O' Christmas Tree

Jack saw me putting on garland and wanted to help, of course.

 He did a pretty nice job.

Jack did help with some ornaments.

But then we had incidents like poor Mr. Reindeer getting a candy cane ornament stuck on his face.  Ouch.

Dad helped Jack put the star on top of the tree.  This has been repeated since at Jack's request, and will probably happen a few more times I'll guess.

  

And here is a silly video of Jack trying to plug in the lights.

"Merry Critmas!"

- S.

Library

Jack found a great book at the library today.

Now Mom and Dad can learn the proper names of construction vehicles too!

- S.

Juicy Juice

After so long without a kitchen, Derrick got out of the habit of making juice, but he has been back at it recently.  Jack is pretty excited about this and loves when Dad uses "the big, loud thing"to make some delicious juice.  I think the juice in these photos was kale apple, which makes a mighty fine mustache too.

- S.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner at home.  

I am pleased to report that Jack did not hurl his plate onto the floor this year.

Celebrating with family, reading Curious George with Laura.

Jack's Mayflower that he made at school (or at least provided a handprint for).

We also got another handprint turkey this year which I neglected to take a photo of.

Jack enjoyed watching the Macy's parade on TV this year, particularly the Sesame Street float and the Snoopy balloon.  He has also been "helping"us decorate around the house for Christmas and learning new words like snowman, snowflakes, and christmas tree ("critmas twee").  He is also learning to sing Jingle Bells, and enjoys putting on sunglasses and dancing when he hears Feliz Navidad.

- S. 

Trucks

Having a terrible time, obviously.

Bulldozer with Dad.

"Move it, Bub!"

The "Bubble Guy"

Jack was a big fan of the bubble guy.

Despite us trying not to encourage any gender stereotypes, Jack loves trucks and construction equipment.  He talks about them often, enjoys books about them, and car rides are often spent looking for trucks or backhoes or bulldozers.  

You may remember back in the Spring we went to our first Touch A Truck event.  The Topsfield Fair had one of their own in the arena back in October.  Of course we had to go.  Jack seemed to enjoy it much more than the one last Spring.  He wanted to see just about every truck and piece of equipment.

Jack's latest declaration is, "I want to drive a [trash, oil, cement, etc.] truck!"


- S.

Pumpkin Patch

Jack was really into pumpkins this year.  He talked about them a lot.  And the giant blow up pumpkins in front of our neighbor's house were a huge source of interest.  Still is a big topic of conversation actually, at least once per day, despite the "big pumpkin" being gone for nearly two weeks now.  

We had to make a trip to the pumpkin patch a few weeks back (which is the same farm where we pick apples, and the same farm where we might get our Christmas tree this year).  I think Jack was a little overwhelmed with all the choices, but picked a few good ones which are still on the front steps.

- S.

Raker

Work...

and play.

Jack is really into raking leaves this year.  He is also into kicking small, naturally occuring leaf piles when we go for walks, and of course jumping in big piles of leaves.

This was the first of two separate raking/jumping sessions.  We may be in for a third this weekend.

- S.

Pooh and Tigger

We weren't sure how Halloween would go.  When presented with some costume ideas, Jack quickly discarded options such as a monkey or a spaceman.  He wanted to be "Pooh bear."  And so it was.  

Jack tried on his costume once prior to Halloween and it lasted less than five minutes.  We talked about Halloween the day before and the day of and he said he didn't want to wear his costume.  That is, until Derrick got home and put on his borrowed tiger costume.  The Pooh costume went right on and Tigger and Pooh were off on their first trick or treat adventure.

Jack seemed to get the concept pretty quickly and managed to surpass our expectation of only visiting the few immediate neighbor's houses and visited every house on the street.  It was a slight struggle to get him to come back in.  But he then enjoyed giving out candy and seeing other kids in costumes.

- S.  

Topsfield Fair

Watching the parade in front of Great-Nana's house.

Gentle pats for the cow.

Jack in the vegetable barn being very excited about pumpkins.

However, he wasn't very excited about the giant pumpkin…

As happens most years, the weather was rainy on the days we could go to the fair.  But we managed to squeeze in some decent visits.  This year they had a Touch-A-Truck event in the arena, thankfully, because of course it was a rainy morning.  Photos from that day will follow in a separate post. 

- S.

Crash!

Gotta do something with those empty diaper boxes…

- S.

Peek A Boo

Playing peek a boo under the kitchen table, while holding a ricer.

- S.

Swim Time

We signed up for a family membership at the Y at the end of the summer, and a few weeks ago Jack started "swim lessons."  At this age that means he gets in the pool with Derrick and they play and sing songs while trying to incorporate some basic swim technique, I guess.  Above you can see Jack's fine form in trying to "swim" to the plastic duck.
So far, Jack seems to really enjoy his time with Dad in the pool!


- S.

Apple Dapples

Official lookout and bag holder while dad tries to find some apples.

Picking apples...

…with a little help from dad.

Snack time after all that hard work.

A boy and his pumpkin (and a piece of cider donut).

- S.

Measure

I recently experienced my first of probably 5,489 more requests to, "Watch this, Mama!" while Jack showed me his skillful use of the measuring tape (which he wasn't supposed to be playing with).

- S.

Checkup

Jack had his two year checkup a few weeks ago.  He was all caught up on shots, so didn't have to get any this time, which was nice.  And now he won't be due for another checkup until he's three.

Hopefully we can stay out of the doctor's office this winter, or at least visit a bit less than we did last winter.

I'll share the latest stats for reference, but these are definitely not exact as Jack had a meltdown when the nurse was trying to get him to step on the scale and it took me plus two nurses to get him to stand to get his height measured…

Height: 37", Weight: 34lbs

Still holding strong above 95th percentile in height and weight (and head circumference).

Jack also recently jumped from a size 7.5 shoe up to a 9!

- S.

Drums

Just a normal morning, using the trashcan as a drum and some flags for drum sticks…

- S.

Birthday Numero Dos

As many of you know, Jack turned two a couple of weeks ago.  

Since we had just gotten home from a week in RI, we didn't end up going away for the weekend as we said we would last year.  So, the weekend consisted of lots of balloons, cake, and visits from family.

There were balloons everywhere and Jack was pretty excited about it.

One round of cake.

Hanging out with cousins.

Another round of cake.

- S.

Rhode Island

At the end of August, we visited Narragansett, RI for a week.  Derrick's parents met us there.  We did vacation-y things like: visited multiple beaches, ate plenty of ice cream, visited a zoo, and just played outside.  The weather was beautiful all week. 

Jack starting off his vacation right, with a nap.

 Derrick, Jack, and Pop Pop playing "baseball" in the yard.

Jack stealing Grandma's ice cream cone.  Again.

Jack having a blast on the Tetanus Swing from 1982.

At Roger Williams Zoo.  Jack not impressed with the elephants.

- S.

Slider

We were on vacation in RI last week.

Jack decided to master the slide at the local playground.

He IS almost two, you know…

- S. 

Words With Friends

Jack and Dad being silly with magnet letters.

- S.

Blocks

Jack is getting pretty good at stacking blocks!  On the rug, no less.

- S.

Lunch

We haven't featured Jack eating for a while.  He definitely eats better than I do.

Jack has a newfound love for "dip."  

The hummus featured in this photo is "dip."  

Ketchup is "dip."  

A tiny puddle of maple syrup for pancakes?  "Dip."

"More dip" is something we've been hearing often lately.

Jack also loves to sit at our new kitchen table and narrate what he sees outside.

"Blue car!" "Big truck!" "Plane!" "Flag!" "Hose!"

He does the same thing when we go out for walks or for rides in the car.  

We know every house in the neighborhood that flies a flag.

- S.