Category Archives: Jack

>I’m Not Sure "Mama" Means What You Think It Means

>Thursday morning was a treat. I haven’t really been sleeping since we adopted a certain adorable puppy, so I don’t even bother setting an alarm, because chances are someone is going to be needing me for something within a 2 hour window of when I would have wanted to wake up anyway. So sometime in the wee hours of Thursday I slowly awoke to this:

Mama!
Mama!
Mama!
Mama!
whine whine whine.
MAMA!
MAMA!

I decided my best course of action was to take Lucy out first before I went to check on Jack. Because he wears a diaper. So as I passed Jack’s room with the puppy in my arms there was a sort of doppler affect.

Mama!
Mama!
MAMA!
MAMA!
Mama!
Mama!
Mama!

And then I was outside. Lucy did her business and I headed to Jack’s room because he was still going strong. Mama, etc. (Dave was sleeping, or at least, still in bed.)

When I finally got into his room I felt more than a little guilty for putting the puppy’s needs first, so I was very loving and concerned with my greeting. Exuberant even. Delirious, possibly. And what was it that my darling boy wanted?

Mama!
Yes dear? What can I do for you my darling child?
Mama!?
Yes?

I want Daddy.

>The Secret is in the Egg

>I think I could do at least a whole week of cooking posts, so maybe I will. But for now I wanted to share our New Year’s Day recipe. This was a yummy soup that I made to use up a bunch of collard greens that we got from our CSA this summer. With the ham (symbolizing forward motion), black eyed peas (luck), and greens (prosperity) it seemed like a perfect dish for New Year’s Day.

I needed some help from one of my junior cooks, because I wasn’t feeling 100% on New Years Day. It’s weird, because it seems like a night that starts with a nice glass of eggnog, progresses to wine with (and by with I mean, before during and after) dinner, and ends with a to go cup of Irish cream would make for a great start to the new year. (I think I just put my finger on the holiday weight gain. Note to self: Make a belated new years resolution to steer clear of egg based drinks.)

Anyway, Jack was glad to oblige. He tore up the kale.

From 2010January

He sampled some carrots, and he stirred.

From 2010January

And when I wasn’t looking, he put Luke’s egg full of silly putty in the crock pot. I noticed it hours later. The silly putty was sort of melty but completely contained in the egg. So I just threw it away and didn’t tell anyone. Then, to be thorough, I threw Jack’s silly putty away too. The soup was delicious though! I plan to defrost some of the leftovers for dinner next week with cornbread.

Recipe – basically this. But I used dried beans instead of canned. And instead of a piece of ham I used a giant ham hock. And I did it in the crockpot instead of on the stove. Note to self – high temp next time. And I added carrots and celery. I used collard greens the first time I made it and kale the second time. It works either way. Don’t forget the silly putty.

>The Elmo Song

>Jack is really into the Elmo song night now. (That’s right now in Jack speak.) My favorite part is “H, I, J, KAI, ELMO, P.” It seems like he randomly says, “Bird!” at the end of the video, but he is reading an alphabet book, and there is a bird in it. Note to self, tell Kai’s mom about Jack’s homage to him in the alphabet song.

P.S. That is Luke snorting in the background – not me.

P.P.S. Obligatory puppy photo:

>Thanks

>Still easing into 2010 here. I know it’s probably sort of lame that I always wait until after my birthday to write thank you notes, so I just have to do it once a year. But how bad is it that I am going to have to include thanks from Jack’s birthday too? Pretty bad I guess.

Did I ever write about the time Luke had a complete meltdown because he didn’t write the letter “A” perfectly and it “looked like it’s pants were falling down”? I don’t know because the search function on this blog is not that great. I think it was at least 2 Valentine’s Days ago. We had a similar incident today because he spelled Science incorrectly during FTYNWT. (Family thank you note writing time.) He started to spell it phonetically, and then I wrote it out for him. (Meltdown number 1.) And I spelled it wrong. (sciene, if you must know.) So when I corrected him, we had meltdown number 2. I told him just to scratch it out, because I don’t like to end up with an uneven number of note cards and envelopes, so I wasn’t giving him another card. It’s one of the 1000 weird things about me. Of course, I later screwed up someone’s last name on an envelope so theoretically, it would have worked out OK. He didn’t want to scratch it out though, so it was straight to bath and bedtime.

I am just going to go on and on for a while about thank you notes and then all the blog readers who are expecting a thank you note will sort of remember this somewhat boring post and think they actually did get one.

Or, I could add another Jack anecdote…

Dave took care of making sure Luke got in the shower while I gave Jack a bath. Jack likes to randomly talk about things from the past that you think he would never remember. After the 100th mention of the same subject, it’s less amazing though.

This week, he has been talking a lot about the airplane ride he took the weekend before Christmas.

Example:
Me: Here’s a coupon for Einstein’s bagels.
Jack: I ate a bagel on the airplane.

Amazing, right?

In the tub today he put a washcloth across his lap and said, “Dis my airplane blanket. ‘Cept cleaner.” Then he took the loofah and said, “I buckle my seat belk.”

I’ll stop there. But Jack is very funny these days.

>Omar Little/Genghis Khan

>Photo from HBO.

I was thinking about taking a meta moment of silence to commemorate the last episode of The Wire, watched here last night at Casa De MetaMegan. But I think we can all agree that there have been many, many moments of blog silence since we started watching The Wire 3 months ago. It’s hard work getting through 5 seasons of a television show in just 3 months. Hard, but rewarding work. Sigh.

Back to blogging, working, getting to bed before midnight and maybe I’ll even get those thank you notes in the mail soon!

In other news, I am way behind on all the precious things Jack has been saying and doing. We went to see the Genghis Khan exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science the week after Christmas. There was a 60 second (or so) movie reenactment of the life of Genghis Khan, and Jack was very interested in the crying baby at the beginning. He watched it several (20) times. Days later, we were in the car amongst the museum ephemera and Jack recognized the hat we made at the end of the exhibit. He said,

“Baby crying, grew up: Genghis Khan.”
Laughter ensued.
“Baby crying, grew up Genghis Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.”
Laughter.
“Baby crying, grew up Genghis Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.”
Laughter.
“Baby crying, grew up Genghis Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.”
Sighing.
“Baby crying, grew up Genghis Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.”
Yes, he sure did Jack.
“Baby crying, grew up Jason Khaaaaaaan.”
No, Genghis.
“Jason Khaaaaaan.”
Genghis.
“Baby crying, grew up Genghis Faaaaaaaaaaaawwwn.”
Ugh.

We got home eventually, but it was the longest conversation I’ve ever had with a two year old about a 13th century warrior/statesmen.

Photo from wikipedia.

>Two Months Tighter

>Remember this? Well, last week, there was a note that Jack claimed his pants felt too tight, so they put him in some daycare “pants.”

From December2009 1

Yeah, these aren’t pants! And they were too small 2 months ago! Maybe his diaper is too tight? These “pants” have a big hole in the bottom too. I think I might patch it with a spare camouflage patch that I have. If Jack is going to keep getting sent home in floral leggings, at least I can boy them up a little.

>And So It Begins

>Last year, when I decided not to get a ski pass, I had a knee injury and a 17 month old who was getting difficult to entertain in the lodge. I had visions of the two of us snuggled up together on cold mornings… visions of sewing, and crafting, and working out and reading while he napped. (In my visions, I’m really motivated and Jack is really tired.)

Apparently my visions also did not account for the fact that my sweet, sweet baby would be 2 by the time the ski season started. And that my knee might heal. And that Jack would want to do everything his big brother is doing.

A few weeks ago, I started to worry about the ski season, and what would happen when Dave and Luke left us every weekend morning. “Where Lukie go? Soccer? I go soccer?” Etc. I thought I was keeping my concerns mostly to myself, until Dave said he wasn’t planning on leaving today until Jack was safely napping, so it’s not just me.

With Jack asleep, and he skiers on their way up the hill, I headed down to the basement, put on my headphones and got on my exercise bike. I did get off, and stop, and readjust things a few times, so Jack can’t have been screaming his head off for long before I heard him. Right? I ran up to his room, and gathered him into my loving arms, and tried to console him like only a mother can. He put his head on my sweaty shoulder and said, “No! No like it! No like it! Daddy daddy daddy daddy.” Once I had a blanket barrier between my clammy arms and my poor, sweet, neglected baby, he feel back asleep. Then I decided to lay on the couch for a while and wallow in mild guilt. Apparently there are these things called monitors? I am going to look into the concept of setting one up in the basement, so I can hear crying over the sound of the bike or the sewing machine.

It’s only until March – Jack and I can get our 2010 season passes then. I think we will be ready for some spring powder days.

>Happy Birthday Jack!

>I’m planning ahead with the posts today (Saturday) so I’ll have something for Sunday without having to log into my computer at all. You will have to wait to see the birthday boy on his special day for a few days, and I’ll be sure to share some cake (pictures) then too!

So, without further ado..

Happy Birthday to Jack, who has grown so much in 2 years!

From Babbling

We love you so much!

>From the Mouths of…

>From the mouths of babe… And by babes, I mean 6 year old knows-it-all.

Sunday was errand running day. We went to home depot, the verizon store, and we wanted to go to Bed Bath and Beyond, but we just didn’t have time.

Dave decided we should walk from Home Depot to the Verizon store, and he would catch up with us after he dropped the furnace filters off at the car. “Oh, what the heck, I’ll just drive over so the car will be there.” It was 17 degrees on Sunday, and snowy.

Jack was holding hands with Luke and I, and running. Then he would just drop down and hang from us and take a bunch of fast steps while dangling, parallel to the ground. Then he would jump, then sometimes fall, then run.

Once he broke free and ran towards the street. I scooped him up, and in between his screams, I tried to explain to him that when we are walking near a street you cannot let go of mommy’s hand. You! CANNOT! Let! Go! Of! MOMMY’S! HAND!

Luke had a good suggestion though, “Or you could just hold on tighter, Mommy.”