Ice Percusion Concert

Jack has three new major interests in his life:
1. The Rockettes
2. Lobsters
3. Drums & Marching Bands

I recorded a PBS special around Thanksgiving that showcased the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, featuring the Rockettes and he has been obsessed with it since (particularly the march of the wooden soldiers). He received this DVD in his stocking for Christmas so I can free up space on the DVR.

As for the lobster obsession, he has taken a great fascination with the lobster tank at Meijer and we take him probably twice a week just to look at lobsters. Every once in a while he gets lucky and the fishmonger will take a lobster out of the tank for us to "pet" (Jack hasn't quite mustered the courage to do this yet). He talks about lobsters all the time though and frequently creates drawings titled something like "lobsters in a tank moving their legs and looking for food."


With regard to drums and marching bands, the interest was born in the fall when I took him to some of the U of M marching band practice sessions during the week or early Saturdays on game day. He constantly asks to see the videos I took during these trips and we recorded the halftime show of the Rose Bowl so he can see, on demand, the red band (Wisconsin) or the purple band (TCU) perform. I tried to buy a video of the U of M marching band but their website only offers VHS tapes. Seriously? I emailed about DVDs but never heard back. (C'mon Wolverines, you can do better than that!)

He was ecstatic on Christmas morning to open a drum kit, courtesy of Papa & Grammy, that matches one Deagan received. Of course, this is the perfect gift for someone to get for a child who does not live with them. I have threatened that every trip back to my parents' house, we'll bring the drums. I have plenty of videos of Jack drumming but will save those for another day.

When I was trying to figure out this week's activities, I saw an advertisement for "Chillin on the Diag: Ice Percussion Concert" on Michigan's central campus. Apparently, this semester is focused on water so this concert was a kick-off to the semester's events. So, braving temperatures of about 11 degrees fahrenheit, we made our way to the Diag following storytime at the library. Jack very independently walked through campus and I had a momentary flash-forward of 16 years' time (nooooo!):

We watched the show for a while and were excited to have pretty much a front-row spot:
As luck would have it, I forgot my Flip video camera so was unable to get any video. However, luckily for me, AnnArbor.com reported on the event and posted a video to their website this morning. If you stop the video at 1:16, you'll see me & Jack on the right side of the screen. Jack has requested that we watch it at least a dozen times today. He's particularly interested in the broken ice.

However, after about 15 minutes of listening to the drumming, Jack told me he was freezing so we went inside to one of the main buildings on campus. A few different groups were holding bake sales inside, so I bought Jack two cookies and donated a few bucks to the College Democrats. (This was a major highlight of Jack's day: he got cookies (a rare occurrence) and there were TWO in the bag (both of which I allowed him to eat), they had pink frosting AND sprinkles, and he got to eat them before lunch. This is truly a red-letter day for a kid.)




Only about five weeks to go until D-Day (my due date) so I'm making an effort to ensure these remaining weeks are really wonderful for Jack. Not that he'll remember any of this when I'm old and gray and need my son to take care of me, but one can hope...

The Things Jack Says...

Tonight Mick and I spent some time assembling a second bed rail to put on the other side of Jack's bed (well, really, Mick did all the work while I repeatedly scolded Jack about teasing Shergar and chasing her around upstairs) as he's now fallen out of bed twice in the middle of the night. The first time, we were able to easily soothe him and get him back down, but last night it was a different story and both Mick and I were up from about 3 am until 5 am and Mick eventually had to sleep with Jack for the rest of the night. (This is when I'm thankful we decided to buy the larger, double bed rather than a single/twin.)

Anyway, once we had the bed turned around and two rails on, I told Jack it was time to start getting ready for bed. His reply? "Yeah, let's get this show on the road." HAH! Clearly he's heard me say that before, though I don't think it's something I say often, but hearing it come from him was fantastic.

Once I had his pajamas on, I asked him to take some trash to the bathroom to throw it out for me. He came back a few minutes later and said, "Mom [yes, he calls me "Mom" now. I don't like it.] I have a question for you. I have toilet paper stuck in my teeth. Help please?"

So I looked and sure enough he had tiny pieces of toilet paper wedged in between three of his bottom teeth. I have absolutely NO idea how it got there (nor do I really want to know). It took me about five minutes to scrape it all out using my thumbnail like a piece of dental floss.

What a funny, funny kid.

Stay tuned for holiday posts, which will make it up here soon... I promise.

I Had a Dream

When I picked Jack up out of the crib yesterday morning, the first thing he said was, “Daddy, I had a dream”.

I’m like, “Who are you, Martin Luther King?”

However, unlike King’s dream of an integrated society in which African-Americans were treated as equals, Jack’s dream was of “horses and cows eating scones”.

A small step on the road to equality for horses and cows, I suppose.

Boy vs. Food

As Jack is a dual citizen (American and British), he will no doubt be exposed to a variety of customs from both countries. It will be interesting to see what he picks up on.

Last night, for example, we made Jack a couple of frozen chicken nuggets (an American invention as far as I can tell). Kelly and I had an Indian meal - much of that country's food has been adopted by the British as our national dish.

Jack chose not to eat the nuggets; instead, he wolfed down a poppadum (a large chip typically served as an appetizer with mango chutney) and several portions of garlic naan bread. In the past, he's also eaten the curry sauce, but last night preferred to stick with the side dishes.

Next up in the culture wars - roast parsnips v green bean casserole.

A Gift for Baby

This morning, Jack and I set out around 6:30 for Meijer (local store with everything you can imagine: groceries, pet supplies, home goods, furniture, toys, electronics, clothing, etc.) as we needed a few things and I figured I wouldn't have to worry about Jack waking other family members if he was out of the house.

I had told Jack I needed to get a few things for Mummy & Daddy and that it would be a quick trip. As I pulled into the parking space, Jack piped up from the back "Get toy for baby, too." This threw me off guard a bit as we haven't talked at all about getting anything for little Chickpea, though I was planning to take him shopping for a baby gift a week or so before the baby's arrival. Anyway, I thought I'd humor him (because I figured he'd forget) and told him we'd look for something.

We didn't spend long in the store and, as we were walking out, Jack exclaimed "Wait! Have to get something for baby!" I was surprised that he'd remembered his request and, of course, there was no way I could say "no," given that he'd come up with this special gesture completely unprompted. We walked back to the baby department and I told Jack he could pick one item for the baby. He seemed to examine everything closely & critically. First, he asked for a gift set that included an elephant stuffed animal and some teething rings. I put this in our cart. Next, he asked for a set of infant towels that had fish on them. I put these, too, in the cart, reminding him that he'd have to pick one item when we were all done. In our last aisle, he selected a clear plastic ball/rattle with beads inside and tubes around the outside, also filled with little beads. I thought this should be the winner, but I let him choose. He examined his three choices carefully, eventually settling on the ball. I was excited because this toy was 20% off.

However, on the way out of the aisle, he suddenly gasped (and I wish I could demonstrate this because it was so funny) "Oh, mummy! Look what I see! THAT!!!!" He was pointing to a big ladybug toy that has different fabrics and textures on it and that plays music when you press its back. Of course, this item cost twice as much as the plastic ball and was not on sale (go figure) but he was so enamored with it that the sucker in me had to get it. He kept telling me the baby would love it; how could I possibly resist?

Here's the picture I snapped of him, giddy about our impending purchase, moments after the decision was made:
I was so surprised that a kid his age (27 months) would think about asking for a gift for someone else (who hasn't even been born yet) when we haven't yet had any discussion with him about buying Christmas gifts or baby gifts!

In unrelated shopping news, Jack quite literally rang in the season on Tuesday when we made a quick run to the grocery store and Jack made our first Salvation Army donation of the season. (Hearing those bell ringers is always the first real sign to me that the holidays are upon us.) The bell ringer was so impressed with Jack's persistence at trying to stuff a rolled-up dollar bill into the coin slot in her bucket that she let him ring the bell for a few minutes. He loved it!
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Jack's Definition of Bliss

As most parents probably (hopefully!) know, you don't have to spend a lot of money to keep little ones entertained. Examples:

Last year, I discovered that the local home improvement store is a fantastic place for Jack to run, explore, and be generally thrilled by the things he sees there (tractors, lumber, tools, tile samples, etc.). While visiting my parents last week, we went twice to Menards (DIY store) simply to look at all of the Christmas decorations. He was completely enamored, repeatedly gasping "WOW! How pretty! Beautiful!" He probably could have spent all day there, as the pictures below show:



Every week, following our trip to the library for preschool storytime, Jack and I stop outside to watch all of the construction equipment working on the below-ground parking garage that is being built next to the library. The construction has been going since spring and will last until at least next summer, so it provides us with ample opportunity to just stop and watch all of the work. Every once in a while, the librarian is even nice enough to take all of the kids up to the top floor of the library and let them look down out of the conference-room windows to see the seemingly miniature backhoes, bulldozers, dump trucks, and cement mixers nine stories below. (Side note: I never, in my life, noticed how many diggers are at work all over the city, the roads, the parks, etc. until Jack came into my life and became obsessed with them. Now, from time to time, I find myself alone in the car pointing and shouting "look, digger!" only to realize no one is with me. It seems construction vehicles are EVERYWHERE!)



Yesterday, I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to attempt some gardening in the front of our house. I didn't get very far as a) it's getting hard to bend over and b) the ground was too hard for me to do proper digging & bulb planting, but Jack had an absolutely fantastic time helping me gather up weeds and then carrying them over to the garbage bag. On every trip back to me, he'd puff up his chest, smile, and say to me "I'm a big, big helper!"


Here's to hoping that the simple things in life will keep Jack entertained well into his teenage (read: expensive) years!

Lonely Goatherd

Jack has enjoyed spending the last week up north with Grammy & Papa, not only because they're great company for him, but also because he's been able to observe the five goats that have taken up residence next door. These goats seem to be free-range, taking a leisurely stroll every day from their home through my parents' yard and over to the church next to my parents' place. On Tuesday, Jack was in a particularly challenging mood so I took him on a walk outside for a good ol' goat hunt; I mean, who hasn't "hunted" goats in their backyard?

Our adventure in pictures (and some priceless video):

Jack, deciding in which direction we should go to find the goats

He kept his eyes peeled for them...

...and repeatedly shouted "GOATS? GOATS? Where are you, goats?"

And then, we spotted them... at church!

We walked toward them (despite my warning that they'd run) and they scurried to the back of the church (near the satellite dish... go figure)

Once we had a good viewing platform, I started singing "Lonely Goatherd" from the Sound of Music (couldn't think of any other goat songs). Jack loved it and started pointing at the goats, in rhythm with the music - as if he were conducting:

Because Jack loved "Lonely Goatherd" so much (but clearly was longing for a better rendition than mine), I splurged on the $0.99 version from iTunes and played it for him when we arrived back in the house. He then entertained us with his dance to the song, which follows below. I laugh every time I watch it.