Mets Baby

Now that the weather has turned a little bit warmer - I don't make Jack wear his fleece hat to school in the morning. But Jack - being a stickler for routine - still requests his hat when we get ready to leave the house. Now I'm putting his Mets hat on him in the morning.


When I called to check in on Jack at school this afternoon they said he insisted on wearing his Mets hat when they went outside to play. Sometimes it is hard for him to see past the brim of the hat so he apparently insisted on wearing it backwards. He's so cool...

One more funny thing - they said when Jack was just asleep today on his cot during nap time he was chuckling in his sleep - he must have been dreaming about Elmo.

Cleaning Up

I think Jack has inherited his father's "cleaning disease." He's also inherited the disease of tuning me out completely. Great, now I'm outnumbered in the house.

Blowing Bubbles

It's bath time in Foxboro... woo hoo!

Rainy Day...

Rainy days stink. Especially a rainy Sunday after such a beautiful Saturday.

Jack's new favorite place to hang out in the morning is tucked in between the two leather cubes. He prefers to peek over the chair to watch his multitude of cartoons. Today we were "old school" and watched Jack's Big Music Show.



And we whacked a golf ball around the house for a while.


And we watched another show...

And Jack took pictures of himself...


As a good time killer I gave Jack a bath BEFORE his nap - not before bed - but before his nap. He slept from about noon 'til 2:45. When we got up we went over to Bass Pro with Sarah and Ryan. The boys liked checking out all the stuffed animals, ATVs and live trout. Jack enjoyed whipping the kids size fishing net at my head.


Then we met Tom, Jill, Tim and Hunter over at the Red Robin... but it was a 30 minute wait. So we walked just a bit down the plaza in Patriots Place and ended up eating at Five Guys. Turns out it was a great choice. The burgers were great... and there was no wait. Yes - Jack ate french fries for dinner again - whatever. Artie, my brother, told me to stop obsessing over what Jack is and isn't eating. So I am done worrying - he's thriving and doing just fine.
(not sure why this picture came out so small...)

After Five Guys we went to Reebok - where Jack turned into a wild man. Not sure why but he ran around the entire store laughing and climbing... it was hard to get mad at him since he was having such a grand old time. I think I just got exhausted chasing him - eventually he got tired too...

Singing Inside in the Rain...

Whew... did a lot today

Jack was up at the crack of dawn this morning - must have been channeling a rooster or something. At 5:36 he was standing up in in his crib yelling, "Mama, mama, mama..." How can you ignore that? I tried... but 3 minutes into his chant I gave in and went and got him out of the crib. He didn't want to snuggle in bed with me... he wanted to go downstairs and start the day... which we of course did.

Here is a picture of him this morning watching another thrilling episode of the Backyardigans.


By 8:30 I was ready to get out of the house. We took an unnecessary trip to Target where I bought Jack some sidewalk chalk and a new Elmo doll that makes noise when you shake it. He also was holding onto this hard plastic monkey bank which half way through our shopping trip he spiked on the ground. Yes - it broke into about 47 pieces. I offered to pay for it ($2) but they told me not to worry about it. They're nice at Target. We took the long way home and when we got here started doing a little graffiti work on the driveway with the chalk. I drew an Elmo (what else?) and Jack made little hash marks all over the driveway - kind of like something you'd see a gas company worker make when he's marking where the pipes and such are.
After that got old we came inside for a snack - pretzels. Then we heard the crunch of Ryan's car outside - so we ran to the door and Ryan and Tom were outside vandalizing our drawings. They were caught red handed. Elmo had a beard and spiky hair. We played outside (Sarah came over too) for about an hour and then we headed in for lunch - grilled cheese. After grilled cheese it was nap time (12:00) and Jack slept until 2:45. I only slept til 2 (I was so tired...).
When we got up from nap time it was time to head to a new playground that Sarah had found in the next town over - she said it rocked - and we were all heading over there to play.

Here is a picture of Jack as we headed out of the house to go... he was mad - not sure why - but he was:

When we got to the playground, clearly every other person in town had the same idea, it was totally packed with kids, parents and other random relatives. The boys really had a good time climbing around, going down the slides, playing in this broken down plastic truck-thingy, kicking a ball, running up ramps... it was exhausting trying to keep up with them.

Couple of people made comments about Jack's Mets hat - they don't hate the Mets up here the way they loathe the Yankees - so we were okay.


Jack looks like a cabbie in Brooklyn...


Here are Tom and Jack going down the big slide - wonder why Tom looks so afraid?




The boys had a good time just running around the field and kicking a purple ball we found.



When we left we went to Ward's Berry Farm to visit the chickens, sheep and goats. They also have one huge turkey with not as many feathers as he should have. I got Jack some ice cream because I still refuse to believe that my child doesn't like ice cream. We had the lady put sprinkles on it - which is probably why he took a few bites. I ate most of it.

When we got home we played outside some more. These kids love to be outside. I think they'd sleep out there if we let them.
When I finally convinced Jack it was time to come in - he chilled on the couch while I made dinner. At Ward's I had bought a ziti and broccoli dinner which Jack refused to even try. So I caved and made him french fries for dinner. He did eat half an apple too... and a bottle of milk.


By 6:45 he was rubbing his eyes. Finally got him into bed by 7:30 after reading him the same Truck book about 17 times. My back is killing me from lifting and playing... but it was worth it. The weather was perfect and I think Jack will have a lot of good dreams tonight. Night Night.

A Warm March Day

Sure - Jack may have a lot of toys - but sometimes the best toy... is a blankie. For a while this evening we played "ghost baby." Jack is amazingly adept at walking with his head totally covered. Every once in a while he walk into a wall or a chair... or me... but it's a fun game to play.


After a good game of "Ghost Baby" Jack chilled in his typical position - like a bridge between the couch and leather cubes. He can hang in this position for quite some time - I find it very impressive. It must take some good stomach muscles to pull this off.

And here is a quick video of Jack dancing on one of the cubes... and then watch as he tries to rip the camera (well... my Blackberry) out of my hands...

At one point he rubbed his eyes - that's because they played outside for about 2 hours today at day care. They told me he was going down the slide head first (oh, great) and landing in the mulch. FYI - When I was changing his diaper before bed I found a few pieces of mulch - nice. When we got home we played outside with Ryan for a bit... before coming inside for a very nutritious dinner of milk, pretzels and a banana. He wanted nothing to do with the grilled cheese I worked so very hard on.

The NRA Invades Foxboro

Yes - Jack may be just a wee bit shy of his 2nd birthday... and he's already a fan of guns. Well, actually this is a Nerf gun and to be honest Jack has no clue how to shoot it. His favorite part is the scope - he likes to watch Barney through it.

After we shot a couple of rounds, Jack's friend Ryan came over to play. When I say play - I don't mean play "together." They play around each other - take each other's toys and generally ignore the fact that the other little guy is in the room. I guess this is typical behavior for kids this age - but I'm just waiting for the day when they sit down and start playing.


After Ryan headed home it was bath time for the Jack-ster. We had a good time playing with the bathtub markers and squirting water out of the plastic duck, turtle, crab and octopus. Then we chilled in the bedroom, watched Diego and read some books about trains. After I put Jack in the crib - with a couple of books - he laid down, covered himself with a blankie and said, "night night Mama."

Riding the Tricycle

After Jack got home from school today we stayed outside to enjoy the semi-nice weather. We headed out on the new tricycle and pedaled right over to Ryan's house. While he was putting on his shoes I shot this quick video of Jack...

You can hear how intelligent he is :)

We've moved on...

to sausage.

Mr. Copy Cat

Everything we do... Jack does.
I clean up the floor with a paper towel. Jack cleans up the floor with a paper towel.
Stephen shaves his face. Jack shaves his face (with shaving cream and the back of a razor).
I put my shoes on. Jack tries to put my shoes on :)

You get the picture. Well, every morning I have my one cup of coffee while I am forced to watch Blues Clues, Franklin or Barney. Now, Jack has to have his own coffee cup as well. I used to give him a teaspoon of coffee in a mug... but then I got smart. I now put that tiny amount of highly caffeinated Starbucks coffee into a demitasse.

By the way - he ate FOUR chicken nuggets for dinner! He also ate his whole slice of pizza today at school. Tomorrow I'm predicting he eats nothing.

A First...

This was Jack's first time in a hotel and he had a great time! Stephen booked us in a nice hotel in the Portsmouth, NH area for the weekend. We headed up (in rush hour traffic) on Friday night. We checked into the Wentworth by the Sea and got upgraded to a suite. Yeah! This was good - giving us a lot of extra space - especially for when Jack went to sleep for his naps and night night.

When we first got there, Jack immediately went to the desk to start writing out his post cards:)

Since it was already after 6 by the time we got there we had to head into the town of Portsmouth to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up at Fat Belly's (I liked the name) and got a table right in front of the window that faced out to Market Street. For 90 percent of the dinner Jack sat facing the window waving to all the people walking by - many reciprocated - making Jack very very happy. Sorry about the flash in the window.


The next morning we were off to Kittery, Maine to head to the outlets. It was a very sunny day - the boys needed their sunglasses!


I specifically wanted to go to the Hanna Andersson store to get Jack some new socks. We got there - they had just one pair of socks that I wanted in Jack's size. Ugh. Ended up getting him a lot of new clothes for spring and summer. Stephen went to the Black & Decker outlet and got some random tools. Then it was back to the hotel for a little swimming!

Jack had a good time swimming (I of course forgot my camera) and showing Stephen how he jumps in and goes underwater - a trick we learned in swimming lessons at the Y. Fortunately we were the only ones in the pool - though it was right next to the spa and I'm positive Jack's loud shrieking interrupted a massage or two!

Then it was time for some reflecting... before a nap. Jack liked our window from the suite. The room had a nice view of the harbor.


What else did Jack like in the hotel room? The shower! He kept hiding in the shower stall and trying to drag one of us in there with him. Here is Jack "surprising" Mom when she walked in.


Then we took a nice walk around the hotel and down to the marina. Lots of boats and birds and beautiful homes to take a look at.



Here is a cute picture of Stephen pointing out some robins to Jack. I love it when he crouches down!

Jack loved the long hallway in the hotel. He frequently squealed with delight as he ran down the hall. I'm sure our nearby guests were glad when we checked out.


Push the button Jack!

Riding in elevators is fun!

Jack joined me down in the lobby this morning for some coffee (Jack's was all milk). He sat there and sipped it like it was hot... the others in the lobby thought this was pretty humorous which egged Jack on to continue.


Brunch this morning consisted of - bacon, fruit loops and milk. The best part today was the sheet of stickers the waitress gave us.


As we were leaving - Jack waved bye bye...

Bye Bye Wentworth by the Sea - hopefully we'll come back. Looks like a great place to visit during the summer.

Big Boy Clothes

Jack is just starting to be too big for his 18-24 month old clothing. So I've been slowly adding some 2T clothing into the mix... I just think the shirt looks a bit big on him. What do you think?

His feet are also growing. Last time I took him to Stride Rite he was wearing a 4.5 XXW. Now... he's in a size 6 W (we dropped the XX!).

I still think he's still one of the cutest kids around :)

Time Changes Stink for Toddlers

Time changes are no fun for toddlers and their parents. Today Jack finally took a nap at around 1:30 and then slept 'til 5! So after he finally woke up we played outside with Sarah and Ryan. They boys ran around the house, ran up and down Howie's driveway and stomped through remaining snow.

Then I had to run to the store to buy milk - a "must have" in the Francomano household. While there Jack tried on a cute pair of bunny ears:

At Target I bought Jack some markers that are meant for the tub - nothing like writing all over the tub and tiles and then just wiping it clean. Very fun... we left a message for Daddy too.