how much is that jackie in the window?

the one with the frowzly hair ...

how much is that jackie in the window?

sorry ... this jackie's not for sale!

weird science

as may or may not be known ... jack is something of a guinea pig.

no richard gere jokes! and anyway, that was a hamster. totally different animal, so to speak.

anyway, jack is a subject of scientific research. first with umd and now with georgetown university. last weekend, amidst the craziness of the shower-throwing, we had a researcher come over to see jack and take some "baselines" that will help them in their experiment designs.

they were trying to figure out if children 15 and 16 months of age could figure out certain ideas, but not figure them out too easily.

the first task was to look at customized "toy" with a button on the front which, when pushed, makes a sound. it's for an experiment to determine if young children can extrapolate demonstrations they see in 2d ... i.e., television ... to 3d ... i.e., real life. but, before they can do the experiment, they had to make sure that 3d-t0-3d extrapolation was possible by kids jack's age (the aforementioned "baseline"). jack proved that, yes, it is possible. and, apparently, it's also possible for kids his age to destroy the customized toy in mere seconds. or maybe he's just advanced in his destructive skill set.

the next task was to look at a hand puppet wearing a mitten. the trick here was to make sure that once shown it was removable, a child could figure out how to take the mitten off ... but that it wasn't *so* easy that every single child was able to take it off before even seeing the demonstration. here too, jack excelled at removing the mitten once he saw the tester do it.

we're going to be switching to participation in studies for the early learning project instead of continuing with maryland because they have weekend appointments and they come to you (rather than driving to college park). but we have one more study in the language department at maryland that we've committed to this weekend. they were willing to do this one on a saturday and mommy likes that they're close to ikea! plus they give you a small toy for participating ...

ah, the things we do for science!

jack's future wife

she's still in utero, but that hasn't stopped mommy from trying to make him a match, find him a find, catch him a catch ...

here's a sneak peak:



she's looking quite bonnie already. we eagerly await her arrival.

and jack doesn't even know that his future betrothed exists. but he will ... oh, he will ...

weekend update

what a weekend we had chez jack! mommy hosted a baby shower for friends dudley and jen (better known as diddykins, sneetch and the bean) and it was a family affair. jack helped substantially...

the end result:

here is what it took to get to the end result:

climbing a step stool with a pumpkin on your head

using measuring spoons

playing outside while mommy bakes in the kitchen

phew ... all that work can make a guy hungry ...

since there were no finger sandwiches, scones or madeleines left for jack, he stuck with good old spaghetti ... yummy!

ch-ch-ch-changes

the times may be a-changin', but so is jack.

he seems different lately. he's now 16 months old ... an age that is right on the front side of a crest of "disequilibrium," according to "your one-year-old: fun-loving and fussy" -- a child psychology book mommy's been reading.

the author of this book argues that there are periods of equilibrium -- usually around the birthday -- and disequilibrium -- usually around the half birthday -- all throughout childhood.

well ... i think we might be there. jack is needier these days. impatient. stubborn. demanding. tempermental. tyrannical even. he wants what he wants immediately and the word "no" is often his favorite.

but, as daddy points out, he's also funnier, smarter, quicker, more talkative ...

all good things ... but this may be a long 6 months.

my hat, it has four corners

this is a family blog, so we're only borrowing from snl slightly when we say:

step 1 - put a box on your head ...



all his toys, and he likes the shoe box. figures.

weekend update

as our dear readers know by now, we made a weekend sojourn in ohio for aunt dee's birthday party. we also got to see grandma-great, who had not seen jack since he was three months old. he's changed a bit.

we arrived saturday afternoon to grandma's apartment. he enjoyed playing hide and go seek in her curtains, and was very pleased to run around outside her porch with a watering can.

and he wanted to make sure grandma-great was comfortable ... that her heating pad controls were set just so ... that her water was within reach ...

and although we've taken other trips, this was jack's very first stay in a hotel.

he actually looked dreadfully frightened when we first entered our suite, and when daddy went back to the car to get our bags, he broke out in panicked crying.



but his trepidation soon passed, and by the next morning he was running around like he owned the joint!

tooth pain continued to plague jack over the weekend, but saturday night was a huge improvement over friday and so too sunday day over saturday day. what a difference a day (and a good night's sleep) makes.

so, he was in fine spirits when it was time for aunt dee's party on saturday afternoon. jack enjoyed seeing his almost one year old cousin robyn and he also enjoyed some nachos and the general party ambiance.

we got back on the road and headed home sunday, but our adventure was not over. because following slightly behind were "two grands in a van" -- grandma and grandpa came with an old family furniture piece and staying sunday and monday nights.

since monday was columbus day ... daddy, grandma and grandpa were all around to play with jack all day. they had a great time.

and jack was sorry to see them pull out shortly after breakfast and head back to florida this morning ...

but he did make sure they had their directions.

after they left, he asked for "more" ... more grandma and grandpa!

you'll have to wait until christmastime, little jack.