Jack sleeps in the tub, and playing at the pool

If Jack could do all his favorite things, he would sleep, eat, and take a bath. We caught him a couple of weeks ago nodding off in the bathtub.

Tonight we just came home from the gym and Jack did his cool walk at the pool. The water displaces enough of his weight he can find his balance fast. He loves to stand himself up (Mom/Dad really put him there) on the edge of the pool and scream, play with the grate, or watch the people walking by the pool side.

He only likes to walk from shallow to deep. If Dad is in the deeper end (deep is maybe 24 inches), he will inch his way along, cautiously moving his hands along the side of the pool edge and sliding his feet toward Dad. If Mom is on the deeper end, he does something completely different. He turns around to face her and starts stepping. Of course, his balance is way off and he falls, but no holds barred, he lets go of the wall and starts marching toward mom. Such confidence!

Jack not so slow

Mom dropped Jack off next to one of his little friends at day care, Jacob Z. Jacob Z was playing with a toy and the teacher gave Jack a toy just like it. Jacob Z. grabbed for Jack's toy, and sudden as could be, Jack grabbed the toy Jacob Z. was playing with originally. The look on Jack's face was something like, "Hey, that's not allowed. Give me that back."

Jack's got a new car seat.

Little Stinker

He's a little imp. Jack can play for a long time with his toys on the floor. He doesn't do anything deliberately very fast at all. You can always see him thinking things through. For example, he will stare at his toys, his hands, food, for a little while, then he starts his arms in motion and reaches for the object, and tries to lock on to the target. Once it's in his little paws he slowly raises it closer to his face and he looks at it. Invariably, the next step is it goes into his mouth. Some things he keeps in his hands longer, like the tags on toys. He loves to feel these.

Whenever Jack is placed on the floor a pillow invariably goes behind him. This was an easy trick to learn because he would lose his balance and fall back with a THUD when he hit the floor, start crying, then Mom or Dad (after checking to make sure Jack "the bod" didn't crack the floor) pick him up and comfort him. Now with the pillow behind him he doesn't go THUD, but he always cries. It's like he has the "right" to cry. This has been his Mom and my suspicion for a while: he deliberately tosses himself back so he can cry and get us to come get him.

Since the things he does deliberately are still a little slow, imagine this in slow motion. Jack is playing, sitting there on the floor with a pillow behind his back. He's playing with his toys and starts to look unsettled, like he wants a parent. He looks back behind himself, almost confirming the pillow is there. He turns his head straight ahead. He falls back onto the pillow, arches his back to roll off the pillow, then begins to cry.

Dad laughs, and he picks up his boy. His boy smiles at him, impishly when he is picked up, like he planned it.

Ear Infections and Consequences

Jack has had a few ear infections. It seems he's had one since early March and it's never really gone away despite following the prescriptions and taking the medicines. We're on the antibiotic reserved for "strongly resistant ear infections."

Let me tell you a couple of things about this antibiotic our boy is taking:
1. The worst flatulence. This gas makes an old man with gastrointestinal distress smell fresh. I picked him up from his crib this morning and panicked (due to the next concern) but there was nothing.

2. The antibiotics have killed all the good bacteria. The bacteria in the intestinal tract are good, and now they're getting annihilated. Picture a clean garage rag, then pour unused motor oil on it with a slight pinch of Jello in powder. So any weakness in the seal between the plastic elastic in the diaper and Jack's skin, you're SOL and you got a SOD (---- out of diaper). Today one of the SOD's got on the carpet.

3. Jack's getting better, he's sleeping almost through the night again.

What's a Mommy Worth (according to a seven year old)

"Mommy, I wouldn't trade you for 120 Webkinz or 2 Wii's . . . besides we have one already and they're not much fun anyway. I wouldn't even trade you for two American Girl Dolls," Madeline said to her Mom tonight.