holiday cheers!

so we go on bragging about how many readers we have ... and then we go dark. not very blog-couth of us. we do hope, dear reader, you will forgive the absence of yesterday's entry.

and to make it up for you ... hopefully an entertaining vignette:

a favorite game for jack now is "cheers!" he will declare "cheers" and konk his sippy cup against whatever vessel you are using to drink. sometimes it's a scalding mug of coffee ... sometimes a fragile paper cup brimming with sticky soda -- no matter. jolly jack wants to "cheers" and "cheers" again. he even finds people along the way to do "cheers" with.

then, one day he realized: he could "cheers" himself.

it just required two cups ...

... banged together ...

... again and again ...

so "cheers" to you.

and happy holidays to one and all!

another milestone

no ... not jack's.

the blog's!

we've hit over 5000 views of "livin' la vida jack" in just over 10 months since its inception -- and that doesn't even count the myriad number of times mommy checks out her own handiwork.

we couldn't have done it without you, dear readers.

so for everyone who checks out jack's blog -- religiously, occassionally, or because you thought it was a ricky martin fan site and then got sucked in -- thanks for reading and keep on clicking!

communication lines

yes, folks, the lines of communication are opening up and operators are standing by.

jack is making big strides in his receptive and expressive language and is understanding so much. guess that means our baby is growing up (sniff, sniff).

but, not only is it truly amazing to watch (cbt=corny but true) it is also making life easier.

for example, the one-time battles royale that were diaper changes are now mere idylls on the changing table.

this is achieved by telling jack beforehand (and repeatedly) what's going to happen. for example ... this morning, mommy asked jack: "did you poop?" to which he, sheepishly yet earnestly, nodded yes. so mommy told him: "okay, good. well, we're going to change your diaper, then we're going to wash hands, then we're going downstairs, then we'll get more milk." and this refrain was chanted again and again ... "change dipe, wash hands, downstairs, more milk" ...

so, as jack settled down on his pad to have his diaper change, mommy took out two diapers and gave him the choice between characters on the front -- sesame's elmo or ernie.

when jack picks elmo, mommy sings "la la la la, la la la la, elmo dipe ..." (all you parents with elmo-obsessed offspring will recognize that as the tune to the "elmo's world" segment on sesame street)and when he picks ernie, mommy sings "rubber diaper, you're the one ..." (if you don't recognize that one, you've been living under a rock).

today, as mommy slid the diaper under him and brought it up in the front, jack began singing, "la la la," prompting mommy along ...

finally, with jammies re-secured, jack got off his table. mommy asked, "what's next?" and jack exclaimed, "hands!" he knew it was time to wash hands (which he loves). after "hands!" and "bubbles!" (which is what he calls the soap), daddy took jack back downstairs so mommy could cage a shower.

after mommy was showered and dressed, and daddy had been properly waved to and blown kisses at as he headed off to work, jack made the sign for eat ... to show that he was ready for breakfast.

mommy inquired, "do you want waffle or cereal?" showing him each box. jack selected cereal and then proceeded to eat the lion's share unassisted from the bowl with his spoon. mama helped him finish up and when jack said and signed "all done," she then asked the question that ends nearly every jack-meal: ¿quieres fruta?

well, jack did want fruit, and signed "banana" to show that he wanted to eat the miniature yellow plantain sitting on the table. mommy offered to let jack eat it "like a monkey" and he imitated (some might say aped) the sign for monkey and the crazy hooting that mommy did.

wow -- what a lot of communication! when he's a sullen, laconic teenager, i'm sure we'll look back on these halcyon days with as much wonder as we now regard them.

cbt, folks, cbt ...

weekend update

yes ... the holiday season is definitely upon us, and our weekend was accordingly busy ...

to start off, jack tried on his new boots ahead of the predicted storm. the storm never materialized, but jack's new boots from nana were jaunty nonetheless.

he put his boots to good use outside ... helping daddy sweep up the never-ending leaves

and when the chores were done, it was time to .... (you guessed it)

... head to the park!

and once we arrived there, on a very chilly saturday morning, jack only wanted to slide on his favorite twisty slide ...

when jack had had enough of the cold (read: mommy was freezing and couldn't take it anymore), he and mommy decided to head to the grocery store to get some lunch fixins. however the entire metro area had also reached the same decision due to snow panic, so it took us quite a long time to reach this point:

check-out line!

a yummy lunch (half of which was eaten while in line at the safeway), a good nap (1.5 hours -- a near-record!), and an afternoon visit with nana rounded out jack's day. mommy headed out to do some shopping, so he and daddy had some quality male-bonding time for tubby and bed time.

sunday was more shennanigans around home early on until late afternoon, which brought ....

kiddie christmas!

our annual tradition of getting together with our "beach friends" for fun, food, and presents for the kids is a lot of fun, and jack was much more participatory this year ... shrieking with delight and running around after all the "big" kids.

it was a fun-filled weekend ... ho ho ho!

friday at school

jack's at daycare again today ... roxana asked to be off early, and it became easier to just send jack to "school" for the day.



he was trepidatious about being left by mommy, but seemed to perk up at the idea of going to wash hands (a big jack favorite) and then having a cheerios snack.

the daycare report (which will probably say, as per usual, "jack had a great day and ate a mountain of food") will be published as part of monday's weekend update ... so tune in then!

away in the manger

in anticipation of christmas, we've begun reading some holiday themed books to jack. one favorite is christmas in the manger, which jack received from his grandpa and grandma last year.

the illustrations go through all the characters of the nativity -- from the donkey who carries mary through to the baby jesus.

as we were reading through the book the other night, jack paid very close attention to the babe in the manger ... petting his face, offering milk from his cup, saying "night-night" and giving him kisses. it was very sweet. mommy implored, "can you say jesus?" to which jack responded, "jesooo!" and then, "mooore!"

so we read it again. and when we saw the 3 wisemen jack said, "hohhhh!" but the best was when we got to the picture of joseph -- jack pointed at the balding, berobed cartoonish figure and said, "daddyyy!!"

um...not quite.

in that scenario that would make mommy mary and jack jesus.

yyyeah. like we said ... not hardly.

where has the time gone?

so ... here's jack's 18 month portrait, as photographed by miguel of the picture people:



he has changed so much -- it's hard to believe what a little boy he is now when we can still remember having a helpless infant in our arms just a blink of an eye ago.

but ... all is not totally foreign. you'll notice that jack has two bruises on his forhead. two separate crashes saturday morning ... right before the pictures. that's typical and totally jack.