big boy, mr. jack

i can't believe what i just did. i really, truly can't. as i type, my home is silent. there is nothing but the hum of the house and the clicking of the keys. dylan is sleeping, my mother is reading across from me and jack - well, he's at school. day care, preschool, whatever you wanna call it, jack is out of the house. lunch packed, change of clothes, he's good to go. free bird.




i dropped him off this morning at nine and will scoop him up just before one. i'm finding it really difficult to express what i'm feeling, but it's ok because i have close to 4 hours to figure it out!

i got to thinking, this whole parenting business is not at all what i thought it was going to be. i had no idea the love that would come pouring out of me the moment i held my son and daughter. (this is where love at first sight must have originated.) i also had no idea how hard and challenging the toddler years could be. i cannot stress enough how wonderful jack was as an infant, so easy, content and just plain happy. the clouds rolled in around 18 months and that's likely why this past year has been so difficult - because i was not expecting him to be so challenging. he had made parenting rather simple for me!

the ups and downs we experience as parents has really changed me as a person. obviously. what may work for soothing an infant this week, may just piss them off the next week. what foods a toddler scarfs today, he may turn his nose at the next. and sleeping patterns for a baby, same deal. which brings me to dylan...

she continually keeps me guessing on her sleeping patterns. she will sleep through the night for 3-4 days in a row and then will surprise me with a wake up around 3 am. it's actually rather nice to cuddle her when no one else is awake, vying for my attention. oh, and she had her two month check up last week. our contender in the pink corner weighed in at an alarming 13.4 pounds! that put her at the 90% for weight and her height had her in the 60%... only i can't remember at this moment what her length was exactly. she likes to be held facing outward; enjoys gazing at the numerous fans throughout our home, often letting out these laughing shrieks; and she really does a great job sucking her fists. and, she's really pretty, but that's just my opinion.



ok, so when i picked up jackie (yes, this has been an all day entry), he was playing with the other kiddos, oblivious to the front door that had just opened. as soon as he saw me, he exclaimed, get ready for it: "dada?" me: "nope, sorry, bud. it's just mama." oh well. he did rush over and tell me about the choo-choo that he had been playing with, even showing me where it was. the owner told me he cried after i left for about 10 minutes but after that, he was fine. he ate all his lunch, played outside and really liked the train table. jack is going back next week on monday, tuesday and wednesday. i still like ben's idea of putting a helmet-cam on him. we would love to see him in action!