Our week

Whew! I'm so thankful it's the weekend. This week has felt really slow to me. We've been having short mornings, which make for loooong afternoons, especially since Jack doesn't nap. And since most of our friends do nap, it's usually just Jack and me until Daddy gets home. 5:45 never gets here soon enough.

As most mothers know, almost every milestone comes with a double-edged sword. And so it is with Jack's verbal skills. While he does say the cutest things sometimes, a big downside to his increasing vocabulary and reasoning skills is that he likes to argue with me. A lot. If I tell him to do something or that he can't do something, he almost always has a retort. "But I want to." "I don't want to." "That kid's doing it." "I'm too scared." "I'm too small." "You're hurting my feelings." "Daddy let me do it." "How about six minutes? That's not too long."

He's also gotten very demanding. Well, I should amend that. He's always been demanding, but now he's able to be really specific about it. For example, he'll ask me to get his bear even though it's closer to him than it is to me. When I tell him to get it himself, he throws a tantrum and tells me that he can't because he's "too small" or "too scared." If he asks for something I don't want him to eat, he argues with me, "I only want two [or three or four]. That's not too many." He always wants to bring his trains with him everywhere, and when I tell him I don't want him to, he says, "I won't lose them. I promise!" If I tell him that he can get what he wants after he does what I want him to do, he'll say, ""How about [whatever he wants] and then [whatever I want]? That sounds like a plan." If I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, he'll tell me, "I want you to do it." I thought only girls were supposed to be sassy?

His latest obsession is with a little boy in our neighborhood. Every single day, several times a day, he asks to see his little friend. Last week, we saw this child three days out of the week, and he even spent one entire afternoon with us. I thought for sure they would both be sick of each other by the end of it - I certainly was tired of watching two three-year-olds - but they both cried when his mom came to pick him up in the evening.

The good news is that the little boy seems to like Jack as much as Jack likes him, but I'm starting to feel like we're stalking his family. So we've taken to coming up with excuses why we can't just pop in for a visit. I never thought I'd be one of those parents who would lie so baldly to their children, but I've learned that sometimes only a creative story will earn me a few hours of peace. At first, we would tell Jack that his friend was sleeping, but that wasn't an excuse that would last the whole day. So now we've told Jack that the entire family is on vacation.

"Are they in Spain?" Jack asked.

Sure.

In baby news, her room is painted, but nothing else is done. We've received bags and bags of baby girl clothes from so many generous friends. Seriously, this little girl has more clothes before she's even born than Jack's ever had. I've sorted through most of them and just need to get them organized in her closet. One of these days.

I had planned to post pictures of Tom's stellar paint job, but the room is small enough that it's hard to zoom out wide enough to give you a good idea what it looks like. But we painted one wall pink, another one green, and then two facing walls purple. The green and purple were Jack's requests for his own room, along with blue. This weekend, Tom is planning on painting Jack's room. We'll see if and how having to temporarily relocate him away from the paint fumes messes up his sleeping.

The baby is moving all around and kicking up a storm, especially after I eat. I'm even more grateful than ever for all the reassuring movement. I heard some terrible news earlier in the week that a friend of a friend who was due three days before I am lost her baby on Monday. I can't even imagine the pain she must be going through. I already feel like I know little Violet, and to never get to meet her would be devastating for all of us. I couldn't even begin to think how I would explain it to Jack.

Anyway, in order not to end this post on such a sad note, here is a little conversation Jack and I had about the baby this evening:

Me: Will baby look like Daddy?

Jack: No.

Me: Will baby look like Mommy?

Jack: No.

Me: Who will baby look like?

Jack: Me.

Me: Do you look like Daddy?

Jack: No.

Me: Do you look like Mommy?

Jack: No. [By the way, anyone who knows us will disagree with this assessment.]

Me: Who do you look like?

Jack: My baby!