A Vacation (From Bah-Bahs?)

Two bits of exciting news in our house today.  But first the pictures.

Trying to take pictures of Momma from the grocery cart.

Playing basketball--the barstool is apparently the basket.

At the circus.

Playing tennis with Daddy.

Showing off his playdough pizza.  We also make lots of gingerbread cookies out of playdough for our now frequent tea parties.

Jack ready to go, although where exactly he plans to go with galoshes and a helmet I can't say I know.  But he put both boots and helmet on himself.

Apparently the flash on my camera is much better than I thought.  This was taken at 10 p.m., after Jack had been asleep about 2 hours.  And yet the Edna book was still open on his lap.

Buckling Easter Bunny into the Bugaboo.

And now the exciting news:

1. Starting today Ben is taking at least a week off work in the form of a much deserved "staycation."  In the past three years since we finished law school, Ben has had a month-long break from work each year until this one; the first year it was paternity leave when Jack was born and last year it was a moving break between his London and St. Louis jobs.  So for a while I have been urging him to take another, slightly shorter break.

But we weren't sure what to do since we're not big travelers.  We've frequently joked that we don't vacation, we move.  That's not much of an exaggeration since in the first six years of our marriage (it will be seven on Tuesday!), we lived in seven different cities.  In that time I think we took about four, maybe five vacations Honeymoon in Estes Park, Disney World, Rome, Rome for Jack's baptism, New York for bar admission (which was business-motivated, so only partially counts), and Napa Valley (again, for business).

So we decided to just stay home for a week.  And it's already off to a fantastic start.  We have a whole week of play time, good daily workouts, grilling outside, and just being together ahead of us, and I for one can't wait!

2. I'm not quite sure how we did it, but Jack started his nap this afternoon without asking for his binky.  This is a (pathetically) indescribably big deal.  Although it's been restricted to bedtime and naptime use for almost a year now, Jack is completely attached to his pacifier, and I've been concerned about getting rid of it since he was about six months old.  Last week a nurse at our pediatrician's office severely chastised me for continuing to give Jack a "bah-bah" (as he dubbed it at around 9 months), and I realized that it really is past time to transition away from it.

We've gone through a string of potential replacement comfort objects for Jack, but nothing has yet worked its way into Jack's heart the way the bah-bah did.  A fuzzy blanket and several teddy bears were among the most traditional candidates, although at one point Jack seemed determined to carry a board book copy of Goodnight Moon to bed every night, something I can't imagine was very comfortable.  Most recently we thought his chosen lovey would be a stuffed rabbit Jack has dubbed "Easter Bunny."  Jack has pushed Easter Bunny on countless stroller rides around the block, down the alley behind our house, and to the fire station to see if the garage doors are open.

Then yesterday morning, very quickly and somewhat by accident, Easter Bunny's position as top toy was usurped.  As a little background, I have to say that Jack has recently been obsessed with Corduroy, the lovable little bear with green overalls that are missing a button.  I have read both of Corduroy's stories at least 500 times now.  About two weeks ago Jack discovered that we have a Corduroy video.  It's part of a children's book classics DVD set that Ben's parents got Jack.  Most of the stories take the book's actual illustrations and animate them Reading Rainbow-style, but Corduroy is done in live action.  Considerable liberty is taken with the script and the dialogue, which adds a wonderful dimension to our discussions about the story.  Finding this video took Jack's Corduroy obsession to an entirely new level--one that only increased yesterday.  

Yesterday morning Jack was playing with a flashlight and pretending to be the security guard who finds Corduroy under a bed in the story.  After secretly planting a bear under Jack's bed, Ben suggested that Jack look under our beds to see if Corduroy was there.  The ensuing commotion resulted in Teddy being instantly renamed Corduroy and immediately after becoming Jack's constant companion.  Easter Bunny's reign lasted almost a month.  Any bets on how long before Corduroy is toppled?