My Kids Will Be Eating This Soon.

The Spanky Cristo.

Believe it.

Blogging Is Easy When Someone Else Does It For You.

Click here for a picture of Jack.

(Yes, this is the pinnacle of lazy.)

Since Crying and a Digital Thermometer Are Just Too Much Work

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/18/babyglow-temperature-sensing-clothing-because-youre-dumber-tha/

Today, I'm Proud to be Irish.

Found, Part Deux.

I always understood and accepted (mostly based on jokes told by New York residents and Saturday Night Live skits) that New Jersey's environment isn't really taken care of by its residents.

Without such intention, this blog pretty much proves it. But before you dismiss it, scroll through a few pages. The photography is pretty good, and the scenes the author captures are worth your time.

We Now Speak "Samhili," Too.

We speak fluent Jackanese. We now speak Samhili, too.

As a good little baby should, Sam has been making repetitive sounds for a month or so. But only this last week did he begin to associate them. Much to Ashley's delight, Sam did not follow Jack's lead and instead said "Ma-Ma" first (as opposed to "Da-Da"). Crawling in her direction, he'll babble on, "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma..."

Further (and quite unsurprisingly, considering the child's voracious appetite) his next word was associated with his main form of sustenance: Ba-Ba for "bottle."

Hopefully, "Da-Da" will be listed as one of his first five words.

In Other News,

So we can't bribe, threaten or cajole Jack to use the toilet for #2, but oh sure, your robotic vacuum cleaner will. Life is just laughing its rear off at us right now.

Pottytraining Diaries - Week 16

Peeing in the toilet is now generally accepted convention in our house.  #2, however, is not.  In fact, it's willfully avoided.  Nowadays, Jack wears underwear during the day, and a "pull-up" diaper at night.  He likes to drink water and/or milk before bed and he routinely urinates in the night so we've retreated to the use of a pull-up during the bedtime stretches.  Interestingly enough, he does not release #2's in his underwear, and recently has been waiting for bedtime to relieve himself.  

This week, however, Jack had an unexpected surprise: the need to "go" long before bedtime.  Ashley tells me that while she was tending to some laundry, Jack disappeared into his room and closed the door (nothing to be surprised by, he will take "personal time" for 10-20 minutes at times, playing peacefully in his room as he desires.)  This time, however, he remained in the room for almost 35 minutes before Ashley, sensing something was askew, knocked and asked what he was doing.  She could hear the noises of his handheld computer game, so she cracked the door.  He announced, "I have poop."  

Ashley was shocked and disappointed, thinking that he had fumbled and let fly in his underwear.  But upon closer inspection, she discovered he was wearing a pull-up.  Apparently, Jack had retreated into his room, removed his shorts and underwear, climbed up onto the top of his dresser (where the pull-ups are kept), donned the training pants, dropped the Cleveland Browns off at the Super Bowl, and never missed a beat.  

The one bright spot from all of this is that he's learning how to dress/undress himself.  

Jack Knows His ABC's AND His Pop Culture Icons

[Scene:  Jack and TJ sitting on the couch watching baseball.]

Jack:  Do you know that lady with the big thing on her head that I saw at Aaron & Tina's today?

TJ: No.  Remember, I was working, not having fun with you today.  

Jack:  Well, her name was Lady GaGa.  [looking at TJ with all seriousness.]

TJ: [caught off guard by the name-drop of "Lady GaGa," begins to chuckle heartily.  Jack, at first confused, joins in and starts laughing at his unintentional joke.]

Jack:  HER NAME IS LADY GAGA [laughs]

TJ: [laughs]

Jack: HER! NAME! IS! LADY! GAGA! [falls down laughing]

Ashley: [to TJ, incredulously] You know who Lady GaGa is?

Sam is Crawling

We've been monitoring Sam's progress for a while, expecting that any day now, he'd figure out how to keep his knees up and under him and coordinate his arms and legs to start moving on his own.  Jack crawled at nine months, but we didn't expect Sam would match that date since he was eight weeks premature.  We were wrong.  When I arrived home today, I put Sam down on the bed while I changed.  He immediately took a four point stance and started scooting toward me.  Previously, he could achieve only the four point stance, rock back and forth, and then push himself back up into a seated position.  For a while, he was pushing himself backwards, but driving in reverse wasn't his goal, I imagine.  

While we celebrate this momentous occasion (pun intended), it's time to break out the electrical plug covers, and start moving all items below waist level to higher ground.