 and he asked her if she meant in Spanish or regular? And then preceded to do both. He told her that he was still working on backwards from 20 to 1 in Spanish, but he got mixed up once in a while. Then, when she didn't respond, he asked me if he did it wrong because she really wanted him to count by 10's or 5's or 2's?? I didn't even look at her at that point.
Next came ...What are curtains? To which he replied "the things that keep the sun out when mommy wants to sleep late on Saturdays". I think she was feeling much better about the appropriateness of that answer right up until he felt the need to ask "Dr. Prosswimmer, did you never know that curtains go east and west and blinds go north and south?" She wasn't quite sure what to make of that so she said something like "uhhh, no, I'm not sure I understand"...so he used his hands to show her how one goes East and West (and yes, he somehow knows that East is to the right and West is to the left, and North is up and South is down...I think I was about 20 when I learned that...LOL)

At that point, she said there really didn't seem to be a reason to go much further...clearly he wasn't experiencing any developmental delays!! And we both had to laugh!! (Me more at the fact that she hadn't even really hit on the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what he REALLY knows...what is a banana?!?!? Come on now...)

After watching him walk, skip, hop on each foot, jump (at which point he told her he could jump much higher on his trampoline...to which she responded by covering her ears and saying she was going to pretend she didn't hear that) and gallop, we were off to take the hearing and eye test. He passed both of those with flying colors and then we were on to the "painful" part of the event...the injections.

Now, for those of you who have never had to go through taking your child for immunizations, let me tell you it ranks right up there with having a root canal withOUT novocain. I slept very badly the night before just thinking about what this was going to be like...because, for some ungodly reason, they felt compelled to tell me when I made the appointment that there were "quite a few immunizations" at the 4 yr appt. I felt like saying, "hey, thanks for that, and what exactly am I going to do with that advance knowledge besides dreading and worrying about it?!?!" As it turned out "quite a few" equated to 4 - 5 shots. I chose the flu-mist option to cut it down to 4, but holy cow, was that bad enough!!!!!!!!!!!

The way this horrible event plays out is that you lay your unsuspecting child down on the exam table with his little legs hanging off one end. All the while, he's looking up at you innocently with eyes that say "what's going on, mommy?" and the complete and total trust that comes with that period during childhood when you never think your mommy would EVER let anything bad happen to you...oy vey.

Then the nurse asks you to lay across him and hold his arms and at that point, he stares at you incredulously like...WHAT'S GOING ON, mommy??? Then she proceeds to stabs him with 4 injections...2 in each leg. Needless to say, after the first one, all hell breaks loose and for the remaining 3 you are forced to try to ignore the begging and pleading of the little love of your life to "STOP HER MOMMY, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO MORE, MOMMY, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! With intense crying and screaming interspersed in between the pleading and begging. Oh, talk about a mommy low point...it feels like a trip to the confessional in needed after that act of sabotage!

He was a real trooper and although I believe he would have surely pummeled the nurse had I let him go, he was content to let me carry him out of there while still softly crying. I had promised him a trip to the little store right next door to pick out a few "comfort toys" and a snack and so off we went. The trauma began to wear off once he saw all of the floor puzzles he had to choose from (he picked a solar system one...no surprise there) and carried it up to the front of the store. There he found 2 beanie babies which he asked if I could buy for him so that they could lay on his two boo-boo legs in the car and give them kisses the whole way home...no way to say no to that one! (These have subsequently been named "Honey Bear" and "Bunny Bear" because he likes calling them "Honey Bunny"...very cute)

Then came the Jake line of the week...as he handed the bears and puzzle to the lady at the counter she said "well, you must have done something pretty darn good to have earned all of these nice things"...to which he replied, "I just got shotted!!!" When she said, "Excuse me??" He said, "that bad girl next door shot me 4 times!!" I had to quickly explain that we were talking about "shots"...as in injections. This continued as we went to Shoprite to pick out his bday cake (cake #4) as he insisted on telling everyone he ran into that he had just gotten shot 4 times. Needless to say, I had a LOT of explaining to do...LOL

Well that's it for now! Still praying for sunshine on Sat!!!!!!!!!!!

Paci Free...One Week and Counting!!

2009-09-07T20:48:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure who missed the paci more, Jake, Nanny or me. One thing I am sure about is, no paci has ever been loved more...LOL It looks like we're going to make it, though, as we've been "paci free" for over a week now and there's no looking back.

For those who weren't here for the paci send off, it was quite an extravaganza. Captured, as always, by our Posse Photographer, none other than Aunt CC (the person responsible for 99.99% of the photos of our boy and 100% of the good ones). We tied 3 balloons to it (initially we thought 2 would do it, but alas, the paci was a heavy weight and required a third...LOL) and sang a song created by CC and Aunt Bear for the special occasion...Bye Bye Paci, Paci Bye Bye, Bye Bye Paci...it's time to say GOODBYE!!! (Hey I thought that was pretty darn good with about 3 minutes notice) Then Jakey took one last suck on the thing and off it went to the Paci Fairy.

Up, up and away!!

We all stood and waved and clapped and cheered (and laughed) as it floated off into the sky. Then, two days later, the Paci Fairy returned the favor by delivering a gift back to our doorstep again using balloons. Leaves you to wonder...just how long will we get away with things like this?

Later that night, Nanny and I were sure that we were in for hours of neck pinching (which was his second favorite thing after sucking on the paci)...but we could not have been more wrong! I'm SOOOOOO happy to report that there has been VERY minimal pinching of the waddle going on. Seems it must be something that goes along with sucking on a paci...sort of like cheese and wine, without the wine, who the heck wants just the cheese? Let's hope anyway, then I can stop saving for my neck lift and put the money back into his college fund...LOL

We're still hopeful that the weather will cooperate for take 2 of his bday party next Saturday. I've decided to stop checking the weather forecast all together because it literally changes daily...one minute it says thunderstorms, then the next day it says it will be sunny and beautiful, then the next day, we're somehow at rain all week...not checking again until Friday!

Montessori school starts up again next Monday and although I was worried he wouldn't want to leave camp (since he never wants to come home at night), he seems to be excited about going back. Personally, I just can't imagine what he's going to learn in his first full year in the primary class?!?!? The things he learned in the first 6 months still blow my mind!

These days, he's very much into planets and can tell you the names of all of them and on the model at school he even knows which is which (yet another thing I can't do). So I ordered him one of those projectors that he can use in his room so he can see the planets and some of the constellations on his ceiling and I'm planning to take him to a planetarium sometime in the near future, because I think he'll get a real kick out of that. Especially since this past week, while driving home from school, he asked me if I could take him to see Saturn because he wanted to see the rings. Try explaining to a 4 yr old why you can't take him to Saturn...trust me, not easy.

The other thing he learned about this week, was that some quarters have states on them (and not the "dragon" which is what he calls the American Eagle...and check it out, it does actually look a lot like a dragon). As I would tell him the name of the state, he would tell me where in the United States that state actually was and what states were next to it. For example..."mommy, did you never know that Arkansas is next to Texas?" Scary smart...that's all I can say.

Earlier today, he was "testing" JJ and I by drawing a line on his chalk board and then using 2 wooden sticks to add onto that line to make different shapes. One was a plus sign, and it was hilarious because he even felt compelled to give me a hint..."mommy, it's the same kind of thing as an equal sign...and starts with a ppppp sound" Then he started on types of triangles and JJ was out of there...LOL

These days it's so funny to hear the little bits of slang that he's picked up along the way...for example, when asked if there were a lot of hornets on the newly discovered nest in our front tree, he proceeded to tell me there were "a ton of them". When I asked him what "a ton" meant he told me it was one hundred one hundred...so I asked if that meant 200 hundred and he told me no, momma, that means one hundred thousand. I stopped asking questions at that point...

He also told his Pops that something was "redilicous" this weekend, which we assumed was his version of ridiculous...was very funny to hear coming from him. Then at the pool yesterday, he told a little boy who insisted on throwing toys at him even after he asked him to stop that Santa was watching and he was never ever getting any toys again. When that didn't work, he pummeled him...was hard to yell at him, because the Santa thing sounded like fair warning to me...LOL

Tonight while eating dinner, he decided he wanted to put his bowl onto a paper towel to keep from spilling anything on the table. (He was eating a bowl of rigatoni with tomato sauce) Well, I guess he didn't realize that I had put it into one of those bowls that has the suction thing on the bottom and when he tried to pick it up to move it...in the spirit of being extra careful not to spill anything...the suction cup gave way without warning (I'm guessing here, because I didn't actually see it happen) and the bowl flew towards him and he ended up wearing all but 2 pieces of the macaroni and all of the sauce. After a shriek, all I heard was... SORRY MOMMY, I'M SORRY!!! I turned to find sauce all over his face, his forehead, his shirt and pants, the floor, the table. Even Quincey, who normally circles the table ready to pounce on any crumb that might fall, ran into the other room and hid.

And although I wanted to scream, and then cry at the thought of cleaning up the mess, I had to laugh. Especially since he was already melting down, sure that he was about to be in HUGE trouble...since minutes before I had said "Jake please eat over the table and be careful, mommy just washed the floor"...LOL If only I had been quicker with the camera, because it was definitely a sight to see!!!!! Ahhh, such is life with a 4 yr old!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend and PLEASE PRAY FOR SUNSHINE ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!

G

The Power (and responsibility) of Being A Parent...

2009-08-30T21:09:00.005-04:00

Well, this weekend was not quite as we had hoped. Jakey's 4th birthday bash was washed out and had to be rescheduled to Sept 12th. Leaving me to wonder if we just weren't always meant to have it in September, because this would have been the very first time we actually held it in the month that he was born (Aug) and alas, the heavens felt it was not as it should be? In the end, all things DO happen for a reason though, because Jake had a 101.7 fever on Friday night and that, plus the threat of rain, would have definitely sent me over the edge (BIG time) if I had NOT decided to postpone.

Then we awoke to the picture perfect bday party day today (Sunday) and all day, I kept thinking WHY couldn't this have been yesterday?!?!?!? Oh well, again one look at Jakey was all it took to remind me that it just wasn't meant to be as he still looked a little "wilted" and was coughing even more than yesterday. Seems a pajama day was exactly what we needed because by tonight, although the cough remained, he seemed a bit better...and nanny and I certainly didn't mind the rest!! LOL

Which brings me to the driving reason behind tonight's post... As I was kneeling on the floor next to his bed tonight, rubbing his back, listening to his incredibly cool new ipod speakers from his Aunt Maria (who he affectionately refers to as "my friend, Maria") and Aunt Maureen, I couldn't help but think about both the power and responsibility that I had to/for this little life. In that moment, as the words in the song we were listening to said "life's about change, nothing ever stays the same", I realized how very true that was. It seemed like only yesterday, or at the most last week, that I was leaning in over the crib rail rubbing his little back and here we are with 4 candles on the cake...how did that happen?!?!?

But, more importantly than the time that has mysteriously passed at the speed of light, is the thought that even this time, the here and now, will soon seem like a not so distant memory. And before we know it, there will be 14 candles on that cake and then 24 and on and on. So, what does this have to do with "power" and "responsibility"? Well, in that quiet moment while I was watching him drift peacefully off to sleep, I realized that today, I have the ability to basically control most of what my son experiences. Put in the simplest form...I have the "power" to make him happy or sad...to ensure he feels loved at every turn...I basically control his environment, his world and how he's feeling in it.

And when I really think about it, honestly, it's not all that hard to do...right now, anyway. Happy is a full tummy, enough sleep and more than his share of my attention.

It's unconditional love that comes in the form of kisses and hugs and snuggles and just pure mommy adoration.

It's complete and instant forgiveness to ANY and ALL mishaps in return for a little voice saying "I'm sorry, mommy."

It's answering to the thousandth "mommy?" with as much love in my voice as I did the very first. (Admittedly, I don't always get this one quite right)

It's letting a warm little body sneak his way into my bed at 5 or 6 in the morning knowing that 15 minutes later, I'll be holding on to the 3 inches of the king size bed that's been left for me as he relentlessly pinches my "waddle".

It's cream cheese sandwiches with the "skin" (aka, crust) cut off and green ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.

It's being willing to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse repeats for the 50th time and listening to Hannah Montana sing "The Climb" until I'm ready to climb out the car window.

It's staying up past 1 am researching the very best in multi-layered puzzles, marble mazes, sudoku puzzles for kids (and YES, he can do these...it's amazing), and anything else that might keep this intellectually curious pre-schooler challenged.

It's answering every "Momma, did you never know....??" question with the best possible answer, even when it was just answered 10 minutes earlier and the day before and the day before that.

It's carrying that 43 lb body up and down the stairs when those hands raise up to me, even with my briefcase and a million other things that need to make their way back to where they came from in tow...while the whole time reminding myself that some day in the not so distant future, I won't be able to pick him up and hold him like that anymore.

It's one more book before bed and one more minute of rocking in the rocking chair, one more kiss before leaving the room, and one more time of asking that nightly bedtime question...yes, the one I've asked him every night of his life from the day he was born... "Jake Anthony...who could love you more than your mommy? who could possibly love you more than mommy?" To which he giggles and replies either "Jordan" or "Everyone"...either of which earns him a bunch of tickles.

It's staying right there when he says "please stay and rub my back a little more momma", because there's just no place more important I need to be (even if it's 8:00 and I'm still in my work clothes).

And, of course, these are all the things (and a million more) that I should/could do to make my little boy feel happy and loved. But being human, every day I do some well and others I wish I had done better. Yet, somehow, until that moment tonight, I hadn't really thought about how much "power" comes with the "responsibility" of being his mommy and how, I will slowly over time lose this control to the influences that come from the world outside my control.

How a time will come when my love alone won't be enough to make him feel secure. When my arms alone won't be enough to make him feel safe. When what I think and what I say will only be one part of a multi-faceted equation that he'll use to determine happiness and sadness in each and every day. When I will no longer be able to kiss all the boo boos away and make everything ok with a bowl of green ice cream and the right kind of sprinkles. Yes, back in the simplest of terms... I will no longer have the power to control whether he's happy or sad, safe or afraid, feeling loved or unloved. Though I somehow doubt I will ever feel less responsible for it...because, after all, he'll always be my baby.

So, for me, this was a stark reminder of the wonderful opportunity that I have today and a little reminder of the awesome power that comes with the responsibility for this little life... And although I try not to take anything for granted, this will certainly cause me to check and recheck myself on that each and every day. And hopefully, even remember to take a deep breath and respond lovingly to each and every "mommy?" that comes my way! LOL

In closing, if I'm being honest, it did also cause me to question whether I had done the right thing making him give up his beloved paci yesterday?!?!?! Again, knowing HOW much he loved that thing and how incredibly soothing it was for him...should I have forced him to give it up? Of course, it didn't help to have Nanny come downstairs after getting him to sleep and say "oh, I was laying there next to him thinking how sad it is that we HAD to make him give up his paci"...with tears in her eyes, no less!!!! Ahhh, just one of many things I'm sure I'll second guess myself on as the years go on...after all, this mommy job doesn't come with an training, it's all "on the job"!

Thanks to all of the important people in our lives who help me to make more right decisions than wrong and who help me to make Jakey feel like the most loved little boy in the world!!! Whether consciously or not, you all share in this awesome balance of power and responsibility with me and not a day goes by that I'm not thankful to have you in it with me!!!!

Here's the best proof of all that we must be doing something right...pictures of one happy, and totally loved little boy!!!

Notice the waddle pinching going on here!!!

Out at dinner with Chris Aziz and some of the Posse...could he possibly get ANY happier?!?!

That's OUR boy...adorable, happy, smart and loving!!!!!!! So far, so good...

Jake's View on Health Care...LOL

2009-08-24T21:06:00.008-04:00

Those of us who work in the health care industry know that these are certainly complicated and challenging times. While those of us who have to USE the health care system know that something is about to happen...not many of us know exactly what that might be?!?

In the meanwhile, as we all wait and watch the battles that continue to rage on capital hill, I thought we might all benefit from a few insightful tips from our little 4 yr old scholar, Jake Anthony...

Today, while driving home from camp, Jake told me that his eyes had been hurting him all day. He said the left eye just needed to be "told to shape up" (something I realize I've been saying a lot of lately), but the right eye really just needed to be "thrown away". When I asked what he would do if we were to throw away that bad right eye, he responded as any observant 4 yr old of a mother addicted to amazon.com might respond..."Mommy, I'm just gonna go on my blackberry and order a new one (now, don't panic, he doesn't really have a blackberry...well, he does have one of my old ones, but it's not functional...well, it is functional and he uses it to pretend to order things, but it's not hooked up to any network...at least, I don't think it is?!? LOL) Then I can go to sleep tonight without it, because I keep my eyes closed anyway. And tomorrow, that man in the brown truck (UPS) or the one with the orange on it (Fed-Ex) can come here and bring me a new one!" From the mouth of babes...

Hmmm...wouldn't it be nice if it really worked that way?!?!?Just think...don't like the size of your hips...just go online and order some new ones. Have a foot that's bothering you or a "wonky leg", an order to amazon.com will do the trick! And if you have amazon prime, you can have free 2 day delivery!

After contemplating this idea, I asked him what would happen if the new eye came and it didn't match the color of the old eye, what would he do? He said he would throw the man who brought it in jail...which just goes to prove that even at 4 it's obvious that litigation is the only sensible answer to any medical mix-up. And then, he would ask Nanny to return it for him...which is ALSO what his mommy does to poor Nanny ALL the time!!! LOL

As we pulled into the driveway, he asked me for a tissue and although I'm sure that I have over 10,000 things in my car at any point in time, I did NOT happen to have a tissue. Which prompted him to say, he had decided to throw his nose away too because "did you never know that if you buy one thing you can get a whole other thing for not any money at all?"... which is his version of my explanation of why I sometimes buy him two of the same thing (in different sizes) when there is a buy one, get one free sale...oh vey, the boy doesn't miss a thing!

And, finally, the Jake line of the week (yes, and it's only Monday!)... when asked, so Jakey, who's coming to your party this Saturday??? He said (to the lady in the Party City store)... "oh just a hundred people who love me best!"... What better answer could there be?!?!?

Hope everyone has a great week!

Some new pics, as promised...

Relaxing after a hard day at work

Hang'in at the PPB boardwalk with his cousin, Timmy
Timmy, Chris and Jake

To Be, Or Not to Be...4!!!!

2009-08-20T22:12:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, my baby boy turned 4 years old!!! And, well, truth be told, it was sort of a bittersweet moment for me...because, if I had my way, we would have been celebrating the 4 MONTH mark again...LOL Sure, there are a whole lot of things that I enjoy about having a 4 year old...no more diapers, no getting up every few hours all night long, no spitting up and 5 changes of clothes a day, the ability to have an actual conversation (though that, my friends, is definitely a double edged sword), etc. But, oh how I just LOVED having a baby...those baby toes, that baby smell, those baby snuggles... (and no, Nanny, I'm NOT going to have another one!!)

Luckily for me, I must have the sweetest 4 year old boy in the world. We still rock every night before bed and he still loves to be held and cuddled and kissed...the only difference, and it's a nice one, is that he can now actually do those things back. And what's better than hearing that little voice say in return "I love you too, momma"?!?!? Still melts my heart...

So, for those wondering where we are with the "he'll be giving up his paci when he turns 4" proclamation, here's the update: There was a plan that on his 4th bday he would take his paci out and throw it in the garbage truck. Well, garbage goes out on Tuesdays here and wouldn't you know, his bday was on a Wed. Sooooo, I decided to extend the deadline to the day of his party. On that day, we'll have a BIG, HUGE, WOMPING, throw your paci in the trash ceremony where everyone cheers and claps and then he's SO exhausted from playing, eating, opening presents that day that he passes out without it "easily" that night... I know, oh God, the best laid plans, right?? Well, in the end, truth be told, I was the one who wasn't ready for him to give it up mid-week. But I'm determined to stick to the party plan...fingers crossed! Nanny, on the other hand, has announced she's taking an LOA (leave of absence) from her duties here when that time comes...personally, I think it sounds like the perfect time for an international trip for work, no?

So where is Jakey at age 4 and what's he been up to? Well here's a snapshot of some of his development milestones and to attempt to be balanced here, some "areas of opportunity":

Jake still LOVES numbers and counting and the Posse is sure that someday soon we'll be asking the waiter at the restaurant to hand the check to the little guy at the end of table so he can figure out the tip and what we all owe. Aunt No No is also counting the days until he's tall enough to go to AC to count cards for her at the black jack table...LOL

I'm not sure what to say about how high he can now count because I'm not sure there's really a limit anymore? He's totally gotten the concept of how counting works, so he can count to 100 (by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's) and only really stops because he gets bored with going any higher. But he will count by 100's to a thousand and by thousands to 100,000. And of course, he can go UP and DOWN.

Jake also gets the concept of adding, subtracting and dividing. On a daily basis, he will find some way to show me that he's always trying to figure this stuff out...like by trying to convince me that he needs yet another Dibs ice cream nugget because when he pairs them up to count by 2's, there's one without a pair. Or even better, when he lines them up by 5's, he needs 3 more because 2 are left all alone and that's a big problem. I'm frequently impressed enough to give in...

We've slowed down a bit on the reading front, and I think this is probably due to the transition from school to camp. I was sure he was on the verge of outright reading, but he's not as interested in trying to figure words out as he once was. Though, in his defense, today we passed a truck with Ritz crackers on it and he said "look at that truck, momma" and when I said "yes, it's carrying crackers", he replied "it's carrying RITZ crackers, momma"... not bad

He's progressed tremendously on the writing front and can basically write every letter in both uppercase and lowercase and all are really clear now. I've started asking him to write things on the grocery list for me, especially when there's something he's asking for and this (although challenging at times when I get to the store) has given him a purpose for practicing his writing.

He knows his continents, can say them and identify them on the world map, can put together a puzzle of the United States (while Nanny and I still have to look at the picture on the box) and knows the names of at least 25% of them, including where we live and where within the state of NJ our house is...where his sisters Hallie and Baby Lea, his girl Jordan, his brothers Ben and Cole, and cousins Braden and Jackson live.

So, all in all, intellectually he's coming along really well. Emotionally...well, let's just say he's about as likely to call you a "poopie head" as he is to tell you the continents...LOL Clearly he's very much a young 4 yr old and all boy when it comes to that!

Another area of opportunity is the area of sports. (Oh how the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I even say that) A few days ago I took him to a free soccer clinic for kids in our town and he lasted less than 20 mins before wanting to be picked up, held, laying on the grass. The boy just doesn't like the idea of waiting in line, waiting his turn, etc. So, I'm hoping soccer just isn't his sport (because this was not the first disaster we had)...but I'm starting to wonder if he may just need more intensity then sports like soccer and t-ball have, at least when they're just drilling and practicing. Maybe he'll be more of a bb guy (God knows he's going to be tall enough) or tennis or even more individual sports? Maybe he'll be an ironman like his Aunt Bear? OK, OK, I can dream, can't I?

Our boy also has a bit of a temper (which I've realized recently may have come from me...yikes). He's frequently heard saying "I quit you" these days and although we're not quite sure about the phrasing, we're crystal clear on what he means. To my utter dismay, he also says when very angry and to evoke a response... "I don't love you anymore". Oh boy, do I HATE that one!! Which of course, just makes him use it more to get me to react.

Some of his cute Jakey sayings now include: "Momma, did you never know that my "canitials" are J-A-B... "Mommy, I want the same thing I had last day"...which is jakey for yesterday...

He's still into Mickey Mouse Club House, but has not developed an all out obsession with Hannah Montana!!!! To the point that I actually had to buy him a HM lunch box as a reward for a dozen days of waking up with a dry pull-up. I nearly passed out when he asked for it!!! Then at the register, the cashier kept trying to convince me to go back and pick out the free backpack you get with the purchase of our lunch box and I finally had to tell her that I did NOT want to give him the opportunity to pick out a backpack for fear he was going to pick the PINK HM one!!!!! Oh my...

In other news, Pops and I took him to the Jets first pre-season game last weekend and we actually made it all the way to the middle of the 4th quarter (before I was ready to throw him over the rail). He still has no interest in the game, but loves to throw paper airplanes down on the unsuspecting people below and those who sit all around us, are content to continue to make them for him...tells you something about how exciting the games can be, no?

Uncle Sal is in town from Florida and today we took him and Nanny up to visit with Jake's cousins Darian, Shay, Mitch, Big Jake and Marco. The boys spent quite a bit of time swimming, though Jake certainly logged the most hours in the pool (like almost all day long) and for the VERY FIRST time he experimented with goggles and put his head completely under the water and swam (well, I'm usually that term liberally here). But for the boy who would barely dip his nose in, this was a VERY BIG accomplishment!!! So, needless to say, I went right on amazon.com and his own goggles will be arriving sometime tomorrow...LOL (Those who know me know I'm an Amazon addict)

Jakey, Nanny and I also enjoyed a very nice time down the shore at "uncle Roger's" beach house last week for a few days. He had a blast playing with Aunt Bear and then with his girl Jordan and Aunt GG. And boy has he made a complete turnaround when it comes to the beach and the sand...seems if he and Jo-Jo have a couple of holes in the sand that can be filled up with water as the waves come in, all is right in the world...and I mean for HOURS. The boy, who is normally close to the whitest person we all know, now even has a little beach boy tan and it's very fetching on him, if I do say so myself! After all, what's cuter than tan tiny little toes? (On feet that will undoubtedly some day be size 16s...oh my)

Well, that's about it for right now...promise to add some pics real soon! And VERY psyched about his upcoming bday bash on Aug 29th!! Woo-hoo, the obstacle course challenge will be up and ready! Let's hope we don't have a 90/90 day or we may all die of heat exhaustion.

More soon (well, probably not real soon...LOL)

Live to Fight Another Day...

2009-07-17T11:43:00.013-04:00

Well, as those of you who follow this blog know, Jake is a "member" of the 1876 gang...a group of kids all born using the same anonymous donor-Fairfax #1876... affectionately known to the "selection committee" as "James" because he looks so much like my brother, James. (And thus, the source of the wonderful addition to our family of Abby, Sharon, Hallie and Baby Lea!!)

Jake, Sharon and Baby Lea

What we've come to learn over the past 4 years is that these kids have an awful lot in common beyond just some physical features (though some of them do have EXACTLY the same toes...VERY funny). For some, this has certainly challenged our "nature vs. nurture" beliefs at times. One behavioural similarity is their STRONG sense of determination...also known as... stubbornness, fierceness and a tendency to be headstrong and strong willed...basically comes down to "they want what they want when they want it and God help anyone who tries to stand in their way"...LOL (Over this past 4th of July, we had a chance to meet up with some of Jake's other "brothers and sisters" and you can see more details in Hallie and Baby Lea's mom's post about the reunion at the following link: http://blogginghallie.blogspot.com/2009/07/meeting-extended-family-belated-fourth.html
Jake and his 7 brothers and sisters (from the bottom left...Ellie, Hallie, Asher, Jake, Baby Lea, Alyssa-not related, from the top left: Jess, Jonah and Ben-trying to make an early exit)

Jake in his reunion shirt

We have witnessed this characteristic come out in Jake, thought admittedly it's mostly when he's hungry, tired or frustrated and at times, the only difference between him and the adults who are with him is the fact that he actually shows what we're all really feeling. But, I do have a growing fear that this characteristic may actually be growing as he grows...in which case, I'm not looking forward to a debate with my likely 6' 2" teenager at some point in the not so distant future. This past week, nanny and I experienced a glimpse of what this might be like first hand.

Nanny stays with us from Sun night to Wed mornings (also known as the period of time where we all live a "fantasy life" at 123 Brandon Ct... ALL clothes get washed and returned to their rightful place ...all cabinets and the fridge/freezer become full of the foods we love... all toys/junk/and just basic crap laying around all find their way back someplace out of sight and order is restored in our little house...and YES, I know how incredibly lucky and spoiled I am!!!...but I digress.) This past Tuesday I had a work dinner and so nanny was going to pick Jake up from camp and take him to the very cool neighborhood swim club we recently joined. At about 3:00, she packed up the car (snacks, toys, bathing suit...we had a "false start" the day before when mommy forgot to pack the bathing suit- was NOT pretty...etc.) and was off to pick up her Chuchees.

When she arrived to pick up Jake, to her surprise (and mine), he had absolutely NO intention of leaving with her...not for the pool, not for ice cream at the pool, not for ANYTHING. Seems he was just having too much fun at camp, and did NOT want to leave. So, Nanny left without him and sent me a message indicating that she wasn't able to get him to leave to go to the pool.

Now, if I'm being honest here, I must admit, I read this email and thought..."oh, come on now, he's 3 for goodness sake!! Just tell him it's time to go and that's it. Plus, it's not like you're picking him up to go to the dentist...you're taking him to the POOL!!!" But I figured it was not a good idea to give Nanny too bad a time about it, after all I was sure she was already disappointed and of course, one never wants to bite the hand that does its laundry, right? LOL Turns out later, this had been quite a good decision on my part...

A while later, I realized that my last meeting was going to end over an hour before I had to be at the dinner. So, I called Nanny and asked her to meet me at the pool and said I would pick up Jake (it was now closer to 5:00) and we'd meet her there. So, poor Nanny, once again put her bathing suit on and packed up the car and got all ready to go AGAIN... In the meanwhile, I made my way to Jake's camp thinking "oh, won't this be a wonderful surprise!!"

I arrive at the door to the camp playground only to find that they are doing WATERPLAY... and for those who are not familiar with the combination of camps and 3 yr olds and summer...this is the complete and total HIGHLIGHT of every day...it's as close as something can come to NIRVANA in the world of a 3 yr old. So, there I stood at the door, watching my son run and scream and laugh and skip and splash and sing as happily as I've ever seen him...as I pondered the two choices before me... Turn and walk away and not even try to get him to leave or take my chances on trying to convince him to stop playing and leave with me and RISK that I would have to admit to my mom (and myself) that I had absolutely NO more control over this 3 (soon to be 4) year old than she did. UGGHH!

So, in the spirit of "try, try again"...I gave it one shot, was summarily SHOT DOWN, and turned and left with my parenting ego between my legs...and NO child at my side. Luckily I was able to catch Nanny before she made her way to the pool and even luckier for me...she didn't have the heart to laugh at me (at least not while I was on the phone, anyway;-)

And yes, for those who remember, this is the very camp that I was SO worried he wouldn't like. Turns out, if it were up to him, it would be a sleepover camp...LOL

Ahhh, but we live to fight another day!!

Here are a couple of pics from the recent donor sibling reunion:

"Yep, this is me and my baby sis just hang'in out"

Splashing in the fountain while mommy tries to convince him NOT to get wet...yeah, right!
Sister Hallie at breakfast

Yes, we learned at the reunion that he has a preference for older woman

Nanny found herself another chuchees to keep her company

Jake, Alyssa and his brother, Asher

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!

Paci Crisis!!!

2009-06-30T23:12:00.002-04:00

When I picked up Jake from camp tonight I could tell it was going to be one of those nights. He was already showing signs of being tired and every little thing that wasn't exactly right brought him to tears. So, I was very intent on getting him home, fed and ready for bed as quickly as possible...before things turned ugly.

We managed to survive dinner (though he did cry because his fish sticks took way too long, according to his internal clock anyway) and I even bribed him into his pjs by baking him some cookies (yes, yes, I AM capable of baking cookies, especially the kind that come all ready to go into the oven...LOL)...the kind that say "you must be in your pjs to eat these cookies". Too bad (wink, wink) I had thrown the wrapper away before he had a chance to "read" that part.

Then, post-cookies, as we ascended the stairs, I heard this primal scream which made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I turned to find that he had chewed just a little too hard on that one remaining paci and this time (cause God knows there have been many, many, many times when I've warned him NOT to chew on it) it broke. YES, the final paci had a BIG hole in it and according to him, "kept letting the air in" now. All I could think was "oh God, NO, I'm not ready"!!

Now, I must admit, my very first instinct was to go out to the car and find the spare one that I have hidden there...or the emergency one in the diaper bag. But, we've been working our way up to giving up this one last paci when he turns 4 in August and I just wasnt sure it was the right thing to do to magically "find" one at this point in time?!?!?!?

So, we go through out bedtime routine...brush teeth, read books, put my ipod in the player and start up his bedtime playlist and into bed he goes with the broken paci. After about 30 seconds that paci was thrown across the room and a NON STOP, broken record like series of "momma, paci...momma, go buy me a new one...momma, call nanny and see if she has one, ask her to bring it to me, momma, paci, paci, paci...and on and on and on". Even the waddle wasn't an option or acceptable alternative.

So, what, you may ask goes through a (very tired) mommy's mind during a time like this...well, at certain low points, I found myself thinking..."oh, hell, he's likely going to need braces anyway, so what's the big deal"..."what's more important holding to my principles about this paci thing or having ANY chance to get some sleep tonight?!?!?..."nobody ever walked down the aisle with a paci in their mouth, now did they?!?!?"..."he's not 4 yet and we agreed he would give it up when he turned 4, right, so maybe I should give him one of the spare ones??"...All of which were immediately overshadowed by a visual of him, age 5, looking the size of a 10 yr old, with a paci still in his mouth...or a visual of him with "bunny rabbit teeth", as his dentist likes to call them...uggghh!!

After rocking him, rubbing his back, threatening him, consoling him and nearly giving in a hundred times over the course of an hour and a half, he finally fell asleep out of pure exhaustion and despair. Still remains to be seen if he makes it through the night without it and so I'm wondering if I shouldn't sneak out to the car and grab that extra one just in case I need it during the night?!?!?! Damn, I'm SO weak!!!!!

Not sure who's more NOT ready for this transition...him or me?!?! LOL First thing tomorrow, I'm going to get someone on my staff at J&J working on a nicorette-like device for "paci cessation"...maybe a gum and/or a patch or something. Probably need 2 in a pack...one for the mommy and one for the kid! LOL

Stay tuned to see how we made out...Our very first paci-free night in almost 4 years!!!

What Ever Happened to the Days of Counting Words??

2009-06-26T22:47:00.009-04:00

These days I find myself wondering how it was that I EVER really counted words?!?! Was there really a time when I was worried that he would be severely speech delayed?!?! And why, on Earth, did I not value and appreciate some of those quiet moments when I had them????

In sharp contrast, I now find myself counting seconds of silence...LOL I'm quite sure that we rarely go more than 60 seconds without a "mommy look", "mommy here", "mommy why...", mommy "did you never know...", mommy stop, mommy go, and on and on and on. I've got myself a real live chatterbox and man, for an almost 4 year old, can he carry on a conversation...BOTH sides of it, if necessary.

And of course, the time he wants to, needs to, just MUST talk to me without fail, coincides precisely with when the phone rings. What is it about phones and 3 yr olds? Is there some kind of internal alarm that goes off when the phone rings...one that says "quick, run and find mommy, and talk to her before she gets on that phone and ignores you for the next 5 minutes!!! Talk and just keep talking, don't stop, and if that doesn't work, pull on her sleeve, pinch her arm, grab for the phone, talk louder...and if even that doesn't work, spill something, throw something, bang something, break something, but whatever you do, don't give up and don't let her talk on that phone!" I can remember pre-Jake, when I used to actually look forward to the phone ringing...now, I actually get heart palpitations because I KNOW what is about to happen...LOL

Jake's vocabulary is expanding in leaps and bounds. And the funny part is he's not afraid to use words that he can't quite say...and of course, translation is your problem, not his! Some very funny staples of his include..."hosiple" - which is where sick little boys and girls go (something he's way too familiar with)..."air magician" - which is what cools the house, just like magic, only much more expensively..."Jacolyn Stove" - which is what he believes the name of his class in school is when it's really Jacques Cousteau, though don't even try to convince him of this...this past week he told nanny and I that he had "pedodies" for lunch and we were both stumped by that one - turns out he had perrogies (which floored us, considering how picky an eater he is)...he also love MMMs - his version of M&M's..."last day" is his version of "yesterday"...and so many more that escape my mommy brain at this late hour.

He also continues to amaze us with what he's learned in his Montessori school this past school year. I bought him a big floor puzzle that contains all of the continents and oceans, etc. this week and although I knew he had learned the continent song, I had NO idea that he really knew which continents were which!!!! At 3, this down right amazes me!!!!!!! He was more than happy to teach his girl, Jordan and the rest of the posse the continents this past weekend. I have a feeling, we're going to be learning a lot from him over the years...LOL

All in all, he appears to be changing and maturing with each and every passing day. Today, while driving home from school (oops, camp), I looked back at him and thought, WOW, he looks so much older to me...like my baby is turning into a little boy right before my eyes. Then, a couple of hours later, he was laying on my bed with his new headphones listening to a Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) music video on my ipod and I thought, WOW, how long till he's asking me for the car keys??

HOW SCARY is that?!?!? On that note, I'm off to bed... Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of sleep to keep up with an almost 4 year old!!!

Life Lessons From My 3 Year Old...

2009-06-15T20:25:00.007-04:00

Every once in a while, there comes a day full of wonderful reminders of what it's like to view the world through the life of my 3 (soon to be 4) year old...today was one of those days. School ended for Jake early last week and after spending the rest of the week running Nanny and La La ragged, and having a total BLAST at his sister, Hallie's, 3rd birthday party, it was time for his new "camp" to start today. (I've come to learn that "Camp" is the word you use to describe pre-school during the summer.)

Personally, I was nervous...anxious...ok, if I'm being honest, I was DREADING taking him for this first day. I blocked 2 hours off on my calendar and began praying for the best at least 3 weeks ago. After all...NEW place, NEW kids, NEW teachers, NEW routine, NEW EVERYTHING!!! Enough to tie my stomach into knots. But not my little guy, he was his happy-go-lucky self. Of course, we started off with our normal "I don't want to go, I want to stay here"...but this is par for the course each and every day, and hey, why not give it the 'ol college try, right? Can't fault the kid for trying...(besides, who wouldn't choose to stay home with "the world revolves around you" Nanny?) But, without much fuss, we were on our way.

In the end, he had a "frantatic" day...his version of "fantastic"...LOL And the school even was kind enough to send me some pictures so I could see him in action, smiling, and doing puzzles and clearly not agonizing over any of the things I had feared. Looking back over the event, I thought there were quite a few really cool life lessons to be learned, including:

1. Friends don't take years to make, they take minutes if you start by assuming you can trust everyone and that they're all worthy of friendship, until proven otherwise (or in this case, until someone steals the piece of chalk you're playing with or tries to kiss you...LOL).

2. The best way to make friends quickly is to bring cool stuff with you on your first day and more than enough to share with everyone. In this case, Jake asked to bring 4 big boxes of sidewalk chalk...BIG HIT!!

3. You only get one chance to make a good first impression...which we assume is why he proceeded to count all 80 pieces of chalk for his teachers when we first arrived. First, he started by ones, but then realized that he'd be there a long time...so he switched over to counting by 5's as the teachers stood with their mouths dropped wide OPEN as he counted up to 80. And just to be sure they were duly impressed, he began again and counted by 2's. That's our boy!!

4. Friends don't let friends do big floor puzzles alone... Check out this enormous solar system puzzle he and his two "friends" were able to do... Of course, he was the only one who could name all of the planets too...not to mention reminding everyone that Pluto is NOT a planet anymore (and Pluto is still so sad about it...LOL)

5. And there's no better way to leave a lasting impression than to show off by writing your name (first AND last) on the sidewalk for all to see...(you'll need to read it upside down)

All in all, for him, a FRANTATIC day!!! I, on the other hand, am going to try some of those same tactics at work tomorrow...should be interesting. LOL

On another note, Jake and I had a wonderful time at Hallie's 3rd bday party this past Saturday!!!!! It was held at this really cool kids gym place in Philly and the kids were able to bounce (on a big trampoline), jump, roll, balance (on a balance beam), run wildly through obstacle courses, play with dozens of balls, eat pizza and cake and generally just be KIDS however they chose.

Hallie and her two new singing doll friends snuggle in her new pillow

Jake, Hallie and Sharon with Hallie's birthday presents...

Have you ever seen a more beautiful baby??

Guess who that is in the background bouncing the birthday girl?!?!?!

Jake spent most of the ride there explaining to me how "big brothers" are supposed to help their little sisters unwrap their presents by starting to rip the paper for them. And he was so excited about the presents that we got for Hallie that he even convinced Hallie's mommy, Sharon, to let her open them before getting them home. Here are a few pics of Hallie and her presents and Jake...looked like they were a big hit!

We're really looking forward to 4th of July weekend when we're going to all pile into a big Expedition and make the 3 hr trek down to the first ever Donor Sibling reunion for the 1976'rs...Jake, me, nanny, Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Baby Lea. There will be 8 children there all together ranging in age from about 6 to just a few months (Baby Lea)...ironically, 4 boys and 4 girls. For those of us who are familiar with the 1876 traits...this should be VERY interesting!!! More on this later...and of course, after...assuming at least one of the parents survive to tell the tale and share the pics...LOL

In closing, there are 2 cute Jake stories to leave you with... Last week, Jake and I were playing this game that's made up of 50 or so wooden shapes with holes in the middle. These pieces are used to make patterns on sticks and the game comes with some examples of the patterns and the child is supposed to find the right shapes and put them in the right order (PGTM, I know you know exactly which game I'm talking about here!). This, of course, was no problem for our little guy and we had a good time playing for quite a while. Once he was bored with this game, he asked if we could play another and I said we could as long as we cleaned this one up. So, he picked up all of the sticks and all of the templates and put them away while I put all of the 50 or so pieces back into the box. Now, this is the kind of box that comes with a clear plastic cover that slides in so you can see all of the pieces, not a "dump everything in it" kind of box. So, I was about to pick it up to put it back on the shelf and he grabbed my arm and said "Momma, that's not right!" I looked in the box and thought for a moment that maybe I had missed some pieces or something...boy, was I wrong. Jake proceeded to take the box, empty out ALL of the 50 pieces, group them by shape and by color and arrange them neatly in the rows. Funny part is, as he started to do this, I almost said "oh come on now, Jake, you're not really going to do that are you?" and then I realized...just like that song "Cats in the Cradle"...My boy was just like ME...he's growing up just like ME!!! Oh, am I in trouble!!

Driving in the car the other day, he asked "mommy, do you know how many stripes are on an American flag?" And to my dismay, I must admit, I did NOT. To which he replied...there are 13, my silly mommy and 50 stars! Well, alrighty then... I'm not looking forward to the day when he can put all of the states in the right place, cause I never make it before the buzzer for that one either...LOL

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!! And happy birthday to Aunt Amy (tomorrow)!!! We love you!!!!

Catching Up... Part 2

2009-06-06T16:05:00.015-04:00

So, enough of the bad news of the past month (from my Catch Up - Part 1), how about some of the good stuff!!! Well, we had a GREAT vacation with Nanny, La La, JJ and Aunt Adriana at our favorite resort in Punta Cana. This was our 4th trip there (Jake's been to Punta Cana 5 times and he's only 3...that's the life!) and we were welcomed back like friends of the family. We stayed in the newly opened "Reserve" which was designed with families and kids in mind. Here's a few shots from our balcony...the place was AWESOME!!!!

And some of the awesome kids pool with the 4 slides (where Jake could stand)...
(yes, that's nanny's finger in the picture...LOL)
The rooms were also incredible, as they had a full kitchen, an indoor Jacuzzi tub AND an outside one, a huge bathroom which was broken up into two rooms (3 sinks) and a shower built for 2 (which was almost the size of jake's room at home...LOL) and a balcony that had both the other Jacuzzi tub, a table and chairs and a sofa and easy chair. Just UNBELIEVABLY beautiful.

As you might expect, Jakey took advantage of both the indoor AND outdoor Jacuzzi!!

The very best part of the trip, though, was how comfortable Jake became with the water. Remember, this is the kid who cries every time he has to get his hair washed because he does NOT like water on his head or face. Here are some pics of him sliding down the slides and just generally loving the water!!

(Yes, that's his FACE in the water!!! Of course, it would help if he remembered to close his mouth)

He also had a great time playing with JJ and Aunt Adriana. Here's some high flying fun he had with his uncle... (and check out the bod on uncle JJ...wow, what a difference a year makes!!)

And of course, some generally cute shots and some of him and Nanny and La La (aka, the SKINNY TWINNIES.

(wearing nanny's reading glasses...LOL)

Only thing he missed was his girl, Jordan, and the rest of the Posse (who he just assumes should always go everywhere that we go)!!!

Bye for now...

Catching Up... Part 1

2009-06-06T14:15:00.008-04:00

Man oh man, this blogging thing is hard to keep up with! I was thinking about it last night, and it really comes down to choosing between blogging about something we did vs. doing something new (which may end up being something worth blogging about)...LOL And then, of course, there's always the question of "sleep" which always seems to get in the way. I'm starting to think there really is no way to "blog at the speed of life"...if things keep up this way, I may need to hire someone to hang around to take care of the blogging thing.

All that aside, it's definitely been WAY too long since I last updated this blog!! SO much has happened (good and bad), that I honestly don't even know where to begin?!?!?! I guess I should start with the not so good stuff...

Sunburn in April in NJ???

For those who wonder if that's even possible, let me put that question to rest once and for all...YES!!!!!!!!!!! I, of course, had to learn this lesson the hard way (well, Jake and I both, really). Yes, me, the mommy who uses 70 EVERY time he's at the beach, the pool, etc. Me, who has managed to take him to the Dominican Republic and Mexico 4 times without so much as a hint of a tan line anywhere on his body somehow manages to get him totally fried here in NJ in April!!!!!! This all occurred while playing on the waterslide across the street with his friends Logan and Brianna while mommy sat right there watching in total ignorance (and getting burned herself on her arms).

He was burnt crispy on his arms and shoulders, because on top of the dingbat move of NO sunblock I also allowed him to to pull the 'ol "Logan doesn't have a water shirt on, why do I need one?" ploy...Oh vey! Needless to say we had a few VERY uncomfortable nights and also learned that he is VERY allergic to aloe...which every product known to man for soothing sunburn has in it:-(

The next day he was feeling much much worse and had a bad runny/stuffy noes that appeared to have no intention of slowing down. Off we went to the peds office where we were seen by the nurse practitioner who told us that his symptoms all pointed to allergies and that we should simply pick up some zyrtec and be on our way. That night, he awoke with a 103 fever and we were quite sure the zyrtec wasn't going to be the answer.

The next day, he was looking much worse and now was saying that it hurt him to pick his head up. We were thinking it had to be the sunburn on his shoulders, but his fever just kept climbing and so off we went to the peds (again) for what I thought was some kind of sinus infection or one of a million other things kids his age are always picking up...all of which every mother assumes an antibiotic will quickly cure. Well, they checked him for strep, which was negative, found a rash that was spreading even as we sat in the exam room and then just as we were about to be sent home with some kind of "virus" diagnosis, Dr. Scott said "I'm not comfortable sending him home because of the way he's guarding his neck. I want you to take him to the ER for a spinal tap to check for meningitis." OK, whether you're a mommy or not, the whole "spinal tap...meningitis" thing has to grab your attention in a BIG way!!!! SPINAL TAP on a 3 year old?!?!?!?! WHAT??!!?? (Note to self at this point...stop watching so much HOUSE)

After the shock began to wear off, we left for the ER. Luckily, we were able to avoid the spinal tap when the ped on staff noticed that the lymph node on the right side of his neck was very swollen and getting larger by the minute. At that point, the diagnosis changed to some kind of infection that had gotten into that lymph node. About an hour earlier, I had spoken to Aunt Bear and although we have this very same conversation each time I call her while in the middle of some medical emergency, we were both still torn about whether or not she should come all the way to the ER? (Just for the record, EVERY time this happens, we look back and wonder how we could even have questioned whether or not she should come? LOL) Luckily she decided to come and join Nanny and I, who admittedly had checked our brains at the door of the ER. Aunt Bear asked the doctor about the rash that was continuing to spread and with that added piece of info, they decided that Jake might have Kawasaki disease and that we needed to be transferred by ambulance to the infectious disease ward at St Peters in New Brunswick. First, SPINAL TAP, now INFECTIOUS DISEASE ward???!!! And what the heck is KAWASAKI disease?!?!? I must have aged 20 years over those 2 hours...

All the while, Jakey was laying there very listless and lethargic and we were all so worried about him!!! After an ambulance ride where we almost hit a deer, swerved and were on 2 wheels for about 10 seconds (there go another 10 years), we were admitted to St Peters. To make a VERY long story even just a little shorter, after about 5 days on IV antibiotics and a hundred cups of ice cream, Jake recovered enough to be released. (Not sure Nanny and I have yet to recover) Also not sure we'll ever know what caused the infection, but we were all very relieved to just go home. As usual, we couldn't have survived without nanny going back and forth to our house each and every day to bring us anything and everything we might need and of course, our daily visits from Aunt Bear!!!

Throughout the entire experience, he was a real champ, unbelievable when you consider what he went through. Here are a couple of pics of him during the time when he had taken over the playroom on the ID ward. Most amazingly, while playing one day, he actually wrote his ENTIRE ALPHABET on a piece of paper for us...this was a first and I couldn't have been prouder of him!!!

Here's a picture of it... and a few pics of him in his cute little hospital gown.

Not too bad for a kid with an IV in his writing hand!!

Objection, Assuming Facts Not In Evidence...LOL

2009-04-17T23:13:00.010-04:00

Just a short post and some Easter pictures... I had one of those "mommy ah ha" moments a couple of days ago. Jake and I had just returned home from school/work and the weather was nice and he was really, really wanting to play outside for a while. He "asked" (and I use the term in its most liberal sense here) if we could go across the street to see if his friends, Logan and Brianna, could come out to play.

Now, I'm thinking...hmmm, it's 6:00 already, I have to cook and feed him dinner, give him a bath and get him in bed ready to read books by 7:00 or 7:30 (according to Nanny's wonderful new bedtime schedule). Honestly, playing outside with Logan and Brianna isn't sounding like a very good idea to me...but, as anyone who has ever seen a toddler with his mind made up knows, I really only had just a mere illusion of "control" and not any actual control over what was going to happen next...so, sensing that, I decided to DECIDE to allow him to do what he was already going to do anyway...I know, I know, sounds crazy, but it's much easier than accepting the fact that your life is being run by someone who can't yet tie their own shoes...LOL

BUT, before we cross the great divide (the sacred "you don't EVER step into it for utter certainty that a car will come and run you over and you will be dead and go to heaven with Chaka, and no you won't just be visiting and you won't be coming back and mommy will be VERY sad, but will also be joining you there because Nanny will kill her for not watching you close enough" street that separates him from where he wants to be), I sit him on the front steps and say in my sternest mommy voice, (as though I have some control over him or the situation, both of which we BOTH know I don't)...OK, Jake, we can go across the street and see if Logan and Brianna can play, ONLY if you PROMISE that you will NOT give mommy a hard time when it's time to come in. We have exactly one hour to play and then it's time to eat and take a bath (no need mentioning the whole go to bed thing here...been there, done that, don't want to go back) and I need you to PROMISE that when mommy says it's time to go in, you're going to listen and not throw any kind of tantrum or have any meltdowns...OK, do you PROMISE?!?!?!?!?

And with the voice of an angel and the face to match, he says "YES, mommy, I PROMISE"...And off we go... And for all those "backseat mommies" who are at this moment saying..."ewwwww, this sounds like a bad idea", I refer you back to the earlier paragraph which again reemphasizes the fact that "control" was just an illusion...LOL

Well, as it turns out Kristen invited us into the backyard so that the kids could all play on the 3 ride-on toys that they have and play they did for close to an hour and a half before I realized, unless I planned on having Jake asleep in the swing in their yard in the next 5 minutes, I was about to blow Nanny's nighttime schedule. SO, as all the parenting books suggest, I give him the 'ol "5 minute warning"...and as all real life results of that have proven...he proceeded to give me that "yeah, thanks mom, let me know how that works out for you" look. Ut-oh...if this were a movie, there would be some very daunting music playing right about now...the kind that makes you want to hide your eyes, even as an adult...LOL

So, I reach into my proverbial mommy back pocket and pull out the 'ol "Jake Anthony, now remember what you PROMISED!!!" To which I get the response that every mommy dreads...the I'm going to throw a major tantrum here in front of someone else response...with a nice heaping of "it's now past my bedtime, I didn't have a nap, and haven't eaten any dinner yet" on top...AKA, the perfect mommy trifecta...TIRED, HUNGRY and IRRATIONAL...WOO-HOO, I've now hit the jackpot! So, I make the classic mistake of trying to negotiate, plead, then beg for compliance...for rationality...until realizing this is going to be one of those moments when I'm fortunate enough to still be able to physically pick him up and remove him from the situation.

The entire way back across the street...while kicking myself for ALL of the wrong decisions made at every turn and dragging the quad, I'm still trying to reason with the wriggling, crying, tired, hungry, angry 3 yr old I'm carrying over my shoulder... "Now Jake, you PROMISED that you weren't going to do this...you PROMISED that you wouldn't give mommy a hard time when she said it was time to go home...you PROMISED that you wouldn't cry or get mad or make a scene...you PROMISED!!!!"

About an hour later, after we both had calmed down and he had been fed, bathed and was now lying in bed... We began to talk about what had happened...believe it or not, those moments just before bed can sometimes, actually be very "teachable" moments... Little did I know, that night, he was about to teach me something...

And I say "Jakey honey, mommy was very upset earlier tonight when you didn't keep your promise"...to which he innocently replies..."Mommy, what does PROMISE mean?" Hmmmm...and thus the title of this post... ut-oh, it seems I had been assuming facts not in evidence!!!

I obviously have a lot to learn about this whole mommy thing...

And a few select Easter pictures...

Picking flowers for mommy and nanny

Have You Seen My Mommy?!?!?

2009-04-03T22:36:00.004-04:00

After spending two weeks out of three without his mommy, one day this week Jake asked his teacher..."Have you seen my mommy?" Enough to make a mommy's heart break into two! Luckily, Nanny has been there through it all to take care of his every need...including his daily donut surprise and his new early (7 pm) bedtime routine. God only knows what we would do without Nanny!!!

We seem to have gotten past the rough spot at school and hopefully, this will take him out of the running for the "golden gloves" once and for all...or at least until the next time a little girl refuses to let him kiss her...LOL Speaking of kisses at school, he has developed quite a following in his new class. Whenever I arrive to pick him up at the end of the day, at least 3 girls run to give him a big hug and kiss good-bye and one (Amira) even stands at the window blowing him kisses as he walks to the car. All this at the ripe old age of 3...can't begin to imagine what the future holds in this regard!!

Last week, Jake had his first school concert. Aunt Bear and Pops attended with me and although I managed to bring my camera with a totally depleted battery (used it all up from the Please Touch Museum play date with Hallie and Lea), we did get some very good video of the momentous event. I know I'm totally biased here, but I believe he was definitely the most handsome little boy there! Here are a couple of pictures (post event in our kitchen) of him in his concert outfit, complete with tie.

The video is actually hilarious, as Aunt Bear can attest to (since you can hear the two of us laughing in the background the entire time). Jake may have actually sang 10 words the entire time, if that many. He was too busy directing other children to their places, waving to people on the side of the stage or in the audience, staring at the other children as they were singing and basically just being in awe of the whole deal. Let's just say it's a good thing he looked so cute...

Last weekend, we had a very rough start to his swimming lesson as he cried in protest almost all the way there. In order to get him out of the car without physical force, I had to promise that I would tell the swim instructor that he did NOT have to put his face in the water. (On a couple of occasions, she has actually pushed his head under the water...which, as you might imagine, did NOT go over well) Well, he totally shocked me and his instructor!!! He not only put his face into the water unprompted but jumped in from the side and went completely under without any concern at all! Go figure...

Jake continues to do really well academically at school. He's getting better and better at writing his name...funny part is that he doesn't feel compelled to put the letters all in a row, so they may be spread all over the page in any number of directions...but they're all there and very easy to identify now. In the last couple of weeks, he's started writing MOM too, which is always a nice surprise. He's now able to write most letters on his own, though there are a couple that he still asks for help with.

As for reading, he's able to sound out most 3 letter words and is VERY good at knowing what letter words start with just by sounding them out himself. (This, of course, makes it much more difficult to convince him that stores are CLOSED that are actually OPEN now...because he's quick to point out that the sign on the ice cream store starts with an O and not a C and can now even sound out the word OPEN...hmmm, seems I'm in for trouble now) We've starting reading chapter books and it's fun to mark the page and see him experience the excitement of continuing a story from one night to the next.

Jake has the continent song down now and can even identify which continent is which just by its shape...of course, I am absolutely horrible at geography and have to look at the label on the back of the shape to even know if he's right...which he always is these days. Still amazes me that at 3, he knows the continents!!! Yesterday, when I picked him up from school he took me over and showed me Europe on the globe and told me that was where I was this week when I was in Belgium...amazing...somehow I doubt my brother could have even told me that! LOL

One of his favorite sayings these days is "mommy, did you never know....?" and this can be followed by any number of facts like...did you never know that some shapes have corners and some don't? An octagon has 8 corners, did you never know that? And to be honest, sometimes I know and sometimes I don't...LOL.

Jake's also really stuck on wanting to go the "baby store" these days...not sure if this has something to do with spending so much time with his nanny (who would give her right arm for me to have another baby)? He frequently asks if we can go to the "baby store" and pick out a baby. When I ask if he will take care of the baby, he assures me he will, but is quick to point out that he wants nothing to do with changing smelly diapers...LOL I have a feeling he would love to have a baby doll from the toy store, and I know that there's nothing wrong (conceptually, anyway) with a boy playing with a doll, but the last time I went into Toys R Us thinking I might buy him one, we walked out with two new trucks, a righty baseball glove (because his Aunt Bear is convinced that he throws better righty than lefty) and a Diego bike. Probably for the best because Uncle JJ would surely have a stroke if he saw him playing with a baby doll!!!! LOL

Last night, he was telling me about some of his friends at school and he mentioned their mommies and daddies. Whenever the subject of "daddies" comes up, I hold my breath in anticipation of the day when he asks where his is. Last night I decided to confront that fear head on and I actually asked him where his daddy was. It was an amazing thing to watch as he contemplated the question for a moment. Then he asked for clarification...he said "do you mean JJ?" To which I responded, no, JJ is your uncle. Then he said "do you mean Pops?" And to that I responded, no Pops is my daddy. And that appeared to leave him completely stumped... leaving me to believe that he's really never contemplated this question before...very surprising to me. Then he ran from the table (which scared me to death...thinking that I might have upset him) and ran up the stairs. I called after him, but he told me that he had to get something and would be right back down.

After a few minutes (which seemed like an eternity), he came back down with the Family Book that we frequently read. He turned to the page that says that some families only have one parent and said that he only has a mommy! And then, with a completely innocent, but inquisitive face, he turned and asked "mommy, did you never know that?"...LOL If I'm being honest, made me tear up a bit to see just how very well adjusted he is!!!

Not sure there's a luckier mommy in all the world...

Ever have one of those days...

2009-03-13T22:51:00.005-04:00

We've all had "one of those days"...days where you're sure you should have NEVER gotten out of bed...where you frequently think of the Southwest airline tagline - "need to get away?" or the Calgon "take me away"...right?

OK, so I had one this week which started out with a call from my boss asking if I was "in the tower at that moment?" (which means at work in New Brunswick, a 40 min ride from my house) …that moment was 7 am….so, the first thing that runs through my mind is...ahhh, unless my 3 yr old is with me, I can pretty much guarantee I’m not "in the tower" at 7 am…(unless, of course, by some miracle, someone was to give me 12 hours notice…10 even..LOL...but that's a whole other story)

So, NO, I’m not there..what do you need? Oh, you forgot that you made changes to the presentation for today and now you need 24 copies of a 40 page deck? And you’re surprised to find that you can’t find any admins around to help make the copies? Can I help you find someone? Hmmmm…so, I scramble to call on every person who ever owed me a favor in the tower and finally one straggles into work and calls me back and she gets started on printing…ahhh, emergency solved, right?! Well, one solved and one created...

I turn around and I now literally have 11 minutes to make the 15 minute drive to Jake’s school to get him there on time and he doesn't have his coat on and we're no where near getting in the car. Now, you may ask, what does “on time” mean in the life of a 3 yr old anyway?? Well, in his new school, the door to the hallway to his classroom closes sharply at 8:45…no if’s, and’s or but I have a million excuses why we’re late…about it. Once that dreaded door closes, mommies lose their ability to walk their child to their classrooms. The office lady takes them instead and when I tell you this causes EVERYone’s day to get off to a bad start…I’m not kidding!!! So this is something I try, really try to avoid at all costs!!!!!!! (And those who know me know, that I DON'T do well with mornings and I'm not exactly known for my promptness...LOL) But, there isn't much I dread less than watching him through that door..walking away with that office lady…with that sad boo boo face which says “why can’t you walk me to my classroom, mommy?!?!?” Ok, sorry, I digress…

Where was I…So I realize that we have 11 minutes and so I grab him and his 10,000 things that are somehow at this very moment now critical to bring to school this morning and off we go running for the car…screeching down the road…turning on 2 wheels…and we make it literally 7 seconds before the door closes!!! Woo-hoo for mommy!!!!!!! OK, so maybe my excitement was a bit premature...

I jump in the car and race off to New Brunswick to take care of my other dependent, my boss…LOL When I arrive, I take a quick look in the mirror because I got a haircut last night and I don’t have all that much left and I want to be sure there isn’t one of the 10 strands left that’s out of place. And to my utter shock, I realize that I had forgotten that I wasn’t actually ready to leave the house when I ran out to take Jake to school… I have NO makeup on…no mascara, no blush, NO NOTHING!!!! OMG, what now?!?!?! So, I run in, get the copies he needs, run up and drop them off outside the meeting room (thank goodness he didn’t see me) and then run back down, jump back in the car and drive to the nearest store to buy some make-up.

Now, as you might imagine, the day doesn't pause for this little excursion...so I'm taking teleconferences on my phone, while answering messages furiously on my blackberry and walking through the aisles of Stop N Shop, muting when I pass crying children and other loud noises that would give my location away, and slowly, but surely find some make-up to wear. Check out, sit in the car and put my make-up on and make my way back to work. Whew!! Disaster averted, right? Hmmmm.

Luckily, I make it back just in time to go into a big "blue suit" meeting...the kind at J&J where everyone is totally on their best behavior because the finance boys in blue are there and we're talking about some very serious stuff...which seems to be most every day these days. I take a deep breath and think, ok, at the very least, I should be able to get a little email done while some of these blowhards are talking. As I scan my email, I'm delighted to find a personal message from my good friend, and fellow posse member, Amy. I open the message and click on the file attached and up pops the following picture right there big and wide on my laptop screen...

Well the two guys sitting on either side of me actually spit their coffee out across the table and the presentation came to a complete and total stop..."want to get away?" I slowly closed my laptop screen, sent my asst an email on my bb to come up with some emergency and 2 mins later, she shows up looking very serious to pull me out of the meeting. Definitely the VERY best laugh I had all day...

Ok, so just when you think it couldn’t get any crazier…with about 20 minutes left in the day, I look down and realize that in my haste that morning, in addition to not putting on any make-up, I also put on BLACK shoes with my BROWN pants and shirt and had been walking around this way ALL day…

So, in an attempt to sneak out, I wait for the elevator, hoping and praying that I don't run into anyone I know, and whew...the door opens and the elevator is empty. Thank goodness...deep breath...sigh of relief...for all of one floor, when the door opens up and our CEO, CFO and CIO get on. (Seems there was an Executive Committee meeting that day...lucky me) So, they say hello and I stand there for an excruciating ride down with my brown pants and black shoes all the way to the ground floor...did I forget to mention that the inside of our elevators are lined with mirrors?!?!

I race off to pick up Jake, only to find him sitting in a "time out" area when I walk in...honestly, by now I'm thinking "what the heck else can possibly happen today?" Well, it turns out that one of his "friends" asked him to help him to "beat up" a bigger kid and it seems he accepted the invitation and two 3 yr olds jumped a 6 yr old...As if that wasn't bad enough, it turns out he also tried to bite a little girl in his class earlier in the day. Maybe we both shouldn't have gotten out of bed?!?!?

So, the line of the week came as we drove home from school. I asked, "Jake Anthony, why on Earth would you try to bite a little girl?!?" To which he answered seriously "Momma, she wouldn't let me kiss her!!" At 3? Holy moly...

Definitely one of those days that I was NOT meant to get out of bed…

Catching Up...Part 1

2009-03-08T21:19:00.013-04:00

It's been so long, that I'm honestly not even sure where to begin?!?! Since my last post, Jake had his tonsils out, met his new sister, Lea (twice), visited with Hallie twice, has been in a bunch of trouble at school and last, but not least, spent 8 wonderful days in Punta Cana with the Posse.

So, with a little distance under our belts, the tonsils ordeal doesn't seem all that bad...though I must admit, at the time, it seemed VERY bad. The day couldn't have started out any worse, as we had literally 4 or 5 inches of snow during the night. Then, of course, there's the part where you have to try to explain to a 3 yr old why he can't have even a sip of water. While he's saying over and over and over again..."water, momma, water, momma, drink momma, drink please!!!" And running from sink to sink to the refrigerator and all through the house trying to get there before Nanny, Aunt Bear or me. Ohh, that seemed so cruel!!!

Then we arrive at the children's hospital and he's his normal happy go lucky self and is running around, riding on the little toys they have there and we're trying to keep from showing any worry or concern and all the time we know he's about to have a surgery that's going to leave him feeling REALLY, REALLY badly...which Aunt Bear describes as "your throat's going to hurt a little bit"... ok, so at that point I'm thinking, hmmmm, how many of those little white lies does a Godmother get??"

The surgery went well, without any complications and of course, he emerged in the recovery room crying hysterically in pain. One of the worst feelings anyone could ever experience... holding your child, knowing there is absolutely nothing you can do to comfort him!!! My stomach was in my right shoe for the entire day. Here's a picture of our little guy in the recovery room... momentarily asleep in between bouts of crying, waiting for the morphine to kick in.

Aunt Bear, Nanny and I were there to see him through it all and of course, once he was feeling better, to shovel in the ice cream as fast as he could take it. We thought we were doing fairly well and the nurse agreed and next thing you know he was released and we began to make our way to the lobby to wait for our car to be brought around... when out of no where, all of that ice cream decided to make its way back up... At that very moment, just as we were trying desperately to catch it in the basins we just happened to take along with us, this parking valet guy comes in and starts pestering Aunt Bear for her valet ticket. So, after trying to put him off 3 or 4 times (and each time he asked, I was sure he was going to find his nose on the other side of his face), she finally shoved the (full) basin at him and said "here, you want to hold this while I find the damn ticket?" Needless to say, it bought us another a little time because he wanted nothing to do with that basin!!!

Over the next couple of weeks, it was very interesting to hear our little guy speaking with this squeaky little voice. And he played it for all it was worth and continued asking for ice cream for breakfast long after he was fully recovered (and of course, sometimes even got it from his nanny...but that's a whole other story;-)!!

A few weeks later, we were fortunate enough to be able to visit his newest baby sister (donor sib), Lea Paxton in Philly at the hospital a couple of days after she was born. Ohhh, Lea is BEAUTIFUL and such an incredibly good baby!!!!! We just loved meeting her and having a chance to spend a little time visiting with everyone.

Sharon and Abby gave him an "I'm a Big Brother" shirt that he proudly wore throughout the entire visit. And he and Hallie had a good time playing with puzzles and monkeys and balloons made from gloves... We are SO fortunate to have met Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Lea and to have them all within an hours drive will make it easy for the kids to grow up spending a lot of time together.

Of course, we may need to work on that big brother hug, as he tends to strangle whoever it is that he's hugging;-)
Not long after our visit with Lea and Hallie, we went on a short trip to the Zoo with the Posse and his girl, Jordan. These two are SO incredibly adorable together and Jake is always wanting to hug her, kiss her or hold her hand. To say they adore each other would be the understatement of the year!!! Here's a shot from the zoo...

If it looks like it was a little "chilly" for a zoo visit...well, you're right, it WAS! But the kids had fun...the big ones and the little ones and then we went back to the Brooks-Minardi residence where El Presidente whipped up a delicious meal, including our boy's favorite dish...raviolis.

I'm going to have to continue this post another day, but I am going to attach a few vacation pics because they're just too good not to!!! Back soon...

Line of the week... "Jake honey, why on Earth would you bite a little girl in your class?!?!?"... "Because she wouldn't let me kiss her!"

Terror in the Potty...LOL

2009-02-05T23:43:00.005-05:00

Just a short blog, though I have tons to catch up on (tonsils out, fighting at school...including biting, meeting his new sister, Lea and playing with his "bigger little sister", Hallie)...but it's way too late for all of that tonight. This little story, however, is well worth losing 20 mins of sleep...

So, today I realized that I was about to miss the window to get Valentine's Day Cards made and sent out. I called Picture People at Bridgewater Commons and made an appointment for 7. (Yes, yes, I know that sounds late...but that was the best I could do) Went to work, left and picked up Jake (who had an excellent day at school with NO incidents of fighting, pulling hair or biting to report...but, I digress), came home, changed his clothes (since he looked like he had been in a fight with a bag of white flower and lost badly), and off we went to the mall for pictures.

Now, somewhere inside this frazzled brain, I know that taking Jake for pictures is at a minimum, a 2 person job. That's why I ALWAYS take Nanny with me, and yet, alas, I found myself driving there alone tonight...that was MISTAKE #1. After managing to coral him into his stroller (which he's way too big for now...looks a little like a baby elephant would riding in a Volkswagen bug), off we strolled into the mall. A quick check of the watch revealed that I had managed to actually arrive with 20 minutes to spare (for those who know me well, I know you're thinking that can't be true, but it was!)...exactly the time I needed to find him a cute Valentine's Day Shirt.

Luckily, I was able to spot one quickly in Gymboree. As I turned to pay for the new shirt, I made MISTAKE #2 by taking my eyes off the big guy in the little stroller. Little did I know that as I was paying for the shirt, my boy was stripping down to "NAKED BOY"!!!! I guess, when moments before he had asked if he was going to CHANGE for his picture and I said YES, he assumed he was going to change EVERYTHING. Now, I'm still relatively clueless (yes, more than usual) standing there paying at the register while I hear these giggles, claps, laughs and finally gasps coming from behind me. I turn to see what the heck was going on and find MY SON attempting to flee the stroller with only his boxer briefs (thank goodness I picked cute ones today...LOL) and his work boots still on...seems he couldn't get the briefs off over the boots...the only thing that kept him from getting completely naked. To say I could have DIED, would be the understatement of the year!!!!!

So, off I go picking up the shirts (undershirt, t-shirt, sweatshirt), jacket, pants (how the heck he got these off over the boots is beyond me?!?!?), and socks...like someone cleaning up after a stripper. While at the same time, trying desperately to keep him from escaping the stroller. Yet another reason why I never attempt these things without Nanny!!!

After finally getting him dressed, we made our way through the little crowd that had formed to watch the show (I kid you not) and head off to the Picture People store...a little more frazzled than normal. The picture taking actually went fairly well...meaning we got a bunch of good shots (as always)...which means I spent a bunch of money (as always)...with very little collateral damage to the studio, the photographer and me! LOL

We pick out pictures...and, as anyone who's been through this process knows, this is an almost impossible task when you're one on one with a 3 year old!!! (Again, why I ALWAYS bring Nanny along) I really think the studios plan it this way, so you're totally flustered sitting there while your child runs rampant around the store, trying somehow to pick and choose with one eye while scanning the room for damage with the other...it's almost impossible to make any kind of sane, logical choices under these circumstances. Luckily, when it comes to Jake and the camera, it's almost impossible to make a bad choice!! (Other than to choose one of everything, which is usually what I end up doing...LOL)

At that point, the lady goes back to print out our pictures and Jake and I are about to head to the food court to eat dinner. (yes, yes, it's very late for dinner, I know, I know...again, I'm doing my best here) Here's where I make MISTAKE #3...and boy was it a whopper!!!! Feeling like I had to pee for the past 4 hours, I thought, hey why not use the potty here at Picture People before we head to the food court.

To get to the potty, we had to slip quietly by a photo shoot in progress where we passed a family of 4 boys and a mother and father, as the potty was actually a door at the back of that photo studio. Upon entering the potty, I turned and locked the door, failing to take note of the height of the lock as compared to the height of my boy. (Right about now, mommies reading this blog know EXACTLY where this is headed...LOL) Jake and I are now in this huge bathroom and unfortunately for me, the potty is actually at the farthest point from the door. Though none of this seems relevant or important to me at the time.

I start to go pee and as I'm going, the sound of the pee pee must have made Jake feel like all of a sudden he had to go and he had to go BAD. The kind of BAD where little boys hold the crotch of their pants and hop around while crossing their legs. At that moment, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse than him having to go while I am in the middle of peeing like a race horse, he looks at the door...that door that is WAY, WAY, WAY across the room and says, "momma, I'm going to go use the boys room". And before I can stop midstream and pull myself back together he's off and running for that door knob. This is where I make MISTAKE #4... I go running after him, pants down around my ankles, and just miss catching him before he swings open the door as WIDE as it will go. And there I stand, in all my glory, while 4 boys and their father stare right through the door at me.

Luckily, Jake realized fairly quickly (well, to me, it seems like weeks later) that this was the only bathroom and came running back in, shut the door, pushed me aside, pulled down his pants and proceeded to use the potty. I, on the other hand, may never pee again...at least not in any public restrooms with my son present!!!! Total TERROR in the potty...

I believe my face has yet to return to it's normal color...

At The Risk of Jinxing Myself...

2009-01-19T23:11:00.007-05:00

I think I can finally say that we are officially POTTY TRAINED!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And as anyone who's been through this with a boy knows...every one of those exclamation points has been earned...LOL) And yes, I said "we" because goodness knows, this is NOT one of those things that a child does alone.

I've been wondering at what point I could "officially" say we'd crossed the finish line? At first, I thought, well, he really should be out of pull-ups completely, right? Yes, even at night, right? Then, as time went on, the bar began to lower...OK, well, what's the big deal about wearing a pull-up at night anyway? I mean, come on, heck, some nights when I'm dead tired (after making a post midnight post), and I get the urge that wakes you from a sleep you really, really need, or keeps you from getting there to begin with, I wish I was wearing a pull-up so I could avoid having to deal with getting out of bed and trudging through the cold air to the potty. Besides, I know kids that are 5 and still wearing the "safety net" pull-up to bed, and surely their parents consider them "potty trained", right? And on and on and on went the rationalizations...

So, down came the bar....well, just a little bit anyway! And I decided that success for us would be defined as the moment that I could remove ALL of the little pottys scattered throughout my house...in my kitchen (which sported a kids urinal AND a potty...oh joy) and in just about every bathroom. So, this past weekend, I plotted the final steps of this journey and planted the seed with my little guy by saying oh so nonchalantly..."I think you may be getting a little too big for those silly little pottys, don't you? I think it's time you shared JJ's bathroom...the "big boy" bathroom. What do you think?" And I held my breath and waited for the "no, I want to keep my pottys" but alas, it didn't come! Instead he sad calmly..."momma, you're right" (How often will that happen in my lifetime?)

So, the next day, in the spirit of "striking while the iron (or in this case, the potty) is hot"...out went the pottys!!!! POOF... GONE...NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN!!!!! When Jake returned from school that night, he didn't even notice that the pottys had been removed from the kitchen...at least until he ran over to the spot where they once lived and said..."ut-oh, momma, I have to go potty and my pottys are lost"...Though I was tempted to repeat our prior conversation, something told me that brevity was my best bet at this point and I simply pointed to the "big boy" bathroom and off he went. And there's been no looking back since!!! Of course, JJ just loves the fact that Jake now feels he's an equal owner of the big boy bathroom and it certainly makes for interesting conversation between the two...LOL

Jake's been doing really well in his new class in school. They were going to give him a month to see how he would adjust before making it permanent, but he's already giving the other kids and his teachers a run for their money. It's kind of funny, because anyone who works with him at school and even our new babysitter, Melanie (Mel), all say the same exact thing...wow, he's just so smart. Of course, I always love hearing that...though some small part of me wonders how it will be to raise a kid who's smarter than me...LOL It's bad enough that they usually THINK that they're smarter than you...in this case though, he'll be right AND he'll be smart enough to know he's right...LOL Hopefully, I'll be given a larger allowance of those little "mommy lies" to help me make it through.

Speaking of school, we did have two little incidents last week that the teacher brought to my attention. Seems Jake had a little altercation with one of the other kids, a girl no less. The first time, the teacher told us that he was "squeezing her face" and that she moved this little girl to another table (they had been working at the same table) and that Jake went over and found her and did the same thing again. After which, she had a little sit down with him and he snapped back into line. The next day when I arrived to pick him up, she said that he had pushed this little girl off of her chair. This time, she had a little chat with both of them and he apologized and gave her a hug to say he was sorry.

The next day, I was afraid of what I would hear when I picked him up. As the teacher approached I cringed and she actually laughed out loud because she could tell I was worried about what she was going to report. But this time she said that she finally figured out what was going on and that Jake just really liked this little girl but didn't know the "appropriate" way to approach her. So, she brought them together first thing in the morning, formally introduced them (he has 25 kids in his class and he doesn't know all of them yet) and gave them a project to work on together. She said he was thrilled and worked really well with her and that she didn't expect any further trouble. Although I was admittedly relieved to hear that she figured out what was going on, it obviously means we'll need to work on our boy's approach to women...LOL Obviously, pushing them out of chairs and squeezing their faces won't get him too far...which may not be a bad thing during the teenage years, when I'd like for him to not get too far at all. So much for our ladies man...

Since Christmas, Jake has grown another 3/4th of an inch. That makes almost 2 inches since Thanksgiving...which, ironically, was just about the time I purchase a gazillion 3T pants...uggh. The growth spurt combined with the new "no pull-up" look (which means the crotch on his pants can now come up a little higher and makes the legs even shorter) means that almost all of those pants are just about to be too short on him. And to think, my mother still counts each and every thing he eats all day long to ensure that she gets enough calories/nutrition in him...somehow I doubt that's necessary any longer! With the addition of those 2 inches, he's now 3 1/2 feet tall!! And he weighs in at about 35 pounds. At age 3...oh my!

These days it's actually possible to have a conversation with Jake. It usually takes everything I have not to laugh because he frequently uses a wrong word in the middle of a sentence which totally changes the meaning of what he's trying to say, even though I know exactly what he's saying...it can be sooo cute. I've come to realize that there are a few words that he's a little confused about, one being the word "fired". When I want him to hurry along and get into the car or his carseat or jacket or any of the other thousands of steps it takes to get him up, dressed, fed, in the car and to school, he'll always ask why I'm rushing him and I usually say something like "We have to hurry along because I have to go to work and if I'm late my boss is going to fire me". Well, the other day, he told me that my boss was mean and that he didn't like him. This came as quite a surprise to me, since he's never met him and I certainly have never said anything bad about him in front of Jake. After asking a few questions, I came to find out that Jake thinks the word "fired" means that somebody burns you with a fire. Ahhh, mystery solved! Who could like someone who sets your mommy on fire, eh? Needless to say, I don't say that anymore...LOL

Well, that's all for now. Just getting over whooping cough and I need to get some sleep!

p.s. Lines of the week...

Jake: "Momma, why do you have to go to work?" Me: "Because we need money to pay for all of the things we like and to get that money, mommy has to work" Jake: "What if I give back all of my toys, could you stay home with me then?"

JJ, Jake and I were sitting at the table eating pizza one night...when Jakey asked JJ to cut his pizza into 2 smaller slices. JJ: "Jakey, what if I cut them each in two again, how many would you have?" Jakey: "I'd have 4 slices" JJ: "What if I cut them again?" Jakey: "Silly JJ, I'd have 8 then!" JJ: "Holy crap, he's right!"

While I was observing Jake's class one morning (when I was supposed to be at work)...another child about 5 walked past Jake and asked him what time it was...to which he replied, "it's quarter to 9" (OK, admittedly, I was amazed at that response, especially since he was right) The other child stood there with a confused look on his face as he obviously had no clue what that meant. Jake, noticing this look, said ... you have 15 minutes more to play before circle time. I shook my head all the way to work...

Yet Another Telltale Sign That My Baby Is Growing Up...

2009-01-07T00:13:00.005-05:00

Just a short post here because it's LATE...but I just couldn't let the day go by without marking a wonderful accomplishment for my not so little, little guy. Today was Jake's first day back at his Montessori school after being off with his mommy and nanny for close to 2 weeks. After a tiny bit of fussing, and deciding that he would rather go to school than stay home alone with Fritz and Quincey, we were on our way (Nanny and I tell him a little white lie about her having to go to work on Tuesdays, so he doesn't think there's an option that he can stay home with her...yes, yes, yet another little mommy white lie).

When we arrived at the school, I naively walked him into the Stepping Stones classroom where he's been since last Sept. About three steps into the room, his teacher, Mrs. Fedora, looked up at us with a very perplexed expression. She then proceeded to say "good morning" and point us right back out the door. To my utter disbelief, over the break, they decided that Jake WAS ready to move up to the primary classroom (where the kids are anywhere from 3 to 6 years old). I was shocked, but trying not to make a big deal of this whole surprise, lest I panic Jake.

Well, it turns out that he was MUCH more prepared than I was for this transition!!! He did a complete 180 degree turn, walked down the hallway to the entrance to the "big boy" classrooms and looked back at me like "are you coming, Mom, or what?" I was trying to give him my best "sure, heck, I'm coming" look...until I realized that my legs were not moving...LOL All I could think of was...hey, where was my little transition meeting? Sure, he went and visited the other classroom before the break, but what about easing mommy into this who new thing??

He must have sensed what was going through my mind...not to mention that I was standing there like a dope (LOL)...So, being the trooper that he is, he came back to get me, took my hand and said "we have to go this way, mommy". We approached the entrance to the hallway leading to the "big boy" classrooms, and it was there that I was stopped abruptly by the office lady, Mrs. McDaniels. I must have had quite a panicked look on my face, because she proceeded to tell me that normally, parents are NOT allowed to walk their children to their classrooms, but since it was his first day, she would let me accompany him there to make sure he was comfortable and ok. (I think we both knew that what she was really thinking was that this would hopefully alleviate any possibility that I would either pass out right there, create a big scene, and ultimately screw up drop off for all of the other kids and parents OR pick her up and throw her out of my way...LOL)

So, Jake and I took that long walk down the hallway, passing four (or so) other classrooms until we got to the last one, The Jacques Cousteau room (heck it couldn't be a name that I could easily spell?). I stood there frozen, holding his backpack and nap bag in my hands staring into this BIG, HUGE, classroom full of what seemed like thousands of cool, intellectually stimulating kid things and a LOT of other kids...most of whom looked WAY older than my baby boy (though not necessarily bigger). And for just one brief moment, I thought about scooping him up into my arms and taking him back to the little classroom with the rocking chair and all of his other little friends. Right at that tenuous moment, a cute little girl came running over and said "Jake, we've been waiting for you to come and join our classroom!!" She took his hand and with only a stolen kiss on the head (and no hug) off he went into the world of "big boys"...

His teacher noticed me standing there, again I can just imagine the expression on my face and how pale I must have looked (I forgot to put on blush before leaving the house, so holy cow, I had to be way scary), and she walked over, put her hand on my shoulder, told me she would take really, really wonderful care of my son, took the nap bag and his backpack from me and told me to have a nice day. HAVE A NICE DAY?!?!?! I felt like saying...Hey, I'm staying right here...you don't really expect me to leave him here, do you? Which, I'm sure is WHY they have the "parents can't walk their kids to the classroom policy" to begin with! And then, she shut the door and there I stood, all alone in the hallway...a world away from my little baby boy turned "big boy".

I tried my best to be brave and headed back to the car. Even got in and started it, well, momentarily any way. And spent the next few minutes convincing myself that the people I was supposed to meet with at 9:30 (at work) were basically idiots and that it was waayyyy more important to ensure he was ok on this very important day. Car off, door open, back into the school, past the office lady guarding the door (she knew better than to try to stop me) and back down the hall. Luckily, this school has one way glass outside each classroom, so I was able to watch him without him knowing I was there (and I say this not because I was worried that he would run to me, but more because I worried he would be embarrassed that his mommy was having separation issues...LOL).

Needless to say, he was doing GREAT!!! He had taken his own coat off, hung it on his hook, put his nap bag where it goes and his backpack and was now sitting in "circle" next to his friend Paulie (a child he got to know in afterschool care...ironically, the son of his former teacher). The teacher was reading a book to the class about animals and asking them to act things out with her and he was SUCH a part of the whole little group that you would have NEVER known that this was his first day (unlike his mom...who you could spot as a primary class parent newbie from a mile away). He was AMAZING!! So confident, answering questions, listening quietly, taking his turn...I could NOT have been prouder!!! After a few minutes (ok, more like 20), I made my way back to car and even managed to get myself to work.

Nanny picked him up at about noon (he has half days on Mon and Tues) and he proudly told her that he had even gone to the potty by himself. And hey, this is no small feat, either!! The pottys are not in any room off of his classroom (like the old room), he has to go back down that hall, out to the main hallway and across from the office to the boys room to go...BY HIMSELF!!! He said he did it twice, and when I heard this, all I could think was WOW!!!!!

I have a feeling we're all going to be given a run for our money now...the class will be learning the continents, states, the sign language alphabet and all kinds of other things I have NO idea about. And they still predict he'll be reading in just another few months...which, anyone who has ridden in a car with him lately can tell you, is getting easier to believe...he reads ALL of the road signs now...CAUTION, NO TURNS, No stopping or standing, Speed Limit signs, Do Not Enter, you name it! At 3!!! It scares me to even think what he'll be doing at 4?? Binomial equations?

Only one new picture to post tonight...one of the very best surprises for my birthday (which was the 5th) was a picture sent from our girl, Smidgie (aka Jo-Jo, Jordan, Smidge). How darn cute is she?? Especially love the bedhead!!! LOL

Hope everyone has an amazing week...we're certainly off to a great start!

Blog It OR Lose It...

2008-12-28T00:55:00.009-05:00

It's almost 1 am and I know I should be headed off to bed, and yet here I sit about to start a new post. I can just hear my mom now saying WHY don't you go to bed?!?!? Well, over the last 3 years, I've either totally lost my short term memory or lost enough of it that I can't seem to remember how to navigate to where the rest is that I haven't yet lost...LOL And my definition of "short term" seems to grow as Jake continues to grow...actually, if you were to graph the two (his age and what I refer to as "short term"), I believe the lines would mirror each other...EXACTLY. What does this have to do with blogging at 1 am in the morning? Well, I've come to realize that it really comes down to "Blog it or LOSE it"...and who the heck wants to lose any of these precious memories?!?!?! So, mom, that's why I can't go to bed and yes, yes, you can still say "you told me so" tomorrow when I say I'm tired.

It's been close to a month since we flew down to Florida for our visit with Jake's Uncle Sal, Uncle Michael, Uncle Greg, Aunt Karen, Cousins Carson, Ryan and Andrew. It was Uncle Michael's 60th birthday and Jake and I took Nanny and La La (his Aunt Louise) down for a surprise party. We had a great time and Uncle Michael was very surprised. Jake had a chance to swim a little one day, though none of us were brave enough to get in the pool with him, so he basically played on the steps and made his way all the way around the pool by holding onto the edge (with me following closely behind crawling on the cement). I thought for sure I was going to end up having to jump in with my clothes on...but we somehow managed to avoid that. He also had a chance to play with his cousins Andrew, Ryan and Carson...and in true Jakey style, he had his good moments and not so good.

One of the highlights of the trip was our visits with Jake's donor sibling (half brother) Cole and his wonderful mommy, Tammi!! They were so warm and friendly, you would have thought we had known them for years. The boys had a good time visiting and playing together and Tammi had a number of good things lined up for us to do, including: a coconut hunt (Jake had never seen a real one before), feeding the ducks at the park, playing at a great playground, and visiting at her house where we got to meet so many wonderful people who absolutely adore Cole (and help her to watch him when she has to be out of town, she's a flight attendant). Here are some pictures of the two boys. Not as much resemblance as with some of his other donor sibs, because Cole looks a lot like his mommy. But, as you can see, he's a total DOLL, with beautiful blond hair and that Florida surfer boy look.

Tammi has promised to come up and visit us to play in the snow sometime and we're really looking forward to seeing them both again real soon!!!

One other note from the trip, Jake went the entire 4 days with only one accident. So, we're hopeful that we're in the home stretch on the potty training...WOO-HOO!!!! (While simultaneously knocking on wood...LOL)

In an effort to "catch up"...here are some Christmas pictures as well. Including one of Jake and his girl, Jo-Jo (aka, Smidge) with Santa...holding hands!!! (And yes, that is a look of fear on her face, but, that's a whole other story....LOL)This was the first year that Jake really, really enjoyed the whole presents scene and was excited for Santa to come. One of his most loved gifts was his BIG BOY BED...a gift that Santa managed to move right into his room and get set up while also putting the crib up in the attic...he's a very resourceful guy, no? (I let Jake sleep in my bed for this special night) Santa put a big red bow on Jake's door and when we saw it in the morning (he slept until 8, which doesn't sound early, except when you consider that nanny and I only went to bed at 3), we just knew that Santa had left a present in there. He was soooo excited to see it and of course, was jumping on it in 30 secs flat!

If I'm being totally honest, it was a little hard for me to disassemble the crib and put it up in the attic. And even harder to see him sleeping in that big boy bed for the first time. Made me totally wonder "what the heck happened to my baby???" I can still remember the moment I had finally gotten his room all set up...the rest of the new house was in complete disarray...boxes everywhere, half painted, the kitchen torn out...and his room was PERFECT. The perfect color baby blue, the perfect little ducky border, the perfect little duckies on the walls, clouds on the ceiling and stars and planets hanging everywhere, and a beautiful crib and rocker. I spent hours in there with him, rocking him, breastfeeding him, watching him sleep, sometimes falling asleep in the rocker holding him. And every night before bed, I would ask him the very same question I still ask him now..."Who loves you more than your mommy, who could possibly love you more? To which I would reply (for him)...NOBODY!!!" (These days, he says EVERYBODY, and giggles because he knows he's about to get tickled for that response.) In those moments, with that warm little snugly body held so closely against me, listening to every breath, every sigh, hoping time would stand still, I don't think I've ever felt closer to any other human being or ever will again.

Ironically, tonight after I tucked him into his new bed, he called out to me and said "momma, can you rock me please???" We usually rock and read books every night, except for nights like tonight when we're up really late, but I rarely rock him to sleep anymore. As I sat in that rocker with him snuggled up against me, feeling him trying to squeeze that little boy body into the shape of a baby all curled up with arms around my neck (and of course, squeezing my waddle) and legs tucked in tight, I thought, this must be what they mean when they say he'll always be my baby. Because for that hour while I rocked him slowly back and forth, feeling his body untense and slowly drift into sleep, it was just as it was way back when and once again, I wished that time would stand still.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and have a Happy New Year!!!

p.s. Jakey lines of the week... After playing around in his big boy bed for a while, Jake told me that he'd really like to get the BIG big boy bed (the loft bed that I made the mistake of showing the kid who NEVER forgets a thing) next time. So, I said we could ask Santa for it next year. To which he replied..."Can we call him right now?" So, trying to explain how this whole thing works, I proceeded to tell him that we had to write a letter. And he asked "Which one, momma?" ; I had to laugh out loud at that one. Trying again, I said, "no, honey, not that kind of letter, we need to send him a note to let him know what you want for Christmas". And he asked "what does the note sound like, momma?" LOL

Jake Meets Mickey & Pals and Falls In Love...

2008-12-16T21:31:00.008-05:00

We just returned from a 7 day adventure at Disney World (Jake's first...of many, I'm sure) with my good friend Dude (Aunt Dude to Jake), Uncle Jeffry and their sons, Braden (5) and Jackson (3) and a subsequent trip back to Florida a mere 5 days later (yes, back again, don't ask) for my uncle's surprise 60th bday party and a chance for a first meeting with Jake's donor sibling, Cole. (More on that in another post)

If there's one thing I learned on this Disney adventure, it's that the "happiest place on Earth" brings out both the very best AND very worst in all of us...LOL It was truly one week where we laughed a lot, cried a lot (yes, both of us), sang a lot, screamed a lot (yes, both of us), danced a lot, and crashed a lot (only him this time...LOL). I'm convinced that there's really something about that Disney Magic that over time, drains every last bit of energy out of kids, rendering them incapable of "self regulation" (a term I'm sure was created to avoid having to say something less pleasant like...keeping themselves from turning into little monsters).

If you can manage to detach yourself from the happenings and take a small step or two back, it's amazing to see the huge roller coaster that small kids (and their parents) go on each day...

They wake up jumping and bouncing off the walls, bursting full of energy and excitement over what's to come...as parents, we try desperately to shove some amount of nutrition in but it's mostly like throwing a bunch of oatmeal or cereal on the wall, hoping a spoonful or two of it will stick. Then, just when you've finally gotten breakfast cleaned up, try potty, everyone dressed, lunch made and packed, the backpack packed with a change of clothes, wipes, a sweatshirt, jacket, snacks, water, wipes, pull-ups, wipes (yes, more), get them all dressed AGAIN (they undoubtedly find a reason to undress while you're doing all the other stuff), try potty again, find the car keys (this is not so easy with 3 little guys around), figure out which park you're headed to, find the park maps, guide book (which is never used), try potty one last time, gather them all up and head to the car...without fail, one is hungry, one is tired, and the other has to go potty!!!LOL Which is why we woke up relatively early every day and were lucky to make it to the park by lunch time...

But, whatever hassle you may have to endure becomes totally worth it when you get to witness your child's first experience with Disney!!!! I must admit, I had forgotten what it was like to view the parks through the eyes of a child...the animals are ALL real (including the dinosaurs...note to self, not a good first ride), all the pirates are real, all the children from every country around the world in "It's a Small World" are real (Jake wanted to know when they get to stop singing and eat dinner?), Tigger, Poo, Peter Pan...all of it REAL. This is an amazing thing to observe as your child's reactions are so pure and real that sometimes it even comes as a huge surprise when you realize what scares them, what makes them smile and dance and sing...all as you experience the REAL MAGIC that is Disney seen through a child's eyes. (Who knew it wasn't about riding Space Mountain or Tower of Terror as many times as possible?)

First parade... Totally in awe!!!

Notice Mickey is holding a crumpled up little flower that Jake had hidden in his pocket while we waited in line for almost an hour. It earned him a big Mickey hug...I thought he might pass out with excitement!!!

For the most part, once we did manage to arrive at the parks, the kids were all energized and ready to go. Jake was much, much more daring then I thought he would be. The only thing that really scared him into a meltdown was meeting Donald Duck...I know, go figure? Other than that, he enjoyed riding the kids roller coaster in Toon Town, and then even rode the Big Thunder Railroad roller coaster TWICE in a row...with arms in the air the entire time!!!! The man working the ride had to measure him twice, and then asked how old he was, and said he was sure that there weren't many 3 year olds that had ridden that one. (Lucky for him, he's tall for his age) We did manage to scare the heck out of all 3 kids by taking them on the Dinosaur ride...to say they were traumatized, would be the understatement of the year...LOL After that, any time we went on a ride, all 3 would ask...are there dinosaurs?!?!?! LOL, well, not really for them

The roller coaster kid!!

So, one of the cutest things happened during our first ride on the Big Thunder Roller coaster. As always, I screamed from the very first drop to the very last...and at one point towards the end of the ride, I said to Jake "How come I'm the only one screaming?!?!?" About 30 seconds later, we slowed down to round the turn to pull into the station. The entire train got quiet...you know, that time when everyone catches their breath and thinks either why the hell did I put myself through that, or woo-hoo, let's go again...there was total silence and then, out of no where, you hear this little high pitched scream (yes, from our boy) and the entire train laughed!!! The lady in front of us was laughing so much she said she had to take a picture of him...hands still in the air as we pulled back into the station. VERY funny. Needless to say, I expect we have a LOT of roller coaster rides in our future. Something my father finds amusing and somewhat apropos, as I used to drag him on all kinds of roller coasters with me as a kid and he HATED them, but did it...Ahhh, how history repeats itself, No?

Jake's favorite ride, BY FAR, was the racing cars...he drove them at least 15 times and each and every time, he laughed and giggled as we bounced from rail to rail...as he likes to say...he's a crazy driver like his nanny!!! LOL

The other funny moment came during the show "Honey, I shrunk the audience", which I had never seen before. This is one of those 3D shows, where a bunch of things come flying out at you. Jake was very intrigued by this and of course, as was every other kid in the place, he was reaching out trying to grab things that appeared to be floating right in front of his face. Very funny to watch. Then, at one point in the show, there's a pet snake that appears gigantic (because we had supposedly been "shrunk") and it comes flying out at the audience with it's mouth open wide. Well, when I tell you that Jake FLEW backwards out of his seat...I mean LITERALLY flew back... I only caught him by the bottom of one shoe. This, of course, had a very funny ripple effect in the audience as other kids were scared by this flying boy and dove left, right and backwards as well. Needless to say, we caused quite a stir...prompting an usher to ask us if we needed to leave (to which I said "no" and Jake said "YES!!!")

I know some of you have had the "pleasure" of seeing our boy at both his very best and his very worst...well, I can assure you, you have NOT actually seen the worst...or at least, I may have pushed him to an all time low. In parent speak...it's one of those rare occasions where you regretfully push your 3 yr old past the point of no return...past where bribes (ice cream, candy, money), threats (of timeout, spanking, abandonment...just kidding), pleading and begging have ANY impact at all. We did reach this point only once (thank goodness) and it culminated with me throwing him over my shoulder and carrying his weary little body back to the hotel room. Amazingly, between the car and the room, he went from kicking, screaming, crying, attempting to bite, pinching, to DEAD ASLEEP...yes, while hanging over my shoulder. It actually scared the crap out of me because for a moment, I thought maybe I banged his head on something and knocked him out or hurt him somehow...so I stopped, and shook him a little and to my relief (and dismay) he started up right where he left off. So, back over the shoulder he went and he was once again sound asleep in 30 secs flat! (Note to self...Dad is right, you NEVER wake a sleeping child!!!)

One REALLY good update...I think we're just about 99% potty trained at this point!!!! WOO-HOO!!!! I'm sure that I'll be able to buy a new car with all the money I'm going to save on pull-ups and diapers!! Even better news is that they have decided to MOVE HIM UP in school to the next level class and see if he can maintain the potty training!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can NOT even begin to tell you how THRILLED I am with this!!! Fingers cross that they don't send him back...LOL He'll make the transition in January!! BIG TIME WOO HOO!!!!!

Here are a few more pictures from our trip...More on the other Florida trip later!

Breakfast with Tigger and Poo!!!

At Kennedy Space Center...our future astronaut?

Back again soon...

p.s. Jakey lines of the week... In response to being asked..."Jake how old are you, are you 10?"... "No, not yet" Then, later that same day when told he could NOT do something because he was too little...he said "Hey, I'm almost 1o"... On the ride home from LaGuardia... "LaLa, Nanny said Is it good to be 70?" To which he, LaLa and Nanny laughed over and over and over and over!!!...Earlier tonight, to LaLa.... "LaLa you have gray hair so that means you're getting old"...oh, the things they come out with!!!!

When "no" means "yes" & "yes" means "no"

2008-11-27T23:12:00.007-05:00

Somewhere along the line, I mistakenly came to believe that being a mommy (or parent of any type) allows you some inherent right to say "no" and actually mean "no". I always thought that it was all a matter of hitting just the right tone of voice...somewhere between a subtle plea and an insane rant... accompanied by just the right facial expression...again, somewhere between the "I'm a pushover look" and the "I'm going to drop kick you into the next yard" look that would do the trick. Alas, I could not have been more wrong! The parenting books are all over the place on this, from those that swear you should...be consistent, be persistent, be firm... to those who preach...redirect, reconnect, be kind.

On the other hand, some friends, grandparents, siblings insist a good "swat on the rear end" would do the trick, all of whom are all too willing to share some vivid memories of their own childhoods gone past...including the 'ol I was hit by a shoe, by the belt, by a wooden spoon...and on and on. Through it all, the one thing that has become apparently clear to me over my first 3 years of motherhood is, nobody is right and nobody is wrong and anyone who thinks there is a clear "best approach" to the terrible 2's or the tyrannical 3's is just plain INSANE.

So, in spite of all this great advice, I still find myself sounding very much like the proverbial "broken record" these days...No, no, no, no, don't do that...followed by, PLEASE, no, no, no, don't do that...followed by a totally futile...IF you continue to do that X will happen...which, of course, leaves me with the 'ol, so do I do X now knowing the situation will only escalate or do I not do X, and risk creating the expectation of meaningless threats???? It's only at that moment where I'm contemplating which is the worst of two bad choices, that I realize that I've somehow gotten myself into that one place where parents never want to be...a parental No-Win! Yes, he's once again managed to get me at "checkmate"!!!

I'd like to consider myself to be fairly intelligent, yet I somehow allow a 3 year old to reduce me down to a bumbling idiot. I see the trap coming, and yet only once in a while do I manage to stop and avoid it. See, I know the secret way through, around, under, over this impasse is to simply say "yes" when I mean "no" and the other way around. It works EVERY time...say "don't you do X" and I'd bet you my Lexus, X is what he's going to do! Say "you better not eat that oatmeal" and the oatmeal will disappear before your eyes. Say "hurry, go out without your coat so I can wear it" and ON goes the coat. Say what you REALLY mean and you're in for a battle.

In all honesty, if I had known parenting was going to be like this I would have been a psychology major instead of an engineer...because there is absolutely no logic in any of this! It's like years ago when those calculators came out with "reverse polish notation" and we all had to struggle to figure out how to think backwards about things...little did I know that that little calculator would be such a great parenting training device...I probably would still be using it...LOL

So, on the flip side of all of this, is the fact that Jake is really, really starting to talk more now!! And it's still amazing to hear some of the things our little parrot comes back at us with...some of the newest favorites are "that's not true"..."I don't care"..."I need some time alone right now"..."momma, what did I say?" (said with hands on hips)..."I said no"..."momma, I'm ready to listen to your words now" (in a desperate attempt to get out of time out). Sometimes these are said at just the right moment with exactly the right tone, facial expression and stance that it takes everything we have for Nanny and I not to laugh out loud.

Jake also continues to amaze us with his aptitude for numbers, counting, letters and spelling. He can now count to 100 by 10's and back down again by 10's. A skill his teacher says you wouldn't expect a child to master until 2nd grade (age 7)!! In addition to all of the things he's been spelling for a year or so now...he also remembers how to spell his girl Jordan's name, NY Liberty (pronounced NY Livery), Slow, Stop, Go, Cat, Dog and on and on. At his school, every morning he continues to help his friends to pick out their name cards, and then spells their name for them to try to help them learn to do it on their own. They mostly just look at him like he's a little odd, but it doesn't dissuade him from continuing to try. And once in a while, just to make us all catch our breath, he will say the alphabet backwards...pausing as he goes to allow us to say it forward to check to see if he's right. Funny, but also a little scary too.

Here are a few recent shots of him with his big buckle, like his JJ wears (eating the donut I just told him he could NOT have...LOL

With his nanny...who of course, manages to cover the buckle in every shot...LOL
Two big men getting ready to hit the town....

So, we're T-3 for Disney World and out of the two of us, I'm definitely the one who's most excited about it (though definitely NOT about the packing that goes with it). He does wake up every morning and say "we go and see Mickey today, Momma?" And he's been exceptionally good about taking his medicine and vitamins this past week once he learned that they don't allow anyone who's sick to come to Disney because they might get Mickey and some of his friends sick too (hey, I'm not above a little white lie to get him to take his meds). I just can't wait to see the wonder unfold as he takes in his first view of the Magic Kingdom and meets Mickey for the very first time!!!!! The only thing likely to beat this trip will be the first Posse trip to Disney...now that's going to be a blast!! (Since we're all still basically kids at heart)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving...We certainly did and we're quite sure we know all that we have to be thankful for...including YOU!!!

XXXOOO

p.s. Next post will be post-Disney!

p.p.s. Line of the week...(In response to my saying mommy wants to sleep until the clock says 10 something, ok?) "Momma, your clock says 7-0-0...that's seven hundred and that's way more than 10, so it's time to get up!!"

Potty Power!!!

2008-11-10T22:27:00.004-05:00

Just a short post, which will hopefully NOT jinx us, about our boy's recent potty success... So, today actually marked the 4th day in the row without an accident!!! May not sound like much, but when you consider we used to count in terms of minutes, four days is an eternity!!!

Last night, he actually woke up and came in my room (scared the heck out of Q and I, but we're getting used that) and said "momma, I have to go potty". We went in, he went and then went right back off to bed...niceeeeeee!!!

Today he made it through school without an accident and even wore his cute little sponge bob square pants big boy underwear (seems like an oxymoron doesnt it? sponge bob square pants and big boy underwear?). Then after Nanny took him to Toys R Us, because of course we're bribing him for every day that's accident free, she wanted to take him for pizza and he said "no nanny, I need to go home and go potty". Could this be? My boy, passing up pizza for the potty??!?!?

At the risk of celebrating prematurely...WOO HOO, WOO HOO, WOO HOO, WOO HOO (one for each accident free day)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's cuter than little toes hanging off the potty?!?!?! More soon...

Mommy Time Outs...

2008-11-06T12:48:00.006-05:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm determined to do whatever it takes to ensure my son doesn't grow up with a "fat mommy"... Sure, you may not know this by looking at me these days, but believe you me, it's still true!!! So, I've recommitted to weight watchers (for the umpteenth time), am working out with a personal trainer 3 times a week and have also created this little overall exercise plan that calls for running a mere 2 miles on those days when I'm not with the trainer. Sounds easy, right?

Well, I started off the week with a bang and had two great training sessions at the gym on Mon and Tues...woo-hoo! Then, last night, the first of my 2 mile run nights, I changed into my running clothes, put on my new running shoes (from awesome Aunt CC and Aunt Amy), and started the nightly ritual of trying to get my little energizer bunny off to dreamland. (Why this process alone doesn't burn a gazillion calories, is beyond me?) As I lay across my bed, staring intently at the video monitor, hoping beyond hope, that he was about to doze off...I dozed off. I know, not a surprise to anyone who knows me! And there I slept until awoken at 3 am by a little schnauzer who wanted under the covers. So much for that run...ugghh!!!

So, this morning, determined to NOT blow my little exercise plan during the very first week, I got up, took a not so energized little bunny to school and came back home and ran those darn 2 miles. As I sat there recovering from what used to seem like just a warm up run, I started to wonder what it is about motherhood that makes a person SO DARN tired? Wait, tired is definitely too weak a word here...EXHAUSTED...ah, that's more like it!

Now, I've never been in great physical shape, but I've certainly not been a couch potato all of my life either. I've hiked Half Dome (in Yosemite) twice and once even managed to pull my weary self up the cables to the top. (OK, OK, before Aunt Bear jumps in here, YES, YES, YES, she had to carry my pack for a little stretch during one of the hikes up because I really did hit the wall and was crying, laughing, and about to pass out...and YES, I did vomit upon returning to the car, but I made it there all the same) Somehow this whole mommy thing makes that look like a walk in the park! How's that possible?!?!?

Well, then I thought about it and I realized that even during those hikes, there were opportunities to stop and take a break while this mommy thing is more like a total all out SPRINT...there are no "time outs" to be called, no "half time", no "substitutions" to be made...there's ONLY you! And to further complicate things, there is no training program that prepares you for this...it's all ON THE JOB training. And although I'm far from being there, I'm quite sure you don't get to "retire" either!! No term limits, it's a lifetime appointment...

Of course, all of this comes with an unbelievable amount of upside...so, don't get me wrong, there's not a day that goes by that I don't feel incredibly blessed (there are minutes of that day that I may feel otherwise...LOL). But what I can't figure out is how ANY one who is a mommy could be anything other than skinny as a rail?!?!?!? For one, I usually can't even recall what I ate because I'm too busy trying to convince my little guy to eat something, anything...to sit at the table...to not feed the dog...to not spill or splatter his chocolate milk and then smear it across the table like it's finger paint...to not stand on his chair, not feed the child sitting next to him and a hundred other little things that go into every meal time. Which makes me wonder, how any child actually gains any weight, grows and thrives with the amount of real, good food we manage to get into them?!?!

So, I ask you, how do mommy's actually gain weight or have a hard time losing it? We rarely get to sit and eat, we rarely get to sit, period...we are in a constant state of cleaning up, gathering, chasing, corralling, cajoling, begging, pleading, loving, hugging, kissing, yelling, diapering (or pottying if you're among the lucky ones), dressing, redressing, undressing, bathing, brushing teeth, reading stories, playing with toys, cleaning up said toys, drying tears, kissing boo-boos, making breakfast, lunch and dinner and making them again when the first is deemed inedible, chasing away nighttime monsters, carrying boys who are getting way too big to be carried, finding paci's which should have been a thing of the past long ago, and the millions of other things that go into each and every day... How, on Earth, does that not burn a gazillion calories?!?!?!

For those reading this thinking "I don't know how you do it?"...don't worry, those of us who are mommies, don't know how we do it either! LOL We just know there is no other option but to do it and do it the VERY best we can!!! That said, though, there are days like today, when I'm supposed to be at work, or doing a million things around the house, but all I can think about is taking a little time to regroup and catch my breath. ..sort of like a "mommy time out"...LOL It's actually quite an interesting feeling to be somewhere between the two worlds that I live in...work and home. All I need is a little Calgon and the 'ol "take me away" music playing in the background while I soak in the jacuzzi tub and it would be perfect. On second thought, too bad I can't get good 'ol Aunt Bear to "carry my pack" for a little while, eh?!??!?! LOL LOL

Although I should be going off to work...I'm going off to take a middle of the day nap...woo-hoo for mommy time outs! I wonder how many each team gets???????

A Little Rain Can't Slow Us Down!!

2008-11-02T23:27:00.010-05:00

Well, we had been SO looking forward to our playdate with Jake's donor sibling (who he just calls his "sister" now...very cool), Hallie and of course, his girl Jordan and his other two little buddies, Alyssa and Morgan and all the various adults that go with them (Aunt No-No, Aunt Bear, Aunt Razz, Aunt GG, Titi, Sharon and Abby). We were supposed to go pumpkin picking (like I needed anymore pumpkins?!?!) and on a hayride and enjoy a beautiful fall day outside. And to make it even more special, the date we chose was his Aunt Bear's birthday!! (He told her she was 14 now, although we all know she's acts closer to 4...LOL)Well, in spite of our best "no rain" dance and a little tease of morning sunshine, it was coming down in buckets by early afternoon. ...Time for the back-up plan!!!

So, we all went to Kid Junction for a little sliding, jumping, riding, shopping and/or dress-up fun. Now Jake and I have been there a few previous times and I must admit, a couple of those times the place was just PACKED with wild kids running around and a bunch of birthday parties...so, immediately following the failed "no rain" dance, I began to furiously pray for something a little less chaotic. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and in the end, as I should have suspected, we just took over one part of the place and basically made ourselves right at home. (Of course, this was supposed to be the "little kids" area reserved for the "under 3" crowd...but you know how we are when it comes to rules that don't fit with our plans!)

The kids had a total BLAST!!! It was awesome to get to see them all play together...well, sort of "together". (I've come to realize that "play dates" are really about selecting a date to meet to play in the same place...not to actually play "together", as the word "date" might otherwise imply. I've also learned a recent lesson about "sleepovers" and how equally deceiving the word "sleep" can be in that as well...but we'll leave that for another time.) Of course, I had both my new digital camera and my video camera out on the counter to take with me and NEITHER actually made the trip. Sometimes I'm amazed that I actually remember to take the boy with me...LOL Sharon and Abby had their camera with them and they took some good shots, some of which can be seen on blogginghallie@blogspot.com. (Which, by the way, is the awesome blog that was the inspiration behind my starting this one! Thanks, Abby!!)

Well, 3 hours later...YES, 3 HOURS LATER, we walked out having played and eaten pizza and without any trips, slips or boo boos to be had. I think the longest Jakey has ever lasted in one of those places without either getting bored or turning into monster child was about 45 mins to an hour. Needless to say, a LOT of fun was had by all!!!

Afterwards, though you might have imagined the children would have been tired out...ahhh, that would be NO, Hallie, Alyssa and Morgan came back to play in the Toys R Us room at Jake's house. We had ice cream cake and sang "happy birthday" to old Aunt Bear...

Then we played in the wagon inside the house...what are kitchens for??

Check out his arm around her, could they possibly be any cuter??!?!?!?

There's Aunt Razz taking video of the event for us. (Thank goodness, since my new camera was taking mostly blurry pictures...uggh!!)

Check out Hallie with that BIG smile!!! We all had a great time and we were soooo happy to get to spend time with Hallie, Sharon and Abby again!! Next time, we promised to take the trip out their way and spend the day with them in Philly.

Halloween Update:

Although I've taken nothing but abuse for the costume choice, which of course, was NOT mine, but my son's...here's a couple of shots of Jakey and his best friend, Logan and his sisters Brianna and Kailie from across the street out trick or treating. They had much more fun riding in the wagon and running and squishing their little bottoms back into it after each house than they did actually going to the doors. But, in the end, they all made a killing and went home with a mega pumpkin full of candy...

Line of the week... Jake went to a birthday party for one of his friends from his old school yesterday. At the play place, there were two of those piano keyboard toys...one had 8 keys and one had 5 keys. He checked them both out, counted them both in English and Spanish and then came back over to me and said "Momma, that one has 8 keys and the one over there has 5 keys, that makes 13 all together!" The mother sitting to my right nearly fell off of her seat... That's our boy!

Time for some SLEEP!!!

To Sleep or To Blog...That IS The Question These Days!

2008-11-02T22:15:00.011-05:00

I have a feeling I'm not alone in this sleep vs. blog dilemma, at least not amongst fellow bloggers who have toddlers or pre-schoolers. I used to have a very nice little nightly routine which started out with a little snuggling, then teeth brushing, a few books, a little rocking and finally, a little back rubbing to get my little guy off to sleep. Well, those days are seemingly O-V-E-R!!! It seems I've given birth to a miniature version of ME...one who likes to sleep late and stay up VERY late. Now, of course, this is all well and good over the weekend, but come school nights (and mornings), this is not so good!!

The current routine goes something like this...

7 p.m. Bath time

7:30 - 7:45 Chase him around trying to get PJs on and tackle him to the floor to brush teeth

7:45 - 8:00 Read books and rock a little

8:00 Into big boy bed

8:10 Up to try to go potty (trip #1)...usually a false alarm, but who can be sure?

8:20 Up to try potty (trip #2)...also usually a false alarm...my patience is wearing thin now

8:30 Up to try potty (trip #3)...Third time is a charm! Which is what makes it SO hard to say "no" the first two times!!!

8:40 Finally get him all settled again, feety pjs back in place, blankets, pillow, baby Wilbur...check!

8:50 Back to the back rubbing...

9:00 Exit room (me, not him hopefully)

9:15 Intermittent threats yelled from my office to his room...useless, but sometimes makes me feel better all the same

9:30 Watching the monitor as he throws everything out of the bed...pillow, blanket, and even little baby Wilbur...patience at an all time low now...

9:45 Gritting my teeth as I hear "momma, I'm cold"...but even a frustrated mommy can't keep from going in and picking up the blanket and covering her little one...I'm quite sure there's some mommy guilt alarm that goes off that overrides all other emotions

10:00 Back rubbing his back again (by now I've definitely clocked enough hours to earn some masseuse certification) ...down to the last prayer I can remember from Sunday School and about to fall asleep myself while kneeling at the side of the bed

10:10 SUCCESS at last!!! Woo-hoo!! Of course, the cheering doesn't last long because I then realize that I've spent over 2 hours on this little bedtime routine and still have yet to go downstairs and clean up from the toddler tornado that hit the house earlier that morning, day, evening...oh God

11:15 House somewhat resembles a picture I once saw of it when we first moved in...well, at least I've managed to find the carpet buried deep beneath the toys and of course, the Toys R Us room is kinda sorta back in order (the definition of "order" has certainly evolved over the past few years...used to be that everything had to be in its place, not it's acceptable as long as you can walk across the room without stubbing a toe or tripping over something...LOL)

11:45 All things for the morning are ready including his clothes, mine, his backpack and mine, including, of course, the 3 changes of clothes that I had to wash that night that need to go back to school for potty "accidents" (which I've learned are not really, really "accidents"...but we'll leave that for another day)

12:00 Teeth brushed, my bedroom straightened up...I've come to realize that there's some magnetic force hidden somewhere in my room that causes stray toys to migrate there during the day...in the bathroom, in my closets, under my bed, in my bed, on my dressers, on the treadmill...you name a place, there's some kind of toy hanging out there...back they go to my office (AKA, the satellite Toys R Us room on the second floor)

It's at this point that I think...blog or sleep?!?!?!?! And, obviously over the past couple of weeks, you know which choice I made!

One thing I've definitely noticed is that the LESS Jake wants to sleep the MORE I want to. And wow, I've NEVER slept as deeply as I do since having him!!! I don't really even dream much any more and when I do, I dream about sleeping...LOL Before Jake, I used to have a hard time falling asleep at night...that's done. I used to also have a really hard time falling back to sleep if awakened by something or someone...way done! These days, I can answer a middle of the night request for a drink, or chase away monsters or move over to make room for a middle of the night visitor and within 30 seconds, I'm back in the land of the sleeping dead. BOOM, O-U-T!

I always wonder how it is that mommies can actually do this?? I can be totally OUT and Jake can just sigh heavily or roll over and make a little sound and I'm AWAKE looking at the monitor...checking to make sure everything is OK, and then... BOOM O-U-T again!!

OK, so that was just a long winded way of saying I realize that I haven't blogged in almost 2 weeks...YIKES! Where to begin?? Probably best with a new post...

The Wonder of The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-18T13:29:00.012-04:00

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)

2008-10-06T23:31:00.006-04:00

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...

2008-10-01T20:13:00.006-04:00

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...

Woo-Hoo!!!! We have our 1st Potty Success at School!!!

2008-09-25T23:27:00.003-04:00

OK, so admittedly, I was one day away from taking a short reprieve from the potty training. After all, how much laundry can one mommy do (yes, so Nanny does most of it, but still) and how many puddles can one teacher clean up without a break?!?!? And then, there it was, in bold letters and highlighted in yellow on his daily sheet..Pee Pee on the Potty!!! Oh my, could it be?!?!? First thing I did was check the top of the page to be sure I had the right sheet...LOL Next I thought, why the heck didn't they call me at work to tell me this monumental news?!?!? I might have given all the people in my division the rest of the day off...or at least myself, anyway.

Wow...and just when I was so close to temporarily throwing in the towel (or the big boy underwear, in this case)... HE DID IT!!!! OK, so picture me in the moment in this classroom (he was outside on the playground, so I had a moment or two to myself)...first I think WOO-HOO, YES, YES, YES and do a little "he did pee pee on the potty dance"...then about 30 seconds later I realize that I've been promising him that I'd take him to Chuckee Cheese if he went pee pee on the potty at school, and think, oh crap...that means I have to go there TONIGHT?!?! Ahhhhhh!

So, I take a long, slow walk to the playground, and somehow convince myself that he probably won't even remember the whole Chuckee Cheese thing, right?! (I know, you're thinking, ok, you're smoking crack, girl, this is the kid who remembers EVERYTHING from the very first breath he ever took...yea, yea, yea, whatever) Sooooo, I turn the corner towards the playground, and he spots me coming (and for those who haven't ever experienced the thrill of "pick up time", let me tell you, it just doesn't get any better than this... when you get to witness this incredible look on your child, like you've been lost at sea for 20 years and suddenly returned home at that very moment...a look that screams "that's MY, MY, MY mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"...ok, sorry, I digress)...so I turn the corner and as soon as he sees me he starts running and jumping and skipping and hopping while screaming at the top of his lungs... "MOMMY, PEE PEE, POTTY, CHUCKEEEEEEEE CHEESEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" OK, well, so much for wishful thinking...

And YES, of course, I followed through on my promise...we even closed the place down and were the very last ones to leave!

Oh, so I forgot one little part of the evening...so, we get home and I'm kneeling on one knee in front of him in the kitchen telling him how incredibly proud I am of him and he keeps trying to interrupt me (which he ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS does) and I say, now wait Jake Anthony, momma is trying to tell you something important. So, he stops trying and I start talking again and I suddenly feel this wet sensation on the knee that's on the ground and look down to see that there is pee-pee streaming out of the leg of his shorts, down his calf, into his sock, down his shoe and forming an expanding puddle on the floor...currently being absorbed by my $200 Jones NY work pants. I stop talking, look up at him and he says "momma can I talk now?" and proceeds to tell me that he was trying to tell me that he had to go potty...LOL LOL LOL It's moments like that where you just have to laugh out loud...which we both did. So loudly that Quincy came running into the kitchen to see what was going on slid right through the puddle of pee pee and managed to do a complete 360 before coming to rest on his head against the back door.

Life with a toddler...NEVER a dull moment;-)

We're off to the NY Liberty playoff game tomorrow night...WOO - HOO!!!! GO LIBERTY!!!!