Bye Scout!

The unborn baby's decision to kick and subsequently drain her water bag has put a temporary hold on our dog acquisition plans. When we visited Scout in Austin back in mid-April we clearly saw he was a pretty nervous and skittish dog. We thought, when we agreed to take him, we'd have two months to work with him before the newest addition to the family arrived in mid-June.

Clearly, Scout is going to need a lot of work to rehabilitate him. More than I can provide now, given the current circumstances with with the attractive wife's pre-term delivery problems.

Luckily, my wife's sister lives nearby and has agreed to keep Scout for several months. She has a three kids who really took to Scout and a big back yard for him to play in. It's not optimal for Scout's eventual transition, but it's better than sending him back to Austin.

Hostabul

As is our life couldn't get more exciting, my attractive wife's water broke at 2AM this morning. We rushed to the hospital thinking our new baby girl was going to arrive seven weeks early. The hospital staff got her contractions under control and she spent the day under aggressive treatment and close observation. For now, things are okay but it's likely she'll remain on bed rest at the hospital for the foreseeable future. Ideally, for the next seven weeks. And no, I haven't fully processed that reality yet.

Jack's bedside manner is tops.

I got back from the hospital around 9AM and later in the morning, took Jack over to see his mother. Jack can't say the word, "hospital" -- it comes out like "hostabul". He's familiar with the concept because of our neighbor Dave's recent motorcycle accident a few weeks ago where we visited him.

Jack is concerned and a little confused. He knows Mommy is in the hostabul because of baby sister and sees that she's doing okay but still wants Mommy home. I'm lucky because my mother-in-law, whom Jack calls, "Nana" is here to help -- at least for the weekend.

When it rains in pours.

Meet Scout!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law flew in from Texas with Scout, our new dog. My mother-in-law rescued Scout from someone else who in tern rescued him from someone else. We met Scout a few weeks ago during our trip to Texas and decided he's be a good fit in the growing family. Because he's been passed from a couple of owners, Scout is a bit timid. We hope exposure to our family cures him of that. We look forward to having him as part of the family!

Abuelita's 94th

My grandmother ("Abuelita") turned 94 in mid-April. On the heels of returning from Texas to visit my attractive wife's mother, we got back in a plane on the next weekend and flew down to San Diego for the Fiesta Royale.

Hugging the Birthday Girl

My aunt, Marta, is the usual hostess for this party and she spares no expense. She's got a big back yard with a pool, hires an authentic taco man and musical entertainment.

"Chunky" Sanchez performs

Jack is extremely social and loves my Big Fat Mexican family. He has myriad number of second cousins (the children of my first cousins) who range in age from one to eleven and fits comfortably into the brood.

Mmmm, tacos

It was, of course, a special treat to see my 94 year old Abuelita. She is the rock of our family.

Jack double-fisting candy. He later levitated from the sugar high.

Hugging second cousin, Ivana.

"Happy Easter Eggs!"

Last night, after Jack went to sleep, Nana and Papa hid multi-colored plastic Easter eggs filled with Teddy Grahams and animal crackers (with the thinking that those were not as bad for him as actual candy). Jack was thrilled to discover the eggs when he woke up, and made sure to wish everyone a "Happy Easter egg!" when we all woke up.

"Happy Easter Eggs!"

Later in the day, however, laughter turned to tears when Jack helped Nana decorate hard-boiled Easter eggs with Paas dyes. First Jack thought he needed to break the eggs the way you do when you are making a cake (which he has helped Mama do). He finally got the hang of dipping them in the dyes and enjoyed seeing the different colors. But then he was distraught to learn that the eggs needed to go back in the fridge, and he couldn't take them to the park. He cried Big Tears until we managed to distract him with another activity.

Scout

This weekend we are visiting my attractive wife's mom and stepdad.  One of the reasons we came was to meet Scout, a five year old yellow labrador retriever they have rescued.  In his brief life he's had a number of owners who, for various reasons, have had to give him up.  As a result, Scout is a little confused and needy.  We are thinking of giving him a permanent home but are taking our time in making our decision; Jack is handful and we are expecting a new addition to our family in mid-June.  Still, we have always wanted a dog (my attractive wife and I both grew up with dogs in the family).  

Today, we went with "Nanna and Papa" to the local PetSmart store where Scout graduated from the first level of obedience school.  Scout's trainer, Christine, told us Scout will need a lot of attention because he has been moved from owner to owner.  We are naturally concerned (we both work full time) but think we can give Scout a quality life.  Watch this blog for more news on Scout!

Outsourcing

When I returned back home from Iraq, I had grand designs on getting Jack potty trained during the month I would take off before going to work. That plan fell flat on its face, mostly due to Jack's monumental disinterest in the subject. Over time, we've tried to reintroduce the subject with little success.

When we toured the Preschool we were asked if Jack was already potty trained. Sadly, no, we replied trying to hide our shame. We were informed that that the Two/Three group was divided in two; those that were potty trained and those that weren't. The staffers and teachers of the latter group would help in getting them potty trained. We nodded our heads sagely but inwards I was thrilled: we were outsourcing potty training! Maybe being surround by other kids would help, I thought.

Today, Jack's third day, his teacher reported that she got him to go number 1 in the potty after he woke up from his nap!

Light Swaber Fight

First off, I'll say this movie was sent to me by Jack's Godfather, Lance. I was watching it on my laptop when Jack came over, intrigued by the sound of a light saber fight. Needless to say, both Jack and I enjoyed it.



Jack said, "Oh, they are fighting with Light Swabers. Can I see it again?"

"Yes you can," I said. Heh.

First Day of Preschool!

This past Monday was Jack and James' first day at Preschool! We arranged with James' parents to all show up at the same time on Monday to make the transition easier for Jack and James. We spent all weekend explaining to Jack that he would be headed to preschool instead of daycare on Monday. When we got to the facility, James and his parents were already there. We walked in, were greeted by the staff, and escorted them to the Two/Three Classroom. It already had a number of toddlers in it with adult supervisors. The actual teachers didn't arrive until 9AM, after all the children had breakfast.

Jack and James immediately flowed into the room, initially oblivious to the other children, and started playing with the toys and other cool stuff arranged in the room. No drama whatsoever!

End of Day Care

Last week closed out a momentous milestone: Jack finished in-home Day Care. My attractive wife researched and found a great Preschool in our city. We brought up the idea of moving Jack and his daycare playmate, James, to James' parents. We thought it might make the transition easier if they made the switch together. After all, Jack and James have both known each other since they were six months old.

Before I left on my business trip, my attractive wife, Jack, James and his parents visited the Preschool. It's a great place tucked into the corner of an innocuous strip mall that has its own play structure and different rooms/programs for toddlers from the ages of one to five. Jack and James loved it so we were sold.

Of course, making the transition was traumatic for our beloved day care lady, Tanny, who's been watching Jack since he was six-months old. It's a occupational hazard of her business: caring so much for the kids she watches. It's particularly hard to let them go off to preschool.

To help ease the transition, we threw a small party for her last Sunday. Fortunately, the weather was great for an outdoor gathering. Tanny brought a yummy rice dish which we augmented with small sandwiches, fruit, pastries, white wine and beer. It was a great time with James and his parents, as well as some other friends attending.

Happiness

Jack's favorite back yard activity is a game he calls, "Ball Catch." It's really just kick-ball but that's what he calls it. Now that more milder spring weather is here and afternoon daylight is more lengthy, I can get home from the office in time to get a game of ball catch before dinner and then the bath time routine take over. Jack loves it and love playing with him.

"You wanna play?"

Haircut

On Sunday, 29 March, we decided Jack should get a haircut. Unlike most three-year olds, Jack actually likes going to get his hair cut. I think this is mostly related to the fact he knows he will get a lollipop after the haircut is over. His boyish charm is a big hit with the hair cut ladies at the local hair cut salon.

Jack in the Big Chair

Backyard Bullfight

While I was away, my parents flew up from Los Angeles to help out my very pregnant wife with Jack. I arrived back home on a Saturday, exactly two weeks after I left. My folks didn't fly back until Monday morning so I got to spend some time with them as well before they left.

Jack loves my parents (well, he loves everyone) but he has a special affinity for his "Nanni" and "Pa." On the Saturday afternoon after I got back, we were hanging out in the back yard with our awesome neighbors Dewey and Day-Day. Jack had brought out a red balloon that was close to deflation. My father picked it up and, out of no where, proceeded to perform the most amazing matador-like dance with Jack using the red balloon as a cape.

Ole!

What was amazing was how he gracefully moved the balloon just in front of Jack enticing him to charge at him, just like a bull, moving it just out of reach and around him. He hardly stepped around, just sort of twisted adroitly as Jack charged to and fro. Where did my dad learn that? Maybe there's story there...

While you were out...

For my seven readers, yes, the posting has been woefully inadequate these past few weeks. In the middle of March I had to go away on a business trip for two weeks. Upon my return, I got caught up in -- well, catching up and the blog suffered. There's a lot of Jack-related news to get caught up on so here we go.