Afternoons with the Weigels

Looking at a few of the pictures taken over the past week I thought the diaper, shoes, and cellphone picture best described our mornings. I am not a morning person. I don't like to talk to anyone, I need time to adjust to the day, this means food asap, coke, and sitting on the couch watching GMA. I don't really smile or make any sort of facial expression - I just am. I wake up when I hear Jack in his room crying or talking to himself. I take him out of his crib, put him directly in his high chair, give him a banana and then proceed to make him a bagel, and usually oatmeal for me- all of this is done in complete silence. Once he is in his high chair I sit on the couch and turn on the tv and eat my food and drink my coke. We don't really interact much in the first 30 minutes of the day. Maybe this won't win me mother of the year awards but then no one is perfect. Once I notice Tigran eating more of Jack's food than Jack I take him out of the chair and let him roam free. I am now making facial expressions and speaking in one or two word phrases. I do change his diaper at this point, but I am not motivated enough to put on his clothes so he goes sans clothes all morning. At this point he goes and finds his shoes. I find this humorous. He doesn't like it at all when we put on his diaper or any clothing, but first thing in the morning before he can play or proceed any further with his day he absolutely must have on his shoes. Once the shoes are on things go in a few different directions but almost always the next thing is my cellphone. He finds it, opens it up and begins laughing and talking and laughing. So there he is in just a diaper, shoes, and having the best time ever talking on the phone. There I am saying why does he have to be so chipper in the morning? Oh well, it is very cute.

The next picture was just to show you that while in the morning I am no June Cleaver I do better in the afternoon. After his nap and my adjustment to the world we are ready to go. The past couple weeks Pete has been home starting at lunch time so Jack and I have been showing him what we do while he is normally at school. We have gone to the parks, playgrounds, fountains, "zoo", and the farmer's market. We have had a blast sharing our afternoons with daddy. The above picture is from one of our outings. We went to the "zoo" here in town. Now I keep putting quotes around it because there are like 5 animals at this zoo so I don't really think of it as a zoo. I mean if I walk down the street I can see five different animals, but still it is free so I should shut up. When you walk in there are little foutains and this was Jack's favorite part of the zoo. He went up to all of them and got drenched. After we saw all the animals Pete and I sat on a bench and just let Jack play in the water. He had a blast.

Keys

Jack has two very clear favorite activities. 1. Cars 2. Keys-- I suppose these are not entirely dissimilar. As soon as he finishes eating breakfast (sometimes before) he signs car and this means open the balcony door so I can watch the cars as they drive by. If the door is already open and he signs car it means, I want to stand on the balcony and for some reason you only let me do that with your permission. This happens on and off for the whole day. He will intersperse his day with keys. He is very cognizant of my car key vs. play keys or just the plain old apartment key. It has to be my car key and the big W that is part of my keychain. We did try to trick him and were quickly made aware that he was no fool. He loves this key. He puts it in the space between the door and the doorframe and he carries them around all day with a huge smile on his face. He even eats and sleeps with the keys. Oh yes this is a true story. In his high chair while eating bologna he will want the keys right there with him-they were very sticky after that. I have since tried hiding the keys when it is lunch time. Today he was holding the keys when we got home and were getting ready for a nap-he refused to let me take the keys out of his hands so he fell asleep with his blankie and the car keys. I am not sure what I am going to do because he likes to put them in stuff too-one day it took me all afternoon before I found them. I asked him where they were and it just made him cry because I reminded him that he didn't have them at that moment.

No Handles

The other day we had some friends over for Pete's delicious fajitas. Their daughter is the girl in picture above, and Jack is crazy about her. Every time he sees her he smiles, shakes, claps, and goes up and gives her at least three hugs. Well she was on the other side of the room and Jack just had to be next to her, instead of crawling he walked over to her!! It is very exciting. He is now walking more and more. He will walk from the tv to the table or back and forth between Pete and I. Everyday he is doing it a little more. He is such a little man.

He is also starting to discover language. He can say socks and shoes. However, sometimes he calls both socks. Still it is way cute. He is able to follow simple directions as well. If I ask him where the ball is--he will go to it. If I tell him it is time to put on his socks and shoes he goes to them and tries to put them on. He also does a modified version of the sign for shoes. He hasn't gotten the socks sign down yet. We are trying to teach him where his eyes, nose, and mouth are. He does a better job when Pete is asking. He grabs my toes and that is his way of tickling me.

After many weeks of Jack refusing to have anything to do with his sippy cup with no handles, he is now drinking out of it like a pro. Now the big thing is that we have to teach him that throwing his cup on the floor is not what we do when we are done drinking. I kept putting it on the coffee table and saying no the cup goes on the table. He kept tossing it on the floor-- there was juice all over our table. I think it will take a little bit of time. He is used to throwing it off his high chair to signal done. Since he knows the sign for all done I am trying to show him we say all done and then put it on the table.

Now that it has been warm the past few days we have gone to the playground for an extended amount of time and Jack has found his all time favorite thing to do--merry-go-round. He is the youngest kid on it and stays on it the longest. I usually sit on there and push it with my leg to help moderate the speed. He could easily spend an hour on that thing.

In the past week he has gone up so much-- he seems more and more like a little boy and less and less like a baby.

Spring?

Yesterday was beautiful! I put Jack in the car, rolled down the windows, and sang, off-key, to Jack Johnson. It was fabulous. It made me think of our last weekend in Louisville. It was August and we loaded the car with Jack and Tigran to do a couple of our favorite things. We went to Nancy's Ground Bagels, where the neighboring Cajun place had Jack Johnson blaring from their speakers, and then it was off to Cherokee Park where Tigran could play on dog hill. Now this was before all the ridiculous dog run crap they have going on now. Dog hill was like a little heaven for dogs- off leashes, not fenced in, big dogs and little dogs could mingle, and they would sniff butts and run up and down that huge hill- it was awesome! Oh well-- it was nice to remember such a great day.

Pete had his birthday this weekend. I made homemade cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting. I hate chocolate cakes, so I didn't enjoy them, but Pete thought they were delicious and that is what matters. Pete's dad came up so we could go out to dinner sans Jack, it was a nice rarity. We went to this place called Bistro 501. Pete enjoyed some scotch and a rack of lamb, and I had some cabernet with a bleu-cheese encrusted filet mignon. We thought the food was fantastic and would recommend this place to anyone in town. We were quite surprised that there were restaurants like this in our little town- it was an unexpected treat.

We went to campus to just walk around on Saturday. We had a great time. Jack played in the big fountain. They didn't have the water on yet. I think it will be fun to take him there when they have the water on. It will be like sprinklers, on a larger scale. There is also a lion fountain that Jack thought was neat. He liked touching the nose and growling at it.

Jack is going through a mimic phase. He watches me put my make-up on in the morning and has now shown an interest in my make-up brushes, much to Pete's dismay, so I let him hold on while I get ready. He saw me cleaning up a stain on the carpet the other day, and afterwards he wanted to use the scrubbing brush to clean it up as well, I let him. He is also very interested in calling daddy after I get off the phone with him. It is really cute. He is also taking his socks , or daddy's, and shoes off and trying to put them back on. He has the taking them off part down. He is signing a few words now:all done, ceiling fan, car(sort of), more(but not always at the correct time), and a few others. It isn't all the time but it is a start. He really loves the Signing Time video. We don't normally allow him watch videos or tv, but we put this 25 min. video on and he just is glued. I don't know whether to think it is cute or be concerned.

In final Jack news: He had a tympanogram yesterday that showed there is still fluid in his ears. After three antibiotics and about two months of battling this ear infection they are now giving him a shot of rocephin daily for three days followed by a rechecking of the ears in two weeks. If this does not work we are off to see the ear doctor.

Oh and in one final bit of Jack news: for those who really know us and know our sleep strategy for Jack, which has a ton more to do with me than Jack, I just want to let you all know that he is in his crib now. His real crib.

It is the little things

Tonight Jack was having a hard time getting to sleep so we got him out of bed; maybe not the best idea but when you hear your kid coughing and screaming and crying of course you are going to get him. Pete and I were in the midst of playing Yahtzee when we got him and brought him out. He watched us shake the cup and roll the dice once; then he grabbed it from me and shook the cup and actually rolled the dice. Yes, we have the smartest child in the world!!

Today we went to visit our friends Elsie and Tamri-- Jack was so so so super excited to see Elsie today! I have never seen him get so excited over anything. He saw her and he squealed, pointed, touched, shook, clapped, and smiled. It was the cutest thing ever. He is really starting to love other kids and wanting to play with and be near other kids.

He is hating cups with no handles. Does anyone have any advice?! We put juice or shakes in his handled cups and give him a taste and he loves it- we pour it in the non- handled cup and he won't even try it. We give him a taste with the lid off and he drinks-- we put the lid on and he wants nothing to do with that cup because it has no handles!!

Jack is super excited about flap books and books that have various textures. He loves to read them and participate in reading them. He is also a fan of this book called Hattie and the Fox. He loves reading it and he loves the various voices that I use. He keeps asking for me to read it again and again.

We have started to really watch the Signing Times videos that we own. Jack will watch them for a couple minutes and loves the kids in them. I really am learning a lot and actually want to learn a whole lot more. I am using these signs with Jack all the time. We are learning thank you, my turn, your turn, car, more, please, share, and so many more. It is really cool. Right now he only knows one sign and that is ceiling fan. He uses it every time that he sees one. He gets so so excited. I am eager to see him learn more signs so he can become excited about those signs as well.

He is obsessed with turning lights on and off. He wants to do it all the time. He sees a light switch in any room, and he points to it and wants to flip it on and off. I stand him on the garbage can in the kitchen, and he just stands there for minutes on end switching the lights on and off over and over gain.

Things here are going very well. This kid has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives. I can't even remember our lives before Jack. I have no idea what we did with our days or talked about with our friends. I guess that is the way it goes. Jack just makes us smile. We are truly truly blessed.

our busy month

Well the past month or two has been pretty busy for us. Sickness has been following us around like a heavy fog. Jack started things off with some lovely eye mucus, in both eyes, then of course there was coughing and a runny nose, then a double ear infection, and sinus infection. He got put on one antibiotic and that didn't work at all, so they put him on another that worked for about a week and then, well, it didn't. So now he is on his third antibiotic. He seems to be doing better but the doctor says there is still fluid in his ears. We go back in three weeks to get them rechecked, and if there is still a problem we have to go see a specialist. It seems that every time we think he is better his fever comes creeping back. Poor kid.

Pete and I were also sick for awhile. It is really no fun when everyone in the house is sick and there is no one to take care of you. There was a lot of sleeping, lying in bed, and more medicine than you have ever dreamed of. Our counter looks like a pharmacy. Pete ended up having to take some medicine to help him get over his illness- mine went away after about 2 weeks. I felt like there were little sick germs attached to everything in the house. I opened the windows and used bleach wipes on most everything.

This month Jack turned 1! We had originally planned to have friends over to help Jack eat his cheesecake with cherry pie filling. However, since he was sick this did not work out. Pete and I gave him his presents and sang him happy birthday all by ourselves. Jack loved his cheesecake and cried when daddy took a bite of it. I don't blame him-- I did a great job- it tasted delicious. He played with his new dinosaurs and dump truck with leggos, but this was short lived because he mostly wanted to be held since he was still sick.

Over Pete's spring break we went to Morehead. Pete and I were able to leave Jack, for the first time ever, all night with his grandparents while we went to Lexington. We ate at Malone's and did a little shopping. It was nice. Then we went to Louisville to visit my aunt and uncle, they thought Jack was super cute - we agree. We also visited with a few other people that we don't get to see all too often. Walking down Bardstown Rd. on a nice sunny day feels like home- it made us both miss Louisville terribly. As is KY weather, while it was nice and sunny for part of the week it snowed the other half. We were able to find a small hill and take Jack sledding. He didn't really seem to like or dislike sledding- his face never really changed expression. I think he was just too cold. He also did a little finger painting. His Uncle Joe got him a couple really cool books, and we thought the best way to say thanks would be through Jack's first masterpiece. It turned out pretty well, although, I don't think Jack was overly excited to be out on a windy day with no clothes on, putting his hands into wet gooey paint.

Other things we did over spring break- we celebrated Jack's birthday with his grandparents. Jack got another cherry cheesecake and some great presents. He got a cool basketball goal, but wasn't able to bring it home because there just wasn't enough room in the car. That is ok-- it will be something to look forward to later.

We also were able to visit with some of my friends, and Jack was able to play with his friend, Rebecca. There was a ton of picture taking going on- I think we may have blinded the poor children.

Jack has gotten all his shots, and we have learned that he is in the 50-60th percentiles in everything. I am very glad to hear that he is starting to balance out. It used to be that his head was always in the 75th percentile while his weight and height were in the 10-25th percentile.

We finally moved Jack out of our bedroom. Yes this is night number 2 with Jack in his own room. He is still in a play pen but the play pen has been moved. I figured after being gone for so long this was probably the best time. He has done pretty well. Usually it take Jack no time at all and absolutely no crying to get to sleep, but the past two nights it has taken him crying for about an hour and a half before he falls asleep. It is very hard on me because I hate 1. that he is crying 2. that at night I can't just listen to him breath and know that he is alright. I know that it had to happen at some point because really you don't want your 15 yr. old sleeping in your room- but still I miss him being so close.

So we've been busy, and even though this was a very long posting it was just a brief snapshot. I hope things start calming down a bit.

GRR...Growl

We have been trying to teach Jack about various animal noises. Every book we read has animals, so we stop, point to the animal and make the noise. You can imagine our excitement when he saw a bear and made a deep throaty growl. This excitement was fairly short lived because soon after he saw a sheep and made the exact same noise. Well, I suppose a baa and grr could be the same to a one year old. We turn a couple more pages and come to a goldfish, and if you hadn't guessed already, he growled yet again. We were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt with the sheep, but a goldfish.... I didn't know how to rationalize that one. We went through the book and tried again, but it ended up the same way. The next day I hear him growling away, I come into the room and he has two dinosaurs fighting it out. That makes sense because I too would make dinosaurs growl if they were fighting. So I say good job and tell him how smart he is. We go back to the books later that night and come to a frog, wait for it, he growls. So he hasn't mastered animal noises yet, but he knows that animals, at least some animals, growl.

In other Jack news: He is standing, but is not walking yet. He is daring to go further distances without the support of a wall or a couch, he just sort of lets go and falls with hands out to his next location. I just hold my breath and hope he doesn't fall flat on his face.




He has weaned... it is very bittersweet. Seven weeks ago he started nursing only once a day. Then three weeks ago that feeding became very sporadic. Finally, we come to this week and he hasn't nursed at all. I will miss it and miss snuggling up to him and feeling that close bond only nursing can bring. Yesterday we put whole milk in his cup and he just started chugging. I was relieved because I had heard it could be a little while before he took to cow's milk.

He is starting to give us the toy he is playing with, but he expects to get it right back. When he gives the toy to his friends and it isn't returned right away, he gets this confused look on his face, and then he takes it from them. He was just showing them how cool the toy is, and taunting them for not being able to play with it, he wasn't trying to share. At least this is my view on the situation. He has also taken to pushing. Yes, my sweet baby is pushing other babies. When they are in his way, they get a push, when they are annoying him, they get a push, and when mommy or daddy have their hand on something he wants, he picks it up and tries to move it out of the way. He is growing up.

He is also still loving books, which makes mommy and daddy so happy. Our reading ritual involves picking out a couple of books, lying down in mommy and daddy's bed, and getting all snuggled up in the blankets. Lately, I have seen him grab a couple of books from the night table or the bookcase and put them on our bed and try to get on the bed. It is so cute. When I see him do this I stop whatever I am doing to pull him on the bed and start reading. I love this time- I get to learn so much about him. I get to learn what he is interested in by the books he has me read every time we get in bed. Right now he still loves Brown Bear and Polar Bear, but he is also really interested in Goodnight Gorilla and this train book. It is an amazing time.

He has a birthday coming up so the next blog will probably involve birthday and doctor visit fun.