Goose Egg

Jadon got his first real boo boo yesterday. He was at the playground with Daddy, Grandpa and Macy. As they opened the gate, he started to run out, he tripped over a gap in the sidewalk, and well...for the next 48 hours, we have to wake him, and have him walk and talk to us.



This picture really doesn't do it justice, but Jadon wouldn't hold still for a sideview. It stuck out of his head like a golf ball :/ It was the biggest goose egg any of us have ever seen. Our poor, poor baby.

I think I was okay, when I first saw it. It wasn't until I thought a little too much about DEATH from HEAD TRAUMA that I became a little shaken. When I talked to the nurse from the nurse help line, he said, "Don't worry, Mom...take a few deep breaths," well then I lost it. When he said the word, "Mom," forget it. The overwhelming feeling of "that's MY baby...I'm responsible for his entire existence, his safety, his life...oh, Lord, please don't let this be anything more than a bump on the head...no more than a few layers of skin deep." (Deep breath)

So we made it through the first night without incident. Now just one more naptime and a bedtime. The burden I feel for parents who turn their back "just for a second" and something happens to their child. Imagine those kids who die from so many accidents, things that could be prevented (i.e. singer Eric Clapton's 4-year-old son falling from a window to his death). Thank you, God that our baby is ok. I can never pray enough for his protection, nor thank you enough for the blessing of his sweet life.

When you have a big brother...

Can you believe there are only a few girl toys in our house still? Poor Macy. We still haven't bought her a doll stroller or a doll house or any toys that are pink. Last week Jadon had her on the tractors at the mall. (And just a side note: Can you BELIEVE that Daddy and Grandpa let my sweet Princess on her first ride without me there??? Man! Hello?!? I only carried her INSIDE of me for 10 months and let her eat from my body for 12 months! Men. I will let this one go, but only because Jamie had the camera to catch her smiley face for me.)



And poor, poor Macy...she's Jadon's rag doll sometimes. Of course, we don't allow him to hurt her, but sometimes we don't see it coming, and he...uh...he gets little carried away...he plays a little rough with her :/

I let him try it again (you'll hear my annoying singing, as I attempt to turn the "fosey" into "posey"), and as you can see, Macy only encourages this behavior.

Who needs baby dolls, when you have a big brother? She's a rough and tumble kinda gal ;)

31

Two days after Christmas, our big boy turned another month older. He is now just five months shy of turning THREE years old! He is a boy thru and thru! He loves all things cars and trucks, airplanes and "heheh-tahtehters," dirt and rambuntiousness. He likes to stand on the couch and bounce down in a WWE-like move. He can now reach the light switches in the house, which has lead to many time-outs.

He loves, loves, LOVES his baby sister, Macy Bleu...or was that "Bleuzer Doozer, Twinkle Toes, Pachoochuk, Bleubelle"...you get the point ;) He doesn't like to be without her, and refuses to take a bath, unless she is in the tub with him.

He also likes playing with Macy, though in typical older sibling fashion, it is on his terms. He wants her to be right beside him, but he wants to choose the toys she can have. We must threaten to and/or take away certain toys several times a day because he whines and cries, when she approaches things he sees as off limits. It is a challenge having kids this close in age, especially when Macy finds his motorized cars on the tracks so enticing. Lightning McQueen going around and around is all Jadon wants to do for hours everyday, but Macy doesn't get the concept of just watching. She prefers to sit on the track and put Lightning in her mouth ;)

Here is a clip of Jadon assisting me in removing Macy from the track. He's a great...ummm...help?? I also find it funny that he tells me he'll get her because "she's bein bad." Promise to goodness, we really don't ever refer to behavior as bad. I just don't like that label, so I'm not sure why he referred to her that way, so I found it funny.

Nice, huh? haha Poor, poor Macy. It's funny what has become normal or tolerated by us sometimes scares the grandparents who aren't around it from day to day. There really isn't an hour that goes by that Jadon doesn't pick Macy up, remove her from an area, hug her a bit too tight, etc. I was surprised, when I saw Gramma and Grandpa's reaction to Jadon picking Macy up the other night. I think Macy was too. She looked like, "What? I'm tough. I put up with more than this everyday." I sooo wish I had a clip of her getting mad at him and yelling with a serious look on her face. Hilarious!

Anyway...back to the big boy. He has an AWESOME routine down from which we rarely stray. He wakes up around 7:30am, breakfast (usually oats 'n toast, cereal w/banana, or egg n' toast), playing, some PBS kids, more playing, 12pm lunch (quesadilla w/sour cream and tomatoes, pb & apple butter sandwich, Kashi pizza, Annie's mac n' cheese, grilled cheese, or broccoli and something), then he almost always does #2 before his nap at 12:30, which lasts three hours. When he wakes, he usually watches a video and plays and has a snack or a very early dinner. Sometimes a snack and dinner are reveresed, but he always has both after naptime at some point. After a 7pm snack or late dinner, he gets a bath with Macy, then plays in his room, brushes his teeth, reads books, then prayers and lights out around 9-9:30pm.

We are working on an earlier bedtime...maybe 8:30pm, but it just seems there is so much to do with each of them that the clock gets the best of us. It does help that Jamie has been putting Macy to sleep for the last month, which usually happens between 8-8:30pm. I am responsible for Jadon's entire nightly routine, which seems to drag on for 30-45 minutes sometimes. He had decided a few weeks ago that he would like to spend 15-20 min. on the potty, before bedtime. Brother! The challenging thing was that he WAS actually going #2 again every. single. night! I think we've moved passed that...fingers crossed!

Jadon has exhibited more and more pretend play, creative play and many more independent thoughts this past month. He told me to "look at all these octagons," when he was eating cucumbers one day. He was pretending to "make eggs and toast" with blocks from Macy's Sillytown a few days ago, and even told me he had to "put 'em in the oven and cook 'em" in the little garage-like compartment. Yesterday, out of nowhere, he told Jamie, "Daddy, heesa wantsa go to da mall." ahahaha He has yet to give a response to the question, "Why?" I assume he wanted to ride rides or something. Silly boy.

He can still count to 20, knows all of his upper- and lower-case letters, can recite at least 10 of his books, can tell us all about baby Jesus (born to Joseph and Mary, is God's Son, born in Bethlehem in a manger, etc.), LOVES reading his Bible and learning about Jesus (also via his many Christmas DVDs). He'll tell us he wants to "watch baby Jesus," several times/week.

He loves outside, helping Daddy make coffee, emptying the dishwasher, putting groceries away from the store (though he doesn't yet get that cold things don't go in the pantry and boxes of pasta don't go in the fridge) haha :P He likes playing with their kitchen set that Mackenzie brought to them from WV (thank you, thank you, thank you) :)

We have moved his toddler bed back into our bedroom, and both Jamie and I love having him nestled snug within eyesight of us...co-dependent? Maybe, but he's growing up sooo fast :( I may even be guilty of picking him up from his bed and moving him into bed with me that last few nights, so sue me.

He is just the right amount of independent for me, I suppose. He will leave the house with any family member at the drop of a hat, yet calls for "mama," when he is scared or hurt. He could hang with his "Lisa and Grandpa" all day without missing Jamie or me at all, though he will ask, "Where's Sister," a million and one times :D

He is always in trouble for taking his Geotrax apart and for peeling stickers of of his cars. He fed a piece of cat food to Macy a few weeks ago, and knew very well what he was doing. He has an ornery rotten look about him, and giggles to no end, when he's done something he shouldn't. He runs and cries, when we suggest he have to "go to bed," instead of timeout. He runs and sits on his butt, when we threaten a spanking. Jamie and I have to leave rooms or cover our faces to keep from laughing at his antics. He is our wild man, such a challenge, such a sweetheart, so funny, such a comedian, a goofball, such a 31-month-old boy!

The Nutty Professor

Yes, those are Mr. Potato Head glasses, and yes, they're upsidedown. Doesn't he look like a goofy Harry Potter? I assure you, we have a class clown on our hands.

Two Point Five

Yesterday my sweet baby boy turned 2 1/2 years old. Two and a half sounds like a baby. I always thought a 2 1/2 year old would look like a baby, but really 2 1/2 is slightly heartbreaking, when I look at how much Jadon has grown lately.

A few weeks ago, he had his first pony ride at the annual Christmas tree lighting at Broadway @ the Beach, while Gramma, Grandpa, Jamie, Macy and I watched from the sidelines.





He loves going on family walks in the double stroller. He usually has to take something with him for the ride---one day a few seashells, another day Elmo. He ALWAYS has to stop and see the tractor near our clubhouse. There is no seat, but he always has Jamie carry him up to it, so he can get a closer look. At some point during the stroll, he always asks for a leaf or a stick and happily holds it back to the house. Only a few times has he tried to feed the leaf to Macy or poked her from behind with the stick :P Boys!

Jadon also loves church. He always asks if we can go there. I remind him we go on Sundays. Tonight he told Grandpa and Uncle Chris that they needed to go to church "on Sunday." haha

He also loves reading his Bible. The other day before naptime, after we finished reading "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies," he said, "Let's read the Bible." Ummmm...okay :) He likes to say lots of things about "Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph." He knows the word "angel" and that the wisemen "give baby Jesus presents." He knows that God wants him to "love Sister and love Mama and love Daddy...and share with Sister," but he has yet to put the sharing part into action ;) No matter how big he looks, he is only 2.5...remind me of this hourly, please :D

He loves stuffed animals, though I think his obsession with Dr. Seuss that lasted about 6 weeks is coming to an end. A few weeks ago, you would have heard him reciting lines from "Green Eggs and Ham." Many times, when we would tell him to sit down to eat, he would tell us, "Try it, try it, so I say. Try it, try it, and you may..." He would also watch a Dr. Seuss DVD with several short cartoons. He loved to recite lines with me. I'd start, he would finish. So cute!
Jadon loves his buddy Ashton. He is just three days older than Jadon. He has a big sis, Aryanna who is six. He's had a few playdates with him and also saw him at Auntie Em's church on a few Sunday mornings. When he goes down the list of people he is thankful for each night, during his prayers, Ashton is always named :)

A few of the most challenging issues we've faced with him lately have been keeping him out of the house tree we now have in the foyer (it was outside in warmer weather). You may remember we had the same issue last year.

I really would have predicted Macy would be the one in it, but to date, she hasn't had any interest. Jadon, however, will not stay out of it. Everytime we take our eyes off of him, we find another car in the potting soil and a trail of dirt on the floor. He is constantly asking if he can "put cars in the drivedray." Oh, my word!

The other issue we've had lately is him telling us he has to poop, so he can get out of going to bed. This doesn't happen often, but when he does pull this stunt, he drags it out for at least 30 minutes. He'll CRY telling us he needs to poop, then he'll sit there, and sit there, and sit there. We'll tell him, "Alright, enough. Time to go to bed. All done." Whawhawha...crying fit ensues...we feel guilty thinking, "What if he DOES need to poop? What if he IS constipated or having trouble? Okay, then poop!" Repeat cycle. Blah. I decided to amuse myself and take a pic of his fake "I have to poop" face, while he was on the potty the other night for a minimum of 30 minutes. Drain. The life. Out. Of. Me!

Good thing he's cute ;) Despite all of his antics, which obviously still includes endless hours of redirection in sharing toys and being completely on top of Macy at all times, this little boy has us wrapped around his chubby, little 2.5 year old finger. Love him to pieces. Could not be more in awe of God choosing us to raise him. Two point five years to kindergarten! :(