The boy likes guacamole

Tonight at dinner Mom and I are eating some guacamole with chips. Jack is eating his serving of yogurt with rice and fruit. I put a dab of guac on a chip and put it in front of Jack's face, let him look at it, then he opens his mouth and the chip with the green avocado, salt, pepper, onion, and lemon juice goes in his mouth. He doesn't flinch, he just opens his mouth and wants more.

Mom proceeds to feed the boy guacamole on a spoon, which he happily consumes. Besides green beans, there still isn't a food this little guy hasn't met that he doesn't like.

Memorial Day Weekend

I wanted to see the fireworks at the Celebration at the Station event, but several things changed my mind. The fact that Jack really starts heading for nighttime at 7:30, and that the forecast had the possibility for thunderstorms, and I had a pork tenderloin marinating that I wanted to cook. I stayed home and did some work in the yard.

After Jack's nap Mom came outside with the boy, followed by Madeline and Terra. What a fun evening. All four sat down in the freshly trimmed yard and talked about the day, the girls' new outfits, and how silly Jack is because he does not like the grass to touch his feet. Mom got the camera and shot some adorable pictures of the girls climbing in and jumping out of the tree.

Then we sat around the patio and talked about the silly things the girls did when they were babies which they both loved. The girls even ate the tenderloin. Following dinner the girls got back in the tree and climbed as high as they could go. "I did it." I heard Terra say. I looked and she was precariously high in the tree. "Don't say anything," I told Mom. "If we say anything, she'll loose her confidence and fall, break her arm, then not go swimming all summer."

"Dad, I can't get down." OH crap, I thought. Terra was so high. I spoke harshly to her, like I was annoyed because I didn't want to make her think I wasn't 100% confident she couldn't get down safely by herself. She finally found the right footing and made her way down the tree. My gosh, I breathed deeply, what a relief.

Lunch Today

"CRASHHH," followed by the always identifiable sound of scattered stoneware. A plate dropped while the girls were fixing lunch for everyone. Today in church they had a lesson on why you should respect your parents. They had been talking to each other about fixing something since early in the weekend and I'm sure the lesson in church was the final inspiration.

I hustled down stairs after changing out of my church clothes post-haste to make sure bare feet weren't in the kitchen. Worried about the suprise I heard, "Don't look, dad!" both girls yelled in unison. "Did someone drop a plate?" I asked. The guilty girl apologized. I cleaned it up without looking in the dining room and the girls scurried faster to get lunch ready. "Dad, what kind of salad dressing do you like?" I went upstairs and said, "Just get the pinkish-red one, the vinaigrette"

"We have to eat it," I told Mom, although I was really looking forward to some leftover fajitas. "Whatever it is, we should eat it, so they're encouraged to do these kind of things."

"LUNCH IS READY!!!" they cried up the stairs, delighted in their satisfaction for fixing lunch. Mom picked up Jack and we went downstairs to the banquet waiting for us.

And there it was. Mom and I both had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a salad. I had a corn tortilla with three Twizzlers on my plate. Our favorite soda pops were opened and ready to drink. I sat down across from Mom. In between us was the "Salad Dressing" -- Hot chili sauce. Whoa!! Mom and I smiled we both saw the chili sauce.

I said thank you very much, we kissed our daughters who were beaming with pride. I pushed my chair back, "I'm going to get the other salad dressing."

"Oh, I already put it in your salad," Terra replied matter-of-factly. "You don't need to get it." Mom burst out laughing and I could barely keep mine contained. "Jack did something funny upstairs," Mom said. Now with a license to laugh, I couldn't hold it in.

Misty was brave, she ate the salad and its "dressing." I quickly put her bowl over mine so the tiny chefs didn't notice I barely ate any of it.

Jack's Shuffling

This shuffling and mobility has come too soon. Yesterday Jack started in the TV room, he ended up in the kitchen. He scooted to the dishwasher. It was open and I was unloading th dishes. For a while I watched while he tried to leverage a Tupperware container up through the rails of the bottom tray on the dishwasher. No longer content with this frustrating approach for retrieving the lid, he grabbed the dishwasher tray with both hands pulled himself up. It was now simple to pull the lid out from the dishwasher fom his new vantage point. Then he balanced himself and was standing up whirling the lid around in both hands before I grabbed him, nervous that me might fall forward.

He's also balanced himself precariously several times on the single dividing step between the family room and the dining room.

End of Soccer Season

The girls both went out from their soccer seasons with a bang. Madeline in the final minutes of the final game made a burst starting on her side of the field, sprinted with the ball to the opposing team's goal and from just outside the penalty box, gave a great kick and scored.

Madeline's party was fun. The coach made a video with pictures from the parents. This was played on the movie projection screen at the restaurant and pictures scrolled by while the team screamed and laughed, it was a lot of fun. Mom and I decided we really need that telephoto lens.

"Awesome," Madeline said describing the season, "it rocks, it's the best, it knocks me off my feet."

Terra's season ended undefeated. Due in part to that streak they entered a tournament with a total of four teams in the coed, under 10 division. Terra's world got just a bit bigger last weekend, and the team suffered its first defeats. The opposing teams were very good. They were obviously traveling teams. They knew how to pass, but Terra's team passes very well, too. These teams could kick from outside the penalty box, with accuracy, hard, and score. Terra's team hasn't played another team that could do that all season. Next year.

Terra says, "It was hard, a lot of the kids we played in the tournament weren't in our division. and that I got hurt." They were in her age group, we'll practice this summer.

All Jack's favorite foods, please stand up -- Not so fast there, Green Beans

There's been plenty we've given the boy that I did not think he would like. I gave him a lemon from a cup of water at one of our favorite local restaurants. He put it in his mouth, and shook his head back and forth. Then he picked it up, looked closer at it, and then went right back to eating it. Pickles, I was surprised with the pickles, too. He loves, wants to marry, beans. We give him little pieces of food from the adult dinner every night, and I've never seen him not like something.

Then came green beans. Jack wears his emotions on his face, he has a facial expression for everything, and this was a don't like the green beans, never want to see those again face.

Ice Cream Truck

"DING, DING, DING, DING," repeat until you go crazy. This is the ice cream truck. Madeline is a sucker for the ice cream truck. He drives by our house so slowly, so very slowly. It's guaranteed if Madeline is inside she sprints outside, and if she's outside she burns rubber coming inside to get her money.

She's very generous, too. Invariably her friends in the neighborhood end up with some popsicle. Grandpa gives her a small stipend for ice cream money.

However, this is all changing. She's saving her money for a "Hannah Montana" outfit from the store and with her heart goes her treasure also, but the Ice Cream Truck is still so attractive, it's obviously difficult to contain the urge, or to quell the habit of getting these sweets.

Frustrated with it all one day she said, "That Ice cream man," she said exasperated, "I'm not going to buy from him. Why does he keep coming?" she said with half-clenched teeth. "I'm not buying anything from him."

"Can I have a lemonade stand? If I hear him coming I could setup a lemonade stand, and then I could ask the Ice Cream Man if he wants to buy some lemonade for three dollars." She started laughing to herself about that idea.

Jack's New Mobility

"It's been while since we had a "Scooter" in class," the day care teacher in the nursery told Mom today.

She was of course talking about Jack's new mobility. He hasn't learned to crawl, Jack "scoots." It's amazing, but he can be six feet from where we have placed him on the floor and still in the same upright position. He's figured out how to move while sitting on his bottom. He will stretch his feet inches farther, while keeping them close enough together, then leveraging his weight on the front two feet he'll drag his bottom across the floor until the heels are close to the rest of his body. Repeat this process and you will be amazed at how far a boy determined to get a piece of paper, a drawer, a toy, or something in his sight into his hands can move.

He scooted himself across the floor a couple of feet yesterday to get to the end table flanking the couch in the family room; pull down a magazine, and begin to tear the pages out. The only audible clue was his squeals of delight at reaching his destination and getting into things he is not supposed to be able to reach.

"The scooters don't happen very often," the teacher further told Mom today. "Once he gets started, he'll have the whole class doing the same thing."

Ahhh, what can I say. Our Jack. He is a pioneer.

Mother's Day Fun

Worlds of Fun. We went to Worlds of Fun for Mother's Day. Packed the girls and the boy in the car, left and arrived just before 1:00PM at the park for a glorious day. It was very windy in the morning, just cold enough to need a wind breaker and deter lots of people, but warm enough in the evening for a great day.

Terra's now over 54" tall so she cannot ride the "Camp Snoopy" rides any more. Madeline is right at 54", she can go between either type of ride if she wants. It started off regular, we went on the carousel. The girls were glad to be on their own horses. No lines whatsoever, they could pick any horse they wanted. Jack, mom, and I sat on the chariot. Jack's eyes were like a typewriter when the carousel was roating, his eyes were moving back and forth, right to left as "Le Carousel" ride played out.

Then Le Taxi Cab. Then the Jumping Kangaroos and Terra's revelation she is too tall to ride some of the rides, including the Jumping Kangaroo thing. Now the real rite of passage -- Le roller coaster.

Terra was afraid at first, but Madeline volunteered to go on the Timberwolf. Dad volunteered to go with her. The ride commenced and Madeline asked me to hold her hand. I tried to distract her, "Make a silly face to Mom, Jack, and Terra." Madeline provided a goofy smile with her thumbs up. "Don't forget, Madeline, your cousin loves roller coasters," I reminded her.

Crank. Crank. Crank goes goes the roller coaster. We notched our way up in elevation for our eventual descent. Madeline held on to my hand tighter.
"Sarah loves roller coaster, Sarah loves roller coasters," I heard Madeline whispering to herself. We reached the top and whooooooosh. We had come to our inevitable decline. Madeline screamed. She closed her eyes. She screamed more. I yelled over the sound of the cars, steel track, and wooden beams, "Great Madeline, you're doing great."

It went on, and on. Madeline closed her eyes tight and screamed while I tried to console her. We made it to the end and cranked our way slowly to the finish. I looked and Madeline, still somewhat traumatized, and said, "You did great. Now smile, so Terra's not afraid." Then, she beamed.

We arrived back where we started and Terra, like a laser, looked at Madeline to see how it went. Madeline smiled so big and waved enthusiastically; you never knew anything.

Terra found her courage. She and I rode next. She held my hand and closed her eyes. She made it through the roller coaster "too tall to ride the little rides" rite of passage, same as Madeline.

"Did you hear me cry?" Madeline asked her Mom. "No, no way," Mom replied. "Yeah. It must have been someone else," Madeline said, while Terra and I were on her first trip.

It was a long day. We rode three other roller coasters. The girls came back to ride the Timberwolf a staggering eight times in a row. Fortunately, the parents could stand by, relax, and not go through any more rite of passages.

Jack found his own way to entertain himself. He was in the stroller for most of the day. He decided to lean forward, while strapped in with the restrains as far as he could. I peered over at him from one of the roller coaster rides and heard the lady behind me say, "Ma'am! Ma'am!! Your baby!!! He's about to fall out of his stroller." I looked back and reassured her, "Don't worry. He's strapped in. He's been doing it all day."

9 Month Well Baby

Jack had his well baby appointment today.

24lbs 3oz. 95 percentile. 29 inches. 85th percentile.