our siblings, our selves

of course people always compare children against their parents ... "he has your eyes" ... "that's my coloring" ... "he's just like his father" ... "

but what if you compare a child against his aunts?

well ... in jack's case we see a few similarities recently.

first ... jack's comfort object for many months has been a little blue blanket. but, recently, he has begun calling this his "beebee." this likely comes from mommy and daddy's unsophisticated code for blue blanket (i.e., "jack's going for a nap. do you know where b.b. is?")

this is particularly funny for daddy, who remembers his sister carting around a blanket named beebee with her everywhere she went, until it was nothing but a little rag tucked into her prom dress. okay ... we took some literary license with that one, and maybe she didn't *actually* take it to prom with her. but still ... it was a constant companion and well known to all as her beebee.

also, daddy claims that aunt amy used to like to sit on her potty chair in her clothes and just hang out there. apparently there is even photographic evidence of this (grandma??). and that's about where we are in our potty-training efforts. another similarity - check!

but it's not only in the paternal lineage that we see such similarities with our siblings. jack also bears some resemblance to his aunt megan.

first, as we've mentioned previously, jack seems to have a stubborn -- some might say willful -- streak. clearly that comes from his maternal aunt, since it most certainly does not come from his maternal mother.

second, jack has a priceless expression, mostly used when he's showing-off, that involves a knowing look with one raised eyebrow. this has most recently been observed during jack's ball throwing escapades, which we recounted to you yesterday. just as he returns to "ready position" jack looks over for an approving reaction with a raised eyebrow and sly grin. (and, yes devoted readers, we will endeavor to catch this on camera or video at the next possible opportunity!)

when she saw it, mommy recognized this look immediately. it is the same look that often accompanied all kinds of sisterly hijinks with aunt megan.

some may say this is just a proxy war about who jack is more like. maybe, maybe not.

but just tell me the similarities to his aunts are not totally eerie ...

Spring Training

As the calendar has turned to March and the two teams we root for in our house (Indians and Nationals) have reported to spring training, I thought it important to update our readers on Jack's preparation for the Major Leagues. The kid's a pitcher. When he chucks a ball across the living room (usually in the direction of a cat -- I wonder why they don't hang out with him more ...) he has an excellent, loooooong wind-up. Like all good pitchers, he "hides" the ball behind his back before the pitch so that the batter can't see if it's a curve or the heat coming. After he throws the ball, he immediately gets into a hilarious "ready position" where he crouches down and spreads his arms -- all set for those sharp come-backers to the mound!

The only disappointment for Daddy is that Jack definitely seems to be developing into a right-hander. Looks like the line of Mershon southpaws will consist of just me. But that's o.k. A nice signing bonus in 20 years will be plenty to buy Daddy a nice house on a golf course somewhere! Speaking of which, we should start working on Jack's putting stroke -- lots of genetic disadvantages to overcome there (Hi, Grandpa!)

weekend update plus

sorry this is a day late ... and probably a dollar short. i'd say that i was too busy to blog yesterday, but the fact is that some days i am beyond busy and still manage to crank stuff out. and yesterday was only moderately busy and i couldn't swing it. truth is some days you feel like a nut and some days you don't. and yesterday i just wasn't feelin' it.

that may be because of an acute case of die interruptus ... or an interrupted day ... which struck at approximately 11:08 a.m. yesterday. roxana called after jack's music class near tears. her 22 month-old daughter had been sick over the weekend and now her sister said the girl had a high fever and was vomiting. their doctor told roxana to bring her to the hospital. a woman at their music class told roxana her nephew had *died* of a high fever. not helpful, other nanny!

so, of course, i told her to go home and quickly shunted jack off to daycare for the remainder of the day. upon our arrival, as we waited to be buzzed in, jack ran down the hall ... in the opposite direction. a portent of his reaction to come ...

once inside the "classroom" area, jack began a full scale assault on the mommy guilt receptors. he cried instantly and so violently that he began to hyperventilate.

after some time calming him down and feeding him some of his lunch, mommy slipped out the door while jack washed his hands. but apparently he bucked up and made the most of his time:

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

and really ... we'd had such a good weekend it would have been a shame to have monday ruin it.

saturday we brought dinner over to friends from playgroup who just had their second child. jack fell asleep in the car on the way over, so he did not get to deliver the "hi, baby!" line that we had rehearsed. but ... when jack awoke ... our tour had magically and mysteriously arrived at nana's house!

nana's house, though pretty bereft of traditional toys, has tons of stuff to play with ... phones, and computers, and cats -- oh my!

and of course jack loves the delivery of mail and was pleased to learn that at nana's house they don't put it through a slot in the door, but instead put it into a little box at the end of the driveway. brilliant!

we also walked through the woods, looked at the creek, and played at a little playground until high winds prompted us (mommy and nana, not jack) to want to go inside.

jack is still talking about it. last night as daddy fed him dinner, out of the blue, he said: "hannah. nana. water. bubbles." when he thinks of nana, he thinks of the creek. what a fine way to be remembered, nana!

he was also thinking of hannah. that's because sunday was a full day of socializing ... kicked off by brunch with 4 year old hannah, her parents rebecca and mike (daddy's friends from college), and their almost-2 year old, ethan. they very kindly brought us flowers -- both fresh (from rebecca) and tissue paper (from hannah) -- and jack has been enjoying looking at them.

we discovered that jack and ethan are almost equal in age ... and in the amount of energy they have ... so to say that brunch was a "moveable feast" is a bit of an understatement! but, the great thing with a situation like that is no one expects perfect behavior, so everyone was comfortable.

after brunch clean up, we got ready for our beach friends to come over for "happy hour." due to busy schedules and unplanned for tantruming ... our numbers dwindled and it turned out just to be our friends gary and jess with 6 year old twins grace and garrett. but the three kids had a grand old time playing together and impressively they figured out how to play all together with the toys of a 21 month old!

roxana is back at work today ... her daughter back home from the hospital and mostly sleeping. the weather is warm and pleasant (at least until it rains) so they headed off to spanish story time at the library and no doubt some serious playground time. and so we settle back into our weekly routine ...

sleepy saturday

we've been sitting in the driveway for half an hour, after taking the long way home, to maximize jack's nap.

mommy's ready to go inside, but who could wake a bear cub this cute.

maybe daddy will deliver some snacks ... and if we're still here at 5 ... cocktails!

happy leap day!

jack is jumping with joy over the leap year ...

vogue

don't just stand there, let's get to it

strike a pose, there's nothing to it

vogue ... vogue ....

jack is clearly a producer's child. obviously his antics are highly documented and slickly packaged. but at the tender age of almost-21 months, he has also learned how to get the shot just right.

case in point -- yesterday, mommy said: "jack, do you want me to take your picture?" and he replied, "yeah." but the backlighting from the south-facing window was killing us, so mommy said, "come over here, away from the light." and jack complied ... by laying on the ground and striking a pose.


this takes brooke shields-like ab control

who's your baby? who's your baby?

"wanna know what comes between me and my uggs? socks."

snack attack

first off, my apologies if i seemed cranky in my non-post post yesterday. lack of sleep does that to a person. oh, and maybe reading the blog of a very salty mama has also been a bad influence on me. next thing you know she'll have me smoking behind the cafeteria!

so today...we're back to sweetness and light.

the sweetness this time being the way jack sweet-talked his way into his lunch bag before he and roxana had even left the house for the library's story time (english language version).

another note: his hair today. yeah, we know. and that was *after* we brushed it! details are fuzzy. all we really know is that roxana gave him a kiss on top of his head last night before leaving, which caused her to remark: "hmm...sticky. jelly."

oh, yeah ... but of course ... what else would it be?