Miracle

Saturday morning, Steve, Princess Fiona, and I loaded into the car for the six hour drive to visit my stepmom. Along the way, something comepletely miraculous happened: Jack entertained himself the entire time.

I know. I can't believe it either.

Usually, whoever's not driving has to sit in the backseat and provide all kinds of in-flight entertainment, from reading books to singing songs to performing with puppets. But this time, Jack contentedly blasted imaginary bad guys with his lightsaber, "read" books, and jammed along with my awesome Toddler Mix on the iPod. We stopped for lunch and Jack said, "Jack no go Donald's. Jack go Mawmaw's house." I promised him we'd go to Mawmaw's house after lunch, and that Donald's would have Shrek toys to look at, so he decided it'd be okay to take a break. Also, there was a Starbuck's next to the 'Donald's, so it was clearly an important place for us to stop.

After lunch, Steve decided he was too tired to drive or to hang out with Jack, so we put on the Shrek DVD for him. Towards the end, Jack wanted to also chat with us. Specifically, he wanted to have a fanboy conversation about "battle-fights." I swear, it could not be more obvious that he is our kid. We debated who would win in a battle-fight - Yoda or Shrek (Yoda, duh), Princess Fiona or Darth Vader (Jack and I are going to have to agree to disagree on that one), Spider-Man or Elmo, and so on.

As much as it occasionally pains me that he is growing up, I really like that he is becoming more and more of a real person, not just a little blob of need.

Super Grover, Ready for Action

The boys and I enjoy the theater, as demonstrated last night by our trip to the Adler Theater to see the latest rendition of Sesame Street Live -- Super Grover, Ready for Action.

Jack, is, of course, a SSL veteran, having already attended "Everyone Makes Music" at the Patriot Center in Fairfax. We told him that we were going to go see Elmo sing and dance on the stage, and he was totally psyched. He patiently waited for us to dress him in an Elmo-Cookie Monster shirt, grabbed Roary, said goodbye to Buzz Lightyear and Woody, and was, like Super Grover, ready for action.

The whole way there, Jack talked to Roary and to the plastic snakes in the car about how he was going to go see Elmo. And Big Bird! And Cookie Monster! And Zoe!

He was not at all impatient waiting for the show to start, happily dancing to the background music, looking at the other kids, and playing with Roary.

When the show started, Jack happily clapped and yelled, "Yay!" as all of his favorite characters took the stage. They sang several classic Sesame Street songs (including "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon," which is one of my favorites), and Jack bopped along.

Also, this might sound nuts, but I thought that this show was superior to "Everyone Makes Music." Better story, better characterization, better use of Muppets.

All the way home, Jack talked excitedly about his favorite parts of the show. He liked it when Cookie Monster ate all of the colors (ie fruit and vegetables) and thought he was funny. He loved it when Oscar took over Elmo's World and Elmo had to save it (so did I). But for whatever reason, the scene when Grover threw his cape in the trash and Oscar threw it back out at him really stuck with Jack. I know this because Jack mentioned it about 47,000 times on the drive home.

Kind of Good

When I got home from work last night, Jack had a brand new bag to be obsessed with. And it was a really good one -- from the Disney Store, and featuring his new favorites Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. As usual, Jack was engaged in putting stuff in the bag and dumping it out again. And repeat. Over. And over. And over.

As you can imagine, it's mind-numbing.

So, I decided to mix it up. I told Jack that we were playing a game. I then challenged him to find certain things to go in the bag by my descriptions. Someone who's wearing a hat? Woody! Somebody who is friends with Bert? Ernie! Someone who is the same color as Jack's shirt? That one was harder, but he got it -- Elmo!

Jack thought our new game was the coolest thing ever. Several times when he figured out my "clues," he'd break out the full on "I Did It!" Dora The Explorer Dance Of Triumph. For my part, I was considerably less bored and was able to feel like he was learning from what he was doing.

When Steve got home and I told him this story, he said, "Huh. You were kind of a good mom today, weren't you?"

I opted not to kick his ass because I'm hoping for good Mother's Day presents.

Definitely My Kid

When Jack was first born, he looked nothing like me at all. He was a tiny, miniature Steve, and frankly, I did not appreciate it one bit. I don't recall Steve retching for several months, having pain in his siatic nerve, or developing giant purple stripes on his butt. Nor do I recall him experiencing several days of labor pains or having this child sliced out of his body. But whatever; I happen to think Steve is a pretty good looking guy, so having two of them around is not such a bad thing.

But as Jack's gotten older, he is starting to look more like a mix between us. His eyes are blue like Steve's, but the shape is the same as mine. He also has my nose, and sometimes when I look at him the right way, he reminds me of my brother, who of course resembles me.

But even more importantly, there are things he does that make it very clear that he's not just a Mini Steve, but that he's got lots of his mom in him. There is his tendency to sweat like a male member of the Green family (sorry about that Jack, but at least you escaped the eyebrows). His love for all things created by Jim Henson (Sesame Street, Muppets, Fraggles, etc) is definitely from his mommy.

But even better, he has recently developed a habit -- no, a skill -- that is all me. And that is... making his stuffed animals talk. When I was a kid, each and every one of my stuffed animals had a name (and not some punk name like "Teddy" or "Kitty") and its own distinct voice. Jack is moving in the same direction. Frog Rattle has a deep grown. Big Bird (pronounced "Bi-dah") moves his beak to say hi to Jack. And Roary has more to say than any of the others. Sometimes Roary just nods his approval, but now he also talks, in a voice even higher than Jack's. This morning, Roary was apparently very interested in the story we were reading, pointing to pictures on the page and saying, "That's a cow" and "Baby Deer."

This is definitely my kid

Catching Up, Part 2: Christmas

I was loving and sympathetic about Jack’s stomach problems on Christmas Eve, but even more so when I found myself experiencing the very same problem. Nooo! The last thing I wanted was to feel sick on Christmas, especially with a house full of family coming. Steve surveyed his pitiful sick family and promised that as an extra gift to me, he’d take care of everything that needed to be taken care of. That of course, is a pretty big gift, especially since we needed to make dinner still. Check us out, looking like hell:



But more importantly, I didn’t want to miss anything. Jack was feeling fine, and I didn’t want to be pathetically stationed in bed or on the couch while he gleefully ripped through all of the presents from Santa. I decided to do my best to get my strength up. I sipped a cup of very weak coffee, then while everyone else dined on chocolate chip pancakes and bacon, I took tiny bites of one of Jack’s Dora The Explorer yogurts. Amazingly, it worked, and I felt okay again.

Jack was thrilled at the piles of presents downstairs, shouting, “Santa!” He’d open a gift, then upon seeing, say, Fisher Price animals, beg, “Abra! Abra!” Then, as I attempted to rip out the freaking vacuum sealed, multiwired creatures from their package, Jack would move on to the next gift, which he also needed someone to abrir.

Big hits from Christmas included the aforementioned little plastic animals, Elmo DVDs, a Sesame Street CD (“Bye bye? Ernie? Duck?”), and, amazingly, a set of flash cards. The flash cards have pictures on them and the corresponding letters of the alphabet. Jack is fascinated by them. We talk about the letters some, but since he’s really working on trying to learn the words for absolutely everything around him, he loves talking about what the pictures are. Thanks to the flash cards, Jack can now say words such as mitten, mouse, yo yo, and zebra. Pretty cool. He also loves shoving the cards into his shape sorter, between the cushions of the couch, and onto his airplane.

The massive amount of presents were a bit intimidating to the Cub, so we took a break midway through so he and Steve could go for a brief walk outside. We also saved some gifts for the next day. No sense in having Christmas magic include a tantrum.

Christmas gets more fun with the kid every year. The first year, Jack’s Christmas included such fun things as his first ever bath, lots of sleeping, and having his dad stumble through diaper changes. Hey, he was only one day old! The next year was a blur of presents and craziness. But this year, I got to hear Jack say, “Santa!” in reverent tones, request Christmas books, and even sing carols (if you count yelling “Hey” during “Jingle Bells” which I obviously do).

Catching up, part 1: Christmas Eve

Inexplicably, my tiny baby boy is now two years old. It is amazing to think of all of the ways he's grown and changed over the past year. A year ago, he'd only been walking for a month and was working out the finer details of not falling on his face. Now he can walk, run, walk using silly steps, jump, climb, and moonwalk. When he was one, he communicated by crying and grunting. Now he's busting out all kinds of words, in English and Spanish, two and three word phrases, and even showing us simple sentences. ("No more nigh-nigh, Daddy. Daddy up.") He developed a fierce loyalty to his stuffed tiger Roary, saw the ocean for the first time, and got to give Elmo a hug at Sesame Place. He can scribble with crayons, sing to himself, dance like a loon, climb into a chair, and eat an astonishing amount of pizza. He can climb up the stairs to the big slide at the playground, then rush down face first. He can indentify most of the things in pictures in his books, and he can even fill in words in books that he reads often. If you ask, "How old is Jack," he gives an enthusiastic, "Two!" Oh, and did I mention that he can fall asleep by himself and sleep all night? Because believe me, that's a big one!

Our celebration of Jack's second birthday didn't go exactly as planned. The poor little man was sick the day before (in spectacular technicolor in front of the entire family) so we decided to take it easy. We spent the day doing Jack's favorite things around the house -- watching Sesame Street, playing, and going to the park. Then he opened his presents. His big present from us was a kitchen, and he absolutely loves it. Jack has since spent many the hours making us fries in his oven, then cutting me off with a "No more fries, Mama."


Although he seemed okay all day, Steve and I decided to play it safe and not go out for pizza for dinner or to Build-A-Bear. I did, however, make Elmo cupcakes for him. Jack absolutely loved his cupcake... right until he threw it up, again in front of everybody.

You've got to admire his tenacity, though: As I grabbed him so we could go upstairs to clean up, Jack said, "More cake?" He's going to be great in college.

Happy birthday, big guy. I love you and am proud of you.

Ovations

Yesterday, we took Jack to see Sesame Street Live. I had a conversation not long ago with some other moms about taking your kids to things like this, Wiggles concerts, princesses on ice, and what have you. The debate was whether or not it's worth it. Is it worth the money, the effort, and all for an experience that your kid is not likely to remember?

To me, obviously, it is.

Maybe when Jack is 30, he won't specifically remember going to Sesame Street Live. He won't remember the music, the moment when Bert came out dressed like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, the french fries we ate at intermission, or any of the details. But I do think that he'll come away with certain feelings about his childhood. That mommy and daddy did fun things with him and wanted him to have experiences he'd enjoy. That the three of us did special things together. I think that's important.

The other side of it is that the experience wasn't just about Jack being excited to see Elmo up on stage just a few feet away from him (I got us really good seats). I cannot tell you how happy Steve and I were watching Jack's face when Bert and Ernie came out on stage for the first time. The joy we saw when he stood up and cheered during the finale, the way he yelled, "Hi, Ockers!" every time Oscar's trash can was wheeled out, the way he frantically waved bye bye to each character in turn... all of that made for a really wonderful experience for all three of us.

I-I-O!

Sometimes, you'll hear a song that just speaks to you. You want to listen to it over and over again, learn the lyrics, blast it in the car, sing it in the shower. For me, right now, that song is "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers. For Jack, it's "Old McDonald."

Jack loves "Old McDonald" beyond all reason. When he plays with his barn or tractor, he'll happily arrange the animals, singing, "I-I-O!" to himself. Steve's parents got him some CDs of kid music. He isn't interested in listening to "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." He just wants me to skip to "I-I-O."

Even more, Jack wants Steve and me to sing him the song pretty much all the time. In the bathtub, after dinner, and especially in the car. He'll say, "I-I-O?" and request specific verses: "Ernie?"

That's right, Ernie. There are a lot more characters living on our farm than just cows, pigs, and horses. Considering how often we have to sing the song, Steve and I have decided to get creative. Jack's favorite is Ernie, who he always insists be followed by Bert, then duck, for Rubber Duckie. Roary likes to sing along with the tigers on the farm. Steve added Santa Claus, and because we're very mature, we always giggle a bit with, "Everywhere a ho, ho!" I also like singing, "And Yoda he had on this farm! E-I-E-I-O!"

Updates

First and most importantly, Jack had his pre-surgery CT scan yesterday. It went amazingly well. The radiologist said that they probably would not have to use a contrast dye, which meant no IV. If Jack could stay still for the scan, they wouldn't need to sedate him. The kid is not quite two years old and very energetic, so I really didn't that would be possible. But amazingly, he pulled it off, contentedly petting Roary while Steve and I sang to him. That meant the whole thing took a lot less time than we thought it would, so we celebrated with breakfast in the cafeteria, then took him to school so he could have some normalcy.

Second, Sesame Place was an absolute blast! The look on Jack's face when he leaned in to give Elmo a big hug was an incredibly happy moment for me. And, of course, I have pictures.

Getting ready for a ride

Watching the parade with Daddy

Elmo airplane!

Meeting Big Bird and Elmo

Cookie!

Ernie!

Bert!

Cute and furry Grover!

And, in case Sesame Place was just not enough fun for him, we went to Boyd's Bear Country on the way home. Here Jack has surrounded himself (and Roary) with stuffed pigs.

Where the air is sweet

Tomorrow, dreams come true for Mr. Jackson W. Snugglecub: we are taking him to Sesame Place. It's an amusement park, mainly geared towards the toddler set, with a Sesame Street theme. It is pretty much the kind of place that exists only in Jack's imagination... or so he thinks!

I can't wait to take Jack to Twiddlebug Land, to splash in Little Bird's Bird Bath, to see the giant statue of Big Bird, and most of all, to meet Elmo in person!

I printed a map of the park and a brochure for Jack, and the two of us have been looking at them in the evenings. Jack seems to like what he sees, laughing like the Count, pointing out "Elmo! Ernie! Cookie!" Steve's parents are coming along, so I do believe there's a better than average chance that the little man will walk away from this with a new sweatshirt or two.

It's official

Looks like Jack has selected a special buddy: Elmo. Little guy enjoys grabbing Elmo by the foot and slinging him over the shoulder. He wants to bring Elmo in the car with him, then sobs when he has to say goodbye to him to go to school, kind of like Elmo is about to leave to fight the Nazis. And on Monday morning, Steve and I went to wake Jack up and discovered him asleep, holding Elmo's hand, and rubbing it against his nose in his sleep. It was just about the cutest thing ever.

I had a really nice night with the boys last night. We went to Glory Days. Jack spent part of dinner scribbling on his placemat, just like a real grown-up kid. The rest he spent stealing fries off of my plate. Just as well, as the Jack Steals My Food Diet is sure to help me lose a few pounds.

Jack and I are also working hard at having him hold my hand instead of my carrying him when we're going to and from the car. I give him tons of positive feedback for doing it, and he seems to really like being able to walk around.

Jack's New Pal

The Cub and I were watching Sesame Street last night, and as usual, he got really excited when Elmo's World came on. I got out our Elmo puppet, and Jack got a big smile on his face. He gave Elmo a drink of water from his sippy cup, then gave Elmo a big kiss. He is quite the affectionate little guy lately.