Toddlers--Oh my

Life with Jack is becoming more and more interesting everyday. He really is becoming a toddler and has left babydom far far away.

Jack discovered a love for apple juice recently. He gets milk in the morning and after that he is allowed juice in the afternoon. Jack has decided that it is apple juice or bust. He goes to the refrigerator and tries and tries to open it, all the while crying, appy juice!! When you give him his milk cup he throws it and looks up at you with his big brown eyes filled with tears, that lower lip rolled out, and his little faced all scrunched up-it really does break my heart. I try not to look at him.

He climbs on the table. Frankly, I don't really care. However, I think about ok what if he is at a friend's house or a family member's house? Then I care more. So I say: ok Jack you have to get off the table. He doesn't really care to get down. The thing that I do find amusing about these ventures to the table top is why he goes in the first place. In the morning I don't clear the oatmeal dishes right away, so when I leave the room to go to the bathroom, Jack climbs up to the top of the table to finish them off. He puts the bowl up to his face and tries to, I assume, lick the very last bits of oatmeal. He grabs the spoons and has them in his mouth along with whatever glass I was drinking out of that morning. It always makes me laugh a little- on the inside.

We have a time-out routine. We tell Jack time-out and then grab one of the dining room chairs, put it in the hall, sit him on it, set the timer for 1 minute-since he is 1, and I hang out in the kitchen until the timer beeps, then I get him down tell him why he was there, I have him apologize, and I give him a hug. Lately we have been using time out a lot more. What sort of things get Jack in timeout? Throwing chess pieces-period, throwing objects at people or animals, kicking mommy while diaper changing is going on, any sort of hitting or pulling of Tigran's tail, and of course no hitting other kids, this has just been amended to even accidental hitting because of his refusal to simply apologize when it is an accident. In the last couple days Jack has become very involved in time-out. Let me explain with an example. Last night Jack was very tired, and I was getting him ready for bed-which includes a new diaper, and he began to kick me. Then he looked at me and started to say something I couldn't quite understand at first. After him saying it again I realized he was saying-time-out over and over again. Once dressed he goes to the chair we use and tried to pull it down the hall-by himself. Once time-out has started he begins doing what he always does-talking. He goes hi, hi hi, hi momma, hi hi. This is why I hang out in the kitchen-that way he can't see me. He never gets up from the chair anymore-he just says hi. Once the timer goes off and I go to him, he says without any prompting--sorry momma and gives me a hug. So does time-out work if the child is so excited to go to time-out that he tells you he has to go and then tries to put himself in it?

This morning when walking into the living room I see Jack over by Tigran. Jack sees me and runs into the kitchen. Of course, this causes me to look once more at Tigran. I notice dog food on top of Tigran. So I turn toward the kitchen and see the mug we use to scoop Tigran's dog food on the floor along with more dog food on the floor. Apparently, Jack thought Tigran needed some more food.

Finally, the last Jack story. For about a month-maybe not even that long- Jack tells us when he poops. He does it about 90-95% of the time. It has been very helpful, and we encourage him to do it. The last two days Jack has told us he has to poop and there has been nothing there. So I just tell him he probably farted because well those stink too. However, there will be a poop there the next time I look. So yesterday I finally put two and two together and realized that he was telling us he was about to poop. Yes I am that slow. So last night he said poop and there was nothing there. I took his diaper off and kept it off. This was to be an experiment of what happens next. I had a diaper out in case it all just fell to the floor. However, I saw his butt clenched together, and he looked at me with a very distressed look and goes POOP!! Those butt cheeks tighter than before, so I decided to save him from his distress by putting a diaper on him. He pooped right away. I am beginning to think we should buy him a baby potty-at least to begin familiarizing him with what it is.

New playing ideas?

Lately I have felt like Jack and I are in a playing rut. We play with puzzles, cars, blocks, and books, it doesn't vary a whole lot day in and day out. These are his favorites, why ruin a good thing? So I decided to try something new. This morning I got out the colander and some angel hair pasta, turned the colander upside down, and showed Jack how to put the pasta through the holes. Then I got out some tupperware and put rice, sushi and white, in them along with a small cup so he could scoop. We had a pretty good time. I realized I have failed him on the scooping front because he had no idea how to scoop. He decided to forgo the cup and use his hands. This then turned into just dumping the containers upside down and putting a few handfuls back in the tupperware containers. He also tried putting the rice on top of the colander. I showed him how to put the rice in the colander along with the pasta, the colander being right side up, and this was fun, but not as fun as dumping it on his head and then doing it again!

Here are a few pictures to show you what Jack has been up to this week.

Jack has discovered lotion-- he wants to put some on all the time.


He also discovered my eye patch and decided to become a pirate-arrr!

Finally, Jack has become obsessed with the vacuum cleaner, swiffers, and the broom. Here is Jack helping to clean up our mess.

Forts, Pumpkins, and Fun Times

Life around here is always a ton of fun. We are truly blessed- we enjoy each other's company so much. Here is a taste of our fun. Jack LOVES to hide. He loves to hide his stuff, himself, and us. So Pete started building him forts made out of sofa cushions,then I decided to build a fort the way I remember building them when I was younger. So the first two pictures are Jack hanging out in the fort. He loved it because he could walk around, play with toys, read books, and the whole family fit-even Tigran.


Where's Jack?



This week for playgroup we went to a place called Millennium Farms. We had originally planned on going on a hayride, but those are only offered on the weekend-Friday didn't count as a weekend. We still had fun. We went to the petting zoo and Jack was very brave from far away, but when we got inside the barn Jack broke down and demanded to be held. When we posed the kids for pictures Jack was screaming and crying. He was better as soon as we left the barn. They had this little trough filled with corn kernnels and all sorts of shovels, trucks, and other toys--this is the area that Jack enjoyed the most. They have pumpkins you can buy, and as you can see Jack thought he could pick his pumpkin up all by himself. There were other things to do and we had a great time.

Labor Day

We spent our weekend in Morehead, and Jack had the best time he has ever had there thanks in large part because of the geen tuck or mamowah or for those of you not schooled in Jack talk- the green lawnmower. Oh yes many many hours were logged on the various riding lawnmowers by Jack and those who have not learned how to say no when he looks up at you and says- peese, outside peese.

Sean, Cassie, Pete, Danny, and I went kayaking at Cave Run Lake. We stopped by the Bike Shop to pick up our kayaks and off we went. It was a great day to be out on the lake- it was so pretty. Pete and I shared a double as did Cassie and Sean, Danny was all by his lonesome. I did better this time than I did the first time-- that was not so fun. There were tons of people camping right on the lake, so we were able to get someone to take a group shot after we were done with our afternoon fun.

There were other fun activities going on as well- Pete took Jack on his first bike ride. However, Pete did not factor in the oppressive heat and humidty so it wasn't a very long bike ride, but I think they both had fun. We played ladder golf, and while Sean was ladder golf champ, Cassie was the champion at knocking balls off-especially Sean's winning point balls. There was also a ping pong tournament that Pete dominated in, and a softball game that caused Pappy's knee to swell and fill with fluid of some sort-- we are still waiting to hear. We hope he is feeling a little better at least.

Jack started calling Danny- Daniel or Un Daniel. He really loved saying Cassie and Sean. He still isn't saying Granny but would also take to calling Granny- Daniel. He said Mimi in a very high-pitched voice followed by Poppa in a lower voice. We had a great time and were glad to see everyone.

Way to Go!!

This is a great and momentous day in the Weigel household. My brilliant husband has passed all of his quals!!! He had to pass four exams before he could move on to finding an adviser and a thesis topic--so now everyone better watch out, Peter Weigel is on the loose. Just for anyone who wants to know-Pete is interested in Differential Geometry. I am so proud of him for passing them in a one year time period-that is a great accomplishment. Go Pete!!!

On a side note-- Setting: Pete getting ready for school. Jack and I laying in the bed. Conversation: P: Yeah I kicked butt on those exams! J: Butt , Butt P: oh man it starts already.

It does.

Trip to Henderson

Jack and I went on a solo trip to Henderson. I was a bit worried about driving that far with my son and no back up, but we both did a great job! I had some family come to town that we haven't seen in 5 or 6 years, and there was a 4.5 month baby involved so of course we couldn't pass that up. (The very bottom picture is of Jack with baby Kate) We had a great time and were pretty busy all 4 days. We had pizza and cake at my uncle's house on the first night, bbq at the park on the second night, and grilled hamburgers at my aunt's on the the 3rd night- we also got to spend a little one-on-one time with my nanny. The 4th day was more of a packing and saying bye-bye day. (top picture is me, my dad, nanny, and jack)

I must say that I haven't been so tired in quite a long time. It wasn't even due to all the family togetherness-it was the fact my dad's house is not suited for a toddler. I am used to knowing Jack is pretty much safe in our little apartment so I don't have to constantly get up and down, but my dad's house was a different story, by 2pm every day I was just exhausted.

Jack had a blast! My dad has two dogs-they are both labs--Jack loves dogs. This meant he was in heaven the whole time. He learned Dixie's name on the first day. Rex was a bit harder and was pretty much just called dog or Dixie while we were there. (The second picture is Jack with Rex) Jack also loved the cat- Poojah. He ended up calling him Poojie. It was pretty cute. There was a lot of petting, ball throwing, tailing pulling, and chasing animals around the house. He also enjoyed the dog' s kennels. I think he spent more time playing with them than anything else. (The third picture is Dixie and Jack in the kennel)

Mary got him a little police car that makes noise if you touch the siren and a dinosaur shirt that lights up when you move. Jack LOVED these gifts. When he would get tired or cranky he would want the police car and he would just sit there turning the siren on and off over and over again. The shirt was also a huge hit-- he wore it to my aunt's house and showed everyone how it lit up. He would get this huge smile on his face. He usually showed people that both his shirt and his car had moving lights. Way cool!! (The fourth picture is Mary, Poojah, and Jack showing off his shirt and car)

Jack made some great strides in language while we were in Henderson. He started speaking quite a bit more and stringing two words together. He was saying- Up please-- All done-- That's funny--See baby-- and quite a few other things. He was even saying things after only hearing them a few times. It is so exciting to be able to start communicating a little more with him.

round and round we go

Jack really loves spinning around and around in the computer chair. As with most children, the faster we go the more he delights in it. When the spinning ceases he looks up and says more both verbally and with sign language. So we just keep on spinning. I don't know where that joy and thrill of being so dizzy you want to puke goes, but somewhere along the way we all seem to lose it. Today we were spinning around and around when Jack manages to fall sideways out of the chair behind the armrest. I am able to grab his foot, with the chair still spinning, and his head hanging upside down. Once in an upright position he looks at me and goes --more?

I had a birthday, and Pete made me a cheesecake. The above picture is of this wonderfully delicious treat. So thanks Pete for the yummy cake and the great steaks!

We went to Turkey Run today with some friends- it was so much fun. We had to leave before everyone else because Jack needed a nap but we still were glad to go. There were three families total with 4 kids and 1 on the way. We started by hanging out in the nature center then we went on a 1.7 mile hike. It was a great day for hiking because it wasn't very humid at all--thank goodness! Pete probably wasn't as thrilled with the hike since he has some sort of foot fracture, bruise, or something, and he had to carry Jack. So I am sorry Pete :( After the hike we were pretty hungry so it was off to grill burgers, eat fruit, and the three of us moms pretty much ate a whole bag of Ruffles. None of the kids wanted their burgers--how can you play all day and then not be hungry?! Oh well. The food, conversation, and bonding were wonderful.

Then finally, Jack likes spinning so much that I thought I would teach him Ring around the Rosies. He loves it. When I say --ashes ashes-- he starts to fall down. Then right back up, hands extended, and we do it all over again. Ashes ashes we all fall down-- and down we go with a huge smile. I am glad he loves it so much but I am sort of regretting teaching it to him because we have to do it over and over for 10 mins. Spinning and falling--oh to be a child once more.