text-only weekend update

first of all ... there will be no pictures in this weekend update. so, if you're a picture-junkie, you'll have to go elsewhere.

now ... with that out of the way ... here's how we spent our weekend (along with accompanying rationalizations about why we couldn't/didn't take photos).

on saturday we headed to a nursery school open house. now is the time to begin applications for admission in september 2008, so we're shopping around for a place to send young jack. and the open house process is ... interesting. after mommy left the dear old theta house behind, she thought her experience with sorority rush was forever past. and it was. until the nursery school open house. it feels very much the same as sorority rush used to -- it's just that the letters of the alphabet pasted on the walls are in english, not greek.

mommy went to one last week before work, so she already knew a little bit of what to expect. and the place we went on saturday was great -- nice families, great facility, dedicated teachers, yummy pumpkin bread (that last one was a jack observation). we're not getting our heart set on anything, because like many things in our neck of the woods, admission is somewhat competitive. there are less than 10 slots for 2 year olds, and first dibs goes to siblings of kids already attending the school, residents of the neighborhood in which the nursery school is located (the one next door to ours, drat!) and then they award the rest of the slots to balance the class for gender and age.

so, we didn't take any pictures there -- we didn't want them to think we're weird. we'll wait until jack is accepted and then they'll find out eventually ...

on sunday, we "fell back," and jack celebrated by waking up at 5 a.m. i don't think he understands the concept of daylight saving time yet. but the early wake up made it no problem to get out of the house early in time for zoo class. mommy, daddy, and jack were all looking forward to it. unfortunately our teacher, miss lilly, also apparently failed to grasp the concept of daylight saving time and didn't show! so instead of class, we just walked around the zoo, visiting the sloth bears, the elephants, the pygmy hippos, tons of birds, and the small mammals. by that time, we were pooped out and ready to head home.

in this instance, there are no photos because mommy forgot the camera. i blame daylight saving time.

we'll try to make it up the rest of the week ...

your hair wants cutting ...

that's what the mad hatter said to alice at the wonderland tea party. and that's what mommy and daddy said to jack last weekend.

his hair may have wanted cutting, but his head just wanted to be left alone ...

but, that was not in the cards for our little garbo ... and we went off to the kiddie salon.

the results were hard to see in the weekend update ... and the duck hood didn't reveal much of the coif ... so here's a look:

the bangs:

the ears:

the back:

how cute!

the halloween spooktacular

it was all treats and no tricks for us this year! thanks to our fancy new sign (and the cutting down of a giant holly tree) we actually had trick-or-treaters this year.

we skipped seeing the great pumpkin because the line was very long, but jack had a blast trick or treating. he was energized at seeing all the people in the street and he was literally running from house to house.

he was more about the experience than the actual candy collection ... in fact, he kept trying to take candy out of his basket and put it into people's hand-out bowls ... and the houses that he deemed best were the ones with dogs. hmmm ... mommy always thought the best houses were the ones who handed out full-sized candy bars.

if you can't see the slide(.com) show, check out this link to an online album of all the photos!

weekend update

as promised ... pictures from our mommy group/play group halloween party. it was a diverse party ... with a duck, a bumble bee, a dalmatian puppy, a dragon, a monkey, an astronaut and a redskins cheerleader! how could such an event *not* be fun??

of course, since you've been paying attention, dear reader, you already know which one jack was ...


quack quack!

let me see you shake a tailfeather!

what have they done to me?

the motley crew

after the party ... jack took one of his longest naps ever -- he was all partied out! and while he slept, mommy made a meal to take to our friends dave, diane and lucy who just brought a new baby brother home from the hospital this week. when we arrived, fairy lucy was headed out to "boo at the zoo." so we said a quick hi-bye and then visited with sweet baby james.

on sunday, jack and mommy went to our first session of "zoo class." besides "boo at the zoo," the national zoo also offers classes for kids. for jack's age group, the class is sign language, focused on the animals at the zoo.


we learn the signs in the classroom through songs and watching the teddy bear known as "signing simon" and then we go out into the zoo to see the animals in real life, where we reinforce the signs. we saw (and signed) animals, such as: elephants, zebras, bears, and hippos. we also learned frog, monkey, lion and tiger, but we didn't get to the monkey house or big cat enclosures during class. jack thought signing simon was hungry after our walk around the zoo, so he tried to feed him cheerios.

the cheerios weren't enough to sustain our hungry boy for long, so after zoo class, when mommy and jack headed out on errands, one of our first stops was for lunch. this is another one of our "special lunches" out, and jack was very good at whole foods as he enjoyed his pumpkin ravioli with cranberries (and some of mommy's mushroom and jack cheese quesadilla!).





after fortification with lunch, we decided it was time for our major errand of the day ... jack's second-ever haircut. since mommy was flying solo, she was in charge of holding jack for the trim, not taking his picture. and suffice it to say, we don't want to remember it in pictures for posterity. it was a much more difficult experience than the first cut. jack was crying, squirming, screaming. but eventually the snipping stopped, jack was given a lollipop, and he returned to his normal friendly self. he even said, "bye bye" to the woman he formerly regarded as the barber of seville.

a trip to the next-door starbucks helped mommy and jack calm down. jack showed off his lollipop and new coif before tucking into that miracle elixir known to his cousins as: "coffee milk." yes, rather than let him eat the lollipop (since he preferred the stick end anway), mommy bought him a box of horizon's organic vanilla milk. and he sucked that down in about 2 seconds flat! almost enough time for mommy to finish her latte ...

jack was a real trooper through all of our errands (even an oil change!) and when we finally headed home, we had a sunday family dinner of feijoada together as a family. somewhere during the meal, jack was apparently kidnapped ... and a gnarly pirate called blackbeard took his place. but after tubbytime, blackbeard was sunk, a sleepy jack reemerged and all was right with the world as he trundled off to bed.

wait til you see ...

well mommy is back from a 30-hour odyssey across the country but she's too tired to come up with much today.

but ... we will be attending a halloween party with all the kids from our mommy group, so we should have a terrifyingly good weekend update for you on monday, gentle readers.

and what will jack be dressed up as, inquiring minds want to know?

well, suffice it to say if it walks like a duck ... and talks like a duck ... (and is zipped into a full-body duck costume)...

but you'll have to check in monday to know for sure!

piano man

mommy is off to tour the wildfires in san diego ... for the day ...

which means awake before jack ... out of the house by 4 a.m. and not back until ... well ... technically it will be friday. an exhausting 20 hours. certainly not a career i would recommend to my progeny for its cushiness.

so if jack is not destined to be in television ... what might he do when he grows up?

how about piano mover?

if you can't see the slide(.com) show, check out this link to an online album of all the photos!


judging by this "performance" ... i'm not sure he's ready for handling the steinways ...

relax...

jack has been getting up pretty early these days. although we prefer him not to awaken until the clock reads "number 7" ... jack is more enamored of "number 5."

and, as one might expect, after he's gotten up at that unholy hour, he is tired before breakfast! so he's been taking little rests ...

but ... because jack is jack ... even this respite doesn't last too long before he's up and at 'em again ...

this morning while mommy was making her bed, jack took the pillows, threw them on the floor, laid down on them and declared "night night." today might *actually* be a decent nap day!

we dread "falling back" for daylight saving time ... is "number 4" in our future? we will not survive!

on another front (or behind), jack's tummy has been a little rocky for the past week and poor guy has got quite a diaper rash going. the doctor advised us to switch from cow's milk to soy milk for a week and see if that helps clear things up. let's just say that jack is not a fan of that new plan. maybe we can compromise ... we switch to goat's milk ... he sleeps until "number 6."

it just might work ...