Warning : PG-13

It seems like lately, every day around 5 PM, Jack starts to disrobe. He takes his shirt off and runs around. I'm not really sure what it is about this time of day. Perhaps our house gets particularly hot in the late afternoon. At any rate, it's pretty funny when Dave gets home from work to find his son half naked. Fortunately Jack doesn't get his drawers off with as much ease as his shirt!!

The Vocal Stylings of Mr. JTA

Check out these dulcet tones...

One of the greatest joys I've experienced from being a parent is being able to take in the world through my son's eyes. The innocence of childhood is so sacred. I love that Jack finds happiness in the smallest things: an ice cream cone, a bird chirping, a heavy rainfall. I also love that when he surveys the world he finds more similarities than differences. All of a sudden Jack is fascinated by airplanes. He is constantly pointing to the sky and yelling, "Airpane, airpane." The other day we were up in his room and he found a little whale toy. He picked it up and started zooming around the room yelling, "Airpane!" He was right. It did look like an airplane. Similarly, when we went for a walk one day and spotted a big St. Bernard, he cried out, "Mooooo. A cow, a cow." Wouldn't it be nice if we could all be a little more like that? Instead of constantly trying to point out differences, we could try and find similarities?

Sorry Matt...

When Dave's dad visited he bought Jack this basketball hoop. As you can see, Jack loves it. Do hockey and basketball seasons coincide?

When You're Smilin'...

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain

Anyone who really knows me knows I have a penchant for musicals. On more than one occasion I've found myself relating my life to a musical (sad but true). Yesterday I happened to have a Henry Higgins moment. If you've seen "My Fair Lady" you probably remember the famous library scene with Henry (Rex Harrison) and Eliza (Audrey Hepburn). He is her ruthless teacher, the dialect coach, who forces her to repeat speech exercises ad nauseaum. After countless hours of practice, right when Henry is about to throw in the towel, he hears Eliza exclaim in perfect English, "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." Henry slowly rises from his armchair in disbelief and says, "Again." The scene culminates with Eliza finally mastering her task. Later Henry dances around singing, "We did it, we did it."

So now flash forward to my Higgins moment. I was sitting in the rocker in Jack's room; again and again I kept saying, "Back in bed, time for your nap." Each time, Jack would climb into bed, put his head down for a minute and then jump out. He slowly started to take longer pauses between his escapes though. And then, all of a sudden, he put his head down and.....fell ASLEEP! He took his first nap in a real bed! This was the moment! I slowly sat up from the arm chair just like Henry Higgins to make sure it had really happened. You probably think I'm making this up but in my head I was singing, "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!!!" I probably danced my way out of the room. It's been a long few days and my patience was wearing thin. And after two hours of saying the same phrase I was getting a bit delirious. But, HE DID IT!!! Let's hope today is as good as yesterday!

Here's a little Audrey for your Friday...

Tuckered Out

The transition from crib to bed has been a challenging one. Jack really hasn't been taking naps so he tends to be a bit cranky during the day. Several times during the last few days he has just fallen asleep on the couch or the floor due to exhaustion. He looks so peaceful when he is sleeping--especially these days! He has for the last two nights slept successfully in a "big boy" bed. I think he's so tired by bedtime that he pretty much goes down without a fight. He also started to get the concept today when I repeatedly told him to go back to bed because it was naptime. Of course, every time he climbed out of bed he retrieved a new toy. Then he'd play with it for a few minutes, throw it on the floor and say, "Uh-oh." We're getting there slowly but surely.