That's My Poppy!

I'm late posting this, but Poppy's book is finally here! It should be in a store near you...ask for it by name, "The Sword-Edged Blonde" by Alex Bledsoe.

Jake thinks it's very cool that Poppy has his own book, although he doesn't really understand why there are no pictures. We went with Poppy yesterday to a reading at a book store downtown. Jake was very quiet and attentive, and clapped like mad when Poppy was done.

What Are You Thinking About?

Today was a beautiful fall day, so after Jake's nap we decided to go for a hike by the "cweek" -- our favorite walking park/trail. On the way there, the following conversation ensued:

Jake: "It's a beautiful day!"
Mommy: "Yes, it's really pretty. It will be nice by the creek."
J: "It will be quiet."
M: "What do you think you'll hear?"
J: "The trees. The creek."
Poppy: "The sound of the monkeys in the trees..."
J: "Nooo! I don't think so."
M: "Poppy, that's silly...what were you thinking of?"
J: (gravely) "Monkeys"

Poppy and Mommy just burst out laughing...

The What?

Jake loves to watch music videos, particularly of bands playing live. Poppy decided to play the Live Aid DVD with the performance of Queen, recently voted as the best live performance ever by Britons (in some survey). (By the way, this is the original Live Aid of the idealistic 80s, not the corporate, soulless more recent Live Aid).

Jake was pretty fascinate by Freddy Mercury -- as any sane person would be -- but then he started asking to see the "hoo hoos." Huh? "I want to see the Hoo Hoos!" Finally we figured out that he wanted to see the live performance of The Who, which Poppy had also told him was on the DVD.

That's Poppy's boy - he likes his classic rock.

Drumroll...Jake Got His Hair Cut!

If anyone saw a pig flying by, or heard the crack of ice far, far below their feet, don't panic -- it's not the end of the world. It's just that Jake finally got a haircut!

He showed up a couple of weeks ago from a visit to Daddy and Amy's with a very nice hair cut. It's so good to see my handsome little boy again! He got so many compliments on it at school. He was so cute about it, he would just duck his head and look sy, but you could tell he was pleased.

Daddy insists it was because he introduced Jake to the stylist the last time Daddy had to have a cut. That probably helped, but I really think it was because Jake had decided that he *wanted* a cut. He told me he was getting tired of pushing his hair away from his face. You can't make Jake do anything, you can only make him think it was his own idea...

I also think the fact that Daddy and Amy promised him anything he wanted at Toys R Us helped, too. At first, Jake apparently wanted a new toothbrush, until they foolishly took him to the bike section. He ended up with a new trike. :-)

Doesn't my little guy look handsome?

Pumpkins and Corn and Chickens, Oh My

We took Jake to a corn maze in Lodi last weeked. It was hot as blazes (high 80s) and let me tell you, being in a corn maze with no breeze when it's hot is not much fun. Jake liked it, though.

He and Poppy got to use a giant slingshot to shoot pumpkins into a pond at a target. If you hit the target, you won a prize. I think the real prize was for a big and little boy to get to cause mass pumpkin destruction....

Then we went through the maze. It took about an hour. You got a map of part of the maze, and navigated it to a mailbox with your next clue, with 8 clues in all. Jake got so excited when we would find the next clue. "Hey! It's the mailbox! We did it!" The best part for Mommy was the each mailbox had a bench, so I could sit down and drink some water. The heat was not fun for a pregnant woman! Not to mention one that had to go to the bathroom and had a baby kicking her bladder...I think we did the maze in record time, because about halfway through, I was done. Luckily, Jake thought we were in a race so he had a good time.

(By the way, he's not really alone in the maze, like the picture would lead you to believe. It was just a big open stretch and he was happy to get to run.)

Jake also got to meet a chicken -- actually a rooster -- but he was uninterested in the batch of chicks they had. Combined with his major crankiness, and my incipient heat stroke, we decided we had enough and took off for home. I guess there's a reason corn mazes, etc, happen in October, when it's usually nice and cool!

Huh?

Jake has gotten into the bad habit of calling repeatedly for Mommy and Poppy once he's in bed. I decided it was time he went back to going to bed right away, so I started telling him that if he could go to sleep and not call us, he'd get a special surprise the next day.

It's been working well, but then he went to his daddy's for a couple of nights.

Tonight, I remind him about getting a special surprise if he goes right to sleep and doesn't call us.

"What will it be?" he asks.

"Well, on Thursday you got to listen to Laurie on the iPod on the way to school," I reply.

"But what will I get tomorrow?"

"I don't know, it's a surprise. But it will be special," I answer.

Jake thinks for a minute, then his face brightens. "Hey! Maybe it will be a new lamp!"

Um..."Maybe!" I say, giving my silly little guy a big hug and kiss goodnight...

I"m King of the Oranges!

Jake's appetite can be iffy at dinner time. We have a few tricks up our sleeve to get him to eat. One is to have a contest about who can eat the most fill-in-the-blank. Jake and either Mommy or Poppy gets a serving, and then the non-participating parent counts "1-2-3-Go!" and the contest is on.

Jake usually wins. We actually made a crown that the winner gets to wear for the rest of dinner. Here is Jake, being King of the Oranges.

Mommy. That's Mean

The other night, I made dinner. I usually try to separate Jake's food, even when I put it on a "big boy" plate (no dividers). I put mandarin oranges on, then added a roll.

"Hey!" I hear. "That's mean, Mommy!"

"What? You asked for a roll," I say, puzzled.

"But it's touching my oranges and will get it all wet. That's really mean."

"Oh, sorry." What else could I say