Best Christmas Ever

Apparently, we could have gotten away with one $10 toy for Christmas and Jack would have been thrilled. I love this age.

He continues to say this as the days pass and each time it melts my heart. I love this boy and am so grateful he is a part of our family. I love Jackson's enthusiasm and unsupressed joy. We all need to remember to find joy in the season.

Proof

Guess who came to our house while Jack was sleeping?

I should point out that Jack has been showing this picture to everyone. He is still very excited by it.

Christmas Eve

After weeks of anticipation, Christmas Eve was finally here. We had a fantastic evening in the Allen house.

The tree was ready and the presents were wrapped.

Well, all but one, but Jack helped his dad with it. Another good thing I have learned from Jack is to relinquish my attempts at perfectionism...at least a little of it. Our presents were far from perfect looking, but boy did Jack have fun helping with all of the wrapping. He insisted on extra tape and bows on each gift.

We made cookies for Santa. This was the first year we did it. (Jack was a little young to do it previous years.) He is big on quality control.

We ran off some energy at the neighborhood park and then came home and took a bath. My Christmas present was the jacuzzi tub. (Jack broke it last year when he turned on the jets while it was empty.) Stuart had it fixed in time for Christmas. Of course, Jack has taken more baths in it than me. Stuart has to join him in the big tub. Of course, they get a little carried away with the bubbles.

A couple of times we lost Jack.

Luckily, his dad was able to find him.

Don't worry, he's ok.

We open one present on Christmas Eve. It's always jammies. Jack loves his Spiderman jammies. He couldn't stop looking at them.

Stuart and I actually bought each other nearly identical blue plaid jammies. Too funny! Now we match.

Finally, Jack was tucked in for the night. You will notice he is sleeping with the garbage truck he got from grammie and papa. He has done that almost every night since he got it.


I should note that Jack had a bad dream around 2am. I got up and calmed him down, then remembered a present I had forgotten to wrap. Stuart woke up around 2:30am to find me in my closet, wrapping. No wonder we were so tired on Christmas morning.

Far Away

Sometimes it is a real challenge living so far away from everyone. It's hard having Stuart's family so far away in Canada. Having my family an hour away might seem better, but they might as well be in Canada since we seem to see them just as rarely. This year, we decided to try to eliminate any Christmas stress by staying close to home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We agreed that if we were going to travel it would be before or after this time. Of course, anyone who wanted to come up to visit was welcome. I know this may seem odd, but it just isn't fair to a 3 year old to make him spend 2-3 hours of his Christmas in a car. So, we got creative.

Stuart's parents sent us a beautiful flower arrangement to let us know they were thinking of us. We then spent about 4 hours of Christmas day on Skype. Stuart connected the computer to the big TV in the family room and his sister left it on at her home so we could feel like we were with the girls this year. (No, it's not the same as having them here, but it was nice.)

We did Christmas at my mom & Ira's house about a week early. And Christmas at my dad & Laura's house a couple of days early. It was nice, but although I took my camera, I didn't have time to take any pictures. ARGH! I only got a couple at my mom's house and nothing at my dad's...sorry. Jack LOVES to see his cousins, but it is a challenge that the boys are all 4 years older and the love isn't reciprocated the way he would like.

Of course, a visit down to Chandler with lots of running and playing with the cousins wears out little Jack.

We also threw a boxing day party for the day after Christmas, but again, I didn't take any pictures. I completely forgot. I must be getting old.

Christmas Treats

OK, now that things are settling down again, I will try to share most of the Jack stories of the season. Hang in there and I will try to limit myself to the highlights.


Let's start with food. We have had too much good food around the house over the last several weeks. (The proof of this is that it took a LOT of effort to button my jeans this morning.) Both Jack and I LOVE to bake. We have made dozens of Christmas cookies this year: chocolate chip, oatmeal butterscotch, chocolate mint, chocolate dipped mocha toffee shortbread, peppermint sugar, strawberry lilies, and double chocolate chunk. I think Jack had as much fun delivering cookies as he did making them. Oh yes, we also made a gingerbread train; well, Stuart and Jack did. We made one last year, and Jack insisted on it again. It's so much better than the gingerbread house.


Oh, and to make matters worse, our awesome babysitter made some wonderful treats for us. She made incredible truffles for Stuart and I. Jack got a special chocolate covered marshmallow with a candy cane handle.

Yum.

Conversations with Jack #5

I tried taking Jack to the store with me today. As usual, he was running around the house in his underwear. I told him he had to put on his pants before we could go and sent him to his room to get a pair. Instead, I find him rummaging through Stuart's dresser. Here is the ensuing conversation:

Me: Jack, go get your sweats. You can't wear daddy's pants.

Jack: No. It's daddy's underpants. I'm wearing daddy's underpants.

Me: You cannot wear daddy's underpants.

Jack: No, it's fun.

Me: Daddy doesn't want you wearing his underpants. I'm calling dad.

Jack: No, be happy with it. Be happy with it mom.


It gets better.


After I convinced him that I could not tape the underpants up, he came up with another solution: pliers. Only problem was, he wanted me to walk around with him, holding the pliers.


Where do kids come up with this stuff?!

We LOVE Christmas

I love Christmas. I love everything about this season: the decorations, the love, the giving, the charity, and just the magic of it all. Despite his sometimes grinchy (is that even a word?!) behavior, Stuart once told me this is one of the reasons he fell in love with me. He loved my enthusiasm for the season. He loved that although I had no children of my own, I totally got into the season with tons of decorations, activities, and even throwing family gingerbread decorating parties.

As much as I loved it then, it is so much better when you get to live it through the eyes of your child. This year is extra special because Jack is old enough to anticipate what is coming. There is constant excitement in our home. Some of my favorite things about Christmas this year:

• Jack hugging the Christmas trees.
• Everything is possible with Jack. He brought me a wrapped present from under the tree. It was addressed to him. It was clearly a DVD. He asked me if it was a silver Ironman. I asked him if the silver Ironman was small like the box. He said no. I asked, "do you think a silver Ironman can fit in that present?" He replied, "yes." I love it!
• Baking with Jack. He has always loved this, but now he really gets into the whole process and is very helpful!
• Jack is just so excited! We bought and wrapped Stuart's Christmas present. I explained it was a surprise. The second he saw his dad, he ran up and told him exactly what we got him.
• Christmas stories. We read one every night. It's a great way for Jack to learn the meanings behind the traditions. Jack's current favorite is Christmas in the Manger.
• Christmas lights. We can't get enough of them. While driving around delivering Christmas cookies one evening, Jack informed me that we needed to give some cookies to the houses with all the lights. He had a good point; they did deserve them.
• At random times, Jack will approach me and say, "Mommy, I love you so much. I get a hug?" As I hug him he says, "This is the best Christmas EVER." He does this at least once a day.

Candy Cane Massacre

While out making Christmas cookie deliveries on Monday, Jack was quietly enjoying a candy cane in his car seat. Suddenly, he exclaims, "There's blood everywhere!"

False alarm. Apparently, it was just grape juice.

Jack's Tree

Jack has his very own Christmas tree. I got the idea from my sister, Charlotte, who always had a small tree in each of her kid's rooms when they were little. The kids had them decorated however they wanted. I think I remember a Star Wars tree one year for Ryan and a Barbie tree for Caitlin. So, I adopted the tradition for Jack. The tree was a free one I got with another large tree many years ago. At first, we decorated his tree with Dr. Seuss finger puppets to match his Dr. Seuss nursery. Last year, he was really into cars, so we parked his little Matchbox cars all over the tree. This year, he was so excited to put the tree in his room. However, he didn't want to decorate it. He took one ornament from our big tree and declared that was all it needed.

You will notice the single present. I haven't wrapped any gifts yet, but his Nana sent one gift down for Jack last month. It has been the only present sitting under our tree. (Jack has begged to open it almost everyday.) Last week, Jack insisted we keep the present under the tree in his room.

I love his Charlie Brown like Christmas tree.

More Winter Fun

Sunday morning we checked out the Carefree Christmas festival. They brought in snow for the event!

First thing, Jack did some sledding. No hesitation. He was fearless. Of course, watching his face, he did look a little uncertain there at the end.

He then insisted on making a snow angel. Unfortunately, the snow wasn't soft enough for it to work.

Check out his little snowman.

He kept putting snow in his pockets to take home. He also took a snowball with him. He kept complaining on the drive home that it was melting. I told him he could throw it out the window if he wanted...he refused. After a couple of minutes of panic over the melting snowball he asked if he could throw it. Stupidly, I assumed he wanted to throw it out the window, as I had suggested earlier, so I said yes. He promptly threw it at me.

He did ask for permission first. You just gotta laugh.

Winter Fun

Last week we went to one of the winter events put on at Desert Ridge. We went to one last year and had a blast. But, the best part this year was watching the differences in Jack; it is amazing how much Jack has grown and developed in just one year.

The second we got there, Jack ran on the stage and began dancing and playing with the few kids that were already in attendance.

There was an appearance by Sid the Science Kid. Jack loved it. Yes, he was a little timid, but he did go up to him alone, without me by his side. He was so proud. (Me too!) He ran to tell his dad he did all by himself.


He sat still for story time. Well, for most of it. This was great!


He was so attentive. (Who is this kid anyway?!)


OK, he did come over to check on mom and dad occasionally.

If you can't tell, he is flying his Ironman through the crowd. He noticed another kid had a toy, so he insisted on taking his out of my bag.

Dance time was hysterical. I know we don't have good video of Jack. (He is the one in the white shirt and jeans.) He had to be in the center of the action. At one point he was literally dancing circles around one of the demonstrators.

Jack is Awesome...Most of the Time

Last night was rough. Jack didn't take his nap and, despite being great all day, hit the brick wall around 6pm. It started when I gave him an answer he didn't like, so he hit me. I took his storm trooper action figure and put it in the garage; I told him he could have it back in the morning if he behaved. He went crazy and hit me again. I then took his indoor tricycle and put it in the garage. He ran to dad. When I came in the room, he hit me again, so his remote controlled tractor went to the garage. He finally stopped hitting me, but then the crying got worse. It was more like screaming. I am certain the neighbors could hear him. He cried hysterically for about 30 minutes, all through his shower and while he got dressed for bed. (I was surprised at myself for staying so calm.) When I took him to bed, he calmed down and I sang to him until he was ready to fall asleep on his own. Then, I proceeded to lose it. I sat on the couch and cried. Boy, some days, you just feel like the worst mom in the world. I know the hitting is a normal phase, but it still makes you feel like a failure when your kid does it. So, to make myself feel better, I compiled a list of all the awesome things about Jackson:

• He really is a happy boy. He doesn't get upset often.
• He is enthusiastic. About everything. And everyone. Sometimes this is embarrassing, like when he hugs other kids who don't want to be touched and they cry, or when he jumps up and down on our house guests in his desire to play. But, I will take that over the alternative...we never have to wait for him to "warm up" to someone. He's always plenty warm!
• He is pretty fearless. He always climbs the highest slides at the park...the ones meant for much older kids. He went sledding for the first time yesterday with no hesitation...and no assistance. (More on that in another post.) Needless to say, he doesn't shy away from a new experience.
• He loves to learn. He likes to find out how things work. He commonly asks me what different words mean, and really takes in my answer. If I explain a new word, he begins using it enthusiastically.
• He is so friendly and is becoming so outgoing. He still asks me to go up to other kids for him when he is feeling shy, but when I remind him that he can do it, he will approach them by himself and ask to play. Last week at the park, he asked an older girl if she wanted to play with him. When she said yes, he turned to me and yelled out, "She said yes! Mommy, she said yes!" He was so excited.
• He is so loving. When talking to grandma on the phone yesterday, she told him that she needed a hug from her Jack to feel better. He hugged the phone. If he hears a child crying in a store, he will insist we go check to make sure he is okay.
• He has the best laugh in the world.
• He is comforting. He always pats my back and tells me everything is going to be okay if I am upset.
• And, did I mention he is the cutest kid ever?!

The good totally outweighs the bad...it's not even close, but some days we all need a reminder of that fact.

Conversations with Jack #4

For over a week now, Jack wakes every morning asking if Santa came and brought him his silver Ironman. Seriously, it is the first thing he says. Here is how the conversation went yesterday:

Jack: Santa bring my silver Ironman?

Me: No baby. It's not Christmas yet.

Jack: It is Christmas yet. It is Christmas yet!

pause as we hear a truck driving outside...

Jack: You hear that?

Me: What's that sound?

Jack: It sounds like Santa.

Christmas is Over

This just in...Christmas has been swapped for a rerun of Halloween.

Yes, Jack took one of his uncarved Halloween pumpkins, removed the stickers he used to decorate it, and insisted we carve it. That is one awesome dad who spent the evening carving a Jack-O-Lantern with his son...by the light of the Christmas tree.

Christmas Cookies

We have a twice a week play date with other neighborhood kids. Usually, we meet at the park in hopes of wearing the kids out for their naps. I thought it would be fun to do something different today...like decorate Christmas cookies. Jack and I bake cookies a LOT. This is the first time, however, we did sugar cookies. It was a blast.

Last night, dad helped us bake the cookies. Jack kept taking scraps of dough from me until he had quite the pile.

This morning he could hardly wait for his friend (also named Jack) to come over to our house. He was literally jumping up and down with anticipation. He was too excited to eat much for breakfast and spent much of the morning waiting at the table with the frosting and decorations.


I think he did a fantastic job. The gels were tricky. If you wanted some, you had to get to it first because Jack squirted the entire tube onto his cookie.

Early Christmas

Stuart brought Jack back a great gift from China, from a man he works with, Jacksu. We gave it to him last night.

I don't think he will get anything for Christmas that can possibly compete with this toy.

Snowflakes

Jack and his very own snowflake. He only needed a little help from mom. It's a vast improvement over last year, which basically entailed Jack stabbing the paper with the scissors. Of course, Jack pointed out that they could also be spiderwebs.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

After 9 days in China, Stuart comes home today. Now the Christmas season can officially start in the Allen house! It's just not the same without him here. It's been a rough 9 days without him. I know that sounds silly. I mean, I'm a stay at home mom to one kid...how hard can it be? But, for those of you have not had the pleasure of meeting Jackson in person, let me tell you that he is really like 3 kids in 1. His energy is boundless. And, I am very tired and will be very glad to have my wonderful husband home again. We missed him so much!

More Jack Speak

More fun talk from Jack:

• I have no time to go to sleep.
• When I asked Jack if he was in trouble, he responded, Sorry...I am trouble.
• Oh! Poor cotton ball! Cotton ball got hurt... I didn't know what to make of this one until I realized he had fished a cotton ball out of my trash that had pink nail polish on it. He thought the cotton ball was bleeding.
• You angry me. Stop angry.
• While Jack was throwing a fit at Walmart, I kept whispering to him to stop. His reply, Stop stopping me!
• Me: Do good boys get presents? Jack: No. Jack gets presents.
• I don't like tomorrow. I want to put tomorrow in the garbage.
• While applying my deodorant to his body, he stood in front of the mirror and said, Put it on my nipples...make them nice and shiny.
• If Jack hears me get frustrated, he always tells me: You angry mom? Here, I make you happy.

There are so many more that I forget to write down...

Guess What We Made?

We made a gingerbread house, or as Jack calls it, a "candy house." Jack really just liked the frosting, or as he refers to it, "glue." He insisted on doing it himself, which really meant putting one drop on the house and then squeezing the rest of it directly into his mouth. Not surprising, he didn't eat any lunch after this.

Yummy Blood

Saturday, Jack cut his lip. He either bit it or banged it against my head when he threw a tantrum as we were leaving the park...just another embarrassing moment for mom that was made worse by the fact that my son was bleeding by the time I got him to the car.

Although I cleaned up the blood in the car, it was bleeding enough that it pooled onto his finger when we got home. He took one look at it and announced that it was juice, not blood. I told him, no, it was blood. He argued with me, so I told him to taste it. Bad idea.

A Visit with Santa

For the past week, each morning when Jack wakes up, he immediately asks if Santa brought him a silver Ironman for Christmas. I then spend 5 minutes trying to explain that it isn't Christmas yet. Today, we took a trip to the mall to see Santa. I thought if I went early on a Monday there would be less kids there for Jack to hold up while I convinced him to sit on Santa's lap. (He refused last year.) Of course, he was excited the whole drive over, and ran through the mall to find him. Once we got close, however, Jack hid behind me and kept his hands up by his face in his cute shy pose. I have to say, the Santa at PV mall was awesome. He took his time and got Jack to sit next to him and even got his hands away from his face long enough for a quick picture. I did have to tell Santa what Jack wanted for Christmas since he wouldn't speak to him. By the end, Jack did feel comfortable enough to lean in close to Santa...although he never smiled. Jack did tell him thank you before we left. It turned out much better than I expected.

A Day at the Zoo

Tuesday, Jack and I spent the morning at the zoo. I try to keep him extra busy while Stuart is away so that he is distracted and not focused as much on his dad being gone.

He was so excited, he even agreed to ride in his stroller...well some of the time.

We rode a camel. (Yes, I spoiled him a little since he kept asking for his dad to join us.)

He loved riding the tractors.

The kiddie area was fun for awhile, but he really preferred seeing all the animals.

Sadly, this was his FAVORITE part of the zoo. He looked for these everywhere.

I love hanging out with my little man and showing him new things.

Early Thanksgiving

A little late, but I am finally posting Thanksgiving stuff. We had our Thanksgiving dinner a week ago. My mom likes to have it early so her kids don't feel like they have to choose who they are spending the holiday with...that worked out great for us since Stuart is spending the actual holiday in China for work. My mom is in the process of moving, so we offered to host it at our house this year. This was our first time hosting and, unfortunately, with how busy I was, I didn't take many pictures.

Jack was so eager to help get everything ready. He kept telling me I made a "beautiful party." He was so excited he even agreed to wear a tie for the occasion. (This was taken before the chaos ensued.)


Despite all the good food, none of the kids really ate. Caitlin was mad that she had to sit at the kids table, so she pouted on the couch. Jack wouldn't sit down without her and kept following her around. I think he ate one bite of a roll, but he did drink 4 glasses of sparkling cider.

I did get a rare opportunity to see this cute girl...although she clearly preferred Grandma to anyone else in the room. Jack kept kissing her and trying to help teach her to walk.



This is the closest we got to a family picture. I know it's blurry and not flattering, but none of them are good and I just love Ryan getting in the shot.


Jack really misses out not having his cousins close enough to see more often. He definitely wears out his welcome with the older kids...he can't help himself...he is just so excited when he gets to see them. I made the mistake of telling Jack way too early that everyone was coming over for Thanksgiving and Jack spent days asking when Ryan was coming. And, the entire day before the event, anytime Jack heard a noise, he would scream, "Caitlin's here!" Poor kid.

So Thankful

I am very thankful for my little boy today. Stuart is in China for 9 days, so Jack and I spent a quiet Thanksgiving alone. At the end of the evening, I was feeling frustrated after 3 consecutive time outs for Jack because of his behavior. We were calming down and sitting together on the couch, when Jack turned to me and said, "Come laugh with me. Wanna laugh?" I love this kid so much. In a second he can make up for all the trouble he causes.

And as much as we missed Stuart today, I am thankful that he has work that allows him to provide for his family, even if it sometimes takes him away from us.

Christmas Decorations

Last week we did most of our Christmas decorating. I know it's early. I normally wait until the day after Thanksgiving, but Stuart was going to be out of town and that meant doing it early or late...and I couldn't wait. Jack helped a ton this year...it was so fun. He would pick the spots he liked on the tree and then put all the ornaments in the same spot; it was very cute.

Such a ham...I kept trying to get a picture of his clustered up ornaments, but Jack kept insisting on getting in the shot.

After trying to climb into his giant stocking, Jack decided he had to put his Halloween candy in his. (Thanks mom for making extra big ones for everyone...I'm sure Santa appreciates having that much more space to fill.)

My favorite moment was when Jack feed the sparkly reindeer a sparkly leaf ornament. He is such a sweet boy.

We are all anxious for Christmas this year!