Savvy Shopper

Jack likes to save money. That's why he always reads the circulars that come in the paper, always looking for a good deal.

Not being very healthy

I'm eating Fluff on a spoon for lunch. No bread. No peanut butter. Just Fluff. And it's really good.

A very BIG reason to go green!

From today's Boston Globe:

Antarctica's beloved king penguins may be facing a climate catastrophe. In a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers say the populations - now at more than 2 million breeding pairs since rebounding from near extinction in the last century - could collapse as the surface temperature of the Southern Ocean warms. The scientists, who studied more than 450 penguins for nine years, said warmer temperatures can reduce the numbers of small fish and squid the penguins eat, making it harder for the regal creatures to survive and feed their chicks.

A Real Tool

Today Jack "helped" his father put together a stand for the new miter saw. As you can see they had a better time playing on it than putting the wheels on.

The bigger news is that Jack has sprouted another tooth! It's his top right tooth... and that explains why he's been a little cranky the last few days. I'd be cranky too if I had a tooth popping through my gums.
He's also getting more and more curious. We took Jack to Piccadilly Pub this evening for dinner (a big night out!). He spent the majority of the time leaning all the way back in his high chair and staring at the people at the other tables. When the waitress would come over he's look at her sheepishly and then crack a sly smile. A true lady killer! Then he fell asleep on the way home, so right now he's sleeping in his crib... in his clothes!

Childproof... I don't think so?

So Jack has figured out how to un-childproof the entertainment center. Somehow the little bugger has found a way to take the child lock off the door and break-in... and grab the phone. He also has a real affinity for screw holes and nails. Not sure what this all means, I'm just putting it out there.

He also gets this devilish look on his face when he is determined to get something done, whether it's dumping the dog's bowl of water on the ground or frantically running off with the toilet paper!

Crazy Man

Jack is a baby possessed. Now when I take out the camera he comes at me like a crazy man...


The last photo is of Jack pretending to be Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears... putting his hand in front of the paparazzi's camera.

A New Option

Look to your left... see that? That's where you can put your email address so every time I update the blog, you'll be notified via your email address.

Jack has decided that he no longer likes baby food. Glad he made that decision now... I only have like 50 containers of the stuff in the pantry. So now his favorite meals consist of bagels, mini pancakes, chicken nuggets, diced carrots and cut up peaches and pears. He still acts like he's gagging when the piece of food maybe doesn't squish up the way he likes. But sooner or later he'll sprout more teeth and this process will become easier... I hope.

Baby Man's Little Lady

I know at this age children don't play together... they play near each other. But a week or so ago we went to visit the Duffy's in Rexford. They have a daughter, Abby, who was born just about a month before Jack (she's already walking!). The two seemed intrigued by each other and at one point it seemed as though Abby was trying to show Jack how to each her dog's collar... In the first photo you'll see Abby sucking on the collar... in the next, shoving it in Jack's mouth!


Note how long Jack's pants are. I think I had to roll them 3 times just so he wouldn't trip over them...

Climbing Mt. Mum Mum

Jack has a new favorite sport: climbing up my leg. As you'll see in the video, he's resilient. Even after a tiny-tumble, he sees the prize and goes for it. Also please note the crazy curl above his right ear!

Notice how my toes look stunning! I got an awesome pedicure today with my friend Maria at a spa down the road I just found. (yes, the answer is yes... I sent my son to daycare today even though I didn't have to work.)

So as you may know, the dog... Chatiemac, likes to drink A LOT of water. So much so that sometimes I just pop open the toilet seat and let him drink 'til he's content. (we all know water tastes better straight out of the can!)
Well tonight Jack decided he was going to check out Chatty while he was getting his fill... and this is what happened:

Then I tried to get Jack away from Chat... thinking slamming the lid (and holding it down) on his head was just not what a 14 and a half year old dog would want. But Jack is like his father... when he sees something he wants... he goes and gets it... including toilet paper (it's a good thing I cleaned the bathroom today):

This kid is too darn funny for his own good... I miss him when he goes to sleep. Maybe I'll go wake him up!

New Shoes Too!

And as Stephen likes to say... I really like to torture the poor little fella. So next it was off for some real shoes. I took him to Stride Rite... they measured his foot. It's a 3.5... EXTRA WIDE! It's like his feet are squares instead of rectangles. No wonder I always had such a hard time getting other shoes on him. Here he is wearing his new kicks with the new haircut:

Jack's First Haircut!

Stephen gave me the okay to take Jack to get his first haircut... what the heck, I had a coupon! I thought we'd show up, Jack would sit in the chair and ta-da... no more crazy hairs hanging over his ears. Boy was I wrong! First of all the place gave me wrong directions, then when we finally go there we had to wait an hour. You might think that would be difficult, but really it wasn't. As long as Jack can watch other kids, he's fine. Finally it was our turn to take a seat in the big chair.
We draped him... squirted his hair a bit... and then voila: major waterworks.
Why would he cry so inconsolably at having his hair cut? I couldn't figure it out, but eventually I had to pick him up so we could finish the job.

Sure he looks all cool, calm and collected now... but 30 seconds prior... not so much. I did get to snag a lock of his hair... with a cheesey certificate no less.

Crunchie Flicker

One of Jack's new favorite things to do while I try and shove food down his throat is to flick crunchies. He picks them up between his thumb and first finger, pinches really hard and tries to make them go up in the air. Every once in a while he really lands a good one. Chatiemac also enjoys this latest trick... you can imagine why.

Jack... month by month

I guess you quickly forget just how little babies are... until you look back. So that's what I'm going to do here. Here is Jack... a picture each month... watch him grow before your eyes!

This is April...

May...

June...

July...

August...

September...

October...

November...

December...

January...

and this month... February...

Baby Man and Me

You don't see a lot of pictures of me on the blog... cuz I'm always the one taking the photos. But here is a picture of Jack and me at Mom's this past weekend.
I need a haircut and color... soon! Jack looks a little bloated... but still cute.

A Jack by any other name...

If you've hung out with us at all lately you know Stephen and I have a number of names for Jack:

• Baby Man
• Barky von Schnauzer
• Muffin Man
• Jack-a-roo
• Jack-a-rific
• Jack-a-poo
• Jack-a-pino
• Little Man
• Buddy
• Bub
• Smoochy Pants
• Pooky Bear

I think that's it...

Jack has a stalker...

Just kidding.
This is a picture of my friend Julie (look carefully at the picture on the table). She and I used to work together at MS&L. She seems to have a thing for kids... I mean that in a good way. Right now she is working at an uppity-preschool on Beacon Hill. But still, Jack, remains one of her favorites.
By the way, the reason she has a framed picture of Jack on her table is that she asked for a baby for her birthday. Since I obviously couldn't accommodate her in any other way, I gave her a nice picture of "Jack in the Leaves."

Scooter Ride

Check out Jack's scooter ride at Grammy & Pooh's... turn up your volume (it has sound - I used Grammy's camera)

Stinky Poo-ski

Tonight we're at Grammy and Pooh's so I just went upstairs to check on Jack. Stephen put him to bed around 7 and I hadn't checked on him yet. So I quietly went up the stairs, peeked into his room and smelled something really stinky. Oh boy. Jack pooped! He was still totally asleep. So I had to pick him up, change him and get him back into his jammies all without completely riling him up. Well cleaning his bottom was not so easy. He wriggled and wiggled so much that I ended up putting on the new diaper while his po po was in the air... as well as putting his chubby little legs back in the feety jammies and then zipping it up. I promptly put him back in bed... and he was back to sleep within seconds. Tomorrow night we are going to visit friends of ours... Beau and Michelle. They have 3 girls, but the youngest is just a month older than Jack. Hopefully they will have a good time together...

A Nightly Ritual

After Jack comes home from school we eat a little dinner. Usually consists of a veggie and some diced fruit and of course a little formula. Then it's time for the tub.
Dad gives him a bath while I set-up for the next stage which is trying to get him into his jammies. After we wrestle him into the pajamas it's time for him to crawl around and generally try to eat everything in his room. Tonight the main focus was the trunk in his room... he really likes to feel (and eat) textures:
After we eat stuff around the room it's time for a book. Tonight he was feeling quite independent and was going to try reading on his own. So basically he tried to eat the book:

And since I think I've established that Jack likes to eat just about everything, this next picture should not be surprising. He tried to eat his pajamas:
Now the little bugger is in bed singing to himself. He should be asleep shortly... we hope!

"Wha Wha"

That is officially Jack's first word. We're not sure what it means, but he says it a lot. He says it when he sees the dog (woof woof?). He says it when he wants a drink (water?). He says it when he sees his father (what what?). We're not sure, but someday we'll figure out the mystery. For now he's happily climbing up the stairs, letting go of furniture (briefly) and taking command of the bottle by holding it himself on occasion. His look is really changing too. Jack looks more and more like a little boy everyday... no more Baby Jack. Now he's Big Boy Jack... how sad.

Boo Boo

Jack has his first legitimate boo boo. Blood and everything! He was playing near the stairs (no, he didn't fall down the stairs) and he was trying to pull himself up on one of the balusters and he lost his grip and whacked his chin on it. Blood on his chin and buckets of tears ensued. Now he has a bit of a scab forming. Not a pretty picture. When he gets home from school today I'll take a picture.

Update: it's now 7:15 and here is a picture (blurry, but you get the idea) of Jack's boo boo:

This should be interesting...

Living in Foxboro as a Giants fan... um, we might have to move. Stephen is hooting and hollering around the family room. Giants Win! Holy Crap!
Tom Brady deserves to lose. He's a bad father.

Birds Gone Wild

We recently added a new bird feeder to our repetoire. It's a window feeder and so far it's a big hit. The birds feed out of it very often and Jack thinks watching the birds is better than watching "Jack's Big Music Show" on Noggin. Well almost...

Here is a tufted titmouse (tee hee) on the feeder this morning.

Poll Pulled

From the early returns I was getting on the "New Look" poll, it wasn't looking good. So why waste time and wait three more days... I've pulled the plug and gone back to the old format. Who said change is good?

Yick... Sherbet!

You'd think I was feeding the kid zucchini or something by the face he made.
So here it is: Jack's first taste of sherbet. I don't think we'll try this again anytime soon.