Interpretive Dance

Those are some great name suggestions - awesome. In an effort to thank you all for your creative thinking, Jett wanted to show you a little creativity of his own.



Thanks again. If you think of any more good names, just let me know.

What? You say I could have mentioned this 28 weeks ago?

Mention what? That to see my feet I have to look in the mirror?

Yep, there's a baby in there! It's a boy! He needs a name! Any suggestions?

Runny Nose and his friend, Scary Cough

Since December 17th, Jett has been snot-free for 14 days. We hadn't bought kleenex for two weeks until last Monday, when the Sniffles struck again, this time bringing their friend, Cough. As a result, we spend a considerable amount of time playing in the steamy bathroom, hoping the steam will trick all of the snot out of Jett's nose, and trick his cough into taking it easy already. The bathroom is now a playroom, and we run a hot shower while we're in it, even though no one is taking a shower, and yes, I know what that is doing to the environment. The bathroom/playroom setup has some benefits: as you saw in the last post, Jett now takes showers, I guess because you can only play next to a running shower for so long before you want to play in it; it's easier to get him to brush his teeth, since we're already playing near his toothbrush anyway; and I get to sit lazily on the floor while spending quality time with my baby. In this picture we're watching a video of him on my phone.

Showers

Jett takes them now.

It's Only OK if it's Grandma

Jett's Grandma H was here this weekend. One afternoon she and I came home after a few hours of shopping. As soon as we walked in Jett came running, smiling towards us, with arms outstretched and a big sloppy kiss ready to leap off his face. I started to bend down to receive his greeting, but he kept on running, right past me, and plastered himself to my mom's knees.

I think later that afternoon he made it up to me by throwing a block at my forehead.

Recalls

Remember a couple of days ago, in this post, when I mentioned that Jett and I spent a few hours at Barnes and Noble, and during some of those hours he played with Thomas the Tank Engine, which was set up on a big train track table? Well I find out today, through this article in the Tribune, that the toys have been recalled because of lead paint. It doesn't take long to pull up corroborating evidence online. Sure, the pictures in this article show the red trains, and if I remember correctly, the trains that Jett was playing with were blue, but honestly, I can't be certain. Besides, you can see from the second article that the first recall was later expanded to include more train cars, so how are you to believe that any toy is safe?

Aside from the dangers of lead-based paint, did you know that there are chemicals that are used in plastic toys that are banned from teething toys? These chemicals are approved for use in toys that aren't considered teething toys. That includes some baby bottles. That makes total sense, because Jett never puts anything except teething toys in his mouth.

Twenty Months

Happy Birthday, Jett! Today you are twenty months old.



This month you grew tall enough for us to turn your car seat around. You can finally face forward. You're all chatty back there now, babbling away so much that I risk car-sickness to turn around and talk to you. But more often than not, you fall fast asleep, sippy cup slipping out of your hand, head leaning against the side of your seat, looking so sweet, not reminding me that I need to keep. my. eyes. on. the. road.



I started taking you to Gymboree class this month, and you love it. You especially love it when we get there early, so you have time to hold my hand and walk around the perimeter of the room five times before the class starts. We've learned two important things during these Friday morning dates. First, bring a snack. This is not because you are going to be hungry after class, but because every other kid there will be eating a snack as soon as the class gets out. I resisted this for the first few weeks and while all of the other kids were putting on their coats and boots, I was chasing you around, keeping you from swiping all of the other kids' fishies. I hated succumbing to the peer pressure of bringing a snack just because all of the other parents brought snacks, but last week I gave in, and it was worth every plastic baggy I could pack full of crackers. I felt fine...until I heard the poor snackless mom behind me trying to convince her son that he could eat when he got home. I bet she brings snacks this week. The other important lesson we've learned from Gymboree is that everything should happen with a song, and if possible, a sticker at the end. At Gymboree, you move from one activity to another with a song. Now at home, we move from playing to putting away toys with a song. We move from putting away toys to brushing our teeth with a song. We move from brushing our teeth to putting on pajamas with a song. We must be the most annoying household in the universe and it is all Gymboree's fault. But you know what? There is a lot less whining during the singing - at least for now. I fully expect that my singing will lose it's appeal in about five more days.



Another big discovery this month was the TV. Now it's not like you've never watched TV before, it's just that you never asked to watch it before. But a few weeks ago, when your cold was at it's worst, I let you watch a 30 minute video before your nap, and a 30 minute video after your nap, and that was enough to convince you that television can save your life. Honestly, sometimes I agree with you.



This month you lost your great-grandma, Elaine Elizabeth Hall. She was a good grandma, and you didn't see enough of her during these twenty months. But she loved flowers, and she loved you, and I think she would have loved this picture.

Happy Birthday, Jett. We love you.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Last week was my birthday. To celebrate, last night Charlie and I ate at the Chop House (I recommend the chocolate cake for dessert) and then went to see Hephaestus at the Looking Glass Theater. Hephaestus was amazing and I highly recommend it if you don't mind watching acrobats walk the tightrope without a safety net. It's a small theater, and we sat in the balcony, so our seats were eye-level with the tightrope. The 90-minute show was over way too fast, but since my hands were sweating through at least half the show, I should be thankful it didn't last any longer. It was a great way to spend a birthday. Jett spent the evening with his aunt Jenny, and he had as much fun as we did, but without all the hand-sweating.

Earlier this weekend I wanted to burn through some birthday spending money, and Jett wanted to throw some books off the shelves, so we spent a couple of hours at Barnes and Noble. Until yesterday I didn't realize that they have a Thomas the Train set up to run on a train table, and story time, and everything. But Jett and every other kid at the store spent most of their time taking up each other's personal space in the musical book aisle.

Musical books are so cool. They have buttons on the cover that play music when you push them. There are no volume controls, so you never have to worry about the books being too quiet, and each book plays the perfect amount of songs, so once you memorize them after the first couple of read-throughs, they stay burned in to your eardrums forever.

So while that birthday money was burning a hole in my pocket, Jett sat down and shared his book with the little boy sitting next to him and then he pointed to a baby and said "Baby!" and then he looked up and saw Elmo's face on a book, and said "Elmo!" and then having such a kind, smart, and talkative baby was all too much, and I bought a $25 squawking book like it was a good idea.

When we got home Jett pulled the musical component off (it still works though) and then tore two pages out of the book. But then he took a 90 minute nap without fussing, so I think we're even.

Jett and my birthday flowers. Thanks, Jett!

Evil Mittens

Today I pulled Jett in a sled around the neighborhood, and then I planted his face in the snow, twice in a row. Now he refuses to wear his mittens (because when he tried to brush the snow off of his face, as he cried hysterically, his mittens were also covered in snow, taking his hysterics up a notch). Evil mittens. So, no more mittens. He also refuses to sit in the sled. This won't be much of a problem the rest of the winter, since we don't have many opportunities to go out in the sled, and there are no sledding hills in walking distance. However, when you are three blocks from home and your 19-month old refuses to ride in the sled, refuses to be carried, and can barely lift his feet above the height of the snow, it is...it is a long walk home.

Also, it doesn't help when you are walking at the same speed as the mail carrier and your child wants to stop and wait for the mail carrier at every building. And the mail carrier cluck-clucks her tongue at you for not putting mittens on your child, and letting him touch the metal bars of the gate, because, geesh his hands must be so cold. Whatever, lady. You should have seen his face five minutes ago. Now that was cold.