Jack Chatting Away

Here's a video of Jack talking ... three-year-olds can be very entertaining to listen to!

Jack Being Silly

Thomas Toddling

More Adventures

Yesterday I took the boys to the Wild Animal Park again -- they had a great time! Now that school is back in session, there weren't too many other people there and the weather was great. Thomas said "Hi" to all the animals, and Jack was so excited to ride the "Journey Into Africa" bus/tram (that's free for members!). There is a little playground at the park, which I think is almost as much fun for the boys as many of the animal exhibits. Now that Thomas is trying to walk more, he doesn't appreciate being cooped up in the stroller for too long, so he loved being able to get out and move around the playground. It's a great way for the boys (and me) to get some fresh air, exercise, and do something a little different than usual. I'd like to make a point of going once every couple of weeks especially as the weather continues to cool down.

Let's see -- Thomas is trying to walk on his own, but is still very wobbly on his legs. I've seen him take about 4-5 steps on his own, then he starts getting unbalanced and topples over. He really, really likes holding onto someone's hand and walking all over the house -- again and again and again, but I can only take so much of it! It's sweet, though, because he'll reach toward me and say "Wa?" (which I take to mean "Walk?"), and it's hard to say no to that.

Thomas is developing a decent set of manners :). When he is given something, he pretty consistently says his equivalent of "thank you", although it comes out sounding more like "tank ye". He actually likes saying it so much that sometimes when I give him a toy, he'll hand it right back to me and hold out his hand expectantly so I can give it to him again and he can say "thank you" for it.

Jack has been a handful lately. He's very sweet and funny and loving when he's had enough sleep, but when he doesn't get enough sleep he can be so difficult to be around! I understand that he's tired and crabby (and he's not at the age of reason yet, so he can't realize that and try to act nicely in spite of feeling crummy), but it's frustrating to deal with his whining, picking on Thomas, and general bad moods when I know that he just needs to take a nap (but he won't!). He does really well when I ask him to stay in his room for quiet time (I give him books to "read" when it's obvious that he's not going to nap), but his mood for the entire day is sour because quiet time just isn't the same as sleep time. Eventually I know he won't need that nap during the day, so there is an end in sight -- I just hope it's not too far off!

On a brighter note, I've caught Jack being very kind to Thomas several times recently (without any prompting), and that really warms my heart. When Thomas is crying, Jack often tells him "It's OK, Thomas. It's isn't so bad." And once when Thomas was wandering around saying "Dada Dada Dada" (which he does a lot!), Jack must have thought that Thomas was missing David, because he told Thomas "Oh, Daddy's at work, Thomas!" in a consoling tone. And Jack is good about sharing toys with Thomas because he thinks it will make Thomas feel better / be happier -- and of course I'm quick to praise him for being so thoughtful.



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Back from the Wedding

We made it!! Kim and Michael's wedding was SO beautiful! We had a wonderful time, and it was awesome to be part of such a lovely and holy ceremony. Jack and Thomas were real troopers. They didn't get much in the way of naps, but they slept great at night and were generally very well behaved. I myself was a little surprised at how good they were, considering all the running around and messed up schedules. Jack had such a good time, actually, that he asked me on Monday (with a hopeful twinkle in his eye) "Go to Aunt Wheetah's wedding again tomorrow?" -- he wanted to do it all over again!

It will be interesting to see how much Jack remembers of the wedding as he gets older. I'm sure he'll remember all the cool toys that he got to play with at Michael's house. That made a huge impression. And also wearing the tuxedo. He put it on early Saturday for pictures, took it off so he could have lunch without getting his tux all messy, and then put it back on for the wedding. He may also remember walking down the aisle (which I had to help with on the way up, since he was being pretty nervous and I was afraid he might start crying if I pushed too hard). And I think he'll remember the wedding cake and running around in the grass outside of the reception place. He had so much fun chasing the flower girl and the other kids that came to the wedding!

Now that we're back, pretty much unpacked, and nearly caught up on sleep, it's time for us to refocus on getting our house fixed up to sell. We have so much to do!! I think we found a guy to rebuild our deck. He's very knowledgeable and his price was a little better than the other bid we had. He also offered a handful of unsolicited (but very helpful!) advice on how to make the outside of the house look more appealing for buyers. Hopefully by next spring we'll have most of our repairs done, and the market will be a little more seller-friendly.

Here are the first couple of pictures of the boys from the wedding ... I'll post more as we get them!

Trying to Catch Up

Unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures to upload right now, although I should have some great ones after my sister's wedding this weekend!

The boys are doing really well. Thomas took his first steps the other day! I know it won't be long before he's racing around after Jack. He also waves bye and says "Bah bah", which is probably his newest word. And it's funny because he'll say "bah bah" to something (like a cup or fork) just before he drops it from his high chair. His first word was definitely "dada", although it included not only David but also just about everything else :). Although he can say "Mama", he really doesn't use it to refer to me yet. One of his most favorite words is "Hiiiii" (with a really long "i" sound) and he loves calling it out to anyone new that we see.

Jack is also becoming a lot easier to understand :). He still does a lot of rambling, but he's putting his thoughts together much more coherently. He's also getting really good at comparisons and opposites. He loves to compare himself to Thomas -- "Thomas is eating fast, and I'm eating slow" or "Thomas is getting all messy and I'm nice and clean". It's funny! He also likes to say how much he "looooves" something. Like, Jack says out of the blue "Jack loooves coffee!" (even though he's never had it!). And when he says something is very big, he actually drops his voice and makes the words "very big" sound all big and dramatic. Sometimes we ask him questions and try to keep him talking just to see what will come out of his mouth!

We're all excited about Kim and Michael's wedding in a few days! I've tried to explain to Jack what a wedding is, but it's a little beyond a 3-year-old's comprehension level, I think! He does seem to understand that we'll be going to mass and then we'll have a big party afterward (with cake!). He has a little tuxedo, since he'll be the ring bearer, and he looks like such a little man in it! I just hope he doesn't balk at putting it on when we actually need him to, or isn't otherwise more stubborn than usual. We'll see!

Fire Truck

Thomas is more of a climber than Jack ever was, and when he discovered that he could climb into the red fire truck all by himself, he was pretty excited. Jack thought it was cool to have someone ride shotgun with him, too!

Pudding Paint and Wild Animal Park

I've been trying to think of fun things to do with the boys lately. I feel like I've been in a crazed cleaning and planning mode lately (trying to clean out cr*p so we can get ready to put our house on the market), and I tend to spend most of my free time doing chores around the house. I do spend time playing with Jack and Thomas, but many times I feel like there is so much work to be done that I have them play by themselves while I do chores or they "help" me do stuff. They actually enjoy helping me, but sometimes that ends up being more work for me (i.e. Thomas is often faster at dismantling clothes piles, stacks of books, DVDs, etc. than I am at organizing them!). So, I probably don't have them help as often as I should. I have to remember that somtimes the speed of doing a chore isn't as important as being joyful in my work, and teaching the boys to pitch in (because, let's face it, there will always be more chores to do!).

Anyway, on that note, I made pudding paint for Jack and Thomas a few days ago. You just make up some vanilla instant pudding and use food coloring to make different paint colors. I had them use spoons and pastry brushes to paint a big white platter, and they had a blast! They couldn't believe they were allowed to eat the stuff, too!

And today we took a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We have memberships there, but it's been several months since we've gone. I had to run some errands this moring, and after those were done I drove straight to the Park. Jack kept asking me where we were going, but I told him it was a surprise. When we got to the Park, Jack said "I cannot believe it! We're at the Park!". :). Then we took a sarafi tour bus ride around the park, which Jack thought was amazing. Thomas sat on my lap, and he squirmed a lot. He also thought it would be fun to compete with the tour guide over the speakers to see who could be the loudest. Yeah, he won. :). I felt bad for the people sitting right next to us!! I just couldn't keep Thomas from squealing and shrieking during the ride. At least he was happy, though!

And we got to have a picnic lunch there, and see some more animals up close in Keeper Talks. It was a cool trip! Jack walked his little legs off (and I think he may actually be napping!), and Thomas is screaming from his crib as I type (apparently he's counting his 20-minute nap in the car as his nap for the day -- d'oh!). But they should both sleep well tonight, anyway!

We're still here!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted an update. It seems like so much has happened in the last few months -- it's an overwhelming thought to summarize it all!

Basically, we're having a good summer so far. We enjoyed a week-long camping trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains last month (I'm posting some pictures of our adventures there). Next month, Kim is getting married and we're all excited about that! We're also trying to get our house ready to sell (no rush, but we hope to move within a year or so, depending on the housing market). My contribution is to de-clutter as much as possible -- and that's been taking a good part of the time and energy that I have leftover after taking care of David, the boys, and the basic day-to-day stuff. I guess we've been slowly accumulating stuff since in the 3 years we've been here, and now I'm taking a cold, hard look at everything to determine whether or not we really need it anymore. It's a good feeling -- have less clutter and unnecessary furniture will make the house appear larger when we show it, and it also means we'll have less stuff to haul to a new home.

Mostly, I'm just excited about the prospect of having a house with a backyard for the boys to run around in. I can't wait!! It's definitely a good motivator for me to work diligently on getting the house ready ASAP.

There's a bunch of other stuff going on, but my few minutes of free time are up, so I'll have to post again later!

Jack and Thomas enjoyed their birthdays yesterday and today. Thomas marked his birthday yesterday by successfully climbing up our stairs. He was a little scared at first, especially once he was on the middle step and either had to go up or down to reach level ground, but once he figured it out, he couldn't get enough of it. Now, he can roam the house at will! Actually, he hasn't figured out to go down the stairs yet. He parks himself at the top of the stairs and calls out with a "help me" cry. I've showed him how to slide down feet-first, on his tummy, but I think I'll have to show him (i.e. physically slide him down) a few more times before he's comfortable with it. So far, his favorite places to explore are the kitchen and the shoe rack. The only frustrating thing is that he's getting into a lot more stuff now (and often in a totally different area than Jack), so I'm being kept on my toes!

Jack had a good birthday today. The first thing he said this morning was "Jack wants cake and ice cream!", before I could even wish him a happy birthday. We did share a chocolate shake today, but we're saving the birthday cake for his party on Saturday. Jack did manage to break a fan today that I had put in his room to keep it cool during "nap time" (that's in quotes because not a whole lot of napping has been going on lately!). The fan has been in there for at least a week, since we've had unseasonably warm weather recently, and it was inside of a carefully constructed baby-gate cage that I didn't think he would really mess with. Well, somehow he reached the fan over/through the cage and knocked it over, which caused it to be broken beyond repair. I am definitely glad he wasn't hurt in any way, but I'm frustrated that I couldn't keep him from the fan. Thankfully, my Uncle Larry is going to install ceiling fans in our bedrooms this weekend, so we won't have to worry about this much longer! I can't wait! In the meantime, their room may be a little toastier than they'd like, but I can't risk putting another fan in there.

Anyway, both boys are doing very well. Tomorrow they go in for their well-child checkups, and I look forward to seeing how their heights and weights are doing. They seem to be growing very well!

Overdue Update

Both boys are taking naps now (hooray!), so I have a few spare minutes to post some new pictures and an update of what's been going on here lately. We're all doing very well ... things seem to be finally calming down a little since Easter. David and I are trying to cut back a little on some of the stuff we've been doing at church so we have more time for the family, but it's still a work in progress. I'm also trying to organize my time and energy a little more efficiently so I have more free time during the evenings with David, but most days I feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs doing. I suppose I need to work on figuring out what really "needs" doing versus what can be done later or can be done to lower standards :).

But I am very grateful that time management is the worst of my worries right now! We're all healthy and happy, and the house is doing well and David had a good job. Jack and Thomas are almost 3 and 1 now, and I can hardly believe how fast the time is passing.

Jack is becoming more and more articulate, and he is developing a love for music and books. He absolutely loves going to the library to pick out new children's books, music, and DVDs. And Thomas gets so excited about seeing the rows of neatly stacked books that he must think were put there just so he can dishevel them :). I love the fact that we can check out tons of "new to us" stuff each week absolutely free!

Jack is still getting his 2-year molars in. He has 1 of them in and has 3 more to go. I think David and I need to celebrate when he gets his last tooth in ... it's been a long road! And teething has not been kind to Jack -- it makes him so crabby and temperamental, so unlike himself, that he's hard to deal with.

Speaking of teething, Thomas has 1 bottom tooth and seems to be working on the one next to it. He was a little bothered by it, but nothing too bad yet. Thomas is pulling up to stand now and he loves the new vantage point. He also loves getting into whatever toys Jack has put up on the coffee table or couch to keep Thomas away from it. Now, except for the dining room table, there aren't really any safe places for Jack to set up his train tracks or other toys. Thomas literally follows Jack around the room to purposefully "help" him play with whatever Jack was playing with. It won't be too long before they're playing together, but right now this all irks Jack to no end. Thomas (aka "The Disheveler") is great at destroying carefully aligned train tracks, cars, etc. with a few swats of his meaty little hands. It's funny to watch, but my heart also goes out to Jack because this is a tough lesson for him (albeit a necessary and unavoidable one!). I do need to make sure that I give Jack some special time while Thomas is napping so that he can set up his trains or play with Play-Dough or do other "big kid" stuff without little brother interference.

Thomas is also clapping his hands and trying to wave. Sometimes we can even get him to throw his hands up high in the air when we ask "How big is Thomas?" and then say "Sooo big!". He gets a kick out of making us laugh. A few weeks ago we were all having dinner together and we were eating "Dude Ranch Biscuits" from a recipe I had found online. David and I were joking around and saying "Duuuuude!" (like a surfer) whenever we took a biscuit, and Jack and Thomas thought it was really funny. Out of the blue, Thomas clenched his little fists together and scrunched up his face and belted out a loud "Ooooooou!" (like the "u" in dude) to get in on the action, and we all laughed hysterically (Jack especially!). Thomas loved our reaction and kept doing it! I think that's the first time Thomas really made a baby joke :).

Other than that, we're gearing up for a little birthday party for the boys at a nearby park next month. We're looking forward to it, and I'm excited that Jack will have candles to blow out and maybe even a few balloons -- stuff that he goes on and on about whenever he hears the word "birthday".

I feel like we've been really busy lately, but nothing really new or interesting has been going on -- I suppose just keeping up with the usual everyday stuff is filling up most of my time. The boys are both doing well. Jack has been a little bit of a terror lately, so I've been trying to deal with that and invent new punishments that make him think twice about doing bad stuff (like intentionally hurting Thomas, throwing things, spitting, etc.). I know he's just testing his limits, and testing me to see what I'll do when he disobeys me, but it's exhausting! He got his first swat on the behind this week for laying on top of Thomas (after I had sternly told him to get off, and he wouldn't). We don't spank, except for very serious stuff, but I figured that this qualified since Thomas is still little enough (and defenseless enough) to be badly hurt by Jack under the right circumstances. Anyway, the swat made Jack a little somber for about 10 minutes, and then he was back to himself. I did discover that a "restraining timeout" where I hold Jack in my lap and wrap my arms around him to keep him still really bothers him! Lately, normal timeouts haven't bothered him at all, and they stop being a punishment when he's playing or goofing around during that time. But restraining him for a minute or two, when there is nothing to do and no where to go, seems to do the trick.

Amidst the frustrations, though, Jack has had lots of bright spots (thankfully!). There are times when I catch him sharing a choice toy with Thomas (when he doesn't know I'm watching), and when he asks to give Thomas more food when he has run out. Jack also loves to help neaten up the front yard, vacuum, water plants, and unload the dishwasher. So, if we can get through these yucky terrible 2's and 3's, we'll be OK!

In other news, our orange, lemon, and apricot trees are full of blossoms! Hopefully the trees will continue to do well and we'll have a bumper crop of fruit this year. I think this is the first year that the orange and lemon trees have had this many blossoms, so I'm really looking forward to fresh squeezed orange juice, lemonade, and lemon cake!

This past weekend, David and I discovered that Jack is developing a skill at improvisation! David was getting ready to barbeque, and Jack was being his helper (which was especially exciting for Jack because he loves the BBQ). And out of the blue Jack started singing "Let's go barbeque" (to the tune of "Let's go fly a kite" from Mary Poppins). I know it's not a huge deal, but I marvel that he was able to pick a song, insert his own word into the song and make it a new creation, and then sing it!

And Jack did it once again later the same evening ... we were all sitting down to the BBQ dinner and David and I were commenting about someone we know at church who has a definite "twinkle" in his eye (he doesn't look at all like Santa Claus, but there's like a sparkle in his eyes that makes him look merry!). Anyway, Jack picked up on it and started singing "Twinkle, twinkle little eyes" all on his own. It was too funny!

In other news, Thomas has been trying to climb up the first stair or two in our front room, and he also tries to pull himself up on the bathtub ledge (which is NOT an easy thing to manage when trying to give both kids a bath at the same time!). He definitely has the idea that he can get himself up onto his knees and then his feet, but he doesn't quite have the muscle coordination down yet. He did have his first pasta dinner the other night, which he wasn't too sure about at first, but he warmed up to it quickly. :).

Lego Hair

Jack has a very full and thick head of hair. We keep it pretty short because it gets pretty crazy if it grows out too much. It doesn't really get long and flowy, it gets thicker and thicker and starts sticking out all over the place :). Even when Jack's hair gets a little longer, it doesn't blow in the wind or really move around at all!

David and I were talking about his hair, and we decided that it's kind of like the snap-on hair for little Lego guys. David has a bunch of Lego Star Wars guys, so I can say this with some certainty :). I wouldn't call Jack's hairstyle "helmet hair", since we keep it so short, but I think "Lego hair" fits perfectly.

This is kind of cool, because Jack absolutely loves Legos. So far, he plays with the toddler stlye Legos, but on very special occasions he's allowed to play with David's Star Wars Legos, and he loves it! David also has a Lego Star Wars game on the computer, where the plot follows the original Star Wars trilogy, and all the characters and items and scenes are done in Lego-style. It's pretty cool! Jack loves to watch David play and to see the Lego guys come to life on the computer screen. One day, David and I were watching one of the original Star Wars movies when Jack woke up from his nap, so he got to watch a little. He liked the space ships and the light sabers and everything, but he declared Chewbacca to be a "scary man", it must have left a pretty deep impression because he talked about the "scary man" a lot for a while, and even now he reminds about it every so often. So ... Jack's definitely ready for the Lego version of the Star Wars story, but when it comes to the real deal, I think we have a few years yet.

In this post's photo, Jack is holding a mini Lego version of the Milennium Falcon.

Tom-Tom

Thomas has two very sturdy little legs, and David recently discovered that if we prop him up on a toy or if we hold his hands, Thomas does a great job of holding his own weight on those legs! He hasn't really tried pulling himself up on things yet, but once he's on his legs he really seems to enjoy the view. He also hasn't managed to conquer our stairs yet, although it frustrates him that we can move easily from room to room while he's stuck down in the living room unless someone comes to pick him up. So, sooner than later, I'm sure he'll be tackling the stairs so he can chase after us.

Even though he still isn't crawling on his hands and knees yet, Thomas really gets around pretty fast. He kind of looks like he's swimming along the carpet :). We've also discovered that Thomas has a propensity for destroying order whenever he sees it! We're trying to come up with a fitting nickname ... "The Disheveler" or "Mr. Entropy" or "The Destroyer" or something like that. We'll keep you posted if anything sticks :). Any time Thomas sees a neat stack of something, whether it's toy blocks or DVD cases or books or papers, he makes a beeline for the stack and shuffles his meaty baby hands back and forth in the stack until everything is strewn about on the floor. It's funny to watch him spot a stack and go take care of it -- it's like his own personal baby mission! Sometimes the disorder bothers Jack (although this is fairly rare, since Jack is like a little tornado himself), and he will follow Thomas's wake and try to pick up the pieces again.

Thomas also seems to be developing a sense of baby humor :). He's recently been working on his baby choking routine, much to the dismay of our frayed parent nerves. Having one of the kids choke on something is one of my biggest fears. It's never happened -- at least not to the point that I have to do the Heimlich or anything -- but I hate the thought of Jack or Thomas getting a piece of food caught in their throats and not being able to breathe. So, Thomas has a couple of new acts --- one of them is to put a Cheerio or small piece of food way back on the back of his tongue, which triggers his gag reflex. He'll make terrible faces and his eyes will get big, and just as I'm about to pick him up and help him get the food out, he moves the piece of food forward and chews it just fine. This is understandable, I suppose, since he's still learning to eat finger foods and it's probably not intentional. Well, he also has another choking act! All of a sudden he'll hold his breath and his face will start turning red/purple and his eyes get big, and it looks like he's really having trouble with a piece of food. Once again, I start to get up so I can help him dislodge the food, and all of a sudden he lets out a bunch of fake coughs and gives a huge smile and a laugh -- and he didn't really have a piece of food he was chewing in the first place!! I know that babies do fake coughs because they realize that it invites attention ... but this is terrible!

Crazy Day!

Wow. Today was insane! Thankfully the kids are tucked in bed and the rest of the evening should be relaxing.

So, today was Thomas's 9 month well-baby visit. The appointment was for 9AM, and I did a pretty good job of getting myself ready, getting David's breakfast and lunch ready, and getting the kids ready and fed breakfast by 8AM so we would be on time. We were all loaded into the car and I turned the key and my car wouldn't start!

We actually have a portable power station that can be used to jump cars (and it's worked before on my car), so I fired that up in the garage and tried that. No dice. Tried several more times, and the power station didn't have enough juice to do the trick. At this point, I knew there was slim to none chance that we'd make the 9AM appointment, so I rescheduled the appointment for this afternoon and called AAA to come out.

Triple A came pretty quickly and were able to get my car started, so that was good. Jack got a big kick out of having a big tow truck in our driveway. :)

So, we had lunch and had some time to spare before leaving for the now 2PM doctor's appointment, so we went to the library to drop off a few books that were due tomorrow. Jack made a potty stop before we left home, so I was pretty sure we were in the clear until we got to the dr's office, at least. Well, Jack asks to go to the bathroom about 2 minutes after we left the library (and after he told me that he didn't have to go at the library bathroom). I didn't have much time to spare to stop off at a store to use the restroom, so I tried to gauge how badly he had to go. Well, he asked again (pretty insistently), so I decided that I needed to find a place to pull off so he could use the little travel car toilet. I didn't think he could make it to a store, plus I figured that the travel toilet would be quicker.

Well, it took me a few minutes to pull off the busy highway and find a side street that we could safely pull over on. I got out and went to get Jack, only to find that we had waited a few minutes too long -- he had wet his pants. Not a big deal, because I usually carry extra clothes just in case.... except for today. I had an extra pair of underwear, but no extra pants or shorts for Jack to wear. By now, I didn't have enough time to run home or to a store to buy pants (without having to cancel the dr appointment again), so my mom survival mode kicked in and I decided that I would air-dry Jack's pants in front of the air coniditioner vents as we drove on. So, I put him in dry underwear, draped his wet pants over the steering wheel, turned the A/C on full blast, and fanned the pants every few minutes to maximize evaporation until we reached the dr's office.

Thankfully, my idea did the trick and Jack's pants were pretty close to dry by the time we got there. I felt bad for having to put the potty pants back on him, but I had no choice!! He did have a nice bath and a fresh change of clothes when we got home.

Thomas had a good appointment. He's 21 lbs (50th percentile) and 28 inches (50th percentile), so his growth is slowing down a bit, but that's normal. He's in perfect health!

Unfortunately, Thomas and Jack were pretty crabby for the rest of the afternoon and evening, and tomorrow I have to take my car in to get serviced to make sure she doesn't die again -- but we survived!

PS -- The photo of this post is Jack when he was about Thomas's age. Thomas's hair is considerably light than Jack's, but their faces look a lot of like at this age!

Baby Man

In the last week or so, I've been amazed at how much Thomas is growing up. He just hit his 9-month "birthday", and he goes to the doctor later this week for a checkup and for shots (and I'll be sure to post his height and weight afterward, which I'm sure will be impressive!).

Thomas is now eating finger foods -- Cheerios, graham crackers, pieces of cooked carrots, and whatever crumbs or debris look edible on the floor. He used to just play with any little paper bits or lint that he found while scooting around on the floor, but now it goes straight into his mouth. Ack! He has also started up with some high chair antics (much to the amusement of Jack), like blowing raspberries with food in his mouth, and yelling or growling when he doesn't think you're shoveling in the food fast enough. As his Aunt Wheetah noted yesterday, he's very good about not wasting any food by dropping it onto the floor. :).

Thomas is also surprisingly good at playing with a toy where you send plastic balls down a spiral ramp and they roll out of holes at the bottom. I think the toy is really designed for babies that can stand up (which Thomas is in no way close to doing!), but if you sit Thomas next to it, he'll take a ball as it comes out of the chute, reach up as high as he possibly can, and then put the ball back into the spiral ramp. I just didn't think he had good enough hand-eye coordination, or that he'd even understand that's how the toy worked, so it really surprised me when I saw him doing that over and over again (and really enjoying it!).

Now, the next thing I've seen Thomas do might just be my own imagination. BUT -- I've seen him do it several times, so there might be something to it. Thomas makes lots of noises now -- he babbles and blows raspberries and all of that. But I could swear that I've heard him make a baby version of a car "voooom!" sound, mostly when he plays with Jack's toy cars. The clincher is that he actually kind of moves the cars back and forth a little while he's making the "voooom!" sound, so I kind of suspect that it's the real deal. Jack certainly makes enough car noises around him, so it's definitely possible that Thomas picked it up from him.

Anyway, I guess it's just hard for me to believe that Thomas is doing all these things because in my mind it just doesn't seem possible that he can be growing up this fast! In reality, he'll be 1 year old in less than 3 months, so he's quickly going from "Baby Man" to "Little Man".

Little Man

In all the ups and downs of potty training and teething lately, I probably haven't focused enough on how big Jack is getting and how fun he is to interact with. Let's see .... lately, Jack's big thing has been reading. He really loves to have books read to him. He loves the same books read to him over and over again. :). I've decided that I really love some childrens' books, and appreciate the fact that the authors took the time to write and illustrate in such a way that I really don't mind reading it 1,000,000 times. Some of Jack's (and my) favorite books are: Go Dog Go by PD Eastman, Animalia and The Water Hole, by Graeme Base, all of the Curious George books, I Am Pushkin (can't remember the author!), Get to Work Trucks by Don Carter, and The Red Hen (the author's name escapes me again!). Jack has listened to most of them so many times that he says the words along with me at each page. And sometimes he says "Jack read you, Mama!", and he proceeds to turn the pages and recite what he remembers about each page. It's really cool!

On the other hand, some childrens' books are terrible!! Jack had one book (that was a hand-me-down from another family) that I ended up tossing out altogether. The whole book was about this little boy who kept making excuses for the bad things he did, like "I didn't mean to!", "I forgot!", "It wasn't me!", and stuff like that. I was totally floored one day when Jack was tipping his drink over again and again, and after I scolded him he said "I didn't mean to!" (when he definitely did mean to) just like the kid in the book. So, out the book went.

Jack also takes special joy in making Thomas laugh. He usually does something crazy like dance around or make funny faces, and Thomas starts giggling, and then Jack refines his actions to get Thomas into full-on belly laughs. Sometimes when Thomas fusses, Jack runs in and announces "I coming, Thomas!" and he tries to cheer him up.

Finally, Jack is expaning his repertoire of songs. He likes singing "####### ####### Little Star", "Go Tell it on the Mountain", "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", "We Three Kings", "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt (ack!), and any of the songs from Mary Poppins. He usually muddles the words up a bit, but it's heartwarming to hear him belt out songs in his little voice. One of these days I'll have to catch it on video :).

Things are looking up!

Things have been a little dicey here at the Campbell household lately. But today has been great so far (thank God!). This is Week 3 of potty training, and Jack is really doing well. He finally gets it, and hasn't had any accidents in about 4 days. Woo hoo!! The first couple of weeks of training were rough, but I'm glad we stuck with it.

Other than the potty training success, things have been kind of limping along here. Jack is suffering through his 2-year-molar teething (and that translates to: we're all suffering!). He can be a little terror when he's sleep deprived and his teeth hurt, and he's in full 2-year-old swing. Man oh man!

Thomas is getting to be a feisty little guy. He's perfecting his super fast army crawl, so he gets around pretty good now. He still can't tackle stairs, but he has no problem racing toward the wood stove, Jack's snacks, Jack's cups, any paper products on the floor, and any other things that looks like it's not meant for a baby. We think he thinks it's a game. When he starts heading for something that he shouldn't be, we call out "Thoooomas" in a warning tone, and he looks over his shoulder, smiles, turns around, and goes as fast as we can until we scoop him up and put him further away. And then he repeats is again and again :). He's very persistent! I think Thomas may also be getting in his first teeth. It's hard to tell, but we'll see. That could explain why he has been a little bear lately, too.

Well, today has been a good day so far. If we can keep this up, maybe my chops will have a chance to recover from all the busting they've gotten lately!

Army Crawl video

Trudging

Things here are moving along by "baby steps". This last weekend was a doozy between Jack's potty training and teething (he's getting his 2-year-old molars in finally!), and church stuff. But, I keep telling myself that this insane toddlerhood business can't last forever. Jack is a good kid, and normally pretty easygoing, but when his teeth hurt, he gets soooo grumpy, and then he doesn't take naps, which turns him into a little monster. I'm a bit worn out by it all, and am definitely looking forward to the weekend when David is home during the day and we can tag-team the kiddos.

Jack's stubborness is slowing his potty-training progress a little, so I've upped the stakes and have placed a highly desirable Matchbox dump truck set on top of the TV as a prize for 7 days without accidents. Here's hoping it works!

New Updates

This blog is (hopefully!) going to help me keep on top of updating our friends and family with new stuff that's happening with us. Please don't worry though -- :) -- I won't go blog-crazy and start posting about every little thing that happens here. Mostly, I want an easier way to share updated photos, and any interesting adventures we go on or milestones that kids reach. I'm hoping that by making it easier on myself, I might actually update this site more often :).

So, with that disclaimer out of the way.... the only "new" news is that Jack is potty training and has moved out of his crib and into a twin bed. Now, he's definitely more little kid than toddler. Thomas is sitting up very well on his own, and has just started saying "Dadadadada", which is exciting. He is perfecting the army crawl (he looks like he's always going on a covert operation to get a toy), but has yet to really pick up his belly off the ground. He gets where he wants to go well enough (which is usually over to Jack's toys or snacks), at which point I have to be a referee and make sure everyone is playing nicely. Thomas can really move when he wants to, though!