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The Troubled Artist

He finds such raw emotion in his own artwork it brought him to tears. (Click on the photo to enlarge, for a better view of what I'm calling "Green on Wall, #1". I'm seriously hoping there is no #2)


I wonder if he is sorry? Look at that lip. If that's not the saddest/cutest thing you've ever seen, you're dead inside.

This was a first for Jack (and amazingly, Harper never even tried this). I think he inherently knew it was wrong because I said one "No" and he started tearing up right away. I could tell he was very honestly sorry. He's a good boy.

Talking Up a Storm

This is Jack's pick-me-up-Mama look. He's saying his usual, "Mama-- hug!" I had to snap a shot and post the picture because Jack does this a few times a day. I find the hug requests sweet and always pick him up and hug him, except when it's being used as a transparent attempt to avoid eating vegetables. In that case, I squeeze his little shoulders and lay my head on his for a moment (cause who can not-hug a kid who wants a hug?) but then I hand him a loaded fork.


Here's Jack having his "morning milk" with "sister". I warm two sippys of whole milk up and hand Jack both. He walks over and hands Harper's to her, then climbs up to sit next to her. They suck away. Jack also has a cup last thing at night (to replace his night night nursing). Yep, he's down to just one breastfeeding a day now-- just before nap. He's definitely noticed the change... it took him over a week to go to sleep as peacefully. He even asked about his "ninnies" and we've told my ninnies "night night" several times to help him understand they weren't coming out. I don't look forward to the final weaning though... knowing he's my last one makes it tough. I'm trying to just enjoy his baby-ness while it's still here.

Here are the kids after re-coloring their posters from the library's storytime. They'd colored them once there, but wanted to add to them tonight after dinner so I pulled out the markers and we sat on the tile a while to color. Jack's really digging the markers and crayons these days and is getting into coloring. He knows his shapes like nobody's business, and in this picture you can see he's tried to actually color them (i.e. scribbles centered on the square, etc.). As he did so, he'd say "green square" or whatever-- calling out the colors he was choosing. He also recognizes about 10 letters by sight, including the ones you can see on this poster. I was asking him "What letter is this?" as I added them to his poster and he was correctly identifying them, even telling me the
'M' is for 'Mama', 'D' for 'Dada', 'H' for 'Harper' and 'J' for 'Jack'. He remains a smartie and strangers often stop and ask me his age (stores, doctor's office) because he talks so much. His sentences are lengthening and he's got a few books memorized.

Here he is by the alphabet I just put up in the kids room. I hung it tonight since he seems a promising student. So far, he's more into telling me the colors than finding the L, but once he learns a few more, he'll feel more successful and it'll get more fun.
Here's his "cheeeeeeeeeese" smile. Whenever he sees the camera, the boy says, "Cheese!"


And here he is kissing A goodnight.

I just love that sweet talker!

Funny Kid

Jack Jack is becoming more of a big boy every minute! He started putting words together a couple months ago, and since then, the boy's been cracking jokes and really expressing himself. One of his first sentences was "Dada work" when Dad wasn't home. He began using this same explanation for anyone who came to mind, but wasn't at our house. "Grandma work." "Jov Jov work." (That's his buddy, one-year-old Jovie who you'll see in this post later.) Other examples include "Mama's water" (yep, he's got possessives down!), "water drink", "kitty out", "jacket off!" etc. Most of his sentences are two and three words at this point, and I am happy to report that he's getting pretty good at asking with "please", and his "thank you"s and "sorry"s are melt-your-heart cute. In fact, he just asked me for "more princess water" and handed me an empty princess sippy. When something falls down, he'll often say, "uh oh a cheerio!". The little rhyme delights him.

Although he's probably a better enunciator than Harper was, he's still a baby. The other night he was repeating "cream bubbles" over and over and I couldn't understand the first word. I thought it might be game, and it was holding me up. Finally, I remembered the bubble gum ice cream in the freezer and realized he was trying to request it! When I finally said, "Oh! You want bubble gum ice cream!" he clapped his hands to signal I'd gotten it right.

Jack's making more connections lately. A week or so ago, I was totally perpelexed about why Jack kept saying "sticky" when he was reading a book with animals in it. I knew the book wasn't sticky and he seemed to get more frustrated every time he said it. I looked at where he was pointing and it began to make sense. He was touching the picture of a tree frog and expecting it to be sticky but it wasn't. Another book of his (one from Aunt D, for his 1st birthday) was a touch and feel, and the photo of the tree frog had sticky fingers. Once I gave him the book with the tacky fingers, he felt satisfied.

Another evening E and I were talking about weekend plans, planning to attend the Clarks' "Soup Sunday". He overheard the word "Clark's" a few times and he started asking for "Chlo Chlo". I was amazed that he knew Chloe was a Clark even though her name had never been mentioned. He definitely understands more than we realize!

He has several books memorized and a good memory in general. If I pause while reading, he often fills in the blank in his baby-voiced-version-of-the-missing-word. He surprised me the other night by knowing what was beneath the flap of a book when we hadn't read it in forever and I didn't even remember!

I haven't posted in a while, so here are some shots of Thanksgiving. Here he is playing at the Tootles' house, offering Mama a leaf he has found.

Aunt Carie, Mama, Jack, and Aunt Erica
This is Jack's hug. He hugs like he means it-- rests his head against your neck on your shoulder nice and tight. Jack's a fantastic hugger, and he asks for hugs often.

This was a hilarious moment at the end of the day. Jack Jack had been telling me "shoe" all day long and I couldn't figure out why he was so preoccupied. I'd taken his shoes off and on several times for diaper changes already, but at the end of the evening, I pulled off his sock to discover Jack had been wearing a toe ring the entire Thanksgiving day.


Harper likes to play while I am putting away laundry, and I had seen her recently putting her rings into a sock so I think when I pulled the sock on him the ring was already waiting for him there. Somehow it maneuvered onto his little toe. When I pulled off the sock to discover this, I burst into laughter and urged E to get the camera. Jack was a little confused about the excitement over his toe/foot, hence the upset face. Ha!

Jack's second holiday season was much more participatory than his first. Here's Jack trying to spin the dreidel. He loved the dreidel game because of the chocolate. In fact, he learned the word "chocolate" as a result of the Hanukkah season. Chocolate is one of Jack's favorite things.


Here's Jack opening his Hanukkah gift from Aunt D and Uncle Marty-- an okapi, of course! They knew of Jack's love for "neigh neigh"s and chose the closest endangered version from WWF's donation page for Jack Jack. It was a hit!

Here's Jack helping to decorate our tree, enchanted by the lights.

I was worried this season would be full of broken ornaments, but I am happy to report that only one Big Bird ornament lost a limb during the course of the season. He got dropped on the tile. Otherwise, Jack was a good boy about not playing with the ornaments. Jack's good about not-doing what has been designated as a "no no", but he's not so good about coming when called, that type of thing. He's also great about following directions like putting things in the trash for me, handing things to Harper, relaying short messages to Dad, holding my hand when we're walking.

Here's Jack playing in his little cave at Grannie's house, Christmas celebration night. He loved to peekaboo out of it and crawl back in over and over-- it was just his size.


Just like Harper

Jack continues to look up to his big sister, and he tries to do everything like her. The good news is, she's usually doing good things like reading books or being polite. As a result, he's a braver boy and can do more things because he's trying stuff he wouldn't otherwise. But she's not perfect either. He's picked up some attitudinal maturity because he's got an older sibling, and they don't always agree. They get into little tiffs, but it never lasts more than 15 seconds. (He's learned all about the naughty chair the last few months, and it's helped us to establish some boundaries.) When it comes down to it, though, they're great friends. Harper calls him "Little Buddy" and when Harper pretends that she's in fairy princess school, Jack is her "little boy assistant", and he plays the role gladly.

Jack looks out for Harper, too. Whenever I dole out a snack, or pretty much anytime I give him anything, he asks for one for Harper, too, and then he delivers it to her. I know he misses her when she's at school because he says "bye bye sister" ( he pronounces, "sitser"), and when I announce it's time to get her he claps his hands and smiles.

He is more interested in books lately and can sit for longer stories. His favorite book is "The Jolly Barnyard" (a little Golden book). Other favorites include "I am a Bunny", "Busy Horses" (a Christmas gift from Uncle Steve and Aunt Erica), "Goodnight Moon", and any Elmo book. Here he is reading with his guest and buddy, Jovial.

And here they are at Jov's 1st birthday party, checking in on each other. Jack adores Jov, even kissed her picture several times during the holidays when their Christmas card was within reach.

Jack's become more attached to our extended family and friends over the last few months. He talks about people he misses and its nice to know that he has so many people who love him and who he loves back. Grandma watches little Jack while I work Thursday mornings and they've got a nice relationship growing. She remarks that Jack is "such a boy" and that he "sure knows what he wants". It's fun to hear another perspective on my kids and I feel so lucky and grateful that Jack and Harper are so well cared for when I'm away.

This is Jack napping in our bed. We still haven't gotten him a big boy bed, so he's still in ours. I simultaneously look forward to having more space to move and a less stiff neck in the morning, and also LOVE his cuddles and the quiet warm peaceful space we create when he's on my arm. Here, Sadie moved in for some of Jack's lovey warmth and it was worth risking him waking to click the camera of this shot. (Luckily, he didn't wake!)


Here's Jack doing his "Phoney Bologna" face-- fake cry. Just had to post it.


And here he is moments later eating with a fork. He's eager to feed himself and has been using a fork since just after Thanksgiving.


Jack got this toy from Harper for Hanukkah. It's great-- teaches colors, shapes, AND it's got Sesame Street characters with Elmo's voice prompting the activities. Jack has mastered shapes since we got this toy and can identify colors with about 90% accuracy these days.

He's pretty happy to play with his toys or look over books, but nothing replaces a playmate or listening to a story on someone's lap. He loves to sing "Baa Baa Bamba" (a song from Sesame Street) and replace it with different animal sounds. That's endlessly funny to Jack. Harper and Jack are into hide and seek lately, and he's learning to count because of it. He can say "1, 2... 6... 9" so far. His new joke today was pretty funny. He's been saying "Shabbat Shalom" for a couple weeks and tonight he replaced 'shalom' with 'shine bear' (Harper's Care Bear) and said "Shabbat Shine Bear!" We all cracked up through lunch at his alliterative genius.

Here's Jack doing his "big lips" face. Anything for a laugh!


The boy gets more fun all the time.