Reading is FUNdamental

Jen insisted I title this post as you see above because she remembered an "ad campaign from the 80s to make kids want to read." Kind of nerdy, but it turns out the program is still around! Pretty funny.

If you know Jack, you know how essential reading is to his day. From first thing in the morning to his tuck-in at night, Jack wants his books! It's a great way to spend time with the boy, and he's extremely attentive to his stories. He examines the pages left-to-right and turns them one at a time. He's been turning the pages for practically as long as we've been reading to him.

Jack has a small bookcase that stores most of his books, and he fetches the ones he wants you to read and brings them over to you. Sometimes-- like this morning-- he gets a book and hunts you down (I was in the kitchen) and basically insists that it is time to read.

Jack also will pull out a book on his own. Enjoy the video below to see our little guy in action.



UPDATE: For some reason, this video isn't loading correctly. You can click here to view it in another window until Google gets their act together. (Yes, I just blamed Google. How could it be my fault?)

15 months!

Jack turned 15 months old today. We decided he officially became a little boy last weekend when we visited Jen's family in Ohio and Jack got his first official haircut.

From First Haircut and Lake Erie

What a little champ! Jen, Grandma Debbie and Steve all took Jack to see Joe at the barber shop in Vermilion shortly after our arrival. Jack had a great time and didn't fuss our try to jump down off the booster seat. With his wispy hair trimmed up, he graduated from babyhood to boyhood.

Another part of becoming a little boy is falling down once in a while and learning to get back up again. Jack took a little spill on our front stoop the day before we left for Ohio. He bit his lip and scraped his chin on the brick. This happened on Dad's watch and I was pretty upset about it. After a bit of crying, Jack contentedly sucked on a piece of ice wrapped in a paper towel and calmed down. Before long, he was ready to play again. Jack gives us so many reasons to be proud of him.

First Haircut and Lake Erie

So many steps!

Where have we been? Many apologies for how long it's taken to update the site with the latest and greatest from Jack's world. Now that he's walking, it's a whole new ballgame. It takes a lot of energy to chase your little boy around!

From Summah Fun

This summer was a blast. We spent a lot of time on the playground, in the backyard with our little inflatable swimming pool, and playing with the neighbor kids. Jack has a great disposition and really enjoyed all the activity that comes with sunny days and blue skies.

We had one hiccup this summer. Jack got a pretty nasty cold that lasted-- as promised by the doc-- 10 days before it finally cleared up. The poor kid was miserable with congestion and lost his appetite. Mom and dad were frantic keeping him hydrated and attempting to interest him in food. The one bright spot was that he managed to sleep through every night-- even on nights when he woke up briefly with coughing or sneezing fits. Such a little champ!

Enjoy the collection of pics from the album below.

Summah Fun

Steps

For a while now, Jack has been cruising around holding onto to adult hands, chairs, walls and, of course, his little walking lion. He's been reluctant to strike out on his own, though, which in some ways has been a blessing. Sure, he's a quick crawler, but we know that walking turns into running and then we'll really be chasing him around.

This weekend, Jack seemed more interested in striking out on his own and, with Aunt Niki's assistance, we captured a very special moment.



We continue to snap pictures and promise to post more soon.

Back in Dayton, Ohio

We need to catch up on posts, especially with news on how Jack is developing. Jen is keeping a mental list of the "words" that Jack is babbling, so we'll get into that soon. He's also cruising around while holding onto things, although he's not quite ready to walk on his own.

After our vacation at the beginning of July, the rest of the month got pretty wild. Jen traveled to the west coast for a conference-- 4 nights! It was her longest trip away from Jack. So father-and-son decided to snap up an e-fare to Ohio and spend a few days with Nonnie and Grandpa.

We arrived on Saturday and were joined by Karin, Dave, Ethan and Michael. Young Michael is getting so big! And Ethan is a model big-brother. He was terrific playing with Jack, and I know he's going to do enjoy when Michael gets mobile.

Jen being away for four nights was tough, but it helped being with family. Jack enjoyed all the attention and Grandpa even bought the walking lion he has at home. Jack did more laps around that house than we could count, and he was so proud of his new skill.

After three nights in Dayton, we headed back home. It was Tuesday, and Jen wasn't returning until Wednesday evening. We walked into the house, and Jack's head spun around on a swivel. Now back on his home turf, I could tell he expected to see mommy. So sad! He survived another night with just-dad. On Wednesday, Jen's return from the west coast was nearly washed out by thunderstorms. After 16 hours of travel and delays, she made it back, but Jack was already asleep. He woke up Thursday morning and firmly latched onto his mother for the rest of the day.

We'll put more pictures up from the rest of July in the next post. In the meantime, enjoy these shots from Dayton.

July Retreat to Dayton

The Family Vacation

Jen's mom, Debbie, and husband, Steve, celebrated their 10-year anniversary on the 4th of July. The kids and grandkids gathered in the White Mountains of New Hampshire for an old-time family vacation.

Lincoln and the surrounding mountains offered a lot of great distractions. Our first venture into the wilds was a walk through Franconia Notch State Park. We had a long hike up to see the flume gorge and Jack was on Cloud Nine for the whole walk. Be sure to check out the album for a slideshow of some great photos and check out the short videos below from the park. Unfortunately, the camera battery died toward the end of the week, so I missed a couple of really fun photo opportunities.

The real adventure for us wasn't the flight to Boston or drive to Lincoln-- it was sleeping in the same room with Jack for a week. He's been a reliable sleeper in his room for a while, and we were pretty nervous about having him in a pack-n-play crib, possibly awakening when we came to bed at night. Turns out, the boy is very adaptable (although he was an early riser-- a problem that we probably contributed to when he heard us stirring in the morning.) All in all, great job by young Jack!

We had a few misadventures (including some nasty insect bites), but Jack loved the constant activity and wasn't hurting for attention from his doting grandmother.  He got in his first full-size swimming pool and splashed around with the big kids, he rode two trains and even got on a boat to tour beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. 

Like all vacations, this one came to an end and we all returned home with a lot of fun memories. Someday, we'll remind Jack about the bears he met in the mountains of New Hampshire!

July Vacation in NH

One Year

One year ago, our baby boy joined the family. We've come a long way, but the journey still lies ahead of us.

As of today, Jack is a fast crawler, stair climber, incessant talker (babbling, of course) and shameless flirt. He pulls himself up to a standing position all the time and walks around things while holding onto them. He's not quite ready to walk without some help, but it won't be long.

We love our little boy. Enjoy this big album of pictures from throughout the month of June, and be sure to click the "Slideshow" button to watch them full-screen.

We have some decent photos from last weekend's Kennedy Street Block Party-- a joint birthday celebration for Jack and our neighbors' daughter, Erica. All the neighbors pitched in to make sure there was plenty of food, drink, music and fun. Tonight, on Jack's actual birthday, Jen bought a box of cupcakes from a local bakery and the neighbor kids helped him get in the celebratory spirit. Happy birthday, son!

June Baby

Mayhem's End

And now, an overdue post for our final visitors in the 3-weekend parade of grandparents in May (a.k.a. "Mayhem.) Grandpa Bill and Alice came to visit us on Kennedy Street and see young Jack.

We covered a lot of ground in a short weekend. On Saturday, Bill and I went out for a round of golf, joined by my friends, Matt and Ben. Because the three of us don't really play golf (I get out about twice a year), we played a best-ball challenge against Bill. We had a great time and even had a few moments of glory to punctuate the slew of mediocre-to-lousy shots. Halfway through the 18th hole, the heavens opened up and we hustled into the clubhouse to seek cover. Bill bought a round of drinks as we waited for the storm to pass.

Back in Alexandria, meanwhile, Jen, Niki, Alice and Jack were walking down the Avenue in Del Ray when I called and notified them of our storm-delayed return. The ladies ended up taking shelter in a shop until, eventually, Jen braved the rain to retrieve a car from home to shuttle everyone back to safety. The summer storms around here have been dramatic this year.

Enjoy some more pics in the album below.

Mayhem Finale

How to beat the heat

We just broke out of an extraordinary heat wave and today's upper-80s seemed downright pleasant. Today, I got home and saw that our neighbors had filled their kiddie pool in the front yard, so I swooped Jack up and got put him in the pool, where he was soon joined by Sonja.

Jack has been really enjoying bath-time lately, but being outside in the pool takes it to a whole new level. It must be the sun and all the neighbor kids running around that get him charged up. In the video below, notice how patient Sonja is with Jack, who can't contain himself.

GOAL!!!!!

This summer, we look forward to watching Jack go from crawling to walking. Anticipating this event, I constructed a pair of goals for street soccer. After all, playing soccer is the next logical thing for Jack to do once he's on his feet.

Jack loves to play around with the kids on Kennedy Street. I made sure the neighbor boys were involved in this project from the start. First, they drew up the design with dimensions, and then helped measure and cut the PVC. The netting came courtesy of my dad who hung onto a full-size net purchased back when I was a youngster. The neighbor kids are having fun playing around with the goals and I take an occasional shot, too. Before we know it, Jack will be putting the ball in the back of the net!