in case you were wondering ...

mommy *did* indeed make it home last night in time to put jack to bed.

in fact, when mommy walked in the door last night, jack ran excitedly from the other room ...

he was running toward mommy -- at top speed but as if in slow motion. you could almost hear tchaikovsky's overture from romeo & juliet swell ... as it has done in so many cartoon reunions.

and then, like a heat-seeking missile ... he made a sharp turn and diverted ... following the cat who dashed behind the couch.

well ... so much for the mother & child reunion. but, nonetheless ... he was still moderately glad to see his mommy.

drat -- if only i had fur and a tail ...

missing jack

mommy left early today ... before jack awoke ... to fly on to indiana a plane parked near this one ...

i blew all my jack pix yesterday ... so i had to come up with something this morning!

she's hoping she'll make it home to tuck jack into bed tonight (inasmuch as you can tuck in someone who does not use covers).

fingers crossed ... and may the beltway gods be with me.

weekend update

this was an educational weekend.

first ... mommy and jack went to music class to make up one of the classes that jack did not attend with roxana on a friday. it was a chance for mommy to see what they do in music class and for jack to run around, dance with scarves, play tambourine, drums, maracas and egg. we had a blast ... so much fun, in fact, that mommy was unable to take any pictures until we were walking out the door



see ya!

when we got home, jack enjoyed a raisin snack ...


i heard it through the grapevine ...

and daddy revealed to us what he found behind the television while we were gone ...


a plastic dalmation, part of a gear toy, a wood triangle, and part of the "goblin truck"

i mean ... what do *you* have behind your tv?

finding these missing toys made jack pretty happy ...

jack enjoyed riding his horsey ...


giddy up!

... and vacuuming with it??

i think i'll keep him!

here kitty, kitty ...

trucks don't run away like kitties do ...

that's part of why they're fun to play with

after lunch and a nap, mommy and jack went to the linguistics department of the university of maryland to participate in another study. jack played in the waiting room while mommy filled out some forms ...

the experiment had jack watch a short video where they showed him a series of actions and then asked him a question about it.

for example, the video showed a hand wiping a toy camera with a cloth. then, the narration would say, "look, she's wiping on the jub. wow, she's wiping on the jub. yay! she's wiping on the jub." finally, they would show a freeze frame of both the wiping cloth and the toy camera and ask, "which one is the jub?"

it was his eye movements after this question which they were monitoring to figure out if children jack's age can understand new words through context alone.

like most experiments, they couldn't tell me much about how jack performed individually, but we'll get survey results in the future to see how much young kids can pick up through contextual understanding.

and, for our trouble, jack got to pick out a new book to take home. we've been enjoying reading it, but daddy said, "couldn't we find a book about going to sleep?!?"

sunday morning it was time to go to zoo class. mommy was pretty down on zoo class, after the first class was postponed and the teacher for last week's class failed to show up. the zoo sent an apology email, saying there had been a confusion between the regular teacher and the substitute teacher.

so we intrepidly set off ... only to find out that the teacher stood us up, again! needless to say, we are getting a refund and the zoo is never contracting with this group again, but jack was disappointed nonetheless ...


i want to learn animals signs!

but, we made the best of it, watching the zebras and maned wolves before heading home. in the afternoon we watched some of the redskins game (before they choked), took a walk in our neighborhood, and played at the playground for over an hour!

as we headed for home in the gloaming, it was time for a bath and then nana and grandad showed up to feed jack dinner, play with him, and put him to bed while mommy and daddy went to see bruce springsteen! hopefully some pix from that in a future post.

it was a great weekend for all ... and in case there was any doubt, baby ... jack was born to run!

splish splash

so, long-time readers may remember that jack took swimming lessons last may and we were awaiting his report card.

well, here, six months later, we finally have his report card. they had forgotten to send it/lost it/never done it. and they had avoided returning mommy's repeated phone calls. but when mommy showed up in person they could no longer hide. and, voila, we have received jack's report card. we also received a coupon for a free admission to the pool during open swim. daddy shook his head and muttered something about squeaky wheels ...

well, squeak squeak! now let's look at how jack "the fish" did ...

as we suspected ... blowing bubbles was one of jack's weaker areas. but what a difference six months makes ... he loves blowing bubbles in his bathwater.

it's a very solid first report card, and they recommend we repeat the class until we're ready to progress. hopefully we'll get a space for winter session.

if nothing else, it will be fodder for the weekend update!

jack and his daddy

jack and his daddy are the best of buddies. jack loves wrassling and playing with him. one of their most favorite games is tossing the ball, of which you've seen photos before. but here's the live-action version (from a poor quality camera phone)

but things aren't always so fun ... in fact a few hours before this video was taken this morning, jack and daddy had a standoff.

jack decided it was a good idea to hit the tv with the remote. daddy did not agree.

so daddy took away the remote.

this was infuriating to the always even-tempered jack, so he decided it was a good idea to seize a magazine from the table and hit daddy with it. daddy did not agree.

so daddy took away the magazine and emphasized that we do not hit people.

this was even more enraging to jack. so he decided it was a good idea to run up to daddy, and bite him on the leg! daddy did not agree.

oh, it was *on*, people ...

daddy grabbed jack and gave him a "time-out" in the corner ... emphasizing that we do not hit and we do not bite. jack, very rationally, screamed his head off during this disciplinary moment.

but as you see, later on, all was forgiven by daddy and they're the best of pals again.

ah ... 17 months ... what a tender age ...

trafficking jack

our area has tons of traffic ... including *inside* jack's house!

bespoke jack

okay ... maybe not bespoke tailoring ... but this outfit is certainly one of a kind ...

jack was very fortunate to have received many wonderful gifts when he was born. and many of those gifts were clothes -- everything from plain onesies, to khakis with a ribbon belt, to a puffy down vest, to a cashmere cardigan with matching booties, to hand-knit sweaters and hats.

and mommy was adamant that jack wear everything he was gifted with ... at least once. so, yesterday was the day that we completed that assignment and reached our goal.

normally roxana arrives just as we are finishing breakfast and she gets jack dressed for the day. as it turns out, she views this as a perk. she says the other nannies with whom she and jack hang out are not allowed to select the daily outfits for their charges -- instead their mothers lay out the clothes the children are to wear. so they all envy roxana and compliment her on the adorable combinations she comes up with. this is all according to roxana, of course. but, hey, if it makes her happy and it's seasonally appropriate, who is mommy to quarrel?

but ... roxana had to be a bit late monday morning, so mommy seized the opportunity to dress jack in the final untouched costume. jack wore:

the brazilian outfit!

this was a very sweet gift from a colleague and friend of jack's grandad, who was very excited about the arrival of our beautiful boy:

and though it looks like something from an alpine village of yesteryear crossed with a japanese flea market ... it also looks super-cute on our precious babe:

(look closely at the gathered waist)

jack took the outfit in stride, but he made it clear: "i'm not a barbie doll, mom!"

anyway, it's getting a little short, so it probably won't get too many more wearings. but we had fun on this day.

and roxana reports all the nannies crowed over how cute it was.