Things I Love

Things I love right now about Jackson:

1. How excited he is about the "fixermen" and "big ha-chines" on our road.
2. His repeated phrase - "What gonna haaaa-pen?". You have to hear this one to fully understand.

3. The fact that he wouldn't let me come play with him at the park the other day until I fixed the brakes on Ryker's stroller so he wouldn't roll away.

4. How long his eyelashes are, and how big and blue his eyes are.

5. The fact that he wants to know what everyone's favorites are, not just his.

6. How cute he looks in his "undie bundies" and how proud he is to be wearing them.

7. His desire to play with all the older kids at the park, even when he's a little intimidated.

8. How he "stands to pee" at daycare. They have a tiny toilet so he strips and then waddles over the top of it until he can pee straight down.

9. This one has made the list before, but how he calls one of his block toys "Owakabama's Michelle."

10. That he gives me big hugs when we read and says "Mom - I wuv you." Totally unprovoked, and ridiculously sweet.

Things I love right now about Ryker:

1. When he takes a nap on me.

2. His hair - which is turning red.

3. Seeing people's reactions to his name ("Say it again?"..."Is that a family name?"...)

4. How effective the Mute Button is on him.

5. How he stretches when you take him out of his swaddle in the morning.

6. How he smiles so big sometimes that he has to squint his eyes, and how he makes me smile so big in return that MY eyes squint.

7. How hard he is trying to find his thumb.

8. How he follows Jack's sounds no matter where he is in the room, and gets calm when Jack holds him.

9. How he keeps his fists high, chin down and is ready for a fight. So intimidating.

10. Cooing.

Another Life Lesson

So many life lessons, so little time.

Today's lesson:

You might think that it's a good idea to schedule an oil change while your wife is on maternity leave. She's free to go, right? Nothing standing in her way, no baby to feed and keep entertained or anything. And after all, it will only take like 30 minutes.

Oh, but wait, you actually might need the 90k mile check-up as well. But you might think that is still easy enough.

You might be wrong.

(Side note - I love Chuck. I just feel it's my wife-given right to make fun of him in this passive aggressive manner. Love you Sweetie!)

Anyway, you might end up sending your wife to the dealership at 10:15am with the baby. And the wife might have thought that she only needed 3 diapers and 1 extra outfit, a book and her cell phone.

Then the service folks might come in and tell the wife that instead of 3 hours, it will take 3 MORE hours to fix the stuff that's wrong. And they might use words like "gasket" and acronyms like "PCV" and she might stop listening to them and call you to see what to do. Then you both might decide it's fine for her to stay there. And then she might have to order a sandwich to be delivered to her at the dealer because she has no food. And she might have trouble saying no to free coffee, so she might have 5 cups in 3 hours.

And the wife might have been wrong about the 3 diaper/1 outfit plan.

And the wife might return home at 4pm and head straight for the blog to help others learn from our collective mistakes.

Yesterday's Life Lesson

You might think that giving your child a ton of prunes at lunch to force him to give up his newest boycott of the potty would be a good idea.

You might be wrong.

And you might have to take him to the potty 5 times in a 6 hour span, including 3 at or after bedtime.

Manners

Last night, in the kitchen - I was doing dishes...

Jackson: Momma, I getting down now.
Momma: Okay Bud. Do you need help?
J: Nope...Tank you.
M: You're welcome.
Pause
J: Momma, tank you cleaning up after me.

This actually happened. No joke.

It would have been a scene straight out of Leave it to Beaver, except that Jack was completely naked and had been since his bath 30 minutes ago. And it was way past his bedtime. And he was getting down from a stool at the island, where he had been entertaining himself watching video clips of the Olympics on NBC's website. And the clips all started with a preview of Tropic Thunder.

Brothers Gotta Hug

Strange Tastes

I've been noticing things that make babies really happy that would have the absolute opposite effect on me. Here's my list so far - feel free to add any I've forgotten.

1. Swaddling - As Chuck put it, that would be his "worst nightmare." And I'm a person who likes my sheets tucked in, but the thought of having my arms tied down next to me all night gives me the creeps.

2. Bouncing - I get a sore neck just watching Ryker get bounced. We hold him under his arms, supporting his head with our pointer fingers, and bounce him until he calms down. Frequently he falls asleep.

3. Being "Farted" - Those who have witnessed us doing this to our poor kids can attest to the fact that you'd press charges against anyone who attempted this on you. But it works. For babies.

4. Diaper Cream - Gross.

5. Being Burped - So you're eating your dinner. It's yummy. You get a little sleepy because it's so darn good. Then all the sudden you're jolted awake, a cloth is thrown in your face and someone is whopping you on the back until you burp or throw up.

6. Goo Goo Gaa Gaa - I personally would hate it if everyone that met me got right up in my grill and made stupid noises until I lived up to whatever facial expectation they had of me.

7. Baby Carriers - This is a personal space issue for me. No matter how much I like someone, I just don't want to be strapped to them with my face pressed into their chest and my legs dangling under me.

Product Shout-Outs

I need to take a second to thank some products that have made our lives much easier the last week or so.

First, the Miracle Blanket. A friend of mine talked about it on her blog so we decided to try it (thanks to my mom for sending two our way). Ryker loves it! He pretty much falls asleep right away when I wrap him up, and he can't fight his way out. It's a loving, cozy little baby straight jacket.

Next, a pacifier. Okay, I know, I know. We're the only people on the face of the planet who haven't tried that. Jack hated them, so we didn't even think about it for Ryker. Then one day my finger got all pruny from letting Ryk have it, and half a dozen people asked why we hadn't done a pacifier, and presto - I went and bought some. Magic. Got him to sleep as I'm typing this.

On to Jack. He's been boycotting things recently - namely sleep, food and going to the bathroom. You know - nothing big or life-threatening. No products have solved the sleep thing, but the other two seem to be covered (thanks to my dad and brother)...Food was helped by the addition of new silverware. I had to use a picture from their website because we don't have one yet. Anyway, these speak for themselves.

And finally, the newest stuffed members of our family - Pee and Poop. These little guys made an immediate splash (I couldn't resist, sorry). Jack took them into the bathroom and explained to them how big kids go potty. It was adorable, and hysterical, and solved the problem immediately. It also has led to some pretty memorable quotes (see sidebar to the right).

Jack's gonna hate us when he's older and sees these pictures. Or when he can't go to the bathroom at college without taking Pee and Poop with him.

Why Sesame Street Rocks

These are two examples of why Sesame Street rocks, and why we allow Jack to watch it 187 times every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyabxJ15KGI

http://www.livevideo.com/video/70D68AD20E6A4D41864F47D384464979/sesame-street-disco-d.aspx

PS - Don't watch these if you don't want them stuck in your head. I sang Disco D out loud all the way through Target yesterday.

Bribery

(Note - new pictures on Flickr)

We're big fans of bribery at our house. It hasn't always worked, but more often than not it helps us get Jack to do something he doesn't really want to do.

Case in point - sleeping in his room. We have tried almost everything to get him to sleep, as our dedicated readers well know (I won't shut up about it). About a week ago I told Jack that if he slept in his big boy room all night for two nights he would get a reward - a ride on the Lightrail Train. He LOVES the Lightrail, so this was a big deal. He talked about our deal alot, but didn't actually stay in his room until Thursday and Friday nights. But we'll take it - he stayed ALL NIGHT. This is a huge deal for him - hasn't done that in months. So Saturday evening we rode it all the way to the end of the line (downtown Minneapolis), got off and had dinner, then got back on and rode home. He was thrilled.

Also of note - Grandpa and Uncle Ry Ry are in town! We had a trip to Target with Ry Ry, a belated birthday party for Grandpa, a romp around the backyard with both of them, and then our Lightrail adventure. It was a big day.

A picture run-down of the day:

Grandpa birthday

The New Monkey Bars

Jack's Ticket to Ride

On the "Trainey"

The Winner - a lady on the train gave her "winner" medal (which she earned in a pub crawl) to Jackson

1990 was a great year...

...so great, in fact, that I decided to relive two of its highlights today.

In 1990 (or something like that) I went with my mom to get my ears pierced. A normal rite of passage for a pre-teen. On the way there we discussed one of my mom's more interesting students that year - a boy named Mickey Bababacov. I loved his name and would say it over and over because it was fun. Anyway, I don't remember being nervous about the piercings UNTIL the lady that was going to do it approached me with the needle-gun thing and her hand was shaking wildly and she said "this is my first time doing this so I'm a little nervous." An alarm goes off in your head when you think you are at risk of having a needle put through your head or eye or something. That's the last I remember of the piercing. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor looking up at my mom, with the shaky-lady peering over her shoulder at me, looking even more shaky than before. They were making me count backwards, say the ABCs and do some other random exercises to make sure I wasn't brain dead from my "episode." My mom got a smile on her face as she thought of one final question.

"Jamie, what is Mickey's last name?"
"Mouse" I said.
"Oh good!" said Shaky-Lady. "Oh no!" said my mom.
"Oh....I mean, Bababacov" I said.
"She's fine" my mom said. Shaky-Lady looked confused as we exited.

My ear piercings lasted less than a year, as I remember. I kept having to take them out for sports practices, so the holes closed up. I have been threatening ever since to get them re-pierced, but never did.

Until today.

I stepped into Claire's, pushed my way past the dozen or so tweens buying bubblegum flavored lip-gloss and whatnot, swallowed my pride and approached the sales person (who called me "hon") and asked for my ears to be pierced. She asked for my ID, which my husband of 6 years had to retrieve from the stroller containing our second born son. She didn't think that was as ironic as I did.

Anyway, my ears are now re-pierced. Go me. And if I had waited for 3.5 hours I could have seen the New Kids on the Block perform right there in the Mall of America. I have seen them in concert before - back in 1990. Great year.

Trade-in

Quote from Jack, upon seeing Chuck come in after working in the yard:

"I want a new Daddy because this one is too dirty."

Baby Small Toes

Jack decided last week that the baby on the Swaddlers box was actually Ryker. This picture doesn't do it justice - it really DOES look like him.

Okay, you'll just have to trust me on that one.

Jack also decided to call Ryker "Baby Small Toes," which he says in a sing-songy voice to him all the time. This is especially funny because Ryker has the HUGEST hands and feet you've ever seen on a baby that size. It's a little freakish, in an ape-like-feet-that-only-a-mother-could-love sort of way. Kidding. Sort of.

Other recent Jack revelations:

Daddy goes to a place called a Drink Store and buys Momma lots of drinks, and if Jack is good in said store, he gets a very special treat called a lollipop. Drink Store = Liquor Store, in case you were wondering...He can "just 'tend" that his toothpaste is medicine. Not sure why that is so entertaining, but it is...He still doesn't need to sleep in his big boy room - "our" room is more comfortable...Bugs deserve to drown...When Momma's "belly isn't delicate anymore" she can pick him up at the zoo so he can see the animals...Pita chips and hummus are his favorites...

There are more but I'm forgetting them now. Oh well. Off to feed Baby Small Toes.

Proof

And it begins...

"Zooooooooooooom! Ah boo boo boo. AHHHH.....boo boo boo...Buzzz-ooop! Smile - smile - smile!"

This monologue will be heard in our house several hundred times every day for the next couple months - until the thrill of Ryker's first smiles wear off.

That's right. The little dude broke into a HUGE smile last night! We're still working on photographic confirmation - I'll post once I have it.