stalking his prey

roxana took the day off today to observe good friday, so daddy "got" to take the day off to observe jack.

no doubt the boys will do all kinds of exciting activities. and these days, there are few things more exciting to jack than chasing the cat.

in fact, the great white hunter was recently sighted hot on the trail of one dr. sgt. floyd "boyd" pepper jennings mershon.

jack: a ha! i saw him go behind this door to the basement

jack: floooyyyyd ... i can seeeee you ...

jack: darn it! i can't get to him! you've gotten away this time, floyd, but i'll be walking soon ... and then you're mine! ha ha ha [maniacal laughter]

exeunt

note to floyd: look out!

beach friends

last weekend we had a great time seeing all of our "beach friends" -- the families that we go to the outer banks of north carolina with every year. it's been so much fun to see how our numbers have grown -- from just two little toddlers (who are now the "big kids") to a total of 6 this summer!



but, between our august jaunts, we try to get together as often as we can. and last weekend the party was at jack's house.







but wait ... there's only four kids here. well, one friend lives out of the area, so she's not around.



but where's phia?? everyone looks to see ...

phia is shy and doesn't want to be in the picture. let's all encourage her !

garrett even gives phia a kiss to make her smile ... looks like jack wants to go in for a smooch too!







apparently the casanova attempts have worked. phia's in and victory has been declared (hook 'em!!) . but jack's still waiting for his kiss ...

what a fun weekend get-together. and as previously blogged ... who knew veggie booty could be spread so far and so wide. boy that stuff crumbles!! :-)

baby you can drive my car

one christmas, several years ago, mommy asked for a cooper mini. this is much like mommy asking for a pony, which she has done every year for at least 20 years. but ... unlike the pony (for which i'm *still* waiting!) ... the mini actually showed up under the tree. literally. apparently, like the genie in the bottle, you have to be *really* specific about what you want, otherwise you end up with a remote-controlled mini mini.

but, it's now coming in very handy, as jack loves to play with it. mind you, he's scared of it when it's being operated by remote control, but if he can push it ... well, look out!

it's even delicious to eat, apparently ... he'll be sad in a few years if he's broken the antenna, but he doesn't realize that yet.

yes, it's even fun pushing it with your pants off. who knew?

incidentally, in addition to pushing objects while he crawls, jack is also becoming quite adept at "hand soccer" where he "kicks" the ball with his hand as he crawls after it.

and, in the *yikes* category ... we're moving on to a half-walk/half-crawl situation. jack is now using one knee and one foot for locomotion.

it puts a whole new spin on the riddle of the sphinx. sort of like "what walks on three and a half legs before nap time?" take that, oedipus ... you're not smart enough for that one ...

DIY feeding

it has been mentioned previously that jack is a good eater. he readily accepts, and enjoys, everything he's offered. but, it's time for jack to start learning to be a better feeder, as well as an eater. so we're practicing with self-feeding ...

we get it near our mouth ...

then we stick the spoon in (sort of) ...

we're so proud of ourselves when we do it!

and we look longingly at the spoon when we've slurped the cereal off of it. where have you been all my life, spoon??

but ... "this cereal is making me thirsty!" (apologies to seinfeld), so a guy needs a drink of water from time to time.

right now it's a big mess, but it's all part of learning. so far, i think we've learned that cereal does *not* belong shoved up your nostrils, but i can't be 100% sure ...

Opening Day!

UPDATE: The Nationals lost the game 9-2, but Daddy and Uncle Dudley are feeling much better now, thank you. The fresh air and cold beverages really did the trick.

So Daddy is feeling a little 4-hour virus coming on. I'm told that vaccines will be available starting at 1:00 today at RFK stadium. Interestingly, the Nationals play the Marlins AT THE SAME TIME and AT THE SAME PLACE! What are the odds? Uncle Dudley has a similar case of Spring Fever -- it's very contagious.

As you can see, Jack was trying to be supportive this morning. He's destined to be a three-sport star! Apparently, he'll try out for the football team as a barefoot kicker ...

busy weekend

jack and his parents had a full weekend. nana and granddad came for a visit and to play on saturday.



we had a pretty fun time. jack thinks they may like him just a little bit ...



more fun was had when the beach crew came over saturday afternoon. can you say "veggie booty everywhere!"?



and because jack did not go to the playground with the other kids (stinky mommy made him stay home and eat dinner), we went on sunday for some quality swing time.

it was a prolific picture-taking weekend, but we'll tantalize you by posting them slowly over the course of the week ... so check back!!

rise and shiner

when we got jack from his crib this morning, it seemed our little peanut had become a black-eyed pea!





his mother was horrified ... his father was proud ... jack wonders why this picture of him looks like a mug shot ...

and although mommy was a bit taken aback, we actually were not too surprised to see this. roxana told us that he had banged his face into the table leg while playing after his bath but before bed. she said it was red, but that he cried more from the ice pack she tried to put on it and less from the actual incident. our little bruiser!

anyway ... this may be the first black eye, but something tells me ... knowing our danger mouse ... it won't be the last!