Bruises, Chickens, Pants, and other Miscellanea

I won’t post a picture of Jake from today because boy does he have a shiner! A “make sure we keep the Owie Report from school in case CPS comes by” kind of shiner. From his eye to his hair line on the side of his face. He fell and hit his face on the slide at school. I hear he was very brave about it. Unlike his skinned knee. Still, it looks pretty bad. Poor baby.

The pictures are from the Slow Food Sacramento picnic last Sunday. Jake had a great time! He got to see chickens, both in and out of the hen house, and even pet one. He also liked looking at the bees in the plexiglass hive. There was another little boy there his age, who had also brought a truck, and they played very nicely together. He also helped me make the pizza and I’m looking forward to the pictures going up on the SFS web site because I think someone there got a great one of him topping the pizza.

Last night was a big moment, and a little unexpected. After his bath we were messing around and putting his PJs on. He took the pants from me and proceeded to put them on ALL BY HIMSELF. Woah! When did you start doing that? Oh, wait, just now! He also got his shirt on with out help. This morning he put his pants and shirt on by himself and tried to button the button on the polo. That gave him some trouble so I’m going to find him some of those toys to practice on. I’ll be buying shoes that lace before I know it.

Speaking of shoes, he got two new pair this weekend. He hadn’t out grown the old ones, they just fell apart. Odd for Stride Rite, but sometimes you get a bad pair. Getting chewed on by Kiba probably didn’t help. Will I miss the flashing fire engines? No. And while he didn’t outgrow the shoes (yet), he is definitely continuing to grow. When he swings on the swing in our yard (that he could barely stay on less than a year ago) he can drag his feet through the grass. Sigh.

His new favorite phrases include “That’s not good.” and “Wait your turn.” Oddly, I hear the last one more often at night when Daddy’s giving out hugs. As in “Mommy, wait your turn.” I’m next to last. There’s an order to the process, mostly in who goes first and last. No, he’s not at all OCD like Steve and I!

He has started watching The Backyardigans as well as his continued love of Dora and Diego. The parents are trying to figure out how to get the super catchy songs from that show out of our heads. Any suggestions (that don’t involve a Surry With Fringe On Top, Steve) are welcome.

It's a family thing

I want to take a moment to introduce the most unusal family dynamic I have ever seen. We were informed by Jake on the way back from Sonoma Sunday that Binky missed his daddy. When asked who Binky's daddy was, he informed us that Murphy is Binky's daddy. Later that night we got the entire family structure.















Murphy (bear) is Binky's daddy.
Merely (meercat) is Binky's mommy.
Magic Lion (lion, obviously) is Binky's abuela (grandma). However, it is unclear whether he/she is the parent of Murphy or Merely. Odd either way based on both species and size.
Meow (cat) is Binky's brother.
Wolfie (wolf) is their pet. As is Pony (horse).

And you thought Thanksgiving at YOUR house was odd.

Every day is Mothers’ Day

We had a lovely Mothers’ Day! I was awakened at 5:50 a.m. (good, by Jake standards) by a gentle tapping. My darling son climbed into bed with us, which is really rare, and Kiba joined. I had Jake cuddled in front of me, Kiba wiggling for pets behind, and Steve behind her. My baby wished me “Happy Mothers’ Day, Mommy.” Doesn’t get better than that! Our picnic was rained on, the Nut Tree closed just as Jake wanted to ride the train and the carousel (so he SAW them running, but didn’t get to ride – horrible timing!), and he didn’t get a good nap, but he was a super trooper all day and not ONE real melt-down. What a big boy he’s getting to be! Speaking of which, while we were at the carousel I stood him next to the “You Must Be This Tall To Ride Alone” sign and he measured 37.5” tall!! That means he’s grown 1” since March 28th! WOW! OK, now I get why all of his pants are suddenly floods!

We had been wondering why he was starting to include some “gibberish” words in his conversation. He used one at Ama’s Saturday night and I asked him what it meant. He replied that it was something “Eddie says.” Eddie is one of the boys in his class that was raised in a Chinese speaking home. He has very little English and the teachers have picked up a few words in Chinese to communicate. Apparently, so has my boy! He couldn’t tell me what it meant, but the fact that he’s picking some of it up amazes me!

Jake got his first skinned knee that was “Band Aid worthy” this weekend. It’s amazing to me that it’s taken this long! He’s constantly climbing things, jumping off of things, and running but this is the first one that’s bled. He was very brave (not really, but we told him he was) and got his spray of Neosporin and a bandage. It’s either a testimony to how cautious he is, not doing things he can’t handle, or how coordinated he is. I’m not sure which.

Last weekend we got Jake a kite (with a train on it!), which he loves flying at the park with Daddy. He has also gotten to be quite the baseball player – at least when it comes to batting. I showed him how to keep his eye on the ball and he now SMACKS it across the yard. And I have the bruise on my stomach to prove it! It’s amazing to me that this was my 3d Mothers’ Day and that I MADE the little baby who is turning into a little boy right before my eyes. You really are my sunshine, Sweetie, and the best Mothers’ Day present ever.