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Friday, April 3, 2009

School Pictures

As you might remember, Jack's school photo this year was so horrible I couldn't bring myself to buy even a wallet-sized picture. Well - who needs 'em? Lauren, one of Jack's teachers, is pretty good about taking photos and then sending them to the parents when the memory card is full.

Here's his class... all boys. In the front is Lucas and Jack. Behind Jack is Liam. Then in the back row from left to right is the other Jack, Little Damian, Big Damian and Ivan. No lie - 2 Jacks and 2 Damians. Odd don't you think?


Fun with shaving cream. He thinks it tastes good. Gross.


He looks like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't. This is what they call the "sensory table." Where they pour different things in the buckets and let them play with it. This day it was obviously water and blocks.



Looks like he's figuring out how to get the Magna Doodle away from his buddy Liam.

They are also teaching him how to lace. Not that any of his shoes have laces. They're all velcro. Next thing you know they'll try to teach him what a record is and how to tell time.


They go outside when the weather is nice enough. Jack likes just "hanging" around... with his Mets hat on backwards of course.



Getting pulled on the parachute is fun!






Oooh... blocks. Hope he didn't throw them at anyone!



Cone head! I thought Grandpa Tractor would like these overalls :)


I have no clue what they're doing here.


Fun at the Lego table. He looks like he's really concentrating.


Sensory table (or bucket). This time the fun item is: Sprinkles!


"What do you mean I can't do whatever I want?"



"CHEESE!"

Getting ready for Bingo night.


Another tough day - time for a good nap. With the po po in the air like usual!




Thursday, April 2, 2009

Scream Fest!

Tonight we were invited over to Sarah and Ryan's house (next door) for dinner. As I've noted in the past the boys are starting to play with each other a lot more... instead of just around each other. Tonight one of them started screaming and then the other returned the scream... and so on and so on... Check it out:



We should have the boys record the screaming for a track on a slasher film.




Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Typical Wednesday

Who wants to sit at the kitchen table... when they could have a breakfast picnic in front of the tv? Yes, that's bacon and milk.

This morning I realized I am truly at Jack's beck and call... no problem too small... at least in his opinion. While I was trying to get his room picked up I heard Jack yelling "Mama" from my room - where he was happily sitting on the bed watching Blues Clues. I hurried into the room to find out what the problem was. You know what it was? He had a cat hair on his tongue and he wanted me to get it off. Really? That's what I've been reduced to? I'm a "cat hair on the tongue" remover.

I was tired coming home from work and decided a drive thru would help me get "dinner" on the table faster... it worked.


After dinner... Jack was just hanging around.


He has a new fascination with my bean necklace. So every once in a while I let him wear it for a short time.

Please note the yellow paint all over his cute sweater. Apparently in school today they learned about the color yellow.

Maybe tomorrow they'll learn how to not wipe their hands on their shirt :)

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Blowing Bubbles

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

Sunday, March 29, 2009

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...

Saturday, March 28, 2009

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.

Friday, March 27, 2009

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.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

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."

A mom's blog about her two little boys...