I'm NOT Ben 10

The day after Stuart left for China, I agreed to take Jack to Walmart to buy a toy. When we got there, he asked for a Ben 10 toy. I didn't even know if they made Ben 10 toys, but agreed to look. We ended up with the wrist band that Ben wears. If you are not familiar with the cartoon, the character, Ben, uses this to change into one of 10 different aliens. Jack was very excited.

I asked him if he was Ben 10. He got MAD. He insisted that he is NOT Ben 10...he is Jack. He only has a wrist band that is like the one Ben 10 uses. OK, I stand corrected. Every now and then I slip up and call him my Ben 10 boy. He gets mad every time.

In case you were wondering, it is day 23 and the streak is still alive. I bought a 4th shirt at Walmart this morning.

So Sad

Stuart is in China again. This is his longest trip yet, 10 full days! Jack misses his dad. I mean, he REALLY misses his dad. He keeps asking what is taking his dad so long. He also asks, repeatedly, if we can get on a plane and go get him and bring him back.

Day 21

In case you were wondering, today is 21 days straight...
For this picture, he insisted on faking a sad face for the camera...crazy kid.

Easter Highlights

Don't have time for much, but wanted to share some brief Easter highlights of Jackson.

Jack at the Easter carnival. He loved his blue balloon dragon, but was terrified of the Easter Bunny, so no pics of that. He kept himself buried in mom's shoulder the entire time...begging to leave.

Easter morning was exciting.

This is the first year he dyed eggs. He insisted we leave them in for a LONG time to get the color extra bright.

He mostly just dyed blue eggs...his favorite color.

He was pretty excited about the finished products.

A quick picture before the egg hunt.

Come on mom, I've waited long enough!


So proud to have found them all!

Always better to share them with dad!

Sleep Talker

Jack talks in his sleep. This is nothing new, he has done this since he was a baby; back then, however, it consisted of babbling, crying, and giggling in his sleep. I don't think we realized just how much he did it until we shared a hotel room with him in Hawaii. It's a LOT. Now that he is older, it's fun since we understand what he is saying. When he wakes from a nightmare, I am always surprised about what it was regarding. Once he told me, through tears, that his Ironman fell in the potty. Another time he was upset because his friend Jamie (from down the street) had taken his toy. Sometimes it is more vague, like when he frantically asked to "get it back."

A couple of nights ago Jack had a really bad dream and we woke to him screaming out "mommy" at the top of his lungs. Stuart graciously agreed to go to try to calm him down...okay, maybe I insisted it was his turn, but whatever...after a couple more screams, it was apparent that only mommy would calm him down and I stumbled into Jack's room to take over the situation. The second he saw me, he relaxed and for some unknown reason, he began to try to soothe me. He told me, "It's okay, you can watch turtles another time." He then pulled my head close to his, leaned his forehead against mine and whispered, "It's okay...everything's under control." All while stroking my face. Once he laid back down, I told him good night and went to leave his room, he called out, "I miss you mommy."

He's too cute and precious to be upset about the interrupted sleep.

Stuck in a Box

When Jack first called out to me, telling me he was stuck in webs, I took my time. He didn't sound upset. Oops. Guess he really was stuck.

Ben 10

About 2 weeks ago, Stuart let Jack watch an episode of Ben 10 on the Cartoon Network. I thought he was a little too young for the show and we haven't let him watch in since. 10 days ago, I was at Walmart looking at shirts for Jack when he spotted this Ben 10 shirt. He went nuts. He BEGGED for it. I relented. Jack hugged the shirt when I handed it to him and thanked me repeatedly. As soon as we got through the check out he had his shirt off and immediately put on his new Ben 10 shirt. For the next couple of days he insisted on wearing it and cried when I washed it. After 3 straight days of washing the shirt, I gave up and returned to Walmart to buy 2 more of them.

Today makes 10 straight days of Jack wearing this shirt. It cracks me up. He asks to wear to bed, but I took a hard stance against it (I need time to wash them, after all.) I told him they weren't jammies.

Jack now wants to go shopping for Ben 10 jammies.