Canada Part I: Travelin'

"I will never be one of those parents who has a tv in the car - I can't think of anything more ridiculous!" I said years ago. So, we got the portable DVD player for the car recently. Actually, we got it especially for our trip to Canada. We figured that 7 hours in the plane followed by 7 hours in a car the next day may be a tad more bearable for everyone involved if there was a screen of some sort for Jack to get lost in. Sad to say, it worked like a charm. On our way there we didn't have to deploy our screen until the car ride. The AirCanada plane that we were on had tvs in the back of all the headrests so the Monkey had his very own, touch-screen, monitor with tons of kids shows and movies to keep him entertained. This made our cheap little DVD player a bit less exciting and also prone to destruction as he kept punching at the screen to change the video which of course didn't work and made him frustrated which lead to kicking at the screen which lead to us having to remove it altogether. Overall though, Jack proved once again to be a pretty good little traveler. He liked watching the planes come and go out the airport window and wasn't bothered a bit by the turbulence unlike his white-knuckled mom next to him. He got a little bored and acted out on a few occasions but luckily these were short-lived and pretty understandable given how short on sleep he was.

You Talk Too Much

Well the silence is broken. We officially have a chatterbox on our hands. He is still working on putting phrases and sentences together but it seems like he picks up at least 2 new words a day. We were running errands today and picked up lunch while we were out. On the drive home Dan opened the bag of chips we were going to have with our sandwiches and Jack piped up from the backseat, "Please!" Needless to say we were some proud parents! Of course we think that he thinks that chips are called please but we'll take what we get. He has invented some fun words. He calls pillows "bow" and the phone "Mamie". He also makes almost every word plural so we are asked to "moves". Of course his favorite word is "No" which he uses with startling frequency. And to think we thought it was so cute at first!

Moved

We survived. We've been in the house for just over a week and all the boxes that are going to be unpacked have been, all the appliances have been put to the test, the morning walking route is pretty much finalized, and we even have our Virginia driver's licenses. Through it all Jack behaved pretty well for a kid on the verge of 2 - a few meltdowns, lots of "no's", and a few new words like box and house. Of course we did have a secret weapon - Mamie. Dan's mom came out on the 2nd of July and immediately threw herself on the Jack grenade. The movers arrived on the 1st and as they unloaded I put Jack's room and loft in order. When Mamie got here the next day she and Jack were able to play upstairs while Dan and I unpacked boxes and arranged furniture downstairs. It was so nice to hear the sounds of the Monkey and his Mamie upstairs - little laughs, long unintelligible conversations, books being read and toys being played with - while we worked. It seemed to make the work go faster, or at least be slightly more pleasant. Of course we couldn't help but feel like we were taking advantage some of the time, especially when we snuck out to run errands while Mamie and Jack were both napping. We left a note of course, but it still felt naughty. It was also nice to have an excuse to take a break and get to see some of the town. On Sunday morning we went down to Colonial Williamsburg (CW) with Otis in tow and walked through the streets. It was a cool misty morning so it was relatively quite and we had the place mostly to ourselves as we wandered. I bought some herbs for the patio from a colonial vendor - I was assured that the colonists had basil, thyme and chives, even cayenne pepper was grown then - then we got some delicious sandwiches for lunch and headed home. We were all rather sad to see Mamie leave, Jack especially. Thanks to her help the house is actually livable - in fact with the toys strewn about you might even think we had been here much longer than a week!

We Went Down South

We just got home from our scouting trip to Virginia. In 3 short days we were able to not only see a little of Colonial Williamsburg but also find a house for the upcoming year, check out a few grocery stores, and even get to know the local Urgent Care Center. We made the 4 1/2 hour drive down last Sunday, stopping for an hour at a McDonald's with a play place so Jack could let off some steam. I've never been so grateful for a McDonald's although I really wish I could have that hour back. On Monday we wandered around Colonial Williamsburg ("the CW" to the locals) for most of the morning. It really is a spectacular place. I was really surprised by just how charming and impressive it was. I think I was expecting things to be more Disneyfied with a lot of Ye Olde Shoppes selling colonial themed junk made in China and people in cheap costumes talking in fake accents being overly friendly. Thankfully, none of this was the case. The buildings have been beautifully restored, the shops sell mostly hand-made reproductions, many made by local crafts people, and the people in costumes speak in normal voices but at the same time take their jobs very seriously and will provide a wealth of information if you are interested. Jack was taken by the drains and the crushed shells that line the sidewalks - combining the two was especially satisfying. Tuesday, Jack got to play with Mimi and G'Pa who came to town to entertain the boy while Dan and I looked for a house. While Jack spent the morning at the park with the Grands, Dan and I looked at overpriced apartments, several passable town homes, and some nice but far flung houses. That evening we had dinner at Shield's Tavern in the CW - really fun, good for Jack as it was incredibly noisy and there were kids everywhere, and kind of charming with real candles and a woman playing a harp - no serving wenches in sight. At this point it should be noted that Mimi and G'Pa both arrived feeling a bit under the weather - when we work up on Wednesday morning, Mimi had taken a turn for the worse and G'Pa carted her off to the local Urgent Care Center where she was diagnosed with bronchitis and loaded up with drugs. Dan and I took Jack with us as we looked at 2 last houses then we all headed back to the hotel for naps. Mimi and G'Pa took off early Thursday morning and we hit the road after lunch. On the drive home we finalized the details on a house so I can happily report that we have a place to live come July. It is a nice sized townhouse close to campus so Dan can walk to work. Best of all, it was central air and a dishwasher! CW here we come!

The Sound of Silence

Well, not complete silence just not any intelligible words. So far Jack has decided not to speak. From time to time he will bust out with a new word or phrase but in a few days it will fade out never to be uttered again. For awhile it was "Otis" then he moved onto "big truck" and the phrase du jour is "what's that." He is a whizz at making animal noises, the elephant is his favorite. He also makes a ton of noises on his own - we think he sounds like the aliens in the claw game in the Toy Story movies, "ooooooooo, aaahhhh" - and holds long conversations with us but all with out using any words that we can understand. He understands us perfectly, when he chooses to, and will answer questions with an enthusiastic "Yeah!" Because he obviously understands and know words I'm not at all worried about developmental problems and to be honest I'm not that desperate for him to talk. Given how chatty he is now with no vocabulary I'm sure that once he has words Dan and I won't be able to keep up. So for now we will enjoy his little sound monologues and wonder what's on his mind until he decides to share with us in English.

Success

We've had a breakthrough. About 2 weeks ago Jack decided that he actually liked going to the Academy. One day when I dropped him off I was braced for the usual fit but when I set him down he looked at me and walked over to his teacher, Miss Bonnie, for a hug then joined his friends in the corner for a story. It was all I could do to not run over and hug him and tell him how proud of him I was. Instead I quietly tip-toed out the door and had a little celebration dance by myself in the car. Since then every time I drop him off he gives me a little hug and then happily hops down and scampers over to play with his friends. I'm one proud and relieved Mama! And, what friends he has. When he comes in the door a few of the kids say, "It's Jack!" and come over to welcome him to class. One little boy in particular is especially happy to see Jack, he runs over and immediately starts hugging Jack and then lays a few big juicy kisses on him. As Miss Bonnie says, "Brayden is right at that line of appropriate behavior, we have to keep an eye on the kissing or it gets out of control pretty quickly!" I can deal with the kissing as long as the drop off tantrums are over!

The Monkey

The climbing has gotten out of control. He climbs everything he sees, the shelves in the kitchen, up and down the stairs, onto the dining room table, over the sofa, even out of his crib. He is surprisingly good at it. I turn my head for the briefest second and he is on top of the table reaching for the hot coffee. There have been numerous times when I have gone to the kitchen to refill my water glass and by the time I get back to the living room he is upstairs happily putting his toys in the bathtub - which he can also climb in and out of. To complicate our lives even further he is also very tall so can reach the tops of the counters - all the better to pull himself - and the door knobs. We've baby proofed the door knobs, making it difficult for all of us to get out of the house, but raising the counters seems out of the question. I'm fairly certain it will only get worse before it gets better. During a trip to Port Discovery in Baltimore with Mimi and G'Pa he thought it was hilarious to go head first down the slide he had just climbed up.