Sneaky Boy

Jack's new favorite game:

He does this all the time...occasionally bumping into walls and furniture. Crazy kid.

BTW, Jack is doing so much these days that I am going to attempt to do daily posts of his activities (for the month of April at least.) So, check back for more updates. (I thought if I put it in writing I would be more likely to keep the promise, but we'll have to wait and see how well I do with this.)

Time for a Haircut?

I know I have previously written about my son's little bald head. Well, he is finally getting some hair. The curls in the back are cute, but I think it is getting too long. He has serious bed-head when he wakes in the morning and it gets a bit out of control. Stuart does not agree. He thinks it took so long for the hair to show up that we should wait before cutting it. Take a look at the wild hair in these pictures and give us your opinion (not that we will take your advice, mind you, but please share anyway.) Please vote on the right side of the blog. Thanks.

19 months old

On the 22nd, Jack turned 19 months old. Here is a snapshot of what he is up to these days:

• He loves stuffed animals, but only small ones he can hold in his hand. He wants nothing to do with larger ones. He carries around little stuffed dogs and cats and kisses them throughout the day.
• He will mimic many words, but still volunteers little on his own. If you ask him what his name is, he will tell you, if he is in the mood. When prompted, he knows to say please if he wants something.
• He knows what he wants and is insistent. Temper tantrums are common.
• He resists his bedtime story because he knows that is the last thing to happen before bed. Once we convince him to sit down for the stories, he will insist on multiple readings to delay what is coming next.
• Current favorite toy is a travel size stick of deodorant. (It still has the original plastic covering under the cap that he doesn't know to remove.) He carries it all over the place and rubs it on his legs. I keep it in my diaper bag in case he gets fussy in the car.
• He is fast. He runs very quickly and climbs on stuff before you know it.
• He likes Sesame Street, but only some of the characters. Elmo's world is a hit, as well as the Count, Murry and his Little Lamb, Slimy, and Ernie and Bert. He definitely does not like Telly, Baby Bear, and Abby Cadabby (unless she is singing.) I bought the shirt in this picture yesterday and he was so excited he carried it around the house with him the rest of the day.
• He has strong opinions on clothing. The first preference is always to be naked. But, he will throw aside many a shirt I pick out in favor of another one. He also hates it when I wear certain things. It is weird. If I try to put a sweat shirt on over my clothes in the morning, he screams, cries, and tries his best to pull it off of me. Same thing with pants or a robe. He does not do this with Stuart, just with me. I don't get it. It's only in the morning that he reacts this way.
• He is still the happiest, most energetic kid I have ever encountered...and I love that about him!

Animal Planet

Jack loves animals. There are only 2 that he really knows. There is the kitty, who says meow and there is the dog, who barks. He can differentiate the cats and dogs, but all other animals are lumped into the barking dog category. He just loves the Animal Planet channel and gets very excited when he watches it, often barking at the screen. Here he is calling out to the "kitties" with his meow. Then he starts barking for some inexplicable reason. He was trying his best to climb up to the screen to get a better look. It's a good thing he can't reach the new tv. He broke the other one banging on it when he was watching monkeys one day. (Nice excuse for Stuart to get the new flat screen.)

Beautiful

This pic is from Friday morning. Jack woke up at 5:40am on Friday and Stuart was too tired to deal with it, so he put him in bed with us. However, I couldn't go back to sleep. They both slept in very late. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

When it comes to sleeping, we have been lucky, we know this. At least for the most part. From very early on, Jack slept through the night. He was even sleeping 4-5 hours at a stretch from 2 weeks old. Seriously. We did have the challenge that he slept in our bed until he was 8 months old, but that was more our fault because we didn't want to let him out of our sight. Once I stopped breast feeding, we were able to teach him to go to sleep on his own fairly quickly and he would sleep from 7:30pm-6:30am, usually. This last week has been a challenge. When he wakes during the night, he won't go back to sleep unless I hold him first. Last night he kept climbing out of his crib. He was fast too. He could get out and appear in our room before the alarm went off in his room. Stuart tried taking his bumper out so he couldn't climb on it, but he managed to get out anyway. After that he was hysterical every time I tried to lay him down. It took me almost an hour to figure out that he didn't want to sleep in there without the bumper. Once I put it back in, he stopped crying immediately, and even started giggling. Who knew he was so attached to that thing?

Frustrations

Jack has recently started grunting and growling when he is frustrated. Hmmm...wonder where he got that from...

Welcome Home

Nothing sounds better than my two men playing together...