music for a while

shall all your cares beguile ...

if purcell's right, jack should have no cares this friday, because he has begun music class!

where's your class jack? oh yeah ... over there.



you may notice a little "blemish" on jack's normally angelic visage. well, he had a bit of a fall yesterday evening. he (shockingly) refused any assistance while trying to step over the threshhold of the sliding glass door, and he (shockingly) tripped ... scraping his head.

he cried for a minute, but our tough guy recovered quickly. but between the shots and the header into the mudroom, jack had a rocky day yesterday.



but, like chumbawumba and weebles, he gets knocked down, but he gets up again. it's never gonna keep him down.

in fact, he was raring to go for music class this morning and was already making friends before things had even begun.

all that kibitzing made him thirsty



really thirsty! apple cider ... yummy!



a review of jack's music class -- plus much much more -- next monday in the weekend update.

pediatric update

jack is the picture of health and good development, according to his doctor!

jack now weighs 23.5 pounds
jack is 32.5 inches tall
jack's head is 47 cm around

when she plots him on the growth chart, he is on his same curve -- about 75th percentile for height and 25th for weight. he *must* get that from his lanky, svelte mother. oh ... wait ...

she was very pleased to see the list of his words, which, (we must update) also include "hot" and "nana." we forgot those yesterday. sorry, nana. sorry, hot. so we're up to 19 words. and she was very pleased that he has a couple of phrases -- "good dog" and "bye bye daddy."

she, like most who encounter him, remarked on how much energy jack has, but assures us this amount of "kinetic activity" is completely normal, especially in a little boy.

we are under orders to go buy some "real" shoes for fall/winter. i'm sure that will be its own blog entry.

and because of his walking/running status, jack got his vaccinations in the arm today for the first time. during his tb test he just looked quizically at the nurse until he finally broke out with some tears. we were up to full-on howling by the hib and mmr vaccines, but he recovered quickly and was busily and happily playing with toys before we even had our bill paid.

we go back saturday to check the tb test ... and ... get a flu shot.

don't tell jack.

use your words

jack heads to the doctor tomorrow for his 15 month check-up.

yes, i realize he is nearly 16 months. but mommy didn't get on the stick when their calendar first opened up for september (it's dog-eat-dog with back to school physicals and whatnot) and this was the first morning appointment with our preferred ped that we could get.

so, yes, mommy blew it. is that what you wanted to hear? ;-)

no matter. it will be fine to be seen at 15.75 months. and, lest you worry, after daily stalking by mommy until they opened their december calendar, we have secured his 18 month appointment for the actual week of his "half-birthday"

in preparing for his doctor's appointment, we're getting together a list of questions to ask and progress to report. questions like: "is it normal for a child to eat as much as jack does?" and progress to report like: "we've kept him from killing himself."

but another mark of progress that mommy plans to report, and which i will enumerate here for your reading pleasure, are jack's words:

• no
• mom/mama
• dad/daddy
• jack (sortof)
• dog (or "good dog")
• cat
• bird
• shoe
• bus
• car
• all done
• go
• shhh
• agua
• hi
• bye bye
• night night
• hot
• nana
• supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

okay ... one of those was not true.

school daze

so ... more was promised on jack's trip to daycare ... aka school ... aka university

here's more:

jack had a good day at the backup center that mommy's munificent employer provides so that she never misses work.

here's what his "teacher" had to say:

(remember, you can single click on the image to enlarge it)


the hilarious thing is that everywhere we go, everyone comments on how much jack loves to eat. this time was no exception ... one of his main comments was "he loved the lunch that was served to him from home." and you'll notice, gentle reader, that he was fed four -- count 'em -- four times! this does not include breakfast and dinner, which he ate (lustily) at home.

miss deone was his primary teacher for the day. she told daddy her co-teacher, miss whitney, was a jack favorite. any time miss whitney left, jack was looking for her ... following her ... crying for her ... just didn't want her leaving.

he certainly wasn't worried about mommy leaving. she was saying "buh-bye" and blowing kisses and jack was too busy sliding to even notice.



but jack made it up to mommy by making her a present ... his first bona fide art project! here it appears in two panels, but it's really all one thing (stupid small scanner!).



miss deone told daddy that jack got almost as much paint on the paper as he ate.

good to know.

guess that brings the count to five meals at daycare.

weekend update

well ... since we've been on radio silence since wednesday, we have a whole bunch of weekend that needs updating!

at this point, who can even remember thursday? so let's skip ahead to friday:

friday

mamaxana needed to take the day off, which meant that jack needed to go to daycare. or "school" as we've euphemistically begun to call it.

jack had a great day at "school" (or "university" as mommy might euphemistically upgrade it to). more on that in another post, but he was his typical self -- friendly, hungry, and a lady killer.

daddy picked him up at the end of a long, play-filled day and, despite a busy day at work, mommy got home in time to put him to sleep.

saturday

it turned out to be one of those days without a cohesive plan ... which means it evolved into a day where we didn't really get much "done."

but, we had a good time doing "nothing." aside from the usual playing at the playground and such, we also played for a long time in jack's room. he's finally getting to be somewhat interested in his books. mind you, he's mostly interested in pulling every, single, solitary one out of his bookcase and throwing them on the floor, but hey ... sometimes he looks at them first before chucking!

he also decided he needed to turn on some music. jack's a big fan of "dancing" these days. when he ended up turning on the radio attached to his noise machine/cd player, he inadvertently turned on saturday afternoon opera (oh, sure it was inadvertent. either that or jack is a baby *genius*!! must be the "university" education!). the sounds of a soprano aria filled our ears, and instead of his usual knee-bending, booty-shaking contortions which pass as dancing (and which, jackie-boy, along with the white man's overbite, will continue to pass for dancing for the rest of your natural, white-bread life), he began to expansively wave his arms. it was if he were conducting. or performing a port de bras. but i think daddy would much prefer if we went with conducting, so conducting he was.

and then he chucked another book and mommy was jolted out of her reverie.

sunday

jack and mommy enjoyed a morning walk to the nearby plaza for an al fresco breakfast.

upon returning home, we decided that it was a good opportunity to pay a visit to a church other than our usual worshipping at st. mattress of the springs. so we headed off -- mommy and daddy to services and jack to the church nursery.

the nursery staff also commented on jack's voracious appetite -- during the one hour he was there, he "asked" to be fed crackers and a granola bar. and then we went home and ate lunch!

while jack napped in the afternoon (75 minutes, our little rip van winkle), mommy got jack's baby clothes, accessories and accouterments ready to hand-down to lucy's "baby brother" who is expected to arrive in about 4 weeks. mommy was sort of wistful in her packing ... remembering all those cute, tiny, outfits ... and jack helped the sorting process by taking things out of the bins and flinging them at random all around the downstairs of the house. but jack didn't seemed bothered by his clothes going "bye bye."

maybe he suspects nana and grandma will never let him go naked!

and, yes, not a single picture of any of this was taken. so, this is an old-fashioned update. at least there are some hyperlinks to try to jazz it up. we at llvj will strive to improve.

se habla español

roxana speaks to jack primarily in spanish.

and she and mommy speak spanish together in front of jack.

and when "mamaxana" is around, mommy even speaks *to* jack en español.

so, is it any wonder that jack is learning spanish? we have posted before about his receptive spanish but what about the expressive?

well ... yesterday ... as he and "mamaxana" were going down the stairs, he was trying to imitate her counting -- uno, dos, tres ... (we have 13 steps, but i'll spare you the whole triskaidekation)

jack typically only gets the first sound *or* the last syllable -- siete becomes "say-ay" and ocho simply "o." (or maybe he was talking about oprah ... who knows.)

but it was very cute.

and this morning?

spanish jibberish.

his father saw him look out the window, point, and say, very clearly, "¡cailar!"

we can hardly figure out his english babblings ... so who the heck knows what cailar means in the lingua franca?

guess we better study up!

and guesses/translations welcome.

more DIY feeding

we've observed jack's efforts at self-feeding here on the blog previously.

so ... it's about time to check in and see how he's doing with this skill.



things are still fairly messy ...



and sometimes we lose all control and table manners ...




but, it is somewhat effective ... as you see no one is starving here ...



this was yesterday's attempt with oatmeal. today's breakfast of cottage cheese and egg went only slightly better. and left less of a charlie chaplin mustache.

but ... jack is very much refusing to be fed now. he will let you shovel in the initial few bites, but after that, he wants to be in control.

so, mommy has realized we must have intensive practice on keeping the spoon right-side-up. either that or invest very heavily in swiffer wet cloths!

ah, our little tramp ...

weekend update

a festival of fun this weekend ...

saturday brought a shopping trip to a consignment store in search of a halloween costume. "mission accomplished," to coin a phrase, and jack scored a duck outfit. should be very cute ... you'll have to tune in november 1st to see it in use.

we also enjoyed lunch and playtime with diddykins, sneetch and the jellybean -- and ajax, the dog, too! we are all getting excited for the bean to debut!

sunday brought nana over for the chilean festival -- being held right down the street -- celebrating "september 18th" (which is their july 4th ... just running late, latin-style). daddy kept calling it the chili cook-off, but that's not the same thing!

we enjoyed walking around, hearing the music, smelling the food ...

and looking at the many dogs!

even though jack was feeling slightly under the weather with a runny nose, he managed to have a pretty good time!

and jack's nana even bought him an empanada for lunch!

we couldn't stay long enough to watch the cueca dancers ... too bad.

we headed for home and then mommy headed off for a baby shower while daddy and jack enjoyed some playground time.

a nice weekend -- buen fin de semana -- and a happy independence day to chile!


note: all pictures can be clicked on to make them bigger. the one of jack and the dog particularly bears enlarging!

counting kisses

just a quick story today ...

jack and mommy were reading "counting kisses" by karen katz this morning. it's a cute book that requires much kissing of the readee (jack) by the reader (mommy). hardship duty, indeed.

and jack giggles and wriggles when it comes to kissing his toes and knees and belly button. this morning was no different.

but, in between kisses from mommy, jack leaned down and kissed the baby in the book. just planted one right on her!

very sweet. he truly is the kissing bandit!

smile for the camera

the camera loves jack ... and the feeling is mutual.

jack **lurrvvss** the camera. from both sides.

he has, literally, gone to fetch his nana's camera (how does he know she always brings one with her?) to get her to take pictures of him.

and once she has, he wants to do nothing but look at himself on the digital display. and, of course, push all the buttons on the camera.

here are some of the most recent pictures taken under this very scenario:



he looks like such a little boy and not a baby!



he defiantly sticks out his chin, now! where does he get that from??




hint, hint ...



but he's his daddy's boy too



and pushing buttons is not limited to the camera. he also likes to dim his lamp, just so.

lights out. say good night jack.

night night.

yeah, i know ... the ides of september are practically upon us and here we are still flogging videos of jack at the beach.

but ... we've had a lot of other business to attend to and there are a couple of cute clips still to be seen.

so check out our beach baby:

keep those doggies rollin'

jack is walkin', talkin', rockin', rollin'

here's proof!

update: sorry for the delay in being able to see the video. gremlins.

weekend update

another busy weekend ...

saturday jack and mommy headed out to run some errands and to attend our playgroup. where we ...

played (quel surprise!) ...

and ate snacks (again, quel surprise!) ...

and generally exhausted ourselves (all together now, quel surprise!):

but like our friend the pigeon, we absolutely did not need a nap.

instead, we played at the park and went to our neighborhood block party. we are the third (youngest) jack on the street, after jack g. and jack s.! our young boy practically has whiplash from all the times "jack" was bellowed out!

sunday was a new day and there was more fun to be had. daddy headed to the redskins' game, so mommy and jack and foj sneetch and jellybean headed to the pool for one of our final dips of the season. after another refused nap, jack's grandparents arrived to celebrate grandparents' day with us.

oh, didn't realize it was grandparents' day? well ... that's because it's a mostly made-up holiday, but they were happy to come play with jack and eat a delicious lasagna made by daddy (his ticket to the aforementioned redskins' game).

with a fully weekend and fully belly, jack headed off to dreamland ... and mommy and daddy followed close behind.

the kissing bandit

jack kissed me goodbye today.

a real, honest-to-goodness, un-coached smooch for his mommy.

he has been "blowing" kisses for a while ... melting hearts as he puts his hand to his mouth and says "mmmm." he's not as good at actually sending those kisses ... he sometimes forgets the "blowing" part ...

and previous to that he'd done a weird mix of biting/slobbering that we'd take to mean affection.

but today as he was seeing me off at the front door, he reached toward me and then turned up his face, put his lips together and planted one on my cheek! of course, he said, "mmmm." that is the universal "kiss sound," after all ...

then, he turned and planted one on roxana too. ¡que gracioso!

and to be clear, there is no photographically or videographically recorded evidence of this ... lest you think mommy's holding out ...

if there *had* been video of that moment, no one would have been happier than i. but, bittersweetly, it's just a memory.

playing on a loop in my mind's eye today ... but a memory just the same.

some video magic

this "blogger video" is quite magic. and jack has been an ersatz magician since birth when he was houdiniesque in his narrow escapes from the tightest of swaddles. now, he has adopted props (borrowed from friends at the beach) as he practices his old black magic ...



bibbidi bobbidi boo, indeed!

weekend update

a holiday weekend and a birthday for a cousin (and a busy day for mommy) have pushed this weekend update all the way to hump-day. apologies to the blog-faithful, who we are sure have been on tenterhooks waiting to find out how those of us llvj passed the weekend.

saturday was a day of errand-running. daddy and jack headed to the park while mommy delivered food to some foj's who just had a new baby. then, jack scored a new car seat for daddy's car/airplane travel. not quite as cushy as the ones for mommy & roxana's cars, but still nice and safe for our boy.

sunday brought a playdate at the pool with foj's kylie and her parents, some more quality dad time while mommy was out at tea, and a reunion with the beach crowd, who remarked, "does he ever stop?" "no," was a tired daddy's stony reply.

monday, because your president thoughtfully went on a surprise visit to western iraq, mommy worked while daddy and jack had even more qt together. trips to the park and a scavenger hunt to retrieve daddy's blackberry were all part of the day.

in all the busy-ness of the weekend, we didn't take any pictures! plus, mommy's memory cards are all still full of beach photos/videos that she has not gotten around to downloading onto the computer.

so ... to satisfy the yen for jack pix, here are some taken by nana *last* sunday at jack's grandad's birthday dinner.


maxin' and relaxin'

grandad teaches how a zipper works

pork kebabs are delicious, but messy!

bathing beauty

all wet

enough washing ... i'm outta here!

just be-cuz

happy 4th birthday to jack's main cuz, brady!

(not quite "identical cousins" but pretty darn cute, all the same ...)

afternoon respite

a trip to the ex-urbs ex-hausted jack.

so mommy is stuck sitting next to him ... in the back seat of the car ... in the driveway of the house -- lest moving him inside awakens him from his first (and only) nap of the day.

given how sweet he looks, guess i don't mind so much.