Things We've Been Up To

1. Sleeping in a big boy bed.  He feel out once the first night and once the second and since then has been fine.  Two or three times when he had trouble going to sleep we had to turn the bed around so the crib rail side was facing out, but other than that it was an amazingly smooth transition.  Hooray!

2. Making music.  Although it was not useful to keep him in bed, Jack decided that the one of the rods from the non-toddler bed bedrail would make a perfect Riccola-style instrument.  He now sing/plays, "Doot doot doot doot doot, good morning, Momma!" many times a day. 

3. Cooking.  I've been doing pretty well on my resolution to cook more and better.  We've had multiple variations of gourmet muffins and pancakes, some lamb, risotto, and homemade soups, among other yummy treats.  Here Jack is helping assemble crepes.  We didn't end up with any blueberries actually on the crepes, but the pumpkin butter ones were particularly good.  

Our exception to fine cuisine?  National Corndog Day.  Honestly, it's a real event.  We used to celebrate with our law school friends Tim and Juliet.  On the first Saturday of the NCAA tournament, parties are held across the country at which brave souls attempt an edible (by some accounts) triple double.  To do so requires eating 10 corndogs, 10 cans of beer, and 10 units (of 10 each) of tater tots, all within the hours of live basketball play during the afternoon.  Greasy goodness.  

This year we showed our age by substituting organic veggie "corndogs," homemade sweet potato fries, and blackberry juice cut with sparkling water.  We'd definitely be laughed out of the UVa party.  Needless to say, even with the modifications, none of us made it close to triple doubling.   

4. Obsessively reading all the Madeline books.  All six of them bound together in one book that we borrowed from the library and devoured immediately and repeatedly.  Within a day we had read through all 300 pages, some of the stories several times through, and we continued to read at least two before every nap/bedtime every day.  I'm normally a fan of greatest hits collections, but I can say with utter confidence that at least half of the Madeline books never should have been published.  That bad.  I've been surprised at several of the classics that I had just assumed I loved that I can't stand at all.  I found "Where the Wild Things Are" particularly disappointing. 

We returned the Madeline book this morning, and I am thrilled to be free of "Madeline and the Bad Hat."  Free at least until Jack's birthday when he's getting his own copy from us.  I'm hoping two weeks absence won't increase his fondness.

5. Working out.  In a preview of his college days, Jack spent Saturday morning shirtless and playing with a frisbee.  

On Monday afternoon Jack suddenly dropped and gave me three, and he counted the pushups nonetheless!  I cracked up and called Ben to report Jack's imitation.  

Ben responded, "Oh, yeah.  We do pushups together.  And we count them out loud."  Apparently they did several sets while I was at a meeting on Sunday.  Hmmmm.  Wouldn't have thought of that activity.  The first video is just included because I love that "hooray for me!" smile that he gives at the beginning.

6. Building and climbing.  Jack has started stacking everything.  I handed him the blocks in the picture in order, but he put them all together by himself.  

And the climbing has gotten a little out of control.  Our kitchen is now constantly littered with chairs Jack has repositioned and repurposed as stepladders.  He can now even manage to clamber up on our barstools.

7. Talking with wonderful friends.  Neesha and I are taking a parenting class together while Bobby and Ben stay home with the kids, so we had some time to chat as we carpooled to the first meeting tonight.  Juliet, a friend from our Charlottesville days, called this afternoon for a nice surprise chat.  And Stacy and I have booked a Skype visit for tomorrow afternoon.  It's wonderful to have friends who I admire so much as women and as mothers.  Sometimes being a stay at home mom can be very isolating, but those pats on the back that we share with one another make it so much easier.  I just hope I'm as generous with and deserving of the compliments as they are.