Getting to Know our Dani

It's hard to believe that it has been a month since our daughter was born. It has been quite eventful! She has definitely not been boring and has already proven to be much higher maintenance than Jack. This is not hard, however, as Jack was the most laid back baby ever. And it really isn't Dani's fault that she has been a little difficult. She has had a lot of issues to deal with.

First, she developed a milk protein allergy which caused us to play formula roulette. We switched formulas four different times trying to find something that would agree with her. In the meantime, she developed a HORRID butt rash that wouldn't heal because she kept going to the bathroom. It was awful. She was a trooper throughout, crying only when we changed her (I cried too.) which is amazing since she must have been in such pain. Finally, we switched to soy and found a remedy for the rash. Both have worked wonders and we hope we have found our formula.

However, we think that it took awhile for the milk protein to get out of her system because for about four days she had horrible colic at night and cried constantly. It was extremely trying and we were exhausted from the lack of sleep and screaming. It has gone away and since Sunday, she has been just fine at night.

The last issue is that she seems to have her days and nights mixed up. Last night was pretty good but it has been a little rough with that. However, despite it all, we still know we are incredibly blessed and there are people who aren't able to have kids that would kill to be up in the middle of the night feeding a baby. She is a very nice girl and she loves to snuggle. She looks so much like me as a baby, so naturally I think she is beautiful!

Jack has been slowly becoming more interested in her and now touches her and pretends to kiss her, though his lips don't actually touch her. He did Tummy Time with her the other day too. At times he can get a little jealous and it has been a juggling act for all of us. We are all trying to find our way: we're trying to figure out how to handle two, Jack's trying to figure out how to share the spotlight and Dani's trying to figure out being a baby outside the womb! We could all use a bit more sleep (except for Dani--she sleeps just fine!) but I know that someday, when she's toddling around, I'll miss snuggling with a baby!

Flashbacks to my Old High School Coach

Today I was playing basketball with Jack. It wasn't REAL basketball, just the Little Tikes Easy Shot basketball where it is pretty difficult to miss! Anyway, I missed two shots in a row. Jack looked at me after the second one and said, "Mommy missed AGAIN!"

Holiday Goodies

My mom and I have been baking loads of cookies for Christmas. In addition to tons of different cookies, we decided to also introduce Jack to Rice Krispie Treats. He loves them but does not call them by their correct name, preferring to dub them "Christmas Treats." We'll never call them Rice Krispie Treats again!

More Funnies

This morning when my mom went to get Jack out of his crib:

Jack: We gotta find dat Mommy!

Nonny and Poppy Come to Town

My parents arrived today from Florida for the holidays. They weren't in the house 5 hours before they taught Jack the word, "booze". He now recognizes "booze" on sight in my father's glass. Later on, at dinner, he asked, "Where's my booze?" Later on, when asked if he wanted grapes, strawberries or apple, he answered, "Booze!"

Who knows what else he'll learn during Nonny and Poppy's two week visit!

Recent Conversations

After seeing the box that holds his new train set. (We haven't set it up yet in his new room.)

Jack: Oh. Lookit. (pointing out various pictures on the box.) Train! School bus! Yellow! 23! (feet of track), 100! (pieces)


While sitting at the front door (The front door has rectangular patterns.)

Jack: Daddy, look--square! No! Rectangles!


While passing the time during lunch in his highchair.

Jack: Mommy, how many windows?

Mommy: I don't know, Jack. How many?

Jack: One, two, three, four! How 'bout that one? Four!

Jack: Mommy, how many sliding doors?

Mommy: I don't know, Jack? How many?

Jack: Four!

Mommy: No.

Jack: Only one!


After getting a time out for hitting:

Mommy: Jack, you don't hit. No hitting.

Jack: Don't hit Mommy! Don't hit Daddy! Don't hit Christmas tree!

Milestones (Good and Bad)

Jack can now count to 30 fairly accurately and has worked his way to 50 with some help. He can also identify all numbers from 1-30 and most from 31-50 and 100. When he finishes counting cards (no he is not Rainman) he claps and yells, "Yay counting!" He has also added some new shapes to his repertoire: crescent, semi circle and trapezoid (my personal favorite). His new favorite songs "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" (he knows the words and sings most or part of it along with you). He still loves Final Jeopardy (he calls it "Funny Jeopardy") and dances in a circle and sings along with it until the end and claps either for himself or for the song. We think it's the former.

In the not so great milestone category, this morning he fell off the couch and hit the floor (softly) and said, "Dammit!" I am still oddly slightly proud due to the correct insertion of the word based on the circumstance. Looks like we are going to have to watch ourselves!!

Welcome to the Family, Dani!!

Danielle Brooke Soto born 11/30/10

Jack meets Dani

The new and improved Sotos

On November 30th, this blog became about two kids. Danielle Brooke Soto ("Dani") was born at 8:00 am via C-section. We checked in at 5:30 am at the hospital, went through all the paperwork stuff and, compared to last time, it was all a breeze! I had my blood drawn or IV put in at least 4 times and each time it only took 1 stick! My average is 2 sticks but with Jack it took 4 and 3 different nurses, so I was happy! I was nervous about the spinal but that was done quickly and easily and I was numb in seconds. I didn't get the shakes this time either and was so relaxed. She was out in seconds, even though she made it a little tough for the doctors--she didn't want to come out! I was shocked to see how big she was and then the weight check confirmed it--9 lbs 7 oz! No wonder I was so uncomfortable at the end!

The day of my surgery I actually was up and walking around. I felt pretty good. Day Two was awful as I had the built up gas from the surgery and it was causing major pain all over my body. In fact, taking both C-sections into account, I have never felt worse than I felt on day two this time. However, taking both into account, as a whole, this one was so much easier. After Day 2, I didn't take any more pain medication other than ibprofen. I am sore but not nearly as much as I was the first time!

As for Dani, she's perfect. Lots of dark hair, big and sturdy and, most importantly, healthy! She looks a lot like me but I see flashes of Jack too. She's sweet and snuggly and my fears of not loving her like I love Jack dissolved as soon as I got her into my arms! It's so strange to say I have two kids! It's scary and busy but it's early. I get feelings of guilt when paying attention to one kid more than the other but that will get better. We're still feeling out the situation and until we get it all figured out, it's going to be hard but today, as my new family was sitting at home watching our evening Jeopardy, I looked at my family and felt so happy and proud! Our family was perfect before but the addition of Dani has made it even better!

As for Jack, he visited us on Thursday in the hospital. He was interested in Dani off and on but spent the rest of the time just running around the room and talking to me. When we got home today, it was much the same. He would point her out, say "I'm a big brother.", and say her name but he wouldn't touch her. He did, however, show some interest when he noticed her polka dot pajamas as he walked up to her, pointed and said, "Mommy, how many circles?"

Dear Baby Girl

As Jack's blog becomes Jack and his sister's blog, I feel it's only fair to write my soon-to-be-daughter a little letter:

Dear Baby Girl,

I can't believe you are almost here! It seems like I have been pregnant for an eternity this time around. Maybe it's because it wasn't so long ago that I was pregnant with your brother or maybe it's because I've been running around after your brother this time instead of just relaxing whenever I want. Whatever the reason, it's felt long.

I'm so looking forward to your arrival but, if I'm honest, I'm a little scared. I've never known what it's like to have a sibling--Mommy's an only child, her Mommy's an only child, etc. I really wanted you guys to have each other so that you wouldn't feel some of the pressures that I felt as a kid. My parents never put any pressures on me, I put them on myself, but I don't want either of you to have to deal with that. I also want you to have each other. As playmates when you are little, hopefully as friends throughout your lives, and to lean on someday when we are gone.

Anyway, I think your brother is going to have a tough time at first, which is another reason I am a little scared. He likes being an only child. I think that he's going to be pretty mad at Mommy and Daddy for a little while. But I think that he is going to really like you and be very protective of you. I think that he won't like sharing the center of the universe with you, but that will probably be good for him. I am excited for him to have a little sister because I think you will become good buddies and he will like looking out for you. He's very easy going in most respects and he's really sweet. I think that you will really like him too. He's a cool kid who likes to do lots of stuff and be active. Hopefully you'll like to play together--once you can play!

There are a lot of traits that I hope you both share. I hope that you are as happy as he is. That you find joy in the simplest things. I hope that you love to learn like he does. And I really hope you are as good of a sleeper as he is!! Other than that, I am so curious as to what you will be like. Will you have Daddy's black hair or my brown (I was suprised when your brother got mine!) Will you get Daddy's beautiful skin tone or will I have to show you how to apply copious amounts of sunscreen? Will you love to laugh and experience new things? Whatever you are, I promise that I will love you with all my heart and try to always be the best Mommy possible.

I can't wait to have a daughter. I have such a special bond with my own mom and I hope that we will not only be mother and daughter but also good friends. We are going to have so much fun together. I look forward to having girls' time with you. However, I will apologize in advance for not being very girly. I am not very good at doing hair or applying makeup or picking out cute girly clothes. Actually, I thought maybe you could help me out in that respect.

So that's about all for now. November 30th will be a wonderful day for all of us. By the way, if you could just wait until that day, I'd really appreciate it--I would really like to have the doctor I picked on hand when you are born. I would also like to tie up all the loose ends at work and NOT have to do labor again! So if you could just sit tight until we come to get you, it would be much appreciated. If not, we'll get over it! I can't wait to meet you and hold you and snuggle with you! You take care, keep growing well and rest up--I hear that whole birth thing is a pretty tiring experience for babies too! See you soon, baby girl!

Love, Mommy

Kit Kat

Today I was eating a KitKat. Jack took a sudden interest in it, even though he has never had one. In fact, he isn't much of a sweet tooth (didn't get THAT from me!). He's had ice cream and cake but we haven't given him any candy at all. But he eagerly accepted the little piece of KitKat and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Mmmm, chocolate," said Paul.

Jack didn't appear to love it but didn't dislike it either. However, he came back for a bite of the second stick and said, "KitKat". My eyes bugged out of my head. I had never given him a KitKat nor had I said the word when offering it to him. I looked at Paul. "Have YOU given him a KitKat before?" He hadn't. The only other option was Grandma, who never gives him sweets. So now I'm thinking that the kid can read. I couldn't figure it out but then I said, "Jack, say 'chocolate'." "KitKat" he said. So there's bad news and good. The bad news is that he can't read. The good news is that 1) he's only 21 months old and 2) he only heard the word "chocolate" once before he started using the word!

Pronunciation

Jack's pronunciation seems to get better every day. I find myself missing his less clear "words" for things. Like when he used to call the letter "W", "Blum-blum". Blum-blum is WAY cuter than "double u". He also used to call his stuffed monkey "BuhBEAN" instead of Bunky. My little boy is growing up. Sigh.

More Love

Today Jack said to me, "I love you too much." I wonder if he's going to start loving me less now...

A Whole Lotta Love

Sometimes Jack gets a certain phrase in his head that he wants to work on. The other day, it was "I love you.":

"I love you, Mommy! I love you, Daddy! I love you, Grandma! I love you, Nonny! I love you, Poppy! I love you, rice! I love you, meat! I love you, noodles!"

20 Month Vocabulary Count

Jack understands everything we say, it seems. He also repeats anything you ask. And he LOVES to talk. From the time he wakes up, until he falls asleep, he is talking. Right now he is trying to string tons of words together. He already makes short sentences but is trying to make longer ones. However at 20.5 months Jack can say:

hi, bye-bye, come on, Mommy, Daddy, Nonny, Poppy, Grandma,cow, duck, bird, goat, sheep, farmer, phone, letters, numbers, Time out, No hitting (kicking, pushing), Harley, Inky, light, la luz, bath, agua, leche, Jeopardy, do it, I race, truck, car, airplane, train, boat, bulldozer, crash, on up, down, monkey, circle, oval, heart, octagon, rectangle, star, triangle, square, rhombus, more, strawberries, grapes, apple, banana, pizza, meat, Jack's show, milk, football, Teddy Grahams, fishies, doggie, kitty cat, gato, tiger, lion, elephant, rhino, hippo, snake, school bus, shark, dolphin, I'm a genius, diaper, poo-poo, pee-pee, potty, jump, potatoes, chips, green bean, green, blue, red, yellow, orange, black, purple, basketball, moose, pumpkin, trick or treat, barn, shapes, draw shapes, key, hot, hat, cold, moon, sun, music, llama, balloon, push, window, bat, pillow, kiss, hug, more kisses, more hugs, give me it, book, story, night-night, Randy (stuffed cow), Jo-Jo (stuffed monkey), Bunky (stuffed monkey #2, tree, leaves, grass, outside, open, close, please, thank you, welcome, room, remote, eye, nose, mouth, teeth, hand, leg, foot, toes, tummy, belly button, turtle, slide swing, eat, good boy, shoes, socks, clothes on, Mommy working, Daddy too, Mommy beautiful, pool, towel, ready, cloud, rock (as in Rock a Bye Baby), soap, lunch, dinner, la luna, nice, sana, boo boo, correle, oh no, oh my gosh/goodness, noodles, rice, applesauce, bubbles, yucky, yummy, spoon, fork no screaming, house, home, seat, video, birthday, Happy birthday to you, yay birthday, computer, song, Gummi song, Ballgame song (Take me out to the Ballgame), ABC song, Birthday song, face, wet, throw, P.U., fast, snack, bar, colors, go, yes, no, play, go play, go bye bye, waffle, egg, Cheerios, Crunchies (cinnamon Chex), Where da...?, sleeping, Daddy sleeping, back, let go, don't touch, peach, chicken, toast, Mel, look, watch, good one, nice/good shot, sister, Dani, baby, giraffe, I win, clothes on, shoes on, lightening, skunk, rabbit, camel, shake your booty, spin, round and round, oops, oopsy daisy, zebra, horse, spider, geese, seal, antalope, head, wow, all gone, all done, Laurie (Berkner), go night-night, fan, cake, I love you, oh no, out, flower, bite, what, running, walking, glasses, kite, stop, sign, light, okay, stinky, sopla, be nice, behave, help you, mano, cookie, cracker, fruit, ice cream, Dora, Diego, Wonder Pets, Wubzy, Franklin, Yo Gabba, no breaking, Jack, close, hide, say cheese, Mommy's purse, hiccups, salud, bless you, wait, rocket, roll, bib, sandcastle, sailboat, funny, cute, smart, show me, Fresh Beat, mailbox, beep-beep, strong, arm, turtle plate, coffee, coming, comes, hold on, this, again, dance, otra vez, sit here, don't push cat, puzzle, be careful, mark set go, wait a minute

And I may be forgetting some!

He says a lot of words from his books (which we read every night). Here are some things he says. I'm not sure he knows what they all mean but. . .

Click, clack, moo
Animals
Jungle
Gloria,
Bugs
Monsters
Mother
Green hat
bunnies

He also:

does animal noises (moo, baa, meow, bow wow, quack)
knows the alphabet (can identify every letter), says in order of song but misses some letters
knows and can say numbers 1-20 in English
recognizes numerals 1-12 and 20 by sight
numbers 1-20 in Spanish (skipping 15 and 19)
identifies shapes (circle, oval, heart, star, octagon, rectangle, triangle, square, rhombus)
identifies colors (blue, green, orange, yellow)--he sometimes has trouble
identifies and points to body parts (head, eye, nose, mouth, teeth, ear, face, hand, leg, foot, toes, tummy, belly button)
points to most pictures in books that you ask him to identify

Time Out!

Jack has a little bit of a hitting problem. He hits when he is angry. He hits if he is wrestling with Daddy. He hits (very lightly) to get our attention, should we dare to be giving less than 100% attention to him. Anyway, he's been getting a few time outs for hitting so we can nip this behavior in the bud. There are a few glitches in our plans, however:

1) He doesn't seem to be fazed by it. We plop him in the Time Out corner and he sits there like a good boy and finds a way to entertain himself by counting, saying his A-B-Cs or just chatting away.

1) He makes us laugh. The other day he was trying to get my attention, so he was testing me by lightly hitting me. There was nothing nasty about it, he just wanted my full attention. Finally, I got fed up and turned to him, "Jack, do you want a Time Out?" He looked me in the eye and said, "Yeshhh". I guess negative attention is better than no attention at all. We had to turn away so he wouldn't see us laugh.

3) He makes us laugh. Two days ago when Grandma was watching him, he was playing. He didn't hit at all but decided to walk over to the corner. He sat down. When Grandma asked him what he was doing he said, "Time Out!". Maybe he was just thinking of doing something bad and put himself there.

4) He makes us laugh. Today, he hit Paul while wrestling with him. When we yelled at him, he said, "No hitting Daddy! Time out!" and promptly walked to the corner and sat down.

Hey, Babe!

Today Paul was playing with Jack in the family room while I was making dinner. I had a question for Paul so I came into the room and started my query with, "Hey, babe?" Jack looked up and said, "Hey, BABE!". We are REALLY going to need to watch our mouths around him! I think the kid is part parrot.

Oh my NOODLES!

Jack has been using the phrase, "Oh my (insert word here)" for awhile now. Some favorite closers "gosh", "goodness", "Nonny", "Poppy". However lately, he finishes the sentence with whatever he has accidentally dropped from his high chair. Yesterday it was "Oh my RICE!" and last weekend it was "Oh my NOODLES!"

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Today at dinner, Paul held up five fingers and asked Jack, "how many?" "Five!" said Jack. I thought it was just a fluke so I held up four fingers. "Four!" Then two fingers. "Two!" He got every variation without problems.

Shorts

Jack has been saying "Where's the. . ?" for awhile now. If I hide or if he wants me and I am not around, he will generally say, "Where da Mommy?". Today, I was getting changed and he came into my closet with me. He then backed into the wall underneath my clothes, and said, "Where da Jack?"

*****

Tonight we went out to dinner. We took Jack to the Barley House, an Irish pub with tons of signs and decorations all over the place. (He was very good throughout dinner too!) He turned and looked around the huge room and all of a sudden, pointed and said, "Ok-gan" (octagon). Paul and I didn't know what he was talking about but looked up and amidst all the clutter, he had found a sign that pointed the way to the bathrooms. And the sign was, indeed, the shape of an octagon.

Teddy Grahams

Teddy Grahams are one of Jack's favorite snacks. He usually excitedly calls out "Tedddddies!" Today we got home from work and he was in his high chair eating them. He looked at us and then said, "Teddy Gwahms!" Then he proceeded to count his 3 Teddy Grahams. He looked down and pointed at each one saying, "One, two, three!" At first I thought it was a fluke so I took away one. He counted two. Then I added two. He counted four. This kid is ridiculous! And here I was worried that I was focusing so much on words (which I like) that he would be mathmatically dumb (like me!)!

Where's Mommy?

Carmen taught Jack some new Spanish:

Carmen: Donde estaba Mommy hoy? (Where was Mommy today)
Jack: Mommy working!
Carmen: Y Daddy? (and Daddy)
Jack: Daddy too!

Bye Bye, Poo Poo!

Grandma has started taking the contents of Jack's diapers over to the toilet to show him how to flush. I guess usually he likes flushing the toilet but perhaps he was a little shy today with Mommy there. So Grandma did the dirty work for him. After making the deposit, she flushed. Jack excitedly waved at his creation and yelled, "Bye-Bye, Poo Poo!!!"

J-A-?-?

Today Jack was playing with his letters. He put the J and the A next to each other and then stood up and looked around and said, "Where da K? Where da C?"

Computer Kid

Surfin' the 'Net??

Must be watching YouTube!

Say "Cheese"!

Jack loves the computer. In fact, unless we are Skyping with Nonny, we really can't ever use the computer while he is awake. Here he caught Daddy trying to sneak in some computer time.

Alphabet Soup

I couple of months ago, I bought letters and numbers made of foam that could go in the bathtub. Jack knew his letters on the flashcards but I thought he memorized the pictures more than the letters. So in an effort to help him remember the actual letters, I put them in a big container and we made "soup". He now knows his letters with no problem whatsoever and loves making "soup" (picking up letters, putting them in the container, stirring them, smelling them and then shaking them all over the floor). Anyway, we have also been spelling things with the letters. He especially likes when we spell his name. We ask him what it says and he yells, "GACK!" (This is also his answer when we ask what anyone or any animal's name is.)

Today, Paul and I were sitting in the living room talking and Jack was on the floor playing with his letters. All of a sudden, he stands up and yells, "GACK" at us. When I went over to see what he was talking about I saw that he had spelled J-A-C-K on the floor out of his letters! We celebrated the first time he spelled his name with lots of cheers and then Paul asked, "Jack, are you a genius?" "YES!" he said.

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Jack also now knows the animals: tiger, snake, rhino, zebra, giraffe, lion, and antelope. He is pretty good on elephant and after he says it, when you say, "in other words. . . " he says (as best he can) "pachyderm". I guess watching all those Moose songs has really sunken in!

Little (bilingual) Chatterbox

My little man is getting so big!

Always smiling!

Playing with Daddy

Jack's new words are constantly improving with regard to clarity and quantity. He learns new words like crazy and almost daily we hear him mastering new skills. He can now carry on a conversation that would make my Spanish 1 students jealous! Just today:

Mommy: Jack, como te llamas?

Jack: Gack.

Mommy: Jack what?

Jack: Soto

Mommy: Como estas?

Jack: Bien.

Mommy: Y cuantos anos tienes?

Jack: Un ano!

He has also gotten so much more clear with "I love you" and is now saying each word, and saying them at appropriate times. In addition, he has finally figured out "Thank you." He has been saying it for quite awhile but always says it when he is handing you something. Today, he started saying "thank you" whenever we gave him something that he wanted. He sweetly looked us in the eye and said it. When we would say "You're welcome," he would smile and say "welcome!" So I guess we have that one to work on!

He's also getting better at combining words. He's saying, "Go, Mommy", "Yummy apple", "nice doggie" among others. We also taught him the following just today:

Mommy: Jack, are you smart?

Jack: Ein Geen--is (I'm a genius.)

We're still working on the pronounciation of that one!

Forrest Gump

Jack loves to run. He constantly wants to go for walks, where he will just yell out, "WUNNING!" and take off running. Often he will stop and yell, "SET,SET,SET, GOOO!" and take off. When he stops running, he'll often yell, "WALKING" to let you know the action he is performing! And he can walk and run forever. It's nice to be able to go anywhere with him, knowing that he can keep up and that he will listen and follow when we ask.

Baby Sister and Stuff

Jack now answers "Yeshhh" when you ask him if he wants a baby sister. Also, if you ask him where his sister is, he either pokes me in the belly or, more embarassingly when in public, starts trying to lift my shirt up. Apparently he is not aware that only Mommys have babies because yesterday, when we asked him, he went over to Paul and lifted his shirt up. He does seem to be very interested in little babies, which is encouraging. Today we were at a barbecue with quite a few babies and he cautiously watched the babies from afar. I hope he adjusts well to his new sister. I think he will be a fabulous big brother once he gets over the fact that he will have to share the role of being the center of our universe!

In other news, he has also decided that he wants to sleep with a different book each night. We read three books each night and then he picks one that he wants to take into his crib. I guess he likes to read a little before he falls asleep. I then have to wait until he is sound asleep to extract it from wherever it is. Sometimes it's pretty easy and other times he is sleeping right on it, leading me to fine tune my old skills at the Operation game!

He has also proven to be such a big sweetheart. Very often, when we are around other small children, they take whatever he is playing with. He has never been aggressive and gone back after his toy. He simply moves on to a different toy. He also never takes toys from other kids. Recently, it was almost as if a kid was watching him so he could pounce on whatever Jack chose. After he ripped a car out of Jack's hand, Jack reached over and grabbed a different toy and held it out to the kid, saying, "Dank u". He never objected, just happily chose something else. Part of me would like him to stand up to these assertive kids and the other part of me loves that he both does not get aggressive and that he finds joy in enough things that he can happily move on to something else with little drama.


Skills update:

Since 18 months, Jack can identify every letter in random order. He has also recently improved on his numbers, saying 1-10 now without problems in English and mostly in Spanish (he still doesn't like "nueve".

Quick chats

Me: What's your name?
Jack: Gack!
Me: Jack What?
Jack: Soto.

-------

Nonny: Jack, you're funny.
Jack: Funny.
Nonny: Yeah, funny.
Jack: Cute!
Nonny: Yeah, you're cute too.

A Day at the Beach

Crystal Lake Beach

Do I look like my Daddy or what?

Daddy and his Mini Me

Hamburger Helper?

For tonight's dinner, we had spaghetti. Unfortunately, Jack woke up with a runny nose (perhaps the beginnings of a cold) but he was pretty good natured all day. Anyway, he was a picky little eater and was way more interested in the noodles than in the little chunks of hamburger. Paul put a couple of pieces of hamburger on his tray and started working on trying to clump the noodles together for easy consumption. Jack was not interested in the hamburger.



Jack: Oh, dak-uhn! (Thank you) (as he attempted to hand the hamburger nugget to Paul.

Paul: Eat the meat Jack. (He ignored him and continued working on noodles.)

Jack: Dak-uhn, Gack! (attempting once more to hand the hamburger to Paul.)

Paul: No, Jack. Eat your meat.



Jack promptly turned to his right and threw the hamburger to the floor. It was impossible not to laugh and impossible to be mad. He did, after all, try to give it back.

Recent Coversations (and other stuff)

Two weeks ago:

Me: Jack, see this (picture of my ultrasound)? It's a baby?
Jack: Bee-bee.
Me: Yes. The baby is right here (pointing to my stomach).
Jack: (looking confused because he knows that area as "tummy")
Me: Do you want to have a baby sister?
Jack: No.
Me: Do you want a baby brother?
Jack: No.

Jack's going to be sorely disappointed in December.


This morning:

Me: Jack, are you hungry?
Jack: Yeshhh.
Me: Do you want an egg?
Jack: No. Cheeos. (Cheerios)
Me: You want Cheerios?
Jack: No.
Me: Do you want Crunchies (Cinnamon Chex).
Jack: (eyes lighting up recalling his first Cinnamon Chex the day before) Cwunchieeeess! YESHH!

We eat our breakfast together.

Me: Hey Jack, do you want a banana?
Jack: No. Greeeeeeps! (grapes)

We're getting this whole communication thing down pretty well and he is really verbal.

He has now started adding his name (he can't say the J so it comes out as "Gack") to some of his words: "No, Gack!", "Dak-uh, Gack" (thank you, Jack), "Upp-ee, Gack!", "Go, Gack!", and "Yay, Gack!" (while clapping for himself).

He is also doing better on his numbers (he says all but "seven") and now likes to clump four and five and nine and ten together. It sounds something like this: "Wahn. too, free. fo-five. seeks. ate (in place of 7), ate, nah-ten" In Spanish he does all but tres and siete but has lately decided he doesn't want to say dos. The Spanish version sounds like this: "Uno, wako (cuatro), wako, wako, inco, sesss, oto, oto, deez" And sometimes, he starts counting in English in the middle of his Spanish.

He does the same with the alphabet--saying letters in clumps. Once you say "N", he immediately says, "O-Poppy!"

He is also very into learning his shapes. We have shape cards and he loves going through them. He also loves throwing them on the ground and watching them scatter everywhere. He does not love picking them up after that. He knows and says (with varying degrees of accuracy): triangle, heart, star, circle, oval, and my favorite, octagon ("ak-gon")

For animals, he knows cow, horse, dog, cat, sheep, pig, duck. He is hit or miss with monkey, lion, and zebra. He also knows the sounds that each makes (with the exception of the lion and the zebra--wait, does the zebra make a horse sound? Then he knows that sound too!) He also knows that a truck says "honk".

Speaking of trucks, Jack LOVES cars, trucks, trains and airplanes. He has been especially into airplanes, pointing up everytime he sees one and excitedly yelling, "Ahh-pane"! We have decided to make his big boy room transportation themed. We're sure he'll love it. We're not sure how much sleep he'll get constantly naming everything in his room!

He is very much like a parrot these days too, repeating many things we say. He has always been good at repeating things that we ask him to but lately he has just started saying certain words in sentences we say.

He still loves reading his books and is enjoying reading them along with me. I leave off the last word in a lot of sentences in his books and he fills them in for me. He is able to point to things I say and say things I point to. He's really an amazing boy and so smart. I know I am biased but he really does love to learn and try new things. He's an absolute delight and makes us laugh all the time.

Bilingual baby

Paul has taught Jack to respond with "Fine" when he asks him, "How are you doing?" He has also taught him to respond with "Bien" when he asks, "Como estas?" This morning, I asked Jack, "Como estas?"

"Fine," he replied.

First Conversation?

Paul's been gone this weekend at a friend's bachelor party. So it's been Mommy and Jack for the last two days, which has been great since I have missed a lot of quality time while at my classes this summer.

Yesterday, I wanted to do something fun so I took Jack to the pool. It was my first time doing it all by myself and I was worried at first but it was pretty easy because he follows directions well. We got there around 5, right in the middle of the lifeguard break where kids under 14 have to leave the water. I thought Jack would have a tough time not going in and understanding why he couldn't but he just stayed by me as I told him to wait.

The sky was overcast and it wasn't as warm as predicted so I wanted him to play in the kiddie pool part and not dress him up in full swimming gear and get in myself. He played and enjoyed himself for about a half an hour, which is a short period of time for him and a pool.

Then he said: "Home."
Me: You wanna go home?
Jack: Bye-bye
Me: You wanna go bye bye?
Jack: Yeah.

I said, "okay", and started to walk out of the pool. He followed. Once he got out I wanted to make sure.

Me: You wanna go home?
Jack: Yeah
Me: Or do you want to go back in the pool?

He looked back at the pool and said: No-no.

Chatty Jackie

Jack loves to talk. He wakes up every morning and goes to sleep every night talking. There is no meaning to the words he strings together, which makes it even more funny and cute: "Hi, Jo-Jo, lunch, one, two, three, apple, key, etc."

He is soaking words like a sponge. Yesterday, I walked downstairs and Paul showed Jack a flashcard with an octagon on it, "Ak-gon!" Really? An octagon? It seems that he grabs something or looks at it, we identify it and he's got it. Then he likes to point out all the things he knows. Sitting in his high chair eating, he'll excitedly point and say, "Ight" (light) or "gato". He's showed us this a million times but he still loves it. A couple of days ago, he put two of his words together to say "More, please."

He is also now adding more endings to words. We are no longer "Mama" and "Dada" but instead "Momm-eeee" and "Dad-eee". This started this the other day when he was standing in the family room, noticed the pictures on the mantel, pointed and said "Popp-eee" (He's always just said "Pop".) Instead of calling meat "emmmm" at dinner, he is now calling it "Meeeat". He is constantly cracking us up with his new words and his chattiness. Who knows what his baby sister will be like? His chattiness plus GIRL?? We could be in for it!

Get your own books!

Jack was over at Grandma's house this past weekend for an overnight stay while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a night out. Grandma invited Jack's cousin, Sierra over because Sierra absolutely adores Jack. She's 4 but it's almost like Jack is the older kid and she is following him around and looking up to him. She's very sweet with him and I feel bad that Jack really doesn't give her the time of day but he doesn't really play with other kids yet. He'll be in their presence but he plays next to them rather than with them. I've read that this is pretty typical and I guess they don't start truly play with other kids until a little later.

Anyway, Sierra was enjoying Grandma's so much that she asked to stay overnight. Before bed, Grandma started to read the kids some of the books I had packed. Jack picked out his ladybug counting book, as counting is one of his new favorite things, and they all snuggled up on the bed. Apparently he was holding the book and Sierra snatched it out of his hands (Sierra likes Jack but right now she doesn't like him as much as she dislikes sharing.) He didn't cry, he just reached over and tried to touch the book. Sierra pushed his hand away. So Jack said, "Down" and started scooting himself off the bed. Once he got to his feet, he walked over and ripped the book out of Sierra's hand, walked over to his Grandma and said, "Up!"

He's come a long way. A few months ago, he bawled his eyes out when Sierra kept taking his toys away from him. It's good to see him fighting back!

Eating habits

Jack is a pretty good eater in that he eats a lot of what he likes. He's a bad eater when it comes to the amount of different things he eats. Everything I've read (and his pediatrician) say to just make sure he eats and keep offering him foods. Each meal we offer him something from every food group but when it comes down to it, the daily menu of what he actually chooses to eat is pretty much the same.

I asked Paul today if he thinks we should start laying down the law more and offering him what we eat. If he refuses, that's all he gets. Paul convinced me that we are giving him a wide variety and that he is doing well. So I didn't worry about it when we made him his usual (ground turkey, green beans (which is actually not a regular staple for Jack), and noodles) and then started to eat our pizza and salad. He ate a couple of bites then looked at me and said "PEE-ta!". I cut him a piece figuring he just wanted to practice his new word. 1 slice later and about a million "PEE-tas", he still wanted more! And after, the kid who has refused to eat any fruit for the past two weeks, devoured a bunch of cherries! Maybe his tastes are getting more mature after all!!

Still Loves Jeopardy!

When Jack drinks his 3 glasses of milk each day, he likes to snuggle. We give him one in the morning when he first wakes up and we snuggle on the couch and watch some cartoons. In the afternoon and at night, we usually watch Jeopardy. Though he doesn't dance as much as he used to during the Final Jeopardy song, he still loves the show. Each time that a contestant lands on a Daily Double, he puts his milk down and claps for them. Then he watches to see if they get it right, if they do, he claps some more and then resumes drinking. When it comes time for Final Jeopardy, he looks at both of us, excitedly grinning when the clue is revealed. I keep taking the contestant tests and doing poorly. Maybe Jack is the Soto that will actually make it on the show!

16.5 months

Jack continues to amaze us all the time. He is pretty verbal, which we are getting a big kick out of. It's so cool to see all that he can do and all he has learned. He loves trying new things (not in the food department but in the activity one!) and he loves to learn.

Words he can say:

Mama, Da-da, Poppy (Pop), Nonny (na-na), banana (na-na), apple (ah-puh), purple (puh-pul), yellow (lell-oh), blue, red (weh), green (grrrr), please (peas), thank you (ank u), hi, bye-bye, Cherrios (chee-tos), gato, agua, ca-ca, poo-poo (and makes a stinky face and waves his hand in front of his face), night-night (nigh-n), no, oh no!, up, down, yay, balloon (boon), bubble (bah-boo), light (ight), out, ball, book, car (cah), cow, pig, hat, hot, cold, numbers 1 and 2 in English, 1-4 in Spanish (with varying degrees of clarity), Jo-Jo (his stuffed monkey), Bunky (other stuffed toy), toes, leg, baby, wow, on, cloud, I love you (I laaaa), egg, waffle (wah-woo), hug, go, moose, Dora, more (mo), mas (ma), plane (which sounds an awful lot like please but he pointed up to a plane and said it.), potato (Ta-to)


Cool Tricks:

--Knows his ABCs. We practice with flashcards and he LOVES it. He always wants to do them over and over and cries when we put them away. He knows them in and out of order but still struggles with C, F, J and S.

--he can catch a ball almost all the time. He's been doing this for a month or so and seems to be very coordinated

--if you hold up one finger he says "Wahn" and 2 fingers he says "two".

--can point to ear, nose, mouth, tummy, toes and leg but often prefers pointing to your nose, toes and leg. Ear, mouth and tummy he does on himself.

--We're getting better at colors but he usually calls everything yellow at first. With practice, he can usually get blue and green too but mostly everything is yellow at first.


--He is pretty good at puzzles


Likes/Favorites:

--books, books, books! Jack loves to flip through his own books and loves to be read to. We read every night and he is pointing out a lot of things in the books. He also has memorized certain things on certain pages. For example, in the book, Corneilius P. Mud, Are you Ready for Bed? he always says "No!" on the page with no and the following page has "Hmmm" which he also says.

--swimming and anything to do with water

--his stuffed monkey Jo-Jo

--Wonder Pets and Jeopardy (he claps whenever someone gets a Daily Double and gets so excited for Final Jeopardy)

--Running (he loves to run all the time and likes to jabber while he runs, which is pretty funny)

--ABC cards

--Anything with buttons to push. He is especially annoying if you are trying to work on the computer.

--hiding but he always picks the same places so he isn't that hard to find!

Dislikes:

--Anything that isn't his idea.

--Not much. He's really a happy kid who likes doing most things. We are beyond lucky!

And still more!

First boat ride

Pizza at Helen Back's

Hittin' the links

Mommy's boy

More Florida Fun

Wheee!


Jack and Daddy at the beach

"Waz up, ladies? How you doin'?"

We wanted to take Jack to the beach before the oil hit (it hasn't hit yet). We picked the perfect day since it wasn't too hot. Jack wasn't sure what he thought of the sand at first (he takes after Mommy--I HATE sand.) looking at it on his hands and not being able to get it off. He pointed out the "AGUA!" and was hesitant at first to go play in it. But that all changed when Daddy took him. He still didn't want to swim fully in it but he found the tide interesting and loved running up and down the coast.

Florida Fun! Part 1

Jack can't get enough of the water!


Didn't take long for him to want to jump off the stairs!

The boys

Jack and Daddy

Paul, Jack and I arrived in Florida about a week ago after a long car ride. Jack handled the ride fairly well but did get whiny off and on. But we all felt that way. Since our arrival, it's been non-stop fun and new things! Yes, we've been to Florida before with him. However, he is now at the age where he can do so many things and enjoy them. His favorite of all is swimming. There really must be something to those astrological charts. Jack is an Aquarius. In German, Aquarius translates to "Wassermann" (water man). And ain't THAT the truth.

From day one, he took to the water with no fear whatsoever. He loved splashing and it didn't take long for him to really want to do everything himself. He doesn't want you to help him swim but he can't do it himself yet. By day 2, he was jumping off of the stairs into the water. By day 4, he was jumping off the side of the pool and blowing bubbles in the water and practicing holding his breath On day 5, he tried to jump into the water whenever he could catch you looking away for a second. Paul turned to throw the toy for the dog and Jack plunged in off of the steps. He went down into the water about a foot before Paul could grab him. When he came up, we realized he had held his breath the whole time and had a huge grin on his face. He's simply fearless. But the more fearless he becomes, the more annoyed he gets when you try to help him. And whenever he sees a pool, pond or lake, he points and screams, "AGUA!!" We were thinking that with his build, he'd probably be a football player. But after this past week, we may have a little swimmer on our hands. We're definitely going to look into lessons when we get home!

First Cannonball?

Tonight was Jack's bath night. He loves his bath and likes to play with toys, splash and get squirted by his squirty toys. But tonight, he figured out something new. He kept standing up and then plopping down (which is not so worrysome since we have an inflatable toddler tub) to see how much he could splash. At first I thought it was an accident but when he kept doing it, I realized that this must be what a baby cannonball looks like.

Creating a Diversion

Jack doesn't really like brushing his teeth. He'll do it. But he doesn't think it's that much fun. Each night we read three stories and after the last one, it's tooth brushing time. Once I grab the brush, he tries to distract me by throwing his stuffed animal that he has been carrying throughout story time onto the floor. It's like he's saying, "Oh no, I just dropped my monkey and I can't possibly brush my teeth without my monkey with me." He knows I'll bend down to get it, thus delaying the inevitable tooth brushing. He always loses. But I do appreciate the effort.

OH NO!! SHEEP!!

Jack's new favorite phrase is "Oh no!!!" He says it when he falls (or pretends to fall), he says it when he drops something, he says it when he goes to make a basket on his mini hoop and misses, and he says it whenever he thinks he'll get a good laugh which is frequently.

His words, in general are getting more clear and it's getting more and more fun! He's also getting better and better at physical skills. He can put his puzzle together quickly and manipulate the pieces really well. He is a pro at his shape sorter and catches a ball 9 out of 10 times. We have perfected the Pippen to Jordan assist to score on his basketball hoop. The other day, he was walking and tried to walk over a ball. He misjudged and fell forward. I was terrified that he was going to ram head first into the wall but he put his hands up perfectly and protected himself. It's amazing. He's turning more and more into a little boy each day.

However, there still are times where he can be a big old baby. I took him to the Barnyard Zoo on Sunday, thinking he'd love to see the animals. He liked the peacocks and then we moved over to the deer, which he was fine with until I fed it. He started to whimper and refused to look at the deer. I pulled him out of his stroller and decided to carry him. Good thing I did. As we passed the sheep pen, the sheep stuck his head out and made as loud of a noise as he could. The kid shook in my arms, threw his arms around my neck and started bawling. After that, the Barnyard Zoo pretty much sucked in his eyes. He didn't even want to look at the cow, which is one of his favorites. Here I was worried about scaring him by doing a monster theme in what will be his new, big boy room. Now I think that the monsters will be fine. It's the sheep I'll have to avoid!!

L-M-N-O-Pop!!

Jack loves going through his alphabet cards. He recognizes A, B, H, K, and S on sight but none of these are as fun as L, M, N, O and P. As soon as I get out the cards, he starts laughing and smiling and yelling. We go through all the letters and he always says SOMETHING after each one:

Me: B
Jack: Ba-ba
Me: C
Jack: gato (there's a cat on the card and Gato is his new favorite word)
Me: J
Jack: Ba-boo

However, when we get to K, he really starts getting fired up. And I don't even need to prompt him by saying the letters first:

"ELLLLLLLL!'
"EMMMMM!!"
"ENNNNNN!!"
"OOO!"
"POP!!"

Then he just says whatever comes to mind for the remainder of the alphabet with, for some reason, the exceptions of S, T, W, X, and Y. He can say those.

It's actually kind of strange what he decides to like. Today we were coloring. Sort of. At the moment, Jack is in his Jackson Pollock stage but he likes his crayons. He took them all out of the box and kept going, "Ohhhhh!" with each new color. I kept saying the name of the color he had in his hand, just to get him used to it. Then, out of nowhere, he grabs a color and says "llellow". I made him say it a few times before I believed it. Then he kept saying it all night, with the exception of when he decided he liked the word purple ("Perp"). Why not simple colors like blue or red or green? Nope, Jack likes "llellow" and "perp". But after I practiced saying yellow his way, with a lot more L, I realized it is much more fun that way!!

A Great Weekend with Nonny!! (Pictures coming soon!)

Nonny flew in this weekend for a much needed Jack fix. We calculated that since he has been born, she has gone no longer than 2 months before seeing him again. The last time she saw him was for his birthday in February and since we weren't planning on visiting until this summer, Nonny felt that she needed an April visit in between! And boy, are we glad she did!

Jack had an awesome time with his Nonny! Usually, he calls the computer, "Nonny" due to the fact that we Skype a lot with her. So seeing her in 3-D was at first a little strange. For about 10 minutes until he warmed up to her. From that point on there were a million laughs, hugs and kisses! We went shopping, bought new toys, played in the park and ran around just having fun. In fact, she wore him out so much that he slept until after 8 on both Friday and Saturday! So we were pretty grateful for that!!

We are sad to see her go (Mommy had fun too!) but in a month or so, we'll be down in Florida for two weeks of fun! Come on, Summer!!!

My Little Man

Easter

Getting ready to find some Easter eggs!

Found one!

Putting 'em in the "basket"

Another one!

Hey! There's Goldfish in these!

For Jack's first Easter (well, the first one that he actually was awake through!) we "hid" some plastic eggs filled with Goldfish, Cheerios and Teddy Grahams. We didn't know how well it would go over but we figured we'd try it. They weren't exactly hidden, at least not from the perspective of anyone with eyes but, come on, he's only 1! I dumped out one of his buckets to use as a basket. I told him to find the egg. "EGG!" he yelled and followed my directions to put them in the bucket really well. He loved shaking the eggs. In the process of one particularly vigorous shaking, he opened one and realized that there was even MORE magic! There was food in them! His favorite snacks. He would excitedly grab his shirt and pull on it after each little bite! He did way better than I expected and I can't wait to make the hiding more difficult and to take it outside!!

Jack's Dictionary

Jack seems to be acquiring new words all the time. He loves to walk, run and talk a lot! It's amazing what he understands. Yesterday we were heading to the park and Daddy was going to stay behind to make dinner. I asked Jack if he wanted to go bye-bye. He said, "bah-bah" and then followed me, like a little duckling to the door. I told him to first go and give Daddy a kiss goodbye and he turned around, went up to Paul and planted one on him.

Anyway, it is so cool to see him now start to vocalize some of the things he understands.

Words he knows without prompting: Mommy, Daddy, Poppy, Nonny, banana, book, ball, no, car, toes (he walks up touches our feet and says "DOHs"), up, hot, hat, bubbles, baby, bye-bye, nose, doggie, apple, thank you, wow

Today, he was flipping through a book on numbers. Number 7 has bananas and he opened it and said, "NANA!" This is not new. However, he then flipped to the next picture with 8 dogs on it and said "Dod" (dog). Then he flipped to the 9 ducks and said "dah". I don't know if it meant duck but it was cool anyway. Then he flipped to 10 eggs. I said egg and he repeated it. Then he shut the book and did it all by himself: "Nana! Dod!, Duh, Egg". I couldn't believe it so I kept making him do it. Then he thought that everything was "egg" because I made such a big deal about it. So I am not sure I can count that as a 100% word for him. But he is doing a lot of repeating in general. Yesterday, I told him that the diaper pail was yucky. "UCK!" he replied. He's like this little toy. My favorite toy ever!

A Rare Photo of Mommy with Jack

I find that most pictures of Jack are just of Jack. Or they are of Jack and anyone else that isn't me, because I am usually the one taking the picture. Here's an exception!

Signs of Summer

April 1st was unseasonably war (83 degrees) and Jack took full advantage. He loves being outside and sometimes cries when we make him come inside. His favorite activities include walks, where he points out nearly every car, saying "Cah!", spiking a football, playing with bubbles, and running as fast as he can down the driveway, which often leads to fits of giggles, as well as falls! We can't wait for summer!

Dak uhn

This is how Jack now says thank you. He doesn't quite get the concept but he's getting there. Instead of saying thank you in response to receiving something, he says it repeatedly every time he gives YOU something.

First Lie

Tonight, Jack toddled away and went around the corner and hid. This either means that he is hiding or pooping. He ran over to me and then sprinted quickly away and I could tell by the sagging diaper and smell that it was the latter. When I found him, back sitting down where he had done his business, I asked him, "Jack, did you go poop?" He looked up at me, shook his head and said, "Nooo."

Mama

Jack's been working on lots of new skills every day and it amazes me how much he learns and how much he already understands. Just today, I made a stack of blocks and called him over. He usually gets really excited and knocks them over but just before he did his "Jack Stack Attack" I asked him to wait and pointed to one lone block more than an arm's length away. I asked him to go get the block and bring it to me. He stopped and went over grabbed the block and gave it to me, then waited for me to stack the final block before attacking it.

He also knows a lot about what he should and shouldn't be doing. He will go to places that we have told him not to go and he will sneak up there, then turn to look at us and shake his head no and often say it. He's even reminded us that we have forbidden certain areas. He's even started shaking his finger to say no. Yesterday he went over to the TV and started shaking his head no and waving his hand just to let us know that he knew that he wasn't supposed to play near the glass on the TV.

He's talking quite a bit and has been acquiring new words just this past week. We do alphabet cards every day and he can recognize A, B and L (yes, L) without being prompted to repeat. He points to his ear when I say the letter "I" (he still confuses ear and eye), and does it again when I say "R". He's also started recognizing some of the pictures that are also on the cards. He kisses the card with the cat on it and says "apple" when he sees the A and "ball" (sounds like buh) when he sees it on the B card. He's also become quite good at "up" saying it whenever he wants to be picked up and when we go up the stairs (together or if he goes by himself). He's has taken to pointing at pictures in the house and declaring that "Dah-dah" or "Mah-mah" is in the photo.

And just this evening, I actually watched him process and put two and two together. No, I don't mean he's doing math (with any luck he's gotten math skills from Paul because he's doomed if he has mine!) but I saw him realize that he understood what we were reading. "Llama Llama Mad at Mama" is Jack's favorite book and "Llama Llama Red Pajama" runs a close second. We read one or the other each night as the final book of the night. He simply adores the books and starts grinning ear to ear when we finish the first book of the evening. Anyway, just recently, he has begun to be a more active participant with reading. When the word "no" comes up, he looks at me and shakes his head and smiles. In both books, the word "mama" appears frequently, along with a bunch of words that rhyme with llama. In Red Pajama, which we read tonight, the book begins with the Mama reading a bedtime story to the baby who is holding a stuffed toy. I always point each character out and then point to each of us (including JoJo!). About halfway through the book (and around Mama #6) he reached over and touched my chest, looked up at me and said, "Mama", as if he finally understood that this book wasn't just some sing songy mumbo jumbo. I thought it was coincidence until he did it 4 more times, each time with a tone of voice that was like, "Holy cow, I get this, it makes so much sense!" I love watching this kid learn!

Sweet Boy

Yesterday, I came home with a killer backache. My shoulders, neck and back were one big. Paul lent a helping hand (or two, rather) and offered up a backrub. We sat in the living room, where we watched Jack play as Paul began to work on my back. Right away, he found a particularly tender spot and I cried out. Jack immediately stopped what he was doing and came to me with this concerned look on his face. Then he handed me his stuffed monkey, JoJo to help me feel better. That 10 second action completely negated my back pain AND the crappy day I was having!

On the Move!

My boys

My little Toddler!

Chasing Mommy!