California State Fair!

This weekend was Jake's first CA State Fair experience! We went mostly for the petting zoo (for Jake), the zucchini weenie (for Dad), and the time with family. Jake's Ama and MeMaw went too. Jake got to pet a llama, an alpaca, a wallaby, goats, deer, and a donkey. The llama and the donkey were the hits - I'm not entirely sure the donkey wasn't a tribute to recently passed Sen. Kennedy. We are a family of Democrats after all! Still, not as much of a fan of the petting zoo as I would have thought. He mostly wanted to climb the fence out and get to the carousel. Boy is a nut for a carousel.

We also saw the arts and "Weird, Wild, and Wacky" exhibits. Jake loved the guy playing the saw. "Mommy! Violin! Well, not exactly, but he was playing it with a bow, and who am I to argue. We also tried to get on the monorail but, after wrestling Jake out of his stroller to check it in and getting the little ticket for the stroller check, we were informed that it was a 35 minute wait. Uh, no. It was 93 degrees out, almost 5 p.m., and we were going home. So, over chants of "Choo choo! Choo choo!" we strapped Jake back in and made for the exit. Very disappointing.

However, on the whole, I think the clear favorite event for Jake at the Fair was the food. He polished off an entire ear of BBQ'd corn and a huge spear of watermelon. Not to mention about a bottle and a half of water. Ama had to trick him to get the gnawed-down-to-the-nub corn cob away from him and still a few minutes later he was asking for it again. Hmmm... at least I know his weakness now...

All quiet on the home front

Well, it's been a week of good and bad. The good news is that (as of this writing) there have been no further accidents (that left marks or required a call from school). Unfortunately, we also have lost our hummies. I went out last night and checked on them and the whole nest (with the exception of the very bottom) was gone. I'm sincerely hoping it wasn't the gardner, but something along the lines of a squirrel might be worse. Whatever the cause, our little family is gone and we're very sad. We still get the visits to the feeder, but no more baby. And I would assume, after this incident, that they are not likely to be back - at least not that low. Our yard is just not a safe place for hummies. :-(
On a brighter note, I would say that Jake definately gets the concept of colors now. He's pretty good with yellow, orange, green, and pink. Will sometimes get blue, white, and purple. Red is tough and, like most men, anything other than that is completely foreign. This may relate to his new tendancy to want to pick his own shirt out in the mornings. For some reason the white polo is "no" despite it not being Labor Day yet. I guess toddlers have their own fashion rules.

Hurricane Jake

Well, it's not been a good week so far for Jake's head. Here's the run down of his week, so far - and it's only Wednesday:

Sunday, while playing on his new fort, he walked straight into the side of the steps. Didn't leave a mark and after a few minutes of crying, we were back to playing.

Sunday, 20 minutes later: while climbing UP the slide, fell from about 3 feet and landed on his head on the grass. More crying. This one earned a trip inside. Ear is swollen and red. Mommy, in a fit of caution, let him stay up late (to make sure there was no damage). He wheedled a little Nemo, ice cream, and an extra book before bed: clearly no permanent damage to the brain.

Monday: Amazingly, no serious mishaps.

Tuesday: At school, while coming in from recess and flirting with the girls (according to sources who were there), ran full into a door. Bruise on the forehead and bruising around the eye. Not quite half a raccoon, but working on it.

I swear, the week before his 2 year pictures I'm going to wrap him in bubble wrap. I don't know how CPS does its job with 2 year olds - they all look like they've been beaten!

News from the home front

We have guests in the back yard! While water-sealing Jake's new fort, I discovered a hummingbird nest in the tree in the back yard. It's down really low so it's pretty easy to see in. We have one itty-bitty baby hummie and an egg that didn't hatch. I wish Jake was older so that he could appreciate the amazing thing that this is, but, alas, it falls to me to wonder at the miracle that is a humming bird.

Jake was so cute tonight. We went on our nightly walk and he insisted on walking Dippy. It was precious - him walking down the street holding her leash. She was really good about not pulling or doing anything that would endanger him. And he was pretty good about waiting for her to go potty before walking on. Of course, at his speed she could have taken a nap and still caught up to us before the end of the leash was reached. He walked half way around the block and only stopped when we met up with his friend Lauren.

Yeah, this is a picture of my son's interesting choice of accessories. A lovely orange plush anklet (ok, dog toy) contrasted with the bright green monkey boa. Of course, the bright blue dinosaur water bottle is a must for the well-dressed toddler as well. Nice.

One more month and he can join up with all of his friends in the 2-3 year old room. He really misses the, especially Jack, and is a little bored being the oldest in his current room. It just makes me even more sure that he needs to start Pre-1st when he's one of the younger kids in the class. He loves a challenge!

L'Artiste!

Oy vey! They grow up so fast!

So this is a silly post but something every "Jewish Mother" should be proud of. My little Chaim Lior, Jake said his first Yiddish word this weekend. See, Dippy (the dog) has this fish. It's white and blue plush (it was a Hanukkah present 3 years ago - yes, the dog celebrates Hanukkah too) and it has"Gefilte" embroidered on it and when you squeeze it, it says "Oy vey" and then makes bubbling noises. Jake has played with this before (yes, they share toys) and thought it was funny, but no big deal. But Sunday he was playing with it and laughing every time it "talked." At one point he looked at me and said "Fish says 'oy vey!'" Well, understandibly, I cracked up. Which only egged him on (fortunately, because this is definately a behavior I want to encourage) and he will now tell anyone who wants to know that "Dippy's fish says 'oy vey." Complete with head-slapping action. Now I have to teach him to use it in context: "Oy vey, I had such a day at school, Mommy!"

Jake climbing

I was asked to post pictures of Jake playing on his new fort (just to prove it's in OUR yard? I'm not sure). So here they are. The girl in the first one is Jake's friend Lauren. She goes to school with him and lives around the corner.

Time flies. I was looking at the past posts on the blog yesterday and came across the one labeled "100 words!" Oh, my gosh (I thought) that must have been AGES ago! Ummm.... June 8th. Wow. Two months later and he's at 180 and full sentences. He looked at Ama while she was babysitting last weekend and told her (after many previous attempts to communicate) "Ama, I need a snack!" Wow.