Jack's Take on Graham's Motivations

As I was reading Jack his bedtime story tonight, Graham developed a serious case of the "wiggles." (Calling them wiggles seems a bit disingenuous, and even "kicks" is fairly tame; this little boy, just like his big brother, is a dynamo in utero! It's more like double back flips with a jab to the ribs as a chaser.) Jack, who was leaning back on me started feeling Graham's movements, so I asked if he wanted to feel Graham moving with his hands. Jack's hands reached my belly just in time for a big leap, and he burst out laughing, saying, "He's trying to jump out! Graham is trying to give me a kiss, but he's still in your belly!" His joy was adorably contagious.

Preschool is going very well. Jack seems to love it, both of us are meeting lots of new friends, and I'm finding out just how much I can get done in 2 1/2 hours without having to pull Jack in and out of his carseat at every stop. It's amazing to me that he comes home singing songs I've never heard and having read books I didn't read to him.

Also amazing me last week was when we were driving back from a downtown visit to Ben and Jack pointed to a road saying, "That's where Miss Kelly and Uncle Stephen's school is!" And he was right! Let me also specify that not only was the law school not visible from the turnoff, not only had even I forgotten exactly which turnoff it was, not only was there no sign to tip him off, but Jack had only been there once! When I asked how on earth he remembered that, Jack matter-of-factly told me that he had gone there with Miss Kelly and they threw pennies in the fountain but that the bookstore had been closed.

In other news, potty training seems to be pretty well finished. Hip, hip, hooray! Jack has not worn diapers or pullups since Christmas, not even at night! Though he's still having about two accidents a week at home, he's only had one at school. I cannot describe how incredibly nice it is to have even a few months' break from changing diapers! Now I just have to get geared up to go back to the 8-12 a day pace of a newborn... I'm so glad Ben has six weeks paternity leave!

School Days, Snow Days, and Sick Days

Today was Jack's first day of preschool! It was only a visit day, so I spent the whole time with him in class, and we were only there for about half the normal time, but I think Jack's really going to enjoy school. He was very excited to don his penguin backpack and was thrilled to learn that they have a train table at school. Due in large part to the massive number of train-related Christmas gifts Jack received, trains have once again taken center stage in his daily routine; he spent the entire school visit time playing at the train table.

Actually the first day of school was supposed to be last Thursday, but St. Louis got a few inches of snow Wednesday night, which resulted in every school in the county closing for two days. So Jack's first school day was a snow day.

Fortunately, this week worked out better for us anyway, because if it hadn't been a snow day, last Thursday probably would have been a sick day. The three of us have spent at least two of the past four weeks suffering from several rounds of colds. Jack was only a little sniffly, having mostly recovered from a sinus infection, but I was coughing every 2 minutes, barely able to talk from a sinus infection that moved into my ears and throat. I don't think I would have been a very welcome fixture at visiting day.

Jack will be going to school two days a week for 2 1/2 hours, which should be just the right amount of time for him to have some independence and meet some new friends. Jack separates so easily from me (being so nonchalant about it that it occasionally hurts my feelings, though intellectually I know that it's a very good developmental milestone) that I think preschool should be a ton of fun for him without the trauma that can sometimes accompany spending time away from home alone for the first time. At least I don't expect him to be the clingy kid crying and saying, "No, Momma, don't go!" at drop off time, though I am wondering if he'll have some tension that will show up in other ways in the next few weeks.

On the baby front, we think we've settled on Graham as a first name, though we're still looking for a middle name that fits well with it. I'm 25 weeks and up about that many pounds, and Graham's about the size of an eggplant. He's wiggling away (we've started saying "wiggling" instead of the more traditional "kicking" because Jack seemed very upset at the idea that his little brother would kick me), sometimes waking me up a few times a night, usually strong enough for Ben to feel, and occasionally contorting himself enough to making my stomach look lopsided. Oh, and thanks to his classmates, if Jack doesn't quite get the little brother thing yet, he should understand a little better by the time Graham is born; of the 13 kids in his class, at least 5 have mothers who are pregnant! Four of us are due in April, with Graham coming in at the last expected arrival date.

Housekeeping

I am so, so, so glad that I'm not the only one with a dirty house...

Madeline Madness

Trains have been replaced as Jack's favorite play activity and topic of conversation. We have moved on (and backward) to Madeline. I'm thrilled to have something to talk about other than tenders and smokestacks and roundhouses, although our current repertoire of storylines is still a bit limited and starting to get somewhat tired. Until he starts remembering all the plots of the stories, which we've just started reading again, the favorite by far is pretending to fall off a bridge into the river. At least 20 times a day, Jack informs me that he's on a bridge, saying, "I'm not being careful..." to which I'm supposed to respond, "Oh, no, Madeline, don't fall in the river!" Jack then dives to the floor, yelling, "Splash!" One of us has to find his stuffed dog to play Genevieve and drag him to the shore, whereupon I (Miss Clavel) give him a big hug and tell him how glad I am that he's okay.

In the second favored place is the play in which Jack groans in bed, I proclaim, "Something is not right!" and we "drive" (I carry) Jack quickly to the "hospital" (downstairs couch) where he gets a full checkup with his doctor's kit and has his appendix removed.

I knew this was not just a passing fad when, after the first day of Madeline play, Jack woke up twice during the night and instead of calling out "Momma," summoned me by yelling for "Miss Clavel." Requests for Ben are even more complex as Jack has dubbed him Pepito, who is the son of the Spanish Ambassador who lives next door. So when calling for Ben, even during the middle of the night, Jack asks for "Daddy Pepito son of the Spanish Ambassador."

He has, however, started a couple of irresistible bedtime rituals that melt my heart. He knows this and exploits it to full advantage. First, he has ingeniously replaced goodnight kisses (which he started refusing a week or so, to much protest and sneaking of kisses from me) with nuzzles, which he very freely gives. He rubs noses, although he moves his head so quickly that's it's generally better for the recipient to just stay still and wait to the nuzzle to come. Second, instead of accepting going straight to bed after his goodnight lullaby, as soon as we start to leave, Jack says, "Momma, will you stay wit me?" That request is quickly followed by, "Talk about our day," which leads to a quick recap of the events of our day. It has become my favorite 10 minutes of the day.

I have to say that I greatly prefer this to his previous routine of falling asleep on the floor in his doorway. Every night for about two months we had to put him back in bed before we went to bed ourselves.

Engineer Jack

A few weeks ago, our Parents as Teachers parent educator asked Jack what he was going to be for Halloween. Although we hadn't talked about it yet, I had been planning on making him a really cute chicken costume that I had seen in a magazine. Nope. Jack immediately responded that he was going to be a Little Blue Engine. I gulped. I can sew decently, but something like that would be beyond my sewing prowess. Then I briefly envisioned a painted microwave box for Jack to wear around his torso. That sounded even more daunting, because if my sewing skills are basic, my painting skills are non-existent. And I was absolutely not going to purchase a Thomas the Tank Engine costume--I loathe Thomas (apparently I'm not the only one, though I hate him for other reasons as well). So I decided to do what any other sane mother would do when faced with an impossible costume request. Nothing.

Score one (or is it about 10 million in my lifetime by now?) for procrastination. While we were visiting my parents week before last, Jack fell in love with an engineer's cap my brother had picked up on vacation while I was in high school. Jack, not normally one to wear hats, wore that one nonstop. A quick trip to Farm and Home (yes, Warrensburg has a store called Farm and Home, and it's chock full of John Deere stuff, Carhartts, and, more importantly, overalls in all sizes and styles), and a peek through old dress up clothes to find a handkerchief and we were all set.

And so I present Engineer Jack:

Note that the smudges on his face are not just normal two-year-old messy face; we made a special trip to the organic potting soil bag for that "just shoveled a pile of coal into the steam engine" look.

At the end of the night, we took this little video of Jack Trick or Treating our house. Sorry for the sideways-ness--can never seem to remember which way is upright, and YouTube, unlike the now defunct Google Video, doesn't seem to allow switching frame orientation. I also have to clarify that although Jack was an engineer, not a conductor (there is a difference, and normally Jack, over-educated in the field of train travel as he is, would be the first to explain it), all the adults who saw his costume asked him if he was a conductor. By the end of the night he had given up and was even calling himself a conductor. Too bad, especially because the way he says "eng-i-neeo" is even cuter than the way he says, "con-do-tor."

Baby update: I'm 15 weeks pregnant now and fully into maternity wear. The baby is now about the size of an orange and is kicking away like crazy. At my 8 week ultrasound s/he was already moving enough to impress my OB, and for the past few weeks the movements have been strong enough for me to feel, even though it's still abnormally early for that. In about a month we'll have the big ultrasound when we'll find out the baby's gender and blessedly be able to refer to the baby as either "he" or "she" instead of "it" and soon after to have a name other than the undignified "Baby #2" or "the baby."