Tough Boy

Yes, both knees are skinned up in this photo. Jack was excited because he was bleeding...he thought that was so cool. He kept telling me, "Mommy look , I bleeding!"

Jack has so many injuries that it is impossible to keep up with them. Because he really isn't phased by physical pain, we usually don't even know he is hurt until we find the scars later. He just keeps going. Hurt his feelings, however, and he'll cry like his heart is breaking.

He is so sweet; I just love this little boy.

Bad Monkey

So, yesterday afternoon, I put Jack down for his nap and we began painting in our master bedroom (we are limited to painting when Jack is asleep so we try to take advantage of every second we have.) 30 minutes later, Jack is making so much noise I am certain he is never going to fall asleep, so I go into his room to try and get him to settle down again. He is very upset and pointing to his monkey in the corner of his crib. I pick it up and discover the monkey is soaking wet. I look at Jack and he is naked, and hands me his dry diaper. Apparently, he had to pee, so he removed his diaper and peed on his monkey. I don't know what this poor monkey ever did to deserve that kind of treatment.

Which brings me to my current dilemma. Do I restart potty training? Have I already passed the point of no return with the process? He keeps taking his diaper off when we put him to bed so he can pee in his crib. It would be funnier if I didn't have to continually wash his bedding.

Peanut Butter Play Dough

Nothing exciting here, but Jack looked so cute eating his peanut butter play dough that I had to post some pics of it.

As a side note, I think he looks like his cousin Logan in that first pic. Funny, he only looks like Logan when he makes that mad face...

Potty Training

OK, you all know that Jack has shown signs of readiness for potty training for awhile. I put it off a few times, first because it was Thanksgiving, then because I was sick, and finally I realized there may never be a "right" time to start, so we dove into it.

After much reading, and lots of advice, I decided to go with the naked approach. Basically, it means Jack goes completely naked from the waist down for 3 days to help him through the process. We began during the long New Year's weekend. It started out great. We had only a couple of accidents and Jack was doing very well. Stuart was shocked and couldn't believe this might only be a 3 day process. After a day and a half, however, Jack was doing so well that he realized he could stand up and pee anywhere. After him peeing in his dump truck, the storage compartment of his bike, and finally opening the back door to pee onto the patio, we realized we were too distracted with other things to give it the proper attention, so we decided to wait a week and try again.

Well, I am still struggling with this. The plus side is Jack loves that he gets more naked time. He does great when he is naked, but when he wears underpants, he pees in them, and then gets upset. He has also taken to holding it in when he has to poop, so that isn't so good either. So, we are still trying, but slowly now. He absolutely knows what to do, but I think he is just too easily distracted. (Anyone who has spent more than an hour with him knows what I mean.) Yesterday, I promised to buy him a big tractor if he stopped using diapers and instead used the potty all the time. He said "no."

I welcome any and all suggestions!

Baby Kendal

Jack got to visit his new cousin today. He was excited to see "Baby Kendal" and talked about seeing her during the entire hour drive to her house. He was very gentle and gave her kisses. He then lost interest and preferred to investigate everything in Aunt Wendy's house.

Kendal is so cute and tiny...I forgot what it is like to have a little one.

Weird and Wacky Jack Fact #4

Most of you know that Jack is very particular about what he is willing to wear...and usually that is nothing. Last week we put him to bed after finally convincing him to wear jammies. When we checked on him later, we discovered he had removed them before going to sleep.

Often times, we put his jammies on him after he falls asleep. Usually, this works, however, there are many times we end up hearing him on the monitor, in the middle of the night, crying "I don't like it!" as he tries to remove them.

Well, it doesn't stop with his clothes. Jack is also very particular about what his parents wear. If I put on anything bulky (a sweatshirt, a long robe, or one of Stuart's shirts...) Jack cries and begs me to take it off. I'm not kidding here. If Stuart puts on a polo shirt over his t-shirt, Jack cries and tries to pull it off him. This has gone on for months, but now it seems to extend to my hair. He hates when I put my hair up. If he notices I have a ponytail, he begs "hair down!" and if I don't comply he tries to pull it out himself.

It would be funnier if it wasn't so frustrating. What can we do? We gotta laugh. We love our crazy, strange little boy!

Making Brownies

Have you seen a happier kid?

Fortress

Jack got a cardboard house for Christmas. He loves it. He got to decorate it himself. He hangs out in it often and loves to squeeze mom and dad in there too!

It's also a great hiding place.

Tractors!

Jack loves tractors. He was in heaven when they began digging up our backyard for our pool last week. He watched from the windows all morning long, running from one to the other to get the best view. At the end of the day, he got to sit on one. He was so excited. You will notice he isn't wearing any pants. What can I say? At least he has on a shirt and shoes.

Happy New Year