Welcome to "Meet Jake Anthony"!!!

I had the pleasure of reading "blogginghallie" tonight (for those who don't know Hallie, she is one of Jake's donor siblings) and it truly inspired me!!! So much so, that here I am at 12:45 a.m. starting the very first, in what I hope will be a long series of blogs about the joy of my life, my 3 year old, Jake Anthony.


Jake is finally back on track after a VERY rough week, including hospitalization for pneumonia last Thurs and Friday. He's feeling much better, though his nanny and I haven't quite recovered from the ordeal...LOL. We also have come to realize that we left the hospital with a very different 3 year old then the one we arrived there with. According to his pediatrician, this is most likely due to the medications he's on... we'll see! I suppose we could have predicted that the round the clock, only one ring of the bell away service he received while in the hospital might spoil him a bit. (Though, I doubt we could have ever anticipated the full blown "Little Prince" spell he's fallen under!) Needless to say, we've got a little "retraining" to do!

After missing the first 3 days of orientation, Jake started at his new school (Cherry Blossom Montessori) yesterday. I was worried that he would have a tough transition considering the missed time, the meds he's on and just the normal worry that any mommy has on the first day of school. Well, he LOVED it! There were absolutely NO tears shed, no separation anxiety, just total excitement at a new and intriguing environment to explore.

When we entered the room, the teacher came over to greet Jake and show him to his new cubby. Of course, Jake was quick to point it out just by recognizing his own name...somehow this surprised his teacher...and it took everything I had to not say "that's nothing, wait until he spells his last name, tells you his address and phone number and of course, how to order something from 1-800- EMPIRE" (the last part is a little inside joke about a commercial he's memorized). But I refrained, assuming that she would come to realize soon enough how bright our boy really is! As Aunt Razz so aptly put it in the "line of the year"... yes, cute, smart, lovable...that is EXACTLY what we "ordered"!!!

We're in sort of a holding pattern these days when it comes to potty training. For all those smarts...we just haven't gotten there yet on this one. As you know, he's almost automatic IF (and this is a BIG if) he's naked...or "naked boy" as he calls himself. Believe it or not, the school prefers he wear clothes (go figure?), so that's sort of a problem. We've given him a short reprieve because of the pneumonia and the horrible diaper rash the antibiotic has caused, but starting next week, he'll be going to school in ONLY big boy underwear. We've given them 12 changes of clothes and assume we'll get close to 10 back a day for a while until he gets the hang of it...oh my! (Well, at least we'll keep nanny busy with the laundry for a while...LOL) Sort of like going "cold turkey"...wish his teachers luck!

Jake just had his 3 year check-up last week and he's an amazing 40 inches tall now (95th percentile) and was 34.3 pounds pre-pneumonia (75th percentile)...post pneumonia he's back down to 32, but on his way back up. If you saw what he's eats, you'd be equally surprised at this growth rate! The pediatrician was just amazed at his progress...he talks in full sentences (non-stop) now (and boy, does he come out with some wild things), he can count to 100, can count to 20 in Spanish, knows his upper and lower case letters, can spell a bunch of words including his first and last name, mom, pop, Jordan (HIS girl), hot, stop, go...knows his address and phone number, his birthday, how old he is, understands the basic concept of adding and subtracting and recently, learned how to count to 20 by 5's. The ped thought he was all ready for 1st grade! I know I'm a little partial, but I think it's all nothing short of amazing!!!

And speaking of amazing, numerous times this past Sunday I would run upstairs to check the computer to see how Aunt Bear was doing at the Wisconsin Ironman (YES, she's AMAZING, but that's not the point of the story here) and Jake would follow me up and follow me down (see Aunt Bear wasn't the only one who got exercise that day...LOL). Later in the day, he said "mama, I'm going to check the "puter" to see Aunt Bear" and up he went. A few minutes later he yells down..."Ironman, momma, and the same name as on the front of JJ's (his uncle's) car." Now, being a little slow to follow, I asked "huh?" and after still not getting it after multiple repeats, I trudged up the stairs to see what the heck he was talking about. Well.....it turns out that the Wisconsin Ironman is sponsored by no other than FORD and YES, JJ does drive a FORD. OK, so that may not sound that impressive, but remember, we are talking about a boy who just turned 3 last week...one who can't even read yet! Just to test the theory, I called my mom and asked her what kind of car her son drives (JJ) and she said she had absolutely no idea...I rest my case... AMAZING!

This weekend is Jakey's big birthday bash (please PRAY for NO rain!!!). We have 40 people coming...and honestly, this is the 3rd year where I have to say...HOW is that EVEN possible?? And where, in heaven's name, will they all go if it rains?!?!?! Just goes to show there is no shortage of people who love this little guy! And after all, what's not to love????

Well, just to leave you with the line of the day today... We were riding home from his school and he was playing with his silly putty (yes, they still make that) and he holds it up and says "look mama, I made a penis"....YES, for those wondering, I did almost crash!

Back with more midnight posts soon...