2011 so far

2011 has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start so far. A nasty bug made the rounds in our house. We like to stay really active, so it's definitely no fun when illness keeps us from playing with our friends. Violet got sick right after Christmas and stayed sick for two weeks. Jack also caught the bug, but thankfully recovered relatively quickly. And then I started feeling ill a few days after he got better, but I was able to kick it by sleeping for pretty much 36 hours straight.

You know how I said in one of my previous posts, "At the risk of jinxing anything, Jack has been a joy since he turned four"? I totally jinxed it. In addition to being sick, I think the combination of post-holiday letdown, the fact that he got out of his routine when he was at his grandparents' house, and that Daddy was home for so much of the time has thrown Jack off a bit. We are currently in "reset" mode with him. The past couple of weeks, we've seen an escalation in the tantrums, crying, and whining, as well as some defiance and back-talking. It's been so fun! But Sweet Jack is slowly coming back.

Still, he does have plenty to say when he is unhappy. When we tell him something he doesn't like or to do something he doesn't want, his responses alternate among: "You're not being very nice" to "You're hurting my feelings" to "That makes me so sad" to roaring at us like a dinosaur. He used to say to Tom, especially, "You're a bad guy!" but we finally put a stop to that.

He has recently gotten very interested in Disney's "Cars" movie and all its related paraphernalia (read: "merchandise"). He appropriated one of Violet's baby toys and designated it the "Thresher" and always wants to play this game where the Thresher chases Lightning and Sally (all characters from the movie). It's exactly as interesting (or not) as it sounds. I have very little patience for more than one "episode" of this game, but Jack always wants to play it. At the end of each episode, he tots up points for Thresher and the other cars based on some sort of internal calculation he has in his head and keeps a running tally.

Speaking of running tallies, we have sheets and sheets of papers strewn all over our living room and in Jack's bedroom of columns of numbers. One of his favorite things to do is just write numbers of varying intervals and multiples all day long. Our house looks like the set from "A Beautiful Mind." Jack's teacher told me last week that Jack wrote out a sheet with numbers in multiples of 40 up to 1320. She said that she had never seen a child his age do such a thing and that she made a copy of it for his file, because she knew he would want the original. I told her we have plenty of "originals" in our house.

Jack received a little MP3 music player for his birthday, and he's been loving it. I love it too, because I don't have to listen to all the songs with him. Jack loves repetition, and he will listen to the same song - or even the same few notes of a song - over and over again, so I am supremely grateful for his earphones. The only issue with this music player is that it can hold nearly 1000 songs. For awhile, Jack seemed really into the music, and we would hear him singing songs throughout the day. But then he kept asking us to put more and more songs on it. When he got to over 700 and still asked for more, I finally asked him, "Are you actually listening to all the songs?" He said, "No, I just like to watch the numbers go up." *sigh*

Every day, Jack wants to know how many months old he is. Is he 50 1/2 months yet? When will he be 51 months? It makes me laugh that small children are so into being older, although I know most aren't as specific as Jack is. Whenever he is around his friends who are even a few weeks younger than him, he invariably tells them (often several times), "I'm older than you." I don't want to tell him that that is only going to be a bragging point for their first 20 or so years. After that, they'll have the rest of their lives to brag that they are younger than him.

He is so eager to grow up. I don't know if some kids at his school have been losing their baby teeth, but he keeps telling me that he's going to lose his baby teeth soon. He'll say, "Violet is just getting her baby teeth, but I'm losing mine." Considering he didn't get his teeth super early and that both my sister and I lost ours pretty late, I really don't think we'll be seeing any loose teeth any time soon.

But he's still not too grown up for his Pooh bear, which I love. Pooh still comes everywhere with us and is still Jack's go-to pal when he's upset or lonely. He tells me, "Pooh is my best friend." Sometimes he'll tell me that he is Pooh bear's Daddy. Pooh is alternately the same age as Jack or two years old (we got him nearly two years ago on our first visit to Disneyland). Jack, for some reason, often calls him "Batty McHugh" and will sing "Batty McHugh" instead of "Winnie the Pooh" to the melody of the Pooh theme song. (Funny enough, "Batty McHugh" would have been an apt nickname for a certain former boss of mine.) Sometimes when people ask him who his friend is, he'll say "Batty" to their consternation.

Violet is nearly nine and a half months old. She has been "out" longer than she was "in," which is kind of incredible to me. She is very into grabbing things right now and putting them in her mouth. I feel that she's way more "oral" than Jack ever was. I don't recall really ever having to fish things out of his mouth, but we've done it a few times with her. I've gotten better about being more aware of keeping things out of her reach and bearing in mind that she can reach much more than I realize.

She still isn't crawling, but she is starting to push herself backwards when she is on her tummy. She also flips back and forth and can rotate herself around like a little clock. When she is sitting, she almost imperceptibly scoots herself on her bottom to whatever toy it is she is reaching for. More than once, we are surprised to find her at the edge of the blanket when we know for a fact that we set her down in the middle. She is able to hold herself up standing for little bit of time, but nothing really reliable. It's hard not to worry sometimes. I was looking at Jack's baby book the other day, and it was pretty much yesterday that Violet was the exact same age Jack was when he started crawling. And I thought he was late in comparison to his friends. But his gross motor skills are fine, and I'm sure hers are too.

One fun thing about Violet is how much she really loves our cats. They can almost always cheer her up if she's in a fussy mood. She is still learning how to pat them gently instead of banging on them like a drum, but the cats are generally pretty patient with her. I think they can sense that she is more of a kindred spirit than Jack ever was. Echo seems to actually actively like her and will often come around for some pets from her. Emmy, who was really my baby before I had my human ones, is still pretty jealous, but she is starting to warm up to Violet. I think she is starting to understand that the surest way back into my good graces is to be nice to my little girl.

Violet is still very much into Mommy. She used to be so good when other people held her, but now she leans toward me when they do. She'll cry if she sees me walking away from her. If Tom is holding her, she'll usually be fine until she sees me, and then she wants me to hold her. The funniest thing is that she is also starting to get jealous. If she sees me holding Jack or snuggling him, she'll usually let out a yell, as if to say, "Hey! That's MY mommy!"

This usually happens around Jack's bedtime. I'll try to get in one last cuddle with Jack while Tom holds her. Our bedtime routine usually consists of bath, teeth-brushing, pajamas on, storytime, and then lights out. When the lights go down, we'll talk with Jack about three good things that have happened during the day. When he's stalling - which is often - he'll try to come up with more and more good things that have happened. Then I'll give him a kiss and sing him "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." This has been his night-night song of choice for the last several months, and Violet is starting to really like it too. When she hears me start to sing it, she'll break out in a big grin. When I finish, Jack tells me, "Good night, Mommy. I like you, and I love you."

Days can be trying, but at least they always end on such a sweet note.