The Thanksgiving Weekend...

Thanksgiving this year is a 4 day weekend... with a little bit of work sprinkled in between. We started out with a nice traditional turkey dinner at the Francomano's and ended with a meal with the Kerr's (Hillary's parents).

We decided our best option for travel was to leave on Thanksgiving morning as to avoid all the traffic on the previous night... wrong. We got stuck in 10 mile back-up on the Mass Pike. All those people heading south on 84 ruined it for everyone else continuing west bound. Finally we made it upstate for dinner with Jack sleeping for just 45 minutes of the 3 and half hour ride. That's a lot of Backyardigans and Barney. After dinner Jack went right to bed and slept pretty well. As you know sometimes when kids get overtired their sleep is not as sound... but he made it through just fine.

Then on Friday, after I worked a bit in the morning on Best Buy stuff, we headed to Grandma Sheep's house for a nice Black Friday lunch. Except we started out behind the 8 ball because Jack decided this would be the day he takes a 3 hour nap! But we never wake a sleeping baby, so we just waited it out. Jack played outside for a while, visited the chickens and ran around the green house. Here is a picture of Mom and Jack having a nice restful "ma ma." Apparently my mother still thinks Jack is a baby!

Then we went up to my Grandmother's place for dinner with Grandpa Tractor, Grandma Rose, Uncle Eddie, Aunt Joanne and my brother Karl... of course I forgot my camera in the car. Karl took a lot of pictures, but I'm sure we'll never see them! If he does send some I will post the pictures on the blog. (does guilt work with you Karl?) Instead of eating Jack decided he was going to play with some half deflated balloons and run up and down the hall yelling. Whatever floats your boat kid. Jack fell asleep in the car on the way home and didn't even open an eye when I unbuckled him from the car seat and placed him in the crib. Ahh... to sleep like a baby again.

Tonight we went over to the Kerr's for a nice little dinner of lasagna and salad. Very nice... and very nice company. Prior to dinner, Jack took a liking to Uncle Bobby and was feeding him crackers... by the mouthful!


Jack was doing great until everyone sat down for dinner and he decided he needed to hold a wine glass - not just sip from one - but actually hold one. Since I didn't let that happen - the next thing I knew Jack had tears streaming down his face. Hence Stephen and I took turns entertaining him while the other ate. Eventually his cousin Olivia took over and pretended to be a train conductor and carried him all over the house. Then Ava (another cousin) played cars with him on the coffee table and ran the cars all over the remaining cheese from the appetizers. This photo is of Ava with Jack (and yes, that's a large cheese knife in his hand).

We left around 8:45, so you can imagine how tired Baby Man was... he's sleeping right now and I anticipate maybe staying that way 'til 7???

Back home tomorrow... gotta keep working on the kitchen.

Happy Black Friday

Hello! Here is Jack this morning playing with 2 of his cousins... Ava and Elizabeth. They were on Grammy's computer going to YouTube and playing Jonas Brothers' videos... which Jack really enjoyed doing his famous "chest thump" to...

Here is Jack trying out Grammy's curlers...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hopefully Jack will enjoy his Thankgiving Dinner this afternoon at Grammy and Pooh's! Here is some original artwork from the little guy!


Jack put the feathers on him... nice placement!

Brown Coat Day

Yesterday it rained... today's it's just really cold out. So we switched from Froggy raincoat to cute brown duffel coat. All of a sudden Jack doesn't mind wearing a hat or a hood... the cold must be getting to him. Other things that have changed about Jack:

• he loves to eat crust
• can do "thumbs up"
  
• repeats sounds you make so it seems like he's saying things like Obama or Julie
• wakes up in the middle of the night and just stands in his crib? (only know this because last night Stephen went to cover him up and Jack was just standing there hanging out)
• loves to play in the Toddler room at daycare and is quote - in everyone's business
• likes to take showers instead of baths
• sings along with the Backyardigans
  

Ready for Rain

It's raining like crazy today so it gave us another opportunity to put Jack in his Froggy raincoat and boots.
Here is Jack taking a break by sitting on the window sill before school this morning. He is holding the rug sweeper-thingy... he's a very good cleaner.


Jack smelled a lot like plastic this morning...

40% Done

The cabinets are hung in the kitchen with care... in hopes that the granite and the wine fridge soon will be there.

While Stephen toiled away with the home project, I took Jack to get haircut #5! This time he sat like a perfect little angel and let the hair dresser comb, cut and even clip his hair! I'll take a picture tomorrow - didn't get a chance this afternoon. But maybe Ryan's mom will send a picture she took of the boys both sitting on a window sill eating snack and drinking juice together.

Baby it's cold outside...

What other kid Jack's age do you know that uses a $200 toothbrush?

Yummy - pizza - eating it backwards of course.


After dinner, Jack promptly let Chat lick his plate and then he went and threw it in the garbage can. I made him take it out... which is what he's doing in this picture.

It's kind of hard to keep him out of the cabinets since they're all exposed right now. It's far too cold outside to take Jack for a walk or to the playground - I'm feeling very housebound! This is going to be a looooong winter!

The Kitchen Continues...

to dominate our lives...

Here is Stephen in the middle of priming the kitchen cabinets...



Here are the cabinets after being painted with the semi-gloss black paint. I like it.. though it feels like our lives are exposed because the cabinet doors are off. Good time to purge what we don't need anymore and also re-find things we have forgotten about.




Now Stephen is in the middle of priming and painting 27 doors! In the meantime I am hanging with Jack trying to keep him entertained.

Jack's Beanie Weanies

Under direction from Jack's stalker, Julie, we fed him "beanie weanies" last night for dinner. Well actually it was more like "chili weanies" because I didn't have baked beans in the pantry but I did have vegetarian chili available. After refusing all of his lunch - I was shocked that he really dove into dinner...

Crazy Hair Day at School!

So today was crazy hair day at the Y - in the toddler room. We didn't know about it until we got there - mainly because Jack isn't in the toddler room YET. So we have good news on that front. Jack is moving on up - up to toddlers on Monday. Yeah!

Here are some pictures of Jack after Miss Vicki got her hands on his lovely head of hair:






Here is Jack's friend Owen - also accosted by Miss Vicki with some serious amount of product:


After school today, Sarah and Ryan came over for a quick visit - and the boys helped Stephen work on the new cabinets...

Separation Anxiety?

I thought kids were supposed to go through separation anxiety around 14 months? Well Jack is clearly going through it now at 19 months (or a year and a half as Stephen says). If he's not with me or Stephen - it's very likely that Jack could burst into tears. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly. Another phase I hope passes quickly is the one where Jack wakes up at midnight and decides it's time to play. In just the last week, he's done this 3 times. He'll scream and cry until one of us comes to get him and then once we do all he wants to do is play. He wants to grab Phoebe. He wants to jump on our bed or sometimes he wants to go downstairs to watch a show. Enough of this, I need my sleep.
I was in NYC for the day. Got the 6:30am train down and the 4:00pm train back. I'm exhausted. Grammy and Pooh are here visiting - mainly so Stephen and his father could go to Boston College to see St. John's play in a pre-season tournament. Jack can now say: Pooh

If Jack weren't sleeping right now...

I'd take his picture to show you just how horrible his bruised head looks today. It doesn't bother Jack, but it sure bothers me. Next it's going to turn all yellow and nasty... ugh.

Today at school Jack finger painted turkeys and made a little Pilgrim hat. I tried to get him to wear the hat - it's so cute. But Jack doesn't like hats... maybe someday he will let me take his picture in it.

Did I report already that Jack's new fave food is black olives? Freaky...

Stephen is at the football game - no thanks, too cold for me. Yikes, Jets just ran back a kick off for a touchdown. Jack cried when Stephen left to go to the game, he loves his daddy.

Welcome home Daddy!

So Stephen made it home today after a few days on the road. Jack was more than happy to see him. I think he was doing the happy dance when he saw him for the first time. This despite, the honkin' bruise on his forehead - thanks to a head first dive into a chair today at daycare.
They wrestled, they bathed, they watched Jack's Big Music Show - it was a fine reunion for the 2 men in my life!
And a news flash - Jack has a new favorite food - black olives! Go figure?

Check out the blurry picture below - look about an inch above his right eye for the bruise:


Here are the 2 boys on the way up the stairs to get ready for bed...


Like his overalls? They used to be Harper's!

Fight time!



After these pictures were taken... Stephen started feeling really sick. Fever, chills, other "things"... I hope he feels better soon. And I hope Jack doesn't get it... oh boy.

Happy Meal = Happy Dinner

Tonight I felt so tired that I just couldn't fathom cooking dinner for Jack and me after I picked him up from school. So my plan was to take him to Friendly's for a quick dinner - and maybe some ice cream.
When I arrived at the Y to get Jack I found him running around in his "alternate outfit." This alternate outfit is a too short one-piece monkey outfit. Well, that meant I couldn't take him out to dinner so I brainstormed. McDonald's drive thru! Tonight Jack had his first Happy Meal and he seemed to enjoy it.

Trying to walk in Grandma's shoes

Well, actually trying to dance in Grandma's new Reeboks...

Play time

After a good time playing at the playground, it's time for a snack. I brought some juice and little cookies for Jack. He enjoys taking the cookies out of the packet himself. He doesn't like it if you try to hand him one, he has to do it. Very independent.

Here is Jack peeking down to Mom from the top of the swing set/slide combo...

It's a nice day for a ride on the quad...

"Cheese!"
Right now Jack is taking his nap (usually about 3 hours). When he gets up I think we'll drive into Boston to visit Stephen who is working in the city this weekend. Maybe he'll have time to take a break and we can go to the Cheesecake Factory. If not, Jack and I will hit the food court at the Prudential.
Jack has a lot of new words: banana, tractor, birdie, Elmo and tree. He's a genius.

"Ring around the tree"

More fun outside. Can't believe it's in the 50s in November! This morning Jack played "ring around the tree" with his buddy Ryan.
(Jack is in the red LL Bean fleece, Ryan is sporting the blue LL Bean fleece...)


Here's a quick video of the boys running around the tree. Earlier in the day they did it for some time - but of course when there's a camera rolling it's never the same.

Saturday Recap

More swimming today! This time we took Grandma Sheep with us to the Y for lessons. She took a million pictures and videos. Here is one of Jack jumping to me (just look past the kid in front of us). He bobs right back to the surface!

But first... we have to shower. Now that Jack actually likes the shower this is much easier to accomplish.

Then it's time to pay attention to the teacher as she tells us which activity to do next... Jack looks a tad bored.

Oh wait... he is having a good time!


For awhile Jack coveted the lifeguard's Vitamin Water. He even tried flirting with her to get his hands on it...


Here we are playing "tick tock." The point to this game is to get his ears wet so he gets used to it...

I am so proud of Jack!