Random Stories

Random Story #1
Jake was playing his guitar the other day and singing. I couldn't quite make out the words. "Jake, are you singing 'On the Dark Side?'" Exasperated, he replies, "No Mommy, I'm singing 'Paper and Fire'." He likes his Mellencamp...

Random Story #2
While visiting in VA, my sister was nice enough to loan us her minivan. We got in one day and the door got stuck for a second before we could get it closed. From the back we hear, "Piece of crap!" Where did that come from?

Random Story #3
Every night Poppy and Jake watch videos on Poppy's computer, which sometimes acts up when downloading YouTube for some reason. The other night the Explorer window shut down, which is what happens when there is a problem. There's a heavy sigh and then, "Piece of crap." And NOT from Poppy...although I suspect that's where the phrase originated.

Shaggy Boy

Jake's hair cut boycott continues unabated. I'm not sure why he equates getting a hair cut with having a body part lopped off, but he does. MeMe almost had him convinced to let her cut his hair, but by the time we were in a place with scissors that would work, the moment had passed. I'm going to start carrying hair scissors around with me so I can take advantage next time!

Meanwhile, he spends a lot of time pushing his hair out of his eyes and generally looking like a sheepdog. Let's hope this phase passes before his hair gets longer than mine. (My dad suggested holding him down. I had to explain that there's no way you can hold a screaming, flailing three-year-old still enough for a hair cut without risking bodily harm to someone. Besides, it's not that big of a deal.)

The Fruits of His Labor

Jake loves to help me water. He has his own watering can, but he prefers to use my big one. He'll also help manage the hose, although he likes doing that for about one minute, then "It's all done, Mommy! That's enough!"

We have some pots in the backyard with tomato plants and green beans. Everyday, Jake says "Let's check our 'mato plants!" He loves to be able to pick the tomatoes and beans and he's very critical of if they are ready or not. We'll talk about just how red a tomato is, or it it's still orange. "Oh no, Mommy, this one not ready."

Here is Jake proudly display the fruits of his labor. Now if we can only get him to eat them...he doesn't actually like tomatoes to eat, just to grow...

Jake and the Elephant

We went to Circus World this weekend, which is sort of a living museum for the old summer camp of the Ringling Bros./Barnum & Bailey Circus. They have exhibits and a lot of the old buildings and equipment, but they also do shows and have fun stuff for kids.

Jake was VERY excited because he got to ride an elephant! I was sort of torn, because I'm actually against using animals in circuses, but he was so excited by the idea that we had to do it. Poppy was going to, but he couldn't because he hurt his leg working out the other day. I thought Poppy was being a wimp until I got on -- elephants are very uncomfortable! It was like riding a 6-foot-wide broomstick.

Jake fit perfectly, of course, and thought being up so high was cool. The elephant, Tomba, put its trunk back to smell us when we got on. I told Jake it's a good thing he hadn't eaten any peanuts or the elephant might have thought he was lunch! Jake laughed.

There was one other very exciting thing about the elephant experience...Tomba pooped! Yes, Jake saw real, live elephant poop.

J: "Mommy, he poop!"
M: "Yes, Jake."
J: "Why?"
M: "Well, it's like your book...'Everyone Poops'."
J: "He poop in the yard!"
M: "She's an elephant, she's allowed."
J: "He poop a LOT!"
M: "Yes, elephants poop at lot, they're big."
J: "Wow, he POOP!"

Jake was also impressed that Tomba was a movie star and has been in movies. In fact, when retelling the story, he says, "I ride an elephant. She a movie star!"

Jake liked the camels, too, but not when one tried to eat his hair. Yuck! He wasn't at all interested in the ponies.

We also saw these really cool and talened Chinese acrobats. Jake was enthralled by their tricks and feats, especially the younger kids they had in the show. I think he was planning on trying some tricks himself...

Two Firsts

Two "firsts" for Jake today:

One, he pooped on the potty! This is a big deal. He's been potty trained at school during the day for a long time (at home is another story), but he still always pooped in his pull-up. Today, he told his teacher he had to go potty. Then she heard, "Miss Mal-wee, I poopin'!" Big excitement! Now, if we can only get him to start going on the potty when he's home...

Jake's second "first" was exciting, but not as positive. He fell off his bed! Poor little guy, I heard him crying and ran into his room. He has rails on his toddler bed, but he's such a restless sleeper I guess he worked his way off. He bit his lip and has an "owie." I didn't realize it at first, and just gave him a hug and put him back to sleep. He couldn't settle down though, so I went back in and that's when I saw the dried blood. Almost gave me a heart attack. At any rate, he was cleaned up and it's just a little spot on his lip. He got some "gwape" (Tylenol) and some cuddles, and now he's fast asleep. I, on the other hand, am wide awake at 4:30 am....

The First Movie

Jake saw his first movie in the movie theatre!

It was rainy on July 4th, so we took him to the 10:00 am showing of "Ratatouliie." He's been obsessed with the movie since he saw a preview for it on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD he got for Easter. He would ask us to put it on repeat and watch it for as long as we could stand it. "The mouse! He steal the cheese! He runned away!"

So it was a big day when we told him we were going to finally see the mouse steal the cheese. He was fascinated with the theatre -- the outside with all the posters, buying the tickets, the huge screen, the seats, the snacks.

He doesn't quite weigh enough to keep the seat down, so when he first sat, it kind of folded up on him. He looked at me with this quizzical look, as if to say, "Is this how you watch movies in a theatre, Mommy?" Needless to say, he watched the rest of the movie from Mommy or Poppy's lap. He was very good, talking quietly and paying attention.

He did really well although he was ready to go about 20 minutes before the end of the movie. "I done, Mommy." We decided to go, but then Jake decided he wanted to stay after all. We were almost out of the theatre, so we found a seat down front. Unfortunately, another family was letting their little girl run up and down the aisles so Jake wanted to do that, too. We had a hard time making him understand that no, *we* sit in our seats to watch movies.

He applauded at the end and seemed to really enjoy it....even though the scene from the preview was never in the movie. Nope, the rat never did steal the cheese and run away.

Helping Peoples

Tonight on the way home, Jake and I saw a police care by the side of the road, helping a broken down car.

"Mommy, there's a police man!"
"Yes, he's helping someone."
"Why? Why he help someone?"
"Because that's what police do, they help people."
"Like Batman!"
"Um, yeah, like Batman. Sort of."
"And like Superman! He helps peoples!"
"True. Although police officers can't fly or stop planes. They're just regular people. Who else helps people?"
"Um. Batman helps peoples!"
"Yes. So do firemen."
"And Superman! He helps peoples!"
Sigh. "Yes Jake, you're right."

Hair Washing

Jake hates having his hair washed. Every night at bathtime, he says, "Don't wash my hair!"

It's become such a battle that hair washing went from a nightly occurence to a once-a-week trauma (for all involved). Poppy has been working tirelessly to overcome the hair washing phobia.

Last night, breakthrough was achieved: hair washing without tears! AND soap! Alex let Jake help pour the water (with quite a bit of help). It took about 7 minutes and a lot of negotiation to wash the hair, but washed it was. Hurray!

Jake was so proud of himself and of course, he received lots of praise for his bravery. He behaved so well at bathtime last night that he didn't get dinged any vidoes at all, his normal consequences for bad behavior. So he watched "Johnny Quest," Grand Funk Railroad ("That was great!"), and all of this other favorites. Then it was time for story, song from Mommy, snuggles, Mommy's Magic Sleepy Safety Dust, and bed. A nice end to a nice day.

That Was Great!

Jake's musical tastes run to fairly simple rhythms. The other night, Alex showed Jake a clip of "Some Kind of Wonderful" by Grand Funk Railroad. Jake watched, completely fascinated, then said, "That was GREAT!"