Wintertime Jack-tivities

How lucky we are to live in San Diego! Today, the second Monday in January, we had a high temperature of 81 degrees! I wore flip flops and a short-sleeved shirt with no jacket.

However, it hasn't been all sunshine and warm weather during the past couple months. In fact, there have been some days it has been downright cold and/or rainy. The autumnal weather and Jack's rowdiness combined with my own laziness (i.e., I don't feel like chasing him all over a playground) have made for a lot of lazy days around the house. But Jack, being Jack, has managed to keep himself busy. Here is a sampling of some of Jack's wintertime activities.

Tickling: One of Jack's favorite things is being tickled. I have never seen a person like being tickled so much. We tickle him, and he demands, "Again!" He is a real live Tickle Me Elmo Doll. He'll says, "Tickle bed!" which means he wants me to bring him up to my bed and tickle the heck out of him. Sometimes he requests that we tickle him in specific areas: "Tickle back!" "Tickle belly!" "Tickle ear!" He has the most infectious laugh ever, so this is a lot of fun for us all.

"Car duttoons": This is Jack-ese for "car buttons," and it means that he wants to sit in the driver seat of our cars and press all the buttons. I usually know if he has been playing car buttons with Daddy, because the windshield wipers start wiping and the turn signals start blinking as soon as I turn the ignition.

Play-Doh: Jack got canisters of green, purple, and pink play-doh for his birthday. We don't do a whole lot with them, but he spends a lot of time transfering them from one container to another. Sometimes he asks me to make him a worm or little balls, but he doesn't usually have the patience to wait for us to make anything more elaborate than that. It has been a struggle to get him to only play with them in the kitchen. Even so, it's a pretty messy affair. I am constantly sweeping up little purple, green, and pink bits of play-doh offf the kitchen floor.

Cooking: Jack's Auntie Renee gave him a groovy new kitchen for Christmas. He loves it. He especially loves opening all the doors and moving the pots and pans all around.

Alphabet soup: Even before he got his kitchen, Jack spent a lot of time making "alphabet soup." That is to say, he takes all the letters from his Fridge Phonics toy and all the letters from his various alphabet puzzles and puts them in a big pot. Then he transfers the letters into smaller containers and then dumps them back into the big pot and then back again. I'm not sure why this is so much fun for him, but it sure takes up a lot of his time.

Dancing: Jack is a dancing fool. Before we went up to the Bay Area, his favorite song was ABBA's "Dancing Queen." He would make me play it for him over and over again. Of course, he won't dance on his own, though. No, I have to hold him in my arms while I dance and spin and jump all around. He weighs 30 pounds, so it's quite a workout for Mommy. When we went up to my parents' house for Christmas, I brought down a bunch of records I used to listen to when I was a little kid. Jack's new favorite is now "Sesame Country," which combines Jack's love of Sesame Street and his perverse affection for country music. This is one country album I don't mind, though, because it brings back good memories of listening to it when I was growing up.

So this is what we've been doing for most of the months of November and December. But tomorrow is supposed to be nice again, so we're going to the beach! Gotta love San Diego!