Bread maker from Uncle Mark

Jack got a bread maker from Uncle Mark which he very much enjoys demonstrating how to use.

We have begun making a concentrated effort not to laugh at Jack when he is doing things that he clearly takes seriously, or feels that he is bring "grown up" when he does them. 

More teeth

So guess what I read? Babies/kids have 30% more taste buds than adults. It's part of what makes them so fussy about what they eat. Everything is super intense, kind of like Homer on last night's episode of The Simpsons, where Homer has super sensitive taste buds.

Daily intakes:

4/22/09

Jack Simon spent a long time outside this morning. He spent a long time under the tree pulling the bell cords back and forth, causing the bells to chime.

And an incident: 

Jack was walking toward tunnel. he lost his balance and fell. He hit his face against the top part of the tunnel. First aid: hugs and kisses, he refused to put "icy" on his nose

4/24/2009

Jack went outside and helped Jack L. look for birds! He was so excited when he found one.

4/27/2009

Jack was climbing up the jungle gym outside! (he started doing this at the playground on Sunday as well)

He would go in & out a whole bunch of times following his friends from Room 2

April 20th Daily Intake form

Jack really likes to load the baby ducks onto the back of the mama rubber duck and then carry them around the house. He is very careful and sets them down very gently.

We are testing out the his new sandals now while the weather is hot so he's used to them when we go to North Carolina.

April 20, 2009

Jack had fun playing with water and splashing around with his hands. (He was in a shirt and diaper when I came to pick him up, his buddy J.R. was in a diaper and a backpack.)

And an incident of course:

While running Jack tripped and bumped his head on the mirror. First aid: Icy and lots of hugs and kisses (Shelby)

clothes, school

Jack does not like putting on clothes these days. I don't think he minds wearing them, I think he just doesn' t like taking time out of his busy schedule to put them on. He enjoys watching the Muppets' "Mana mana". Jack's been having a lot of trouble sleeping again. Last night he woke up every hour from 10:30 pm 'til dawn. We're trying to figure out if it's because it's been incredibly hot lately, if he's teething again, if it's residual pain from having a cold or the fact that he doesn't really eat much at night.

I think Jack has so many "incidents" at school because he doesn't sleep enough and he's tired and accident prone. There's so many things that we as adults can be reminded of while watching kids. Like why it's so important to sleep enough and how we can get whiney when we're hungry without even realizing it's because we're hungry.

From daily intake:

April 13, 2009

Jack had fun visiting Room 2 today. He loved to play with "medicine set" and flubber.

April 15, 2009

Jack was the first to see our new tin containers! He loved them so much. He gathered toys to place in them and shook them.

And an incident: While walking over to the pillows, Jack slipped and hit his nose on the stacking cups. Since his skin was dry around his nose, he got a small cut. First aid: cold water on a paper towel and an icey.

April 17, 2009

Jack, Olu and Christopher worked all afternoon trying to get his sock off of the tunnel.

bye bye

Jack really likes looking inside the refrigerator these days. He talks and touches the bottles and things but doesn't take anything out. We don't want to waste energy and we were starting to get into battles with him when we'd try to close the door. Then the other day he waved bye bye and said "bye" when I closed the door (I think because I let him hold the cheese so he thought our work was done). Now we just say "bye" when we close the door and everything is fine.

Jack loves to point out his elbows, his tongue and his bellybutton. Also, pointing to my elbows makes him laugh like crazy. 

When we play "head, shoulders, knees and toes" Jack has figured out that he's supposed to point to his toes so he just bends down and points to his toes for the duration of the song.

School Update

Sean and I have been noticing how Jack understands most of everything that's going on. Which is crazy to think about when you realize he can't really talk and probably won't remember most of these days. I asked him to go hand something to Papa and he did. Sean asked him where the applesauce was and he walked over and pointed to the refrigerator (did I tell you that already?) I ask him if he wants to do something and he says a word that I can only describe as sounding exactly like the German "ja". He also says "noooooo" frequently, but generally also means "yes". 

Last week's Daily Intake Reports:

April 6, 2009

We had the water table out today. Jack had lots of fun by creating big splashes with his hands. It made him laugh so hard and get him very soaked.

April 8, 2009

Jack had an awesome time outside today! He got to use all different colors of paint with his friends.

(on this day when I came into Jack's classroom to pick him up he was washing and drying his hands with the help of his teacher Shelby. She showed him where to throw away his paper towel and he crumpled it up and threw it out. Since then I've encouraged him to help me throw things away-in the garbage, in the recycling, etc.)

April 10, 2009

Jack had a great day, he really enjoyed painting with his friends today.

and an "incident" (that word always cracks me up):

Jack was in another child's space, and the child bite Jack on the cheek. (First aid: icee, hugs and kisses)

(by the time I got there I couldn't see any visible signs of where he was bit)

Jack also likes to walk down the hall by himself after school (sometimes holding my hand) and peek in the doors of the other classrooms (they're clear). Then he runs down the ramp and then he usually wants to run back up and back down over and over. At the busstop he likes to play with the seats in the shelter that swing, and play peek-a-boo. When the bus comes he points to it and likes to be the one to show the bus driver the bus pass, then he shows it to whoever is around us on the bus. To keep ourselves busy we sing "The wheels on the bus", eat crackers (against the rules), drink water, and play with a toy if I remember to bring one. Jack still likes to socialize with the people around him, although he often plays bashful once he gets their attention. When we get off the bus I tell Jack how much farther we have to go and what we have to do to get there-down the street, around the corner, up the stairs, etc.).

funny

oh yea, and Jack was playing with the phone at my mom's house, which is the old kind with a cord. when he couldn't walk any further with it, he turned back and stared at the cord with utter shock!

from Daily Intake April 3, 2005

Jack Simon had a blast pointing to his belly and belly button. We did some finger painting today :) He also was showing us his tongue.

School, Travel and Home

Jack loves playing with the backpack so much that his dear teacher loaned him one from school to take on his recent trip to Wisconsin. We were walking through campus on our way to the bus and Jack found this curb which was just the right height to sit on and he very proudly sat down and "hung out" while watching the student go by. He really didn't want to leave.

Jack continues to be drawn to traffic cones as well.

Although we spent a lot of time driving, Jack had a pretty good time in Wisconsin. He got to meet lots of other kids and play with their toys. In the past Jack hasn't cared very much about his stuffed animals or dolls at school. He still mostly thinks of them as inanimate objects with no anthropomorphic qualities. So it was utterly fascinating to me when he began pushing around this baby doll at my friend Karen's house. He kissed it's head and rubbed it like when we tell him to "be gentle" then he took it out of the stroller and carried it like a regular baby over to the couch. He got up on the couch with it and sat for a while holding it before he laid down with it. I encouraged him by telling him what a good daddy and that he was taking very good care of the baby, but it was all him. It was really sweet. I think it may have been because the doll was almost as big as him and was squishy in the middle with a bald head. 

He also spent some great time playing at Grandma's house. Highlights were taking pots and pans out of the drawer, kicking empty milk jugs in the kitchen and watching the cars go down the ramp on the Fisher Price garage. Jack has gotten on a fairly regular sleep pattern which made sleeping at Grandma's house that much easier, even with the time change. He generally wakes up in the morning around 7, takes a nap around 11 or 12 for a couple hours, then goes to bed around 8 pm and pretty much only wakes up once at night around 4:30. It's nice to finally feel like we're not living on sleep deprivation planet all the time anymore.

Today we went to the park and Jack played in the mud left by a leaky sprinkler. He got really really muddy and concentrated very intently on the mud in his fingers and the spray of the leaky hose.  Then we went to Underdog where we split a hotdog and Jack drank out a juicebox straw for the first time. (He did very well and enjoyed holding onto the little juicebox himself.) Then we went home for a warm bath. 

Jack has learned to frown and practices it occasionally which is pretty funny because it happens randomly. He also says something that sounds like "nawwwww" for "yes". He's pretty adept at using sign language for "full", "more" and "eat". The other day he actually signed "eat more". So I took him in the kitchen and asked him if he wanted more to eat and he said "yea" and raised his arms to be lifted into his high chair. At Grandma's house apparently he just rattles his high chair.

from Daily Intake forms:

March 18, 2009

Jack went outside this afternoon and read Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book to all his friends.

March 30, 2009

Jack loved to play with stacking ducks. He was sitting and trying to put them together for about 5-6 minutes.

April 1, 2009

Jack walked outside because he noticed that bubbles were being blown. He chased after them while laughing and while wearing a purple tutu.