Clean Bill of Health

Today we took Jack to see his pediatrician for a follow up exam. He came through with flying colors! According to the doctor we shouldn't baby him or treat him any differently than we normally would. When we asked if it was still OK for us to take him to Disneyland next week he said absolutely. "If he throws up it'll be because of the ride, not the accident. He's totally fine." We still can hardly believe how blessed we are.

Tonight we will be sticking close to home. I have boeuf bourguinon in the oven and Moet & Chandon in the refrigerator. Even in the pre-Jack era, we prefered staying home, cuddling on the couch with a good movie instead of going out to to deal with crowded dance floors and drunken mobs.

We hope the New Year brings you health, prosperity and happiness! Honestly, this year was so fabulous, it'll be hard to top.
Happy New Year!

Strawberry Goatee

It's not blood!! Today on the way back from the park Mommy gave me some strawberry snacks. They were yummy! I got them on my cheeks, chin, mouth, lips, nose and hands. Mommy and Daddy thought it was cute. They said so long as I'm healthy I can get as messy as I want! Bring on the mud!

Grace of God

Let me begin by saying that Jack is OK. Our family suffered the scare of a lifetime last Sunday when Jack managed to squeeze through the bannister railing at Grandma's house and fall 10 - 12 feet down onto stairs and a hardwood floor. Grandpa and Daddy had just installed a permanent gate at the top of the staircase to keep our little adventurer from going up and down without an adult. Unfortunately, it allowed us all to let our guard down, thinking we had created a more safe environment for him. As it turns out, the bannister spindles near the stairs are spaced a bit wider than the others. Jack recognized this and squeezed through, trying to bypass the gate. Since we did not actually see the events unfold, we can only speculate about what actually happened. But it appears as if he fell about 10 feet down, landing on one of the lowest stairs on his left shoulder blade and then falling forward one or two stairs to rest face first on the hardwood floor. The events from that moment until we got to the hospital flash by in freeze frame fashion. We remember racing to the landing, then being on the floor next to him, then upstairs with him on the bed, then in the car driving to the emergency room. The wonderful nurses and doctors at Little Company of Mary took us in instantly. He was given an IV, neck collar and then off for CAT scans and x-rays of every part of his body. Here is the point at which we realized that we had been involved in a miracle. He is fine. Doctors could find NO evidence of ANY broken bones or internal injuries. No brain injury, no neck fractures, no damage to any organs, no internal bleeding, no dislocated joints, not even a cracked rib! The only injuries he sustained were a few bruises on his forehead, back and shoulder and a good sized abrasion on his left shoulder blade. Dr. Carr's diagnosis was "a miracle." We ask that you join us in praying for God to keep Jack free of any negative effects from this terrible accident and thanking Him for working such an amazing miracle for us. We are confident that His hand broke Jack's fall and His arms carried us all through to safety.

We had planned on returning from our Christmas travels and posting about our lovely dinner with family and my dad's surprise 65th birthday party. Instead, we returned home with a Christmas miracle. Our hearts and heads have never been more clear about the joys of the season. We hope you are all having safe and memorable holidays.

Christmas Vacation

That is a warm peanut butter cookie with a melty chocolate kiss. Thanks to The Ruffin's for sharing some Christmas cheer...Jack loved it! His face was covered in chocolate.

We are having a quiet Christmas Eve at our house tonight. Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and waiting for Santa to drop in. Jack had his best nap ever, just to make sure he was on the nice list. We hope you all have a wonderful evening and a merry Christmas tomorrow. Give each other a hug for us.

Check-out Lady

Dear Grocery Store Check-out Lady,
Thank you for your brilliant parenting tips today. There is nothing more helpful to a stressed-out mother than having you explain the naptime, lunchtime, shopping time cycle while a wailing two year old screams in the shopping cart. Your diatribe regarding how YOU managed your children when they were little (in order to avoid scenarios like mine) was both insightful and inspiring. I hope to one day be a perfect mom like you and raise perfect children who never cry due to teething, feeling ill, or just plain being cranky. Perhaps your position in the express lane is not your calling. Have you considered a daytime show like Dr. Phil? Maybe until the networks call you can just scan and bag my 15 lousy items QUICKLY, so that I may get home sooner. Thanks.

Christmas Tree Lane

Last night Rob and I took Jack to Christmas Tree Lane to see all of the houses decked out for the holidays. It was a first for both Jack and Rob! The displays were excellent. We saw many Santas, "no" men (as Jack calls them), penguins and reindeer. One house even had two electric trains set up in an elaborate snow town. There were lights, garlands, wreaths, trees and more lights. There were carolers singing in Spanish, nativity scenes with life-sized camels and more than one inflatable Grinch:-) Jack was amazed, thrilled and totally delighted. He was adorable bundled up in his hat, mittens and parka. We all had a wonderful time and I believe we started a new family tradition.

Duct Tape

For those of you who are fans of duct tape...yet another use for it. If your two year old is angry that you are making him take a nap, and he strips down naked to get even...duct tape the diaper on with the seam in the back. He'll get pretty mad, but he won't pee on the sheets:-)

Spirit of the Holidays

Gracie still wants to be an only child. She continues to be standoffish toward Jack. (Except for when he is eating, in which case she puts on her cutest puppy ears and patiently waits for him to drop a scrap.) Don't get me wrong, Gracie isn't hostile or aggressive, she just is the only Lab in America who doesn't have time for children.

Well, in the spirit of Christmas, she allowed Jack to cuddle with her on the couch this morning. There they are, like three peas in a pod. For a brief moment in time she thawed her icy demeanor and allowed a little love in. Maybe there is hope for our puppy Grinch to love her buddy Jack.

On the Chart!

Today, Jack had his 2 year old check-up with Dr. Chronis. The exciting news? He's on the chart! He weighs 25 lbs. and is 34 inches tall. He actually landed in the 15%-ile for both height and weight! This is a major accomplishment for the child who has always landed at about the zero %-ile! I told the doctor that I sent him to Grandma Laura's for a couple days to fatten him up especially for this appointment! Maybe it was the cookies and homemade mac last night that did it. Otherwise, he is perfect (like we needed an M.D. to tell us that!) He's using 2 syllable/ 2 word combinations and having tantrums right on schedule. He did need two shots, but he was pretty good. He quit crying before we left the building. The bad news of the day? His new napping habit, or lack of napping habit? "Well, that's just him. Sorry." That was not the Christmas present I was hoping for from him.

Birthday Boy

Jack celebrated his big second birthday yesterday! First he slept in his big boy bed overnight (all night). When we heard him up moving around in the morning, Rob grabbed the flip video and I grabbed his first gift. We entered singing Happy Birthday. He was a little sleepy and confused at first, but when he saw the present he decided it was all good. He opened his new dinotoys, dinoshirt and dino jacket. After a yummy birthday breakfast he set off to Karen's with a plate of dinocookies to share with his friends. Not a bad way to start the day! In the evening he had homemade mac 'n cheese with hot dogs for dinner. However, his favorite part of dinner was eating Mommy's cucumber slices off the salad..."More, more." Well, it was his birthday, who am I to deny him cucumber slices!

After dinner it was cake time. I made a yummy vanilla cake for him and stood

his dinocookies up on it.

He was thrilled! He didn't really care about the cake, but he clenched that dinocookie in his fist and gobbled it up. Who knew stegosauruses tasted so good.

After cake he opened a few presents. He got some books, a Lightning McQueen jacket, and more Cars toys.

He is a professional gift unwrapper now, his birthday was good training for Christmas. After his busy, busy day he fell asleep HARD! All in all, He seems to have had an excellent day. Happy Birthday Little BooBoo.

Email to Santa

Dear Santa,
My parents think I am still a baby so they will probably buy something lame for me for Christmas. I heard them talking about something called a Radio Flyer. I hope it really flies. Anyway, I am really a big boy now and I would like my own computer. I'd like a nice Sony laptop, or maybe a Mac book like Daddy. I'm sorry about all those melt downs lately, thank you for understanding.
Yours truly,
Jack

Countdown to Christmas

The last two weeks have flashed by! Last weekend we got our Christmas tree. We tried to get it on Sunday morning, but Jack melted down in Target, so we headed home. We figured we'd go after his nap. No nap (again), but we went Sunday evening to Big Wave Dave's. Of course, he loved the little red sports car way more than the trees! We managed to get a tree anyway. It took us about three days to finish decorating it, but it really looks pretty. You'd never know we used only plastic ornaments for the lower 4 feet! And we replaced our old lights with new LEDs. Looks great and uses far less energy, nice!
On Monday (after 2 days with NO NAP) I decided to take Jack with our friends Junia and Eden to a great indoor kids playground. Two-story kids climbing area, completely padded and enclosed. Slides, bounce house, play houses, tricyles, ball pit...awesome! He had so much fun playing for nearly 3 hours! Took him home, lunch and...still no nap! You've gotta be kidding me!
On Tuesday we walked to the park where he played for about an hour. Finally, he napped that afternoon. He thinks he is such a big boy, but this refusal to nap is a nightmare for us all. He gets crabby, which makes Mommy crabby, which makes Daddy crabby...you get the picture. So if you are the praying type, pray for sleep at our house:-)

So you don't think he is all 2 year old temper tantrums, here's a cute photo of him ready for our evening outing to see the neighborhood Christmas displays. Our next door neighbors have an inflatable Santa that Jack loves. He says, "San Clau..HO HO HO!" Too cute!

He puts on his ski parka from last winter and his little knit ski cap. When he saw me wear my knit cap the other night, he thought it was so cool that he wore his for almost two straight days! It's nice to know someone thinks I'm cool. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Other than that, we have been enjoying fires in the fireplace for the last few nights. Daddy is an excellent fire builder! In his absence last night (late work evening) Jack insisted I build a fire. I went out to the wood pile, loaded my arms with logs and returned to the back door to hear...click! Jack learned how to lock the sliding glass door-with me outside in the rain! After checking all the other doors and spending about 10 minutes trying to get Jack to unlock the door I finally climbed in through the doggie door! Thank goodness we have a big dog!

It is always an adventure!