Raising JD

Spinning

2009-06-18T20:59:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, my good friend Herschel came over. Jack adores Herschel. He even got Herschel to give him a spin in the back yard. The best part of this game is how both feel afterward; Jack can't stand up and Herschel mumbled something about getting another beer.

Dinosaur Book

2009-06-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today at COSTCO, I went in to buy one thing: a case of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for the attractive wife. I emerged with a lot more including a very cool Dinosaur pop-up book for Jack which features battery-operated sounds and movement. The text is a bit too advanced for Jack three-and-a-half-year-old mind (I don't think he appreciates the difference between sauropods and therapods) but the illustrations and pop-up stuff are awesome. He's really enjoying it.

Medicine with Pa

2009-06-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

One of Jack's favorite routines is to help his Pa with his morning vitamin and pill routine. Jack's calls it medicine time. Pa will announce, "Help me find my medicine!" Jack knows where to find it in the small bed-side table in the guest room. Jack will pull out the plastic bags of vitamins and pills and hand them to Pa. It's really cute.

Transitions ...

2009-06-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

With all the hullabaloo about Baby Sister (who still remains at the "hostable") Jack inherently gets that things are changing -- yet the proverbial hammer has yet to drop. My parents arrived last week to help up with the baby's arrival but to Jack, it's like a normal visit. He does see my attractive wife and I rushing off to the hostable to drop off pumped breast milk and catch the next scheduled feeding. I think he appreciates things are about to change but they haven't and he's acting out in some ways.

Still, having my folks here is great; Jack loves his Nanni and Pa. Here's a picture of them eating breakfast.

Hangin with Baby Sister

2009-05-31T21:51:00.001-07:00

We got Jack back into the Intensive Care Nursery today again to visit Baby Sister who's very close, we're told, to coming home -- maybe even next week. This weekend, Baby got a hearing screening, my attractive wife got a lactation consult, we both attended Infant CPR class, and a hospital discharge class.

Jack was pretty excited again to see Baby Sister. When we arrived, our ICN Nurse was feeding her as she's now on an ad hoc feeding schedule since she ripped out her feeding tube. After the feeding, the nurse gave Jack a small diaper and bottle for his Bebe Bear, which he brought along. Jack pretended to feed it. Jack patted Baby Sister's head and said, "Nice."

Firetruck

2009-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

Our cool neighbor, "Day-Day," continues to buy supper cool-ass toys at the flea market under the guise of getting them for Jack. Here's his newest acquisition, a remote control ladder firetruck. You can steer it, drive it, and deploy the ladder in 360 degrees at a 45 degree elevation. Jack doesn't have the whole driving thing down yet but he loved working with the ladder this afternoon in the back yard. Thanks, Day-Day!

Funny Face

2009-05-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

One of Jack's favorite shows at the moment is "Yo Gabba Gabba." One segment is called "Funny Face," where kids on the show make a variety of funny faces. This evening, I was trying to get Jack to come back to the common back yard area and get ready to go back inside for his bath. He wouldn't budge. I distracted him by invoking the "Funny Face!" command. This is what he did.

Glasses

2009-05-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

Our condo association traditionally has a Memorial Day potluck our in our common backyard area. This year's celebration was unseasonably cold! It barely got to the low 60s F accompanied by a brisk wind! We made the best of it, though; everyone bundled up, ate quickly, and we fired up our backyard fire pit. While the pit does provide warmth, our north facing windows get bombarded with smoke.

As night fell and we gathered around the firepit, Jack mugged for the camera wearing a pair of hip glasses from a guest. He's sitting with my attractive wife who was enjoying a much deserved beer after eight months of pregnancy.

Rabbit Ears

2009-05-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Jack brings home a lot of artwork from preschool. Today he brought home some cool rabbit ears. My attractive wife snapped this picture with yours truly in the background. Nice haberdashery, Jack!

Playground

2009-05-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

Our weekend routine includes a visit to the local city park (or, Parky, as Jack calls it) after breakfast. Today, we ran into Jack's best friend James. Jack and James have known each other since they were each six months old. They went to the same day care and now preschool. At preschool, the teachers say they behave like siblings. They have so much fun together.

Music

2009-05-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

We have a cool neighbor, Bert, who is a musician. Now that the weather is finally warming up in northern California, our condo association neighbors are spending more time in our common backyard area. When we are out there, Jack likes to knock on Bert's sliding glass door and ask to play his piano. Bert is a jazz drummer by trade but plays guitar and piano too. While Jack plays the piano, Bert plays the guitar. What is remarkable is how Jack and Bert play off each other. At his age, all Jack knows is rhythm; while banging on the piano keys, Bert will strum chords on the guitar at the same rate. When I watched them, Jack slowed down and so did Bert. Then Bert sped up and Jack followed suit. Jack's first jam session!

Olives

2009-05-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Jack has a fondness for olives. His favorite trick is putting an olive on each finger and then eating each one. Our neighbor, Dewey, provided the yummy olives for this go around.

Goatee and Tats

2009-05-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

This evening when I got home from work, I found Jack running around the house without a shirt on. He quickly found some of his washable markers and started drawing on himself. When he started drawing around his mouth, I picked up another marker and drew a goatee on him as well as an anchor tattoo on left arm. It all came off the bath.

Jack Meets Baby Sister!

2009-05-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

The hospital where Jack's sister remains in the Intensive Care Nursery (ICN) finally lifted the ban on visitors under 16 years of age (based on concerns with the swine flu). On Sunday, we took Jack to visit and meet Stephanie. For the most part, she remained asleep but Jack was excited to meet her nonetheless.

Clone Trooper

2009-05-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Jack loves Star Wars: Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. A couple of years ago, Jack's godfather, Victor, sent us a Clone Trooper helmet. During this particular episode, Jack asked to wear the helmet. His journey to the Dark Side is complete. Heh.

Picture of Baby Sister

2009-05-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

I went to the NICU to visit Jack's baby sister and much to my surprise she opened her eyes! The attending nurse snapped a picture with their electronic camera and gave me a hard copy to take home. When Jack saw the picture he was very excited. We snapped this picture of him holding the picture of his baby sister.

Playground Girl Friend

2009-05-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

Jack has a cute Asian girlfriend! Well, at least that's my story. He met her a last week at the playground and they played together for quite a time. Then, a few days ago, we saw her again and they hung out. Jack's entire pick up line was, "Hi," and a smile. Enjoy it while it lasts, buddy.

Sister!

2009-05-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Say it like Darth Vader in Episode VI: "Sister!

Last Monday, Jack's attractive mom gave birth by C Section to his new baby sister, Stephanie! She arrived six weeks early so, for now, Mommy and Baby Sister are still at the hospital for a while. Also, Jack is banned from the hospital because he is sick with an eye and ear infection.

For now, Baby Sister is somewhat abstract. I've shown Jack pictures but I get the sense he's waiting for her to arrive home before he accepts her. When I told him her name, he said, "Sesame." There's a nickname there somewhere.

James' Birthday

2009-05-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

On April 26 Jack and I went to his playmate James' third birthday party. Jack's third was held at Chuck E. Cheese's but James' was held at Super Frank's Adventure Club. From the get go, I could see Frank's was a much better venue. The toddler play area is walled off from the rest of the facility and has much friendlier toys, including a giant inflated slide. The area also has luxurious leather recliners for the parents. How did I not know about this place?

Jack and James cruise the Toddler Area in their sweet rides.

Like Chuck's there is an area with video games which spew tickets which can be redeemed for gifts and toys but it's comfortably walled off from the toddler area. There also glow in the dark miniature golf but Jack is too young for that.

Enjoying Super Frank's fine board of fare.

Jack and James had a grand time running around the toddler play area, using the inflated slide, eating pizza and cake.

Trifecta

2009-05-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a helluva week. The attractive wife is still on bed rest at the hospital. The baby is doing fine although my wife is going stir crazy. During her first 48 hours in the hospital, she was hooked up to several IVs: magnesium (for the contractions), two types of antibiotics (to prevent potential infection) and a glucose (for hydration). The magnesium in particular had terrible side-effects: dry mouth, a burning sensation at the IV site, and general levels of crappiness. After 48 hours, the doctors were pleased that her contractions were under control and took her off the magnesium. Almost immediately, she began to feel better.

By mid-week, she was on oral antibiotics and anti-contraction medication. Yesterday, the took the hydration IV away (although she maintains a saline lock on her arm in case another IV is needed). Also, our doctor weighed in that the baby was ready to come out, via cesarean section, on Monday (which corresponds to 34 weeks gestation). As of the last ultrasound, the baby is breech (feet down) so the safest route is a C Section.

Jack has been a trouper throughout. At first, we were making daily visits to the hospital but by mid-week, concerns about the spread of Swine Flu put the hospital on lock down: no more than two visitors at a time and no visitors under the age of 16. So for the last few days, he's been asking why he couldn't go see mommy. I keep telling him she has to rest to prepare for the arrival of baby sister or (lamely) that the hospital is closed.

Jack adjusting TV channels for Mommy before being banished from the hospital

To make matters worse, Jack came down with another viral infection late in the week. Today he stared a bad cough and a mild fever. I took him to the after hours clinic and the doctor who saw him said his lungs sounded fine but that he likely would get worse before he got better. Damn.

Potty Progress!

2009-05-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

So my slacker plan to outsource potty training via preschool is showing some results. Over the last week, Jack has asked to go to the potty several times at home. When I do the pick up at preschool, I get a mini-report card of the day's activities which include diaper changes and/or successful potty events. I wildly praise Jack when I read about him going to the potty at preschool.

The first time he did it at home, I raced him to the bathroom, pulled down the pull-ups and boom, he's making a hole in one (#1, that is). More wild praise, which he enjoys. Two nights ago, while outside with the neighbors, I caught Jack developing that far away look that usually heralds a bowel movement. "Jack, do you need to go poopies?" I yell. "No, I don't," he says a couple times. Then, "I need to go." I rushed him inside but had a false alarm. "I was just gassies," he says. Back outside we go. Then he says he has to go again. We rush inside but another false alarm. After his bath we try again but it's #1. Still, not bad.

Tonight, my friend Herschel came over to help me out. I picked up some Asian food (Yan Can Cook) and we all ate and watched Tivo'd espisodes of Star Wars: Clone Wars. For someone who claims he hates kids, Herschel has a fondness for Jack and Jack loves him. Maybe because it's clear, at three and half, that Jack is gonna like SciFi. We three get along famously. Jack shows off his potty skills again. Then I get a phone call from a Toyota dealership I'm courting regarding the availability of a 2009 Sienna. I decide to take the call. Sure enough, Jack announces another potty event. To my complete shock, Herschel says he'll help. As I'm on the phone, I hear a, "Whoa!" from the bathroom followed by a flush. Jack comes rushing into the kitchen announcing, "Daddy, I went poopies!" Wow. We're getting somewhere!

Bye Scout!

2009-04-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

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!"

2009-04-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-08T19:27:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T21:56:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Glow Stick

2009-03-11T21:57:00.001-07:00

The weather in northern California slowly is warming up after a very wet February. While we're not out of the woods of a drought by any means, it's nice to see the sun, especially after Daylight Saving Time. My attractive wife and I are especially happy for the extra daylight which allows Jack to romp around in our condo association's shared back yard area.

This evening, we hung out with neighbors Dewey and Day-Day and Pavel and Zenia. It was still a little cool to eat dinner outside, but we enjoyed being outdoors together for a time. I played catch with Jack.

As dinnertime approached, we all retreated back to our respective units. Day-Day gave Jack a green glow stick, which Jack later wanted to take into the bath. For fun, we turned out the lights in the bathroom. The glow stick gave off a pleasing light as Jack played around with it in the bath.

Poops Ahoy

2009-03-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

My attractive wife had the day off from work and she ventured to Target (aka, The Mothership) and bought Jack some Cars-themed big boy underwear. Jack loved them and after dinner wanted to try them on. We told him they were for wearing after he knew how to go to the potty. Jack announced he was ready to go potty now! He raced upstairs and tried to sit on the toilet before I could get the training seat on it. I told him he would have to first remove his diaper. He decided he'd had enough and ran back into his bedroom were I helped him out of the diaper and into his new underwear. He loved it and ran downstairs to show my attractive wife.

We kept trying to tell him the underwear was for when he knew how to use the potty. I finally got them off him and ushered him back into the bathroom where I drew up his bath. Early into it, he got that far-away look he normally sprouts when he's getting ready to be poopies. Uh oh.

"Buddy do you need to be poopies?" I asked. "No, I was just gassies," he answers. "Are you sure you don't need to be poopies?" He then answered in a whisper, "Be quiet," which he's said several times when I've called him on going poopies in his diaper. My attractive wife said from the hallway he had already been poopies this morning. Jack wiggled around in the soapy water and then seemed okay.

That's when I see it submerged in the water. "Buddy, you went poopies in the bath!" Jack continues to deny it. The commotion draws my attractive wife's attention from the other room. When she sees it, she screams, "Oh, he was poopies!" This causes a peristaltic chain-reaction in Jack who realizes what he's done and he starts crying. I carry him out and put a towel around him while my wife rushes downstairs. She returns with a giant stainless steel ladle and hands it to me.

I'll spare you the clean-up details but let's say I was thankful for the high amounts of fiber in Jack's diet and the power of bleach. We gotta get this kid potty trained.

Serenity. Now.

2009-03-03T21:12:00.001-08:00

There have been plenty of times when either my attractive wife or I have yelled out in true Frank Constanza fashion, "Serenity now!" when dealing with our rambunctious three year old. Tonight was oddly different. Instead of resisting every step of the bed time process, Jack slipped subtly into the groove. We came out of the bath and watched an episode of "Ni Hao Ki-Lan" (the Chinese Dora). Jack contemplatively drank his milk laying between my outstretched legs, his own legs crossed.

He didn't fuss when we put on his jammies. He howled with delight at two sessions of the "Hey Now" song (the latter one with me dancing alongside him at his request). He didn't resist brushing his teeth. He was his normal spastic self saying "good night" to mommy in the bedroom but acquiesed to giving her a kiss and moving back into the bedroom.

Here's the kicker, he sat in the chair with me, Bibi Bear and his blanket and snuggled while I read him three books! After the last one, he turned off the light, climbed into the crib (yes, he's still in a crib; we're bad parents) and started playing quietly with my Palm 125 (circa 2000). He's figured out how to light up the screen and enjoys playing with the calculator function.

As I write this (2121 hrs) I can still hear him via the monitor rooting around in his crib but serenely.

Pretty Lady

2009-03-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

So we went to church today. I must admit we haven't been going regularly since my return from Iraq, mostly because Jack is in a continual state of hyperness and talkativeness and the prospect of him sitting still and quiet doesn't bode well. While I was away in Iraq, my attractive wife largely opted out of taking Jack to church (and I don't blame her; two parents vs. one three year old is much better odds than one parent vs. one two year old).

Given the rain today, we opted to try and get out of the house. We were a little apprehensive but he was pretty good. We sat up front, near the choir hoping it would entertain him. My attractive wife presciently decided to pack a coloring book, washable crayons, a couple of hot wheels, an empty tennis ball plastic container, and a ball. All of that kept him pretty busy in the pews. After communion he got a little uppity and we discreetly went to the back of the church near an alcove that has a three-quarter scale color statue of Saint Teresa.

When Jack was six months old, he was baptized in the same church and he had a keen interest in this statue which is very life like. I remember Jack reaching out wanting to touch the statue which my father, who was holding him, thought very cute. That day Jack wore the same baptismal gown I wore when I was a baby. Jack's yet-to-be-born baby sister also will wear it (although with pink ribbons).

Photo taken on June 26, 2006

Today, when we passed by the same statute Jack once again expressed interest exclaiming, "Look! A pretty lady."

Post TV Camera

2009-02-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

Jack has introduced a new pre-bedtime ritual: taking pictures. After his milk and post-bath TV show he says, "camera!" and runs downstairs to retrieve my digital camera. He only wants pictures taken so he can view the pictures on the camera. This activity is related to the I-need-to-push-buttons-on-things-that-are-not-toys mania. As I've written before, he expresses this desire by wanting to push buttons on remotes, buttons in the car, and my wife's iPhone.

Tonight, I convinced him to swing around a toy that has two plastic balls that light up when under centrifugal force.

Hi There

2009-02-27T18:13:00.000-08:00

Jack says hi to his baby sister.

Hey Now, Hey Now

2009-02-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

One of Jack's favorite music videos from Noggin is The Dirty Sock Funtime Band's "Dino-Soaring." The band and the song were featured on "Jack's Big Music Show" on Noggin but we caught the video on the tail of a "Wonder Pets" episode. The chorus features the phrase, "Hey now, hey now," and that's how Jack refers to the song (and when asking to see it on the upstairs TV).

The video shows the very psychedelic band members dancing around with kids on a rainbow like sound stage. The song has a great beat and is very danceable. You can see for yourself:

Tonight, I snapped the following pictures of Jack dancing to the song.

At the Park

2009-02-21T22:14:00.001-08:00

Today both my attractive wife and I accompanied Jack to the park. When we arrived, we saw Jack's Day Care playmate James and his mom. Jack and James love hanging out together and were thrilled to see each other at the park. We spent well over an hour trawling around the park together.

At one point, we reached the Big Kids Swing Set. For some reason, Jack has an aversion to swings and has not yet tried the kiddie swings in the 3-5 year old play structure. My attractive wife got on a swing and Jack asked if he could push her. I snapped the picture below. Quite possibly the cutest picture I've ever taken. :-)

Few More Minutes ...

2009-02-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

Jack firmly is into testing boundaries and limits, especially at bed time. For the last three nights, he's opted out of story time which usually follows bath time and saying goodnight to mommy. Jack's favorite line these days is, "Few more minutes," which is used to extend whatever activity he's currently involved in. He's used to try to get more TV time, more bath time, more play time, etc.

"Few more minutes..."

I first heard the phrase at the park when I told Jack it would soon be time to go back home. I can only imagine he heard my attractive wife or myself say it on some occasion. He loves to say it while taking bath and after I say something like, "it will be rinsy time soon."

Bye Kitty

2009-02-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

Today Dewy and Day-Day's' cat, Bibi Kitty, had to be put down. She was seventeen years old. Jack loved to play with her, especially outside in our condo association's shared back yard area. Like most cats, it took some time for her to warm up to us. She was especially patient with Jack. As they got to know each other, she eventually would let him pet her in his ham-handed way. If he got too bothersome she would gracefully move just out of reach. It seemed to me she knew that Jack was a human kitten, so to speak. She never once bit or scratched him.

After I returned from my year in Iraq, she seemed to warm up to me too. She actually let me pet her when we were outside and, more recently, when we visited Dewey and Day-Day in their unit next door. Jack would see her and say, "Kitty is here!" and pet her while saying, "Nice." It was very cute to watch.

In the last week, Kitty's health took a dramatic turn for the worse. Dewey and Day-Day said they though they might have to put her down. When I came home with Jack this afternoon, Dewey told us that they had gone to the vet and had her put to sleep. They came back and buried her in their unit's back yard. We will miss you, Kitty.

These pictures date from June, 2007.

Achmed and the iPhone

2009-02-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Jack still can't get enough of our iPhones. He's partial to my attractive wife's because she has loaded more games on it. There are some really cool ones. One is TappyTunes where you can play a number of familiar songs by tapping on the iPhone's screen. There's also a drawing program, a Majong game, and a ball puzzle game. The problem is that Jack keeps touching other icons on the home screen and calling up the iTunes store, texting random people in my attractive wife's contact list, and rearranging the icons on the iPhone's desktop.

Yesterday, after waking up from his nap, my wife gave him her iPhone to play with. When I went up to check on him he had the SMS text screen up and was composing an indecipherable text message to our city's police department (I'm only hoping they don't have the ability to receive text messages).

Jack hiding the iPhone under the blanket

He's also knows how to access YouTube on the iPhone. For some reason, he keeps pulling this video of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham's "Achmed the Dead Terrorist" routine.

It's not at all appropriate for a three year old but he likes the expressive skeleton dummy Dunham uses. He laughs maniacally while watching it. After watching the first few minutes of the video, Jack went around saying, "I'm a terrorist!" Oh boy.

The Hell of Packaging

2009-02-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

For those of you without kids let me get you in on a secret: toys a bitch to extract from today's adult pilfer-proof packaging. Two Christmases ago, I didn't seem to notice. Last Christmas, I was in Iraq. This past Christmas (2008) I struggled continually to get the toys Jack received free from their bondage-like enclosures.

This weekend, my attractive wife bought Jack a new bath toy (The Wonder Pets Save the Whale). Just before dinner tonight we showed it to Jack who was quite pleased with it. Here are some photos chronicling the multi-stage opening process:

The toys snug in their package.

Cutting the taped flap on the bottom right-hand corner opens the bottom revealing a space under the whale.

Opening the bottom reveals that the whale is secured to the box by three sets of plastic tie wires.

Detail of the plastic wire ties and their plastic backings.

Plastic wire ties untied. They were intricately wrapped around the nobs in the plastic bases with the skill of a Renaissance Faire hair brader.

Whale almost free. In order for the whale to be pulled free, all the wires had to be straightened out. Note he plastic tie wires are still attached to the whale via small holes in the plastic body. It's mouth is securely taped shut.

Pulling the wire ties out of the whale's underside required more straightening and yanking. Detail of the packing tape around the Whale's mouth. It was a bitch to peel off.

The whale is liberated and happy. Now on to The Wonder Pets figures.

My practiced eye sees they are encased in two layers of industrial cut-resistant plastic. I can't tell at this point if the figures are further secured to one of the layers. Note Jack in the background asking why it's taking so long to open.

Cutting and peeling away the first layer of plastic with regulation Steak Knife.

Peeling away the first layer revealed they were just sitting inside the next layer! There was no need to further untie or peel them away from some other maniacal form of tie down. Here we see the whole ensemble sitting together seconds before Jack whisked them away.

Mud

2009-02-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

We've had some much needed rain lately here in Northern California but it makes going to the park messy. Jack doesn't mind at all; in fact, he loves the mud and puddles. This morning we went and found most of the play structures to be dry and usable. Jack nevertheless was more interested in the various puddles and soggy grass lawns. He loved the smacking sound his shoes made when running over the wet grass. Of course, I had to keep up with him and my shoes got all muddy as well.

Splosh. Splosh. Splosh.

On the far side of the park, he found drain that was half full of water. He delighted in dropping very small rocks into the drain. It's some kind of put-things-into-receptacles reflex, I guess. He spent a good fifteen minutes dropping rocks into the drain and then squealing with delight today.

Plop. Splash. Squeal.

This is a behavior he exhibited when he was very young. He used to delight in trying to clog our pool filter with dead leaves. Viz:

September, 2007

Light Swaber (Redux)

2009-02-12T21:25:00.001-08:00

Last month, my attractive wife and I bought iPhones. Jack loves them and seems a natural at playing with the touch screen. He zeroed in on my attractive wife's iPhone because she has a hot pink case for it. I also loaded some games on it I thought she would like (Spider Solitaire, Brick Breaker). Jack likes them better but is not that good at actually playing them.

This afternoon after arriving back home from Day Care I made the mistake of showing Jack my iPhone which has the Star Wars Light Saber application on it. It's just a glorified ad for a video game, "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed", but does feature five Star Wars characters and their light sabers. Once activated, you can move the iPhone around and it will make appropriate sound effects. To Jack, who is a fan of the animated series, Star Wars: Clone Wars, this is pure gold. He wanted to play with it all night. I let him play until it was time for dinner and then again after his bath. I fear I won't be able to take out my iPhone if he's in sight. He can ask, "Light Swaber game on your iPhone?" It's cute up until the tantrum starts when I say he can't have my iPhone. Oh boy.

The Force is strong with this one.

Lost and Found

2009-02-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

First off, let me offer a lame excuse about the dearth of postings recently: I finally registered for Facebook and spent several days finding both my current set of friends and a fair amount of people I had lost track of long ago. It's been great getting back in touch but it does sap a lot of time as those of you with Facebook pages know all too well.

Lately, my attractive wife has been suffering from punishing insomnia. She's constantly tired due in large part to her being the second trimester of pregnancy. Paradoxically, she often wakes up in the middle or late part of the night and is unable to get back to sleep. Her doctor said she could take Tylenol PM to help but that didn't work well a few nights ago when a passing fire truck work her up around 10PM (she stayed up until 2AM before fitfully falling back asleep). More frustrating for me is that there is little I can do about it.

My wife elected to take a late shift at work today, partly to increase the chances of getting a better night's sleep tonight. She stayed late this morning with Jack at home. At one point, she put Jack in his glider chair in his room watching a favorite show and went to take a shower. As she was getting out of the shower, she heard Jack wailing and crying in the upstairs hall outside his room, "I want my Mama!" He had "lost" her and couldn't find her. My attractive wife consoled him and reminded she had been in the shower all the time. Poor guy.

You've Got Mail!

2009-02-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

While away from the house on Saturday, I received the following email on my iPhone. At first I thought my wife's email account had been spoofed but a closer examination of the syntax revealed the true source of the message:

From: Attractive Wife (xxxxx@me.com)
To: Rico (XXXXX@me.com>
Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Subject: n
Mailed by: Me.com

n
Nnm ndmdmxmdmeoeodlro&:
Smzmz
Snx x fhwgvxbsbvxbsnzvzvavsvv.

vzzbebsb bbnajzmznjdgzjdvEbahwhahxndnsvanHGzzvxbcx Nzbxnwbml

Sent from my iPhoneenbb

Break. Break.

Jack loves the iPhone. When we brought them home, my attractive wife made the mistake of showing her pink case enclosed iPhone to Jack who wouldn't let go of it. He is fascinated by the touch screen and the fact we can make the animated screen credits for "Scooby Doo" appear on demand (via YouTube).

Chips

2009-02-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

Jack loves chips, whether they be ordinary corn tortilla, potato, or nacho. To him, the chip is an exotic cousin of the Ritz cracker, another big favorite. The other day, we gave him some chips in a red plastic cup after he finished his dinner. He took them upstairs and, in anticipation of getting ready for his bath time, plopped himself in front of his bedroom TV and began munching away.

The Other Jonny Quest

2009-02-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that Jack is now hooked on Jonny Quest. I Tivo'd the show after his positive reaction to the Jonny Quest mash up/short that was tacked onto the end of a recent Power Puff Girls episode.

Jack calls the original show, "the other Jonny Quest" since he saw the stop motion short first. He loves all the characters, especially Hadji and bulldog Bandit. For me, it's been great reacquainting myself with this show, which I liked as a kid but don't remember actually seeing a lot of the episodes. My attractive wife thinks the show is a little weird what with four guys living on a mysterious, government-owned island in the Florida Keys. I had to explain that Dr. Benton Quest is a highly prized scientist working for the U.S. government and that Roger "Race" Bannon is his full time government bodyguard. She thinks there's something else going on.

Jack watching the end credits of Jonny Quest

The show is wonderfully Cold War but a bit heavy on the xenophobia. A Russian/Soviet submarine crew is the unnamed collective villain in a episode called "Arctic Splashdown" whose plot is taken straight from the movie "Ice Station Zebra." Then there is the reoccurring Asian evil scientist, Dr. Zin, who is best remembered for constructing a giant spider robot that infiltrates Dr. Quest's government laboratory in a flying saucer. Jack particularly likes this episode. Via the robot spider, Dr. Zin taunts Dr. Quest as he tries to discover the secrets of Dr. Quest's experimental para-power ray gun. I'm pretty sure Jack doesn't yet appreciate the Cold War intrigue but he likes the monsters and robots.

Gana

2009-02-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

This evening while carousing in our bedroom, ostensibly to say good night to my attractive wife, we overheard Jack saying, "Come on Gana."

"Who's Gana?" my attractive wife asks from the bed.

"Gana," Jack answers, "is a very beautiful lady and she's orange."

Jack is a Steelers fan

2009-02-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

We hosted a Super Bowl party ... sort of: we had my sister-in-law and her oldest daughter, whom Jack adores, come over for the first half. Jack had a great time. My attractive wife and sister-in-law grew up in Pittsburgh so it was a nail-biting fourth quarter. Jack pretty much was oblivious but we still dressed him accordingly.

With Cousin Erin

Fourth quarter tension

Victory! Posing with The Terrible Towel

Driving the Car and Pushing Buttons

2009-01-29T21:38:00.000-08:00

Jack has shown a keen interest in pushing buttons on stuff that he knows he shouldn't mess with. According to my parents, this is an hereditary trait as I did the same when I was a little boy (more on that later). It would appear he's figured out that the buttons on his toys don't compare with what the buttons do on "real" stuff like our alarm system, key switches and knobs in the car, laptop computers, the dishwasher, and the microwave.

His latest button craze is combined with "driving the car," which he likes to do after I pick him from day care or after we return to the house from an errand. This involves him climbing into the driver's seat of the car and pretending to drive. Normally, this this is harmless when the car is shut down although some buttons will remain switched on even if the car is turned off (e.g., the seat warmers which can be a little bit of a surprise if you're not expecting it).

Jack (in May, 2008) pushing buttons.

A couple of times, I've arrived home in my work car as my attractive wife and Jack are returning from day care. Jack loves to get into the passenger seat of my work car as I drive it into our two-car garage. In the couple of times he's done this, he's managed to reset my satellite radio, erase one or more presets on my car radio, and and creatively reposition my rear view and side mirrors.

Jack in February, 2009 still pushing buttons.

Jack will try to "drive the car" for as long as possible. He loves it. When finally persuaded to come into the house, he'll delight in pausing live or recorded TV on our Tivos in the living room and his bedroom. He can even turn on and off the TVs using the Tivo remotes (which refers to as 'motes').

In many ways, I can empathize with Jack; I loved pushing buttons on gadgets when I was little. I remember one night, my father took the family to a friend's house for dinner. The house was very fancy and ornate. As my parents talked in the living room, I wandered down a hallway and saw the Mother of All Control Panels, complete with glowing buttons. Ooooooh, I thought. I shouldn't mess with it but, well, I was nine or ten and couldn't resist it. I pressed one button, or maybe it was two and then heard the loudest sound in my life (I had activated the burglar alarm). I remember sympathetically backing into the opposite wall. My father was furious. Our host was magnanimous, I remembered. I felt like Mickey Mouse in Disney's version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

Obamicon

2009-01-22T22:15:00.000-08:00

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama was momentous and historic. On the right is Shepard Fairey's now very famous poster of then-candidate Obama.

By way of Habesha Child (one of the blogs I follow), I found a website that can create your very own Obamicon.

It's all about the future after all.

Jonny Quest

2009-01-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Jack has fallen in love with another short on Boomerang/Cartoon Network. This one pays homage to the classic 1960s animated show, "Jonny Quest" which was one of my favorites as a kid. It was one of the first cartoons that featured more realistic violence and suspense (and I'm not talking about the lame Scooby Doo variety).

It's shot in painstaking stop motion animation using action figures moving around a board game tableau of the show. Jonny, Hadji, Race and Bandit all are chased by bad guys - both humaniform and monsters - as they race to rescue Jonny's father, Dr. Benton Quest, from a giant octopus.

Really, it's better if you just watch it:

A larger version of the short can be viewed here. Unfortunately, Jack's Tivo only caught three fourths of it (it ran in front a Power Puff Girls episode). Neverthess, Jack is mad about it and wants to view it over and over. The music is an excellent acid jazz version of the original Jonny Quest theme performed by the James Taylor Quartet (no relation).

Like the interstitial/short of "El Kabong" I have captured this to my laptop. I foresee Jack asking for this one a lot in the future. Now all I have to do is to get him to watch an actual episode of the real show. It rocks.

I, I, I, I, I, I want that!

2009-01-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

Recently, Jack has started to repeating the first word of every sentence he starts. "I want that!" - which is often said during toy commercials - comes out as, "I, I, I, I, I, I want that!" Or, in the form of a question, "You, you, you, you, you, you want to play with me?"

Yesterday, while I was getting him out of car seat he looked at my nose and said, "You, you, you, you, you, have mocos?" ("Mocos" is Mexican slang for boogers.) I laughed hysterically.

It's cute but I'm privately freaked out. Is he going to stutter? My attractive wife doesn't think so but I don't know how much science is in play here. Do any of my seven readers have any opinions?

Diapee!

2009-01-21T22:14:00.001-08:00

Lately, Jack has taken to wanting to run around (literally) in nothing but his diapers. Yes, by his wanting to run around in diapers you can infer that my initial optimistic thoughts on getting Jack potty trained by last November were woefully incorrect.

His mania for running around in diapers seems connected in some way to a burst of new-found energy. It's amazing. He runs around our coffee table while watching his favorite shows cackling all the while. On weekends, I take him to the local park where he devours slides, runs across fields and digs into sand.

After his bath time, he resists - mightily - getting into this pajamas. Because it's been a little cold here in northern California, we dress him in two layers: light weight summer pajamas over traditional fleecy footies. We have to fight to get him into the light weights and then again to get him into the footies. Like Dylan Thomas, he likes to rage against the dying of the light but when his head hits the crib mattress and I turn off the light, he eventually gets to sleep.

Haircut!

2009-01-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

Jack got a haircut today!

Afterward, he got his favorite treat: a lollipop.

Rhapsody in Pink

2009-01-16T21:26:00.000-08:00

Jack is into the color pink. I'm not sure how this happened or if it otherwise reflects badly on my fatherly duties but he's mad about pink. He saw a commercial before Christmas for My Pretty Ponies and said, "I want that!" Now keep in mind he says, "I want that!" for just about any toy commercial he sees on Boomerang or Cartoon Network. At first I just ignored it but my attractive wife picked up on it.

Then, during our drive down to Los Angeles just before Christmas we stopped at a McDonald's Restaurant in central California. We decided to get Jack a Happy Meal and when I took him to the toy display, he said he wanted the Pink Pony and not the Bionicles. The restaurant was a zoo and over the din of people ordering we received a Happy Meal with a boy's toy (Bionicle) and not the Pretty Pony. Jack was at first upset but soon forgot about it. So did I. Not my attractive wife.

Fast forward to last week. While shopping at Target (i.e., The Mothership) my wife picked up a Pretty Pink Pony and brought it home. She said she picked it up because Jack kept asking for it during our trip to LA. I think she got it to drive me crazy.

Who's your Daddy, Pink Pony? That's right, General Grievous.

Pink Pony's arrival also coincided with a weekend visit to Jack's older cousins, who live about ten miles south of us. His only female cousin, Erin (6) had a Barbie Glamour Jet Plane that she did not play with. The jet is big and pink and Jack fell in love with it. The rear of the plane has all these small compartments which open and close and Jack loved manipulating them. To him, it's a jet plane that he can open up and mess with and it also happens to be pink. To me, it's a fraking Barbie Glamour Jet Plane that's PINK. As we were getting ready to leave, my sister-in-law begged me to take it home because it cost them $60 and Erin never really wanted to play with it. My attractive wife thought this was very funny but also said Jack should have it. Jack hugged it all the way home which was hard since it's so big.

Finally, Jack has discovered The Powerpuff Girls and it's his new favorite show. It still may be too early to call, but I think we're finally over The Pink Panther. My attractive wife and I have seen nearly every episode twice and frankly, we never want to hear the Pink Panther theme ever again. (Are you paying attention to the color theme here?).

Two nights ago, we were watching an episode where the girls battle one of their Kindergarten classmate's mischievous imaginary friend. At one point, Blossom (who wears a pink outfit!) charges the invisible villian and ends up being thrown into the closet. She emerges looking just like Eric Cartman from South Park. My attractive wife and I bust into laughter much to Jack's delight.

"He knocked me down. I'm seriously."

Bibi Bear

2009-01-15T22:21:00.000-08:00

I've written before about Jack's special teddy bear, whom he named, "Bibi Bear". (Sometimes Jack pronounces it, "Bibi Bay-er" for emphasis.) When Jack was a new born, we were blessed with many gifts from friends and family of stuffed animals. As an infant and toddler, Jack showed little interest in them but, after I left for Iraq in the fall of 2007, he picked out one of two identical white stuffed teddy bears. I'm not sure where the name came from (perhaps a variation of "Baby Bear") but Jack chose this bear and hasn't let go since.

Can you tell the difference? Jack can.

Bibi Bear is intimately tied to "paci" (the pacifier) which, I have been trying to wean him off of. I'm afraid there is not much progress to report in this department. We have been successful in relegating Paci only to nighttime and Jack regularly asks for it during our bed time routine. Some mornings, he surprises me by announcing that, "Paci is for babies!" and he leaves it in the crib without issue. Other mornings (especially Mondays) he has a hard time giving it up.

We keep Bibi Bear's twin (brother? sister?) in Jack's crib. Jack acknowledges that it's there but otherwise shows little interest. One night, my attractive wife gave Jack a bear after lights out and Jack announced, "That's not Bibi Bear!" and he was right. How he could tell, especially in the dark, is beyond me but I suspect it's the smell.

Bibi Bear is on the right.

When I give Jack Bibi Bear during out night time routine, he often mashes its nose up to his and sniffs it. Maybe the smell has a calming affect. We wash it but are concerned that maybe it will fall apart which would be bad, especially for Mom and Dad's sanity. Wish us luck.

"Jedi Fools!"

2009-01-10T13:55:00.002-08:00

Jack’s fascination with Star Wars: Clone Wars continues. He routinely asks me the name of every character on screen. Even my attractive wife, who is no sci-fi fan, can rattle off major characters for Jack. Jack can name Jedi Masters Kit Fisto and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as his favorite character, General Grievous, and Sith Lord Count Dooku. He’s gaining familiarity with Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, and droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.

The other day while driving him to day care, Jack warned me that General Grievous was chasing us as we ran to the garage. We boarded our rocket ship (the family sedan) and blasted off. On the way, he asked me what the “robots” say (Jack’s label for the Trade Federation’s inept Battle Droids). I said, “Roger roger!” Then he asked me what General Grievous says. I said, “Jedi Fools!” But he corrected me, “That’s what Count Dooku says," and I realized he was right, of course. But he thought it pretty funny nonetheless and started saying, in his best low evil voice imitation, “Jedi fools!” We both laughed about it. Eventually, I did get off a viable General Grievous quote, “Prepare the hyperdrive!” which Jack agreed was correct.

2009-01-10T13:55:00.001-08:00

Mr. Fingy

2009-01-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

For my seven readers of this blog, my apologies for the dearth of postings since New Year’s; the entire household got sick just before Christmas with yours truly getting it last and worse. I only stopped coughing two days ago. Blech. To complicate matters, Jack seems to have picked up some new viral infection that makes his nose run. Poor guy, he can’t yet properly blow his nose. When we entreat him to do so, he ends up blowing out his mouth. Also, being just three, he’s still too young to get the benefit of powerful over-the-counter drugs like Benedryl. On the other hand, we’ve discovered the joys of Vicks Vap-O-Rub. It seems to be helping. Last night, my attractive wife put it on Jack’s feet and then put his socks on. This seems like quackery but she says it works.

Many children craft an imaginary friend at some point. Jack’s new friend is “Mr. Fingy” who is not entirely imaginary because he manifests corporeal form; namely, his right index finger. Mr. Fingy is the primary operator of Jack’s numerous toy vehicles (trucks, diggers, cars, etc.) Jack will place Mr. Fingy into whatever vehicle is near and exclaim, “Mr. Fingy’s leaving!” and then asks, “Are you sad?” Mr. Fingy then goes on whatever excursion Jack imagines only to return a few seconds later. “Mr. Fingy’s back!” he’ll announce.

Sometimes Mr. Fingy will misbehave, or at least that what Jack tells us. A few nights ago in the bath, he said, “Mr. Fingy is bad!” I looked at him, “Really?” “Yeah, he needs a time out!” Jack says and places his finger on the side of the bathtub for a few seconds. “Is Mr. Fingy behaving better?” I ask. “Yeah!” Jack says and resumes playing.

Fez

2008-12-30T22:34:00.000-08:00

While I was in Iraq, I got the hare-brained scheme to design a distinctive Fez for the Plans Directorate (CJ5) I worked for while assigned to Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I). My co-workers thought I was odd for suggesting this but I kept insisting that the Fez was a distinguished Middle-Eastern symbol of excellence. (I subsequently found out that the Fez actually is Greek in origin but lots of people in the Middle East wore them courtesy of the Ottoman Empire.)

Nevertheless, the idea of sporting distinctive head wear slowly caught on in our office. My boss, a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, found an outfit based out of Orange County that makes custom fezzes, Fez-O-Rama. We then designed a fez based on our directorate's fascination with the movie, Ben Hur, and the famous line spoken by Quintus Arrius on the slave ship, "Now listen to me, all of you. You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well, and live." The phrase, "Row well and live," became our motto due to the insane working hours (and conditions) in the headquarters for MNF-I.

After some design fluctuations, we decided on a Viking Ship concept for the front of the fez and the motto on the back. We had a spirited (and entertaining) email exchange with the Fez Mongers of Fez-O-Rama.com. The process took longer than anyone thought and I ended up completing my tour before they were ready. Just after Christmas, a package arrived from my former boss with two fezzes enclosed. This custom order, the first of its kind, recently was featured on the Fez-O-Rama blog.

Jack likes it, as you can see.

Light Swaber

2008-12-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

While down in Los Angeles visiting my parents for Christmas, Jack found a purple retractable light saber that used to belong to one of his cousins from Colorado when they were younger. He loves it, especially when viewing an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. He even says, "Starwarsclonewars," or a good approximation of it. To him, it's not the sprawling, serialized swashbuckling adventure George Lucas envisioned; it's where General Grievous lives.

While watching, Jack holds his light saber retracted and expertly unleashes it every time a Jedi Knight (Master Kit Fisto is his current favorite) ignites his light saber. He jumps off the chair and assumes a fighting stance in front of the TV when there is a light saber duel. There are a couple of female Jedi Knights featured in a few episodes (Padawan Ashoka Tano and Master Luminara Unduli) whom he refers to as "the ladies."

Jack refers to his own weapon as a "light swaber". It's very cute.

Fiesta de Navidad

2008-12-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

After the taco eating, we got down to some serious partying. As the meal ended my aunt made me stand up in front of the group while she read a small tribute. (I should say this is the same aunt who, when my cousins and I were little, would organize the annual Christmas "show" where we would dress up as elves and sing songs. Thankfully, video technology didn't exist and no one was into 16mm film so there's no real evidence, aside from some non-digitized photos.)

Yes, she made me wear a crown.

When I left for Iraq, my attractive wife, aunt and mother all had bracelets made with my name on it. My aunt didn't take it off for the entire time I was over there. After her small speech I ceremonially took it off her wrist. I was very, very touched. Then I took off my mother's bracelet. My attractive wife had already taken her own bracelet off previously.

Then we went inside for a chaotic family picture. When my authoritative grandfather ran the show prior to his passing away in 1987, we all posed for a very formal picture after dinner but before opening the presents. Back then, we fit into roughly three rows: fathers standing, mothers sitting, and grandchildren sitting on the floor. With the family now spanning four generations, we just try to get in the same picture frame. We decided to try standing in my aunt's staircase. I didn't think it would work but was I ever wrong.

Photo courtesy of the Taco Man!

Then we started our family's infamous gag gift exchange. Back in the day, we actually gave gifts to each other but, as the family kept growing, this became increasing difficult to do, not to mention costly. For a while, we had a cousin-only gift exchange where we would buy one gift for another cousin based on a random draw. At some point, we gave up on that and just went to a gag gift exchange which is much more entertaining.

The prize gift in our family is the Boxing Nun. She made her first appearance several years ago and was an instant hit with three generations of Catholic-educated people in the audience. There's something about the maniacal expression on her face combined with the articulated boxing gloves that move in and out menacingly when she's held. I wrote in my Iraq blog how the cousin in Mexico who took her home last year, sent it to my aunt who then sent it to me in Iraq. She stayed most of 2008 with me there. Everyone in my family looked forward to her return from abroad.

This year's gift exchange actually featured two nuns. One was from a previous year and had a little damage to one of the arms. This was referred to as, "the Domestic Nun." My nun was, "the Iraqi Nun." Unfortunately, due to a packing error, my nun remained at home so I had to make a valuable coupon that the winner would exchange for the actual nun at a later date. The coupon was wrapped in a box.

Like all gag gift exchanges, gifts can be "stolen" a number of times (we decided on five times for this year's exchange) and that a gift could be stolen twice during a round. There were some good ones this year, as you can see below. Both nuns were stolen five times each and two lucky cousins went home with them: my cousin, Edith went home with the Iraqi Nun, and my cousin Beto went home with the Domestic Nun.

Beto Takes Her Home!

Cleaning Slippers -- Convenient!

The Mexican Version of "The Clapper"

...And the Perennial Favorite, "Meat Stick!"

Amidst the gift exchange chaos, Jack found some time to be ultra-cute with his Bisabuela (Great Grandmother).

After the gift exchange, my aunt asked each of us to say something that we were thankful for in the past year. I said I was thankful for being home.

Christmas Taco Miracle

2008-12-25T20:03:00.000-08:00

My aunt Marta, who traditionally hosts my extended family's Christmas party in San Diego, asked me what I wanted this year in honor of my return from Iraq. I told her, "tacos." When my cousins and I were little, we often went to taco stands in Tijuana, where my grandparents lived. We had a nickname for these stands, "Tacos Parados" (lit. Standing Tacos) because few of the stands back then had seats. They were the best damn tacos you've ever had (trust me). A few years ago, my aunt hired a taco guy to come to her house for a party in honor of my grandmother's ninetieth birthday. It was delicious.

I figured my request was in vain since we would be holding the party on Christmas Day. No so; my aunt guilted a trusted Taco Purveyor into coming over after telling him I had served a year in Iraq and that my only Christmas Wish was a good taco.

My parents, attractive wife, Jack and myself drove down to San Diego on Christmas Day. We arrived early since I was informed I would be a guest of honor, side by side with the matriarch of the family, my ninety-three year-old grandmother (or, as we've always referred to her, "abuelita"). When we arrived the Taco Man already was set up and cooking. I introduced myself and personally thanked him for sharing our Christmas. For all Mexican families, the big night is actually Christams Eve so he told me it wasn't all that much of a sacrifice. For years, especially when my grandfather was alive, Christmas Eve was our family's big party night too and included a huge dinner, visits from an especially Hispanic looking Santa, and opening presents.

Upon arriving, I greeted my abuelita and thanked for all the rosaries she said on my behalf when I was in Iraq. It was great to see her (at ninety-three, there was no guarantee she would have survivied for another year for me to see her). When I saw her, such fears evaporated; although sitting, for the most part in a wheel chair, she was a spry, alert and focused as ever.

The forecast called for sporatic rain so we set up folding tables and chairs under the awning and close to the side of the house. We ran out of suitable table cloths so we ended up using Sesame Street bedsheets. My cousins had a blast "laying" it out, as you can see.

After a suitable amount of greeting each other (I hadn't seen most of them all in over two years), my aunt announced it was time to eat. I was asked to go first and I served up three carne asadas with everything (cilantro, onions, guacamole, and salsa). For the non-Mexicans out there, these tacos are not the Gringo hard shell type. They are served on small corn tortillas, which more or less, hold together an over-stuffed taco well. It. Was. Delicious. The perfect chaser for a year of institutional food in Iraq. I ended up eating five in all. I paced myself.

Oh yeah, Jack enjoyed the tacos too. But not as much as me.

Christmas Train

2008-12-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

We drove down to Los Angeles to visit my parents for Christmas this year. I won't bore you with the details of the drive down from Northern California. It was about what you would expect with a three year old boy trapped in a car seat for eight hours.

On Christmas Eve, we walked down the street to visit my parent's neighbors who had a remarkable electric Christmas train set up around their Christmas Tree. Jack rode in a red wagon that my father keeps at the house for him and Jack's twin cousin boys who visit from Denver.

The train had five cars (including the cabose) all of which featured moving parts. It was like the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland. Elves popped out of coal tender, danced around a Christmas Tree, and ice skated on a small frozen pond. The train controls had buttons for a whistle, bell, and Santa yelling, "Ho, ho, ho!"

Jack loved it. It was the perfect sort of thing to see and play with at someone else's house; Jack is a little bit too young to fully appreciate something like this without ultimately destroying it.

Rocket Ship

2008-12-22T21:37:00.001-08:00

My good friend Herschel gave Jack an awesome gift: a hyper accurate toy of a Saturn V rocket. It breaks apart into the three stages of the original rocket and has a removable Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) and Command and Service Module (CSM). It comes with a launching pad and a small lunar landscape to place the LEM on. The first stage has a button that, when pushed, makes a realistic countdown followed by vibration and the sound of real Saturn V taking off. It's awesome. And you know from reading earlier posts that Jack loves rocket ships, both real and imagined.

The funny thing is that Jack is enamored with Stages Two and Three of the rocket and doesn't seem all that interested in the LEM or CSM. The top of Stage 3 has four panels that feather outward when a collar is twisted. Normally, this part of the rocket stores the LEM but I have placed it -- mostly for safe keeping -- on the lunar landscape on one of our surround speakers.

The other night, Jack was watching post-bath TV when an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars came on. Watching Jedi Master Kit Fisto fight General Grievous Jack started waving around his rocket as a "life saver" (i.e., light sabre). He danced around and contorted himself in imitation of the light sabre duel between Fisto and Grievous.

(By the way, the photos of Jack in his room show the wonderful aquatic themed artwork created by my attractive wife's mother, whom Jack calls, "Nana." When we were getting ready for Jack's arrival, Nana and her husband asked if they could prepare Jack's room. Lacking any sense of 1) creativity and 2) design sense, my attractive wife and I said, "Sure!" We left for work one morning and when we came back the entire room was two shades of complimentary blue, and had a number of fishes, ducks, star fish and other marine life painted. It's wonderful. Thanks again, Nana!)

Santa at Sizzler

2008-12-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to the local Sizzler's with our neighbors. Call it a pre-Christmas get together without all the cooking fuss. It was quite the bargain; dinner for my attractive wife, Jack, and myself for under $40.

We arrived just before five p.m., after the senior crush (which Sizzler's refers to as "Honored Guests" on their menu) and ahead of the regular Sunday night dinner crowd.

The food was good and the salad bar "endless." As we were finishing up, an African American man walked by with his family dressed in a red sweat pants, a red San Francisco 49ers sweatshirt, and a matching 49ers Santa hat. Jack said, "It's Santa!" as he walked past.

Jack wanted to meet him so we walked over to his table where he was eating with his wife and son, who was sporting an authentic elf hat. I said, "Excuse me, sir. My son wants to meet you because he thinks you're Santa."

He said, in a booming voice, "Well, well, well, does he?" and put him on his lap and asked what Jack wanted for Christmas. Jack became a little shy, but with some coaxing, said he wanted a light saber (although he pronounced it, "life saver") and offered, "General Grievous is a bad guy."

"Santa" asked if we wanted a picture and I snapped one after we walked back to our table. As we finished the photo, his son came over wearing his elf hat and we snapped another. It was a pleasant addition to our bargain dinner.

Pithy Responses

2008-12-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Jack has said some amusing things over the past few days. He's seen some commercials for kid's toys on the Cartoon Network and immediately responds with, "I want that!" Madison Avenue definitely speaks Three Year Old, I'm afraid. I'm impressed the way these commercials make some of these toys appear like the Funnest Thing Ever. One day, he saw back-to-back toy commercials and got overwhelmed; "I want that. I want that." Then he paused, looked at me and said, "I want everything."

Today, we told Jack that he was going to get a new baby brother or sister in June. My attractive wife asked him, "Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?" Jack replied, "It will be orange."

Jack Turns Three!

2008-12-15T21:18:00.000-08:00

Jack turned three last weekend! I was especially happy to share it with him since I was in Iraq last year when he turned two and had to miss his first birthday due to an emergency at work. Granted, his first and second birthdays were pretty sedate affairs (only our neighbors participated). So my attractive wife and I decided to pull out the stops for birthday number three and initiate Jack (and ourselves) to the wonders of Chuck E. Cheese's.

We invited Jack's cousins and his day care playmate, Jay who is a couple of months younger than Jack. Plus some adult friends who we knew could handle it including neighbors Dewey and Day-Day, some friends from work and friends from my bachelor days.

Everything was highly scripted. We got to have "playtime" for forty-five minutes, each child getting a number of complimentary tokens for the numerous games. After playtime, were called back to the birthday table where we ate pizza. Then, Mr. Cheese made a special appearance for our party (and four other simultaneous celebrations) amongst much singing and dancing.

Jack got his very own chocolate cake with three candles. It was very festive. After singing "Happy Birthday" Jack bent over to blow out the candles and ended up slobbering all over the cake. (I don't think anyone but me saw that.)

Next, we cut up the cake and folks dug in. It was very entertaining watching Jack and Jay dissecting their respective pieces of cake. They both were the model of determination.

Next, Jack began opening presents. He made out like a bandit. The most entertaining gift bag, from Victoria's Secret, came from two friends from work.

We were having a ball when my attractive wife grabbed my attention and said, "We have six minutes to clear the tables." Huh? Apparently, our festive celebration had run its (paid) course and we were being shuffled off to a booth in the play area where we could continue our party. Where did the time go?

Jack and Jay took the opportunity to burn off their respective sugar highs in the playground area. In addition to slides, this venue featured "tubes" which spanned the whole play area. Jack disappeared into them and I watched him from the ground level. He went all the way around but came down crying after some kid apparently hit his face with their shoes. After a big hug and some kissing on the forehead, he was back at it. Still, that episodes seems to lends some credence to the fact that the police often are called to these establishments to break up fights between grown ups.

Jack and Jay next tried out some of the more terrestrial slides over and over again.

Flush with tokens, Jack got to try a number of the attractions like the "Jett Rider" which simulates riding a roller coaster. The ride features a video monitor for other kids to see who's riding.

Jack reacquainted himself with an ersatz Mr. Cheese on a car ride. Jack seemed to enjoy putting the tokens in the respective slots of the various rides than the rides themselves. Jack would periodically turn to me and say, "money?" Somehow, I don't think rewarding this type of activity bodes well for the future.

The party started at 1100 and we didn't' end up leaving until well after 1400. Jack had a blast.

Chasing Girls and How to Say Thank You

2008-12-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

I took Jack to the park this morning. He quickly latched onto a cute older Asian girl who was running around the playground. Maybe it was her speed or the fact she was making funny noises but he wanted to chase her. He announced provocatively, "I'm gonna get you!" and proceeded to chase her around. She was about six or seven, long legged, and way out of his league. Still, it was fun to watch. She would let him get just in reach and then sprint off again. She would lead him to a park bench, sit and wait for him to get there before vaulting off again. Jack didn't seem to tire of the game which, I suppose, bodes well for his future social life in this department.

As I was walking around, I noticed something dark and plastic half buried in the wood shavings near one of the slides. I bent over to pick it up and saw that it was a car key fob, distinctly German in nature (either for a Volkswagen or Audi). It was just the fob and not attached to any other type of key chain. It looked old so I wondered if some parent had given it to their child as a toy.

I asked the first guy I saw if he had his car keys. He said yes and offered, "Wow, someone's gonna need that." I then re-acquired Jack, still in hot pursuit of the Asian girl. She was in the company of her younger sister, who was younger than Jack, and her father.

I walked up to him and asked if he had his car keys. He patted his sweat pants and said no, accompanied by a mild spasm of panic, as I offered him the fob. He took it, said a perfunctory thanks and walked away. It was like I had held the door open for him at the post office and not like I just saved his ass. Granted, he was trying to keep an eye on his younger kid but it doesn't take much to say a more genuine thank you. Some people.

Day-Day's Flashlights

2008-12-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor, whom Jack calls, "Day-Day," loves to buy Jack flashlights. He finds them all over but mostly at a weekly flea market (Jack calls it the "free market"). They are very cool. In fact, I took two of them to Iraq with me. One was a small general purpose flashlight that used a series of small LEDs bulbs and the other was a small finger light with a Velcro strap that I attached to my body armor. Both came in very handy in numerous situations.

Lately, after his bath and final episode of The Pink Panther, Jack seems to have this burst of energy every night before actual bed time. The last few weeks, I've given up trying to wind him down and instead let him burn off this final energy of the day. Tonight, he had two of Day-Day's finger lights, one red and one blue, and was dancing around the room. My attractive wife turned off the light to heighten the effect. I thought this would make a good picture...

... but of course the flash on the camera kind of ruined the look I was trying to get. Next, I turned off the flash on the camera and got much better results!

Same maniacal smile but cooler light effects. :-)

The Pink One

2008-12-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

For a while, Jack was mad about the show, Pinky Dinky Doo. Now, Jack is mad about The Pink Panther, the animated cartoon series which ran from 1969-1979. I vaguely remember watching these cartoons when I was a kid but it's been fun watching them with Jack. The Tivo is busy recording episodes on Cartoon Network's Boomerang channel. When allowed to watch television, Jack always asks for it.

At first, Jack couldn't say the word, panther, so he referred to the title character as, "the Pink One." There's also an unamed male character in many of the episodes who Jack refers to as "the White One," since he's colored white. I think Jack likes the show due to it's simplicity; there is little to no dialogue between characters in the episodes. While I suppose that's not the best for developmental purposes Jack nevertheless really enjoys it.

The White One and the Pink One
(Click to see the animation)

The half hour show sometimes features just Pink Panther episodes but sometimes they include episodes of The Inspector and The Ant and the Aardvark (part of the original series). The Inspector features a French police (okay, Sûreté ) detective who resembles Peter Sellars' Inspector Clouseau from the (original) Pink Panther movies and his inexplicably Spanish assistant. Jack doesn't hang so much with The Inspector. He's okay with The Ant and Aardvark though.

Tanny

2008-12-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

I just finished my first week back at work which means Jack is back at Day Care for full days. I feel like a bad parent. Before Jack could talk, taking him to Day Care didn't seem all that bad; tending to him back then meant he was fed, properly clothed and kept close. Now that he's a small person, I feel bad that he spends all day away from my attractive wife and me. But it's the only way, I'm afraid, as we both need to keep our full time jobs.

We're lucky though because we have an excellent Day Care provider, Tanny, who runs her service out of her house. She chooses to care for only a few children even though her license allows for more. She and her husband never had children of their own so she became a provider fifteen years ago, first as a hobby and now as a passion. The many children she has helped raised over the years are her children as well. And her love for them is readily apparent. When Jack was less than a year old, I was amazed when I picked him up in the afternoons to find him quietly playing and happy. Tanny is a certified Baby Whisperer.

One of the reasons Jack likes going to Tanny's is his playmate, Jay. He's about four months younger than Jack but masses about the same weight (Jay's father is a big man). Jay and Jack love each other's company truly. When I drop him off in the mornings, Jay comes running into Tanny's living room and together they run to and from the next room. When I tell Jack we're going to Tanny's he says, "I'll see Jay!"

Now that Jack and Jay are nearly three, Tanny has introduced arts and crafts into their daily routine. Every other day or so, Jack comes home with some artwork he created using glue, scissors, cardboard paper and decorations. A picture of Jack's Thanksgiving Wreath was featured on a recent post.

General Grievous

2008-11-29T14:08:00.001-08:00

Jack's fascination with evil continues. He is now a sort of fan of General Grievous, the Droid Army leader from the Cartoon Network's, animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

A few days ago, Jack saw a commercial for the series which featured General Grievous and instantly knew he was an antagonist. "He's a Bad Guy!" Jack exclaimed in much the same tone of awe as he did for El Honcho Macho in El Kabong Rides Again. I set the upstairs Tivo to record some episodes to see if Jack would like it.

Last night, we watched an episode before bed time and he was fascinated with the sweeping vistas of deep space and space cruisers firing at each other. "Wow!" he exclained. Unfortunately, his attention span left him asking, "Where is General Greivous?" over and over again when he wasn't on screen.

I know Jack eventually will be a big Star Wars fan, as his father was (okay, still is).

P-Wow

2008-11-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight just before story time, Jack announced he had a friend name P-Wow who lives in outer space. According to Jack's description, P-Wow is red and green and is big. He lives waaaay up in the sky in a rocket ship. (Jack pointed up in the air for emphasis.) Jack said he stays with P-Wow on his trips to outer space because "P-Wow is mine friend." (Jack often uses the word "mine" instead of "my.")

P-Wow (Artist's Impression)

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner tonight here at home. Last year, I spent Thanksgiving in Baghdad, Iraq. The Embassy Dining Facility (DFAC) did a wonderful job decorating and serving food nearly continuously from from about 1100 to 2000.

Thanksgiving, Baghdad, Iraq, 2007

Of course, I was thankful at the time to be in a (relatively) safe location, with new friends and good food. But tonight, I am especially thankful to be back in one piece and with my attractive wife, loving son and my parents. At Day Care, Jack made a Thanksgiving Wreath to commemorate the holiday. Such a simple piece of artwork is very touching to me this year. I'm pretty sure Jack has little concept of Thanksgiving this year but I still think it's pretty touching.

Jack's Thanksgiving Wreath, 2008

This year, I invited my friend Mike and his friend Sarah over as they didn't have any special plans. Chasing Jack throughout the house while playing host was fun but it wasn't until all the guests had left, the dishes cleaned up and Jack was asleep in his crib that I began to think about what I was thankful for.

Thanksgiving, Jack with guests Sarah and Mike, 2008

I'm thankful for my families: the one I grew up (my mother, father, and younger sister) and the one I have as an adult (my attractive wife and son, Jack). I am happy to share a bit of both this year at home.

I am thankful for my friends (like Mike, whom I've known for ten years) who supported me with treats, movies and good wishes while I was deployed.

I am thankful for the love I have received from my parents. Their support and common sense approach to raising both my sister and I contributed greatly to the person I am today. I can only hope to pass some of that on to Jack.

I am thankful for my attractive wife, who endured a year long separation from me, in only the fourth year of our marriage, while being a single mother to Jack during his "terrible twos." Sometimes I think I had it bad in Iraq but I thought of how tough it was for her to be working full time and taking care of Jack.

I am thankful Jack has accepted me back into his life. I feel as if I never was away and I am very happy for that.

I am thankful for very good friends. In my youth, I used to think friendship was intensely personal, that it required day to day nurturing in order to endure. I know now friendship takes many forms. I have many friends who I don't see much. My best friend (and best man/god father to Jack) falls in that category but I know we'll be close to our dying days. Other friends, like my co-workers in Iraq, I likely will never see again but we bonded under the most uncommon of circumstances. And we will always have that most uncommon experience to ruminate about.

But mostly, I am thankful to be home. Time to get on with the business of living.

Rocket Ship

2008-11-26T21:08:00.000-08:00

Jack is fascinated with rocket ships. A couple of weeks ago, while visiting his cousins, he absconded with a faded beige Styrofoam arrow that had been part of a bow and arrow set. The arrow no longer had its fins and Jack thought it made a fine rocket ship. His cousins let him have the arrow and periodically he plays with it.

His preferred method is hold it with one hand and count down, "One, two, three, nine, blastoff!" and throw it in the air. For some reason, he tends to mispronounce "blastoff" which ends up sounding more like "fiestoff."

Tonight before story time, I snapped the enclosed picture of him launching the "rocket."

At the playground, there is a particular play structure he pretends is a rocket ship. It resembles a small house and has a bench inside. He'll announce, "I'm going to outer space!" and will sit in the structure and make the same countdown. "Are you in outer space now?" I'll ask. "Yes," he says. Then, he jumps down off the structure and says, "I'm back!"

Nighty-night

2008-11-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Following the rule of "routine things done routinely" Jack's bedtime routine consists of a bath staring around 7PM, followed by drying up and getting dressed into his pajamas. He gets to watch a TV program, lately Tivo'd Pink Panther episodes, accompanied by some warm milk. Ideally, the program ends and I switch to quiet and story time. Lately, this hasn't worked as well as I would have liked; Jack develops a second wind just after his bath and it's very hard to get him settled down.

My attractive wife hasn't been feeling well lately so she has been going to bed early. By 8PM she's usually in bed, reading. Just after his TV program ends Jack announces that he wants to kiss Mommy goodnight. He pads into our bedroom and I help him into bed. He gets under the covers and, lately, puts both his hands behind his head as if to luxuriate. Then he give his Mommy a quick kiss goodnight and announces he's ready to go back to his room.

If all goes well, I read him some stories and we turn out the light. Lately though, he still has this second wind of energy and it's hard to get him calmed down. I suppose there are strategies espoused by experts to smooth things out. Having been back with Jack for a month and a half now I've seen evolutionary changes already in his development. And with that change, comes inevitable tweaks in his routine. As Rush lyricist Neil Peart wrote, "changes aren't permanent but change is."

California Academy of Science

2008-11-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

My parents and I took Jack to the new California Academy of Science museum in San Francisco today. We had heard such good things about it from other friends; it incorporates an aquarium, planetarium, four-story Amazonian rain forest, South African Penguins, all in a newly renovated building.

Driving onto the 10th Ave entrance to Golden Gate Park was a quite a surprise as it now leads directly underground into a colossal parking lot. When I lived here eight years ago, this street entered directly into the park.

We arrived about 1030, one hour after the museum opened, to a sea of people who oddly resembled us: a mix of older couples and their adult children shepherding strollers and all the attending equipment that goes along with that.

Jack did well during the long drive over and took the waiting in line to enter in stride. I had prepped him for what we would be seeing. He was especially interested in seeing the "fishies" in the aquarium. He's a huge fan of the animated show, "Oswald" which chronicles the adventures of an anthropomorphic octopus and his best friend, Henry, a penguin. Naturally, he was interested is seeing examples of both animals.

After entering and getting our bearings, we made our way to the African Hall exhibit, which features stuffed animals and live penguin habitat. Jack was amazed by near real life examples of gorillas, zebras, lions, cheetahs, antelope, and other examples of African fauna. For some reason, he kept running back to the zebras. He pointed his finger and said, "elephants!" "No," I said, "they're zebras, buddy." He was insistent and I saw he was pointing just to the right of zebras. And there, in the simulated distance of the hand painted African Savannah, I saw a digital projection of a herd of elephants slowly making their way across the grasslands. It was very subtle but the movement caught Jack's eye. He was really excited to see them, albeit in the simulated distance. Smart kid.

The culmination of the African Hall was the live penguin habitat. Jack raced right up to it, his small size allowing him to weave between adults standing near the exhibit. When standing, Jack's head was still below the water level of the tank. I held him up to see the penguins standing on the simulated rocky shore. Periodically, they jumped off into the water to swim and dart around. Jack loved it.

After the African Hall we saw a massive swinging Foucault pendulum whose cable was suspended two stories above the main floor. I remember seeing a similar one with my father when I was a young kid at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, where I grew up. It was oddly comforting to see a similar pendulum with both my son and my father. Jack was fascinated and lingered much longer than I thought he would.

We then made our way down to the lower level where the aquarium exhibits were located. Jack was amazed and very excited to see so many fishes. We spend the majority of our visit down there racing from exhibit to exhibit. In addition to seeing fishes, Jack got to visit the tide pool exhibit and touch a star fish. He was a little hesitant but enjoyed it. At one of the last tanks, he saw a giant sea bass. It was bigger than him, easily. It slowly swam in circles, periodically coming right up to the tank much to the delight of the various kids watching it. Jack exclaimed, "it's my favorite!" and stayed to watch it swim around and around.

We then made our way up to the first level and had some lunch before heading out. Jack was running on adrenalin but finally conceded it was time to go home. I promised him we'd be back to visit again.

In the car on the way home, he announced, "I'm not tired," and then proceeded to fall asleep.

At the Park

2008-11-22T21:05:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we went to the park or, as Jack refers to it, the "parky." My attractive wife and my mother also went. Whenever Jack leaves the house, he has to take a motley assortment of toys with him, usually so many that he has to struggle to hold them all. I think holding onto the toys helps him with transitioning from one activity to another. This time, he held tightly to a silver, robotic dog, given to him by our wonderful neighbors, Dewy and Day-Day (Jack's nicknames for them), who function as surrogate grandparents.

When we arrive, I always suggest Jack let me hold on to whatever toy(s) he's brought with him as they invariably get in the way of his climbing over the various play structures. He usually responds with "No, it's mine," or "I'll hold onto to it." It was the same today and he enthusiastically tackled the play structures holding onto his robotic dog.

When he got to the top level adjacent to a slide, he showed his dog to two slightly older girls. He turned the dog on and handed it over to them and they were amazed with it's robotic antics. Jack looked down on me and said, "I'm sharing!"

The girls then went down the slide and Jack followed. They went to another slide and Jack tried to re-engage the girl who was closer to his age. I couldn't help but think he was trying to impress her with the toy and maybe get some conversation. But she had lost interest and quickly ran away. Ah, the great game begins, Jack. Get used to it.

Next, Jack went to one of his favorite slides, an enclosed tube. Getting to it requires climbing several levels of play structure. He did so, still holding his robotic dog. What's funny about this, and other slides at this park, is their plastic construction is quite conducive to static shock. My attractive wife has a particular phobia/dislike of static shocks; I am less affected. Just after I got home from Iraq and when Jack's hair was longer, it would stand up on end as he slid closer to the end of the slide. I would always laugh which, in turn, would cause him to laugh. Today, even with his hair shorter, it still stood up.

Puffy

2008-11-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, my mom was teasing her hair in the morning. Jack walked by the downstairs bathroom, saw her, and exclaimed, "Nanni! You're hair is puffy!"

Time Management

2008-11-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

So we went to the park today with Nanni and Pa. Jack did his usual carousing around and showed off his new ability to climb several new play structures. After forty minutes or so, Pa asked if Jack was ready to go home. "Two more minutes," he responded. After ten or so minutes, he looked at me and said, "It's time to go home."

Nanni & Pa Visit!

2008-11-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

My parents, whom Jack calls "Nanni and Pa," are here to visit for Thanksgiving. It's the first time I've seen them since returning from Iraq at the end of October (I saw them both when I was on leave last May).

We ate a great brunch after picking them up from the airport early this morning. When we got home, they gave Jack a new pair of Lightening McQueen slippers which Jack loves a lot.

Kickball

2008-11-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

Jack loves to play "soccer" either at the park or in our condo association's back yard area. It's really just kickball. He makes this hysterical face when he's about to kick the ball which I tried to capture with my camera.

Tools

2008-11-14T21:07:00.001-08:00

We are in the middle of a big house remodel. My attractive wife project managed most of it while I was away in Iraq and did a great job. The main effort was a complete re-do of our two upstairs bathrooms. They now feature beige colored 12 x 12 Travertine floor tiles, similarly colored 2 x 2 stone tiles in the showers and a brown and white Romanesque design tile mosaic running horizontally two thirds up the way of the shower wall. We had the granite sink counters installed earlier in the week and my contractor, Don, and I have been busy adding plumbing (faucets and toilets). We're in the process of finishing (and restoring functionality to) my attractive wife's bathroom. Until this project started I had never the term, "high performance toilet," before.

Jack has his own set of play tools which look and function quite realistically and he's been imitating all the activity around the house. He even wears eye protection. Jack knows our contractor, who he calls "Friend Don."

Pacifier

2008-11-14T21:01:00.000-08:00

After last week's abortive attempt to go cold turkey on the pacifier, we have a new detente where Jack gets the pacifier only in the crib at night. Tanny, his day care lady, is under instructions to give in only when he goes down for a nap. We maintain a united front.

At the park, Jack will randomly announce that he's a big boy and doesn't need his paci but this self-confidence erodes when push comes to shove at bed time. No matter, some measure of progress and Jack seems okay with the new rules.

Répéter!

2008-11-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

I am fascinated by Jack's ability to watch or do something over and over and over again. The night I downloaded El Kabong Rides Again on my laptop, Jack wanted to watch it again and again. He still does. Last weekend, I set the movie to repeat and went into the kitchen to get some coffee. I stopped counting at seven repeats. Although by the seventh repeat he was only watching casually. If I stopped it though he noticed it immediately.

Also last weekend, we watch the same two episodes of Pinky Dinky Doo eight times in a row. And while there was some light playing with toys, Jack actually watched the episodes (there are two episodes per one thirty minute show).

He's also manic about Handy Manny. Since variety is the spice of life, it wouldn't be so bad (for me) if we had more. But I haven't told the Tivo to get more of them. As a result, Jack just wants to watch the one or two episodes of each show we already have recorded.

I think the repetition relates to the greater transitions problem. Jack doesn't like to stop doing one thing and transition to another. If we are home, he wants to stay home. If we are out, he wants to stay out. When I announce that we will be going to Day Care, you would think I announced there will be no Christmas this year. He's mortified. "Don't want to go to Day Care!" he'll announce. Yet, when we get there, all is fine when he sees his playmate, Jay.

It's tough to be (nearly) three.

Baby Journal

2008-11-12T21:49:00.001-08:00

From 12 March 2008:

Jack: "Bees all gone!"
Mama: "Where'd they go?"
Jack: "Bees all gone in sky!"

Gas!

2008-11-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

It is a truism that all boys and men think passing gas is inherently funny. When Jack does it, he says, "Gas!" and then proceeds to laugh hysterically. Maybe it's because he's eating grown up food exclusively now, I don't know, but he's got a lot of gas lately. And yes, it's stinky. He doesn't appear to be bothered by it, though.

ETA: Tonight (14 Nov) Jack passed gas in the bath and discovered a whole new way to laugh about this process. He was so amused by the first instance that I caught him several times try to do it again but his little colon was empty.

As If You've Never Been Away

2008-11-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

While deployed to Iraq, I listened to a particular track from Ulrich Schnauss' album, Far Away Trains Passing By, called, "As If You've Never Been Away." (iTunes link). Schnauss' music falls into that hard-to-describe-ambient-techno-electronic-chill genre. At times very dense and German, the track in question is snappy, upbeat and, to me, very positive.

Listening to it in Iraq, I imagined re-integrating with Jack at home and hoped it would go smoothly. Today, at the park we were quite the team. I helped him conquer a new way of climbing on a particular play structure. At the top of the structure, he said, "I'm a big boy now," and, to my surprise, "I don't need Paci anymore" We'll see.

Still, I am happy at the re-intergration. Surprised, even, by how smoothly it's gone. As if I've never been away.

Baby Journal

2008-11-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

My attractive wife started a Baby Journal on Jack's first birthday to record significant events. Written to Jack, it's an ongoing record we hope he'll read some day to see what it was like being a baby. There's some really good stuff, so I will periodically will begin capturing some of these past events (under the label, "Baby Journal"). Here's the first entry this this series:

From 1 June 2008:

My attractive wife was snuggling with Jack just after lights out. By this point in time, Jack had developed a special affinity for Bibi Bear, a tattered white teddy bear. When he started expressing interest in Bibi Bear, my attractive wife bought an identical replacement bear, just in case he lost it. As she gave Jack the bear, Jack responded, "This isn't Bibi Bear," -- and it wasn't! Even in the dark, he could tell the difference!

Earlier in the day, the journal records that while my wife was getting Jack ready for his nap, he hugged her neck. It was so nice and made her day.

Also earlier the day, Jack was wrestling with our neighbor, Alan whom he called "Aggis." Other things Jack said that day:

"Tata in 'ere?" -- Can I watch TV?
"Self."
"Amp." -- Elephant

Jack also claimed there was a monster in Mama's bathroom.

The Pacifier

2008-11-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

This morning when I went in to get Jack out of his crib I resolved to start the de-pacifying process. I took it out of his mouth and said, "Pacis are for babies; you're a big boy now." Not surprisingly, he wasn't down with that logic. He threw a Class I tantrum. I held firm and kept the pacifier in my pocket. I finally distracted him downstairs with cereal with milk and repeated showings of "El Kabong Rides Again" on my laptop.

The previous day, I had learned that Jay, Jack's day-care playmate, who is six months younger, is already off his pacifier. This gave me more angst following Dr. Morley's admonishment about Jack still using the pacifier the previous day during his doctor's visit.

In the late morning as I dropped him off at day-care, I told Tanny, who watches Jack and Jay, that I had started trying to get Jack off the pacifier. I told her to try and see if she could keep him off it during nap time. She gave me that knowing look: it's gonna be tough.

Later in the day, when my attractive wife and I picked Jack up, Jay's mother was there and I asked her how they got him off the pacifier. She said they did it cold turkey and the first week and a half was rough. Jack went up to my attractive wife and said, "I cried real hard today." Tanny said he really got mad at not having his pacifier. I told her I was going to try to continue the cold turkey approach. My attractive wife said we should limit to just nap and nighttime. We would report our progress to Tanny on Monday.

Since I now do the bed time routine I would be able to put this to the test. We started our normal routine of a bath and some Tivo'd kids show with milk. After the shows, we turn off the TV and have story time. I did not give him the pacifier. He only asked for it once but when it became clear he wasn't getting it, story time collapsed into a Class II (less severe) tantrum. He sulked off and started playing with toys and wouldn't have story time. Then he said he wanted to get into the crib and without Bee-Bee Bear, his beloved tattered white teddy bear. He became schizophrenic: "I don't want Bee-Bee Bear!" followed by, "I want it!" He asked for paci again. I tried the whole, "You're a big boy and don't need paci." He wasn't down with that.

He kept throwing Bibi Bear out of the crib saying, "I don't want Bibi Bear!" As soon as it hit the carpet, "I want Bibi Bear!" I tried to sooth him in the crib. "Buddy, it's time to go to sleep now." It was nearly 8:45PM and way past his normal bed time. Finally, he succumbed to laying down and I quietly made my exit.

I went downstairs and listened on the monitor. He resorted to a kind of mad lament, saying to himself, "I don't want Bibi Bear," followed by pathetic sounding cries and the word, "Paci." It broke my heart and made feel like the World's Worst Parent. I felt the pacifier in my pocket. After ten minutes of this, my resolve crumbled and I went upstairs. I rubbed his forehead, "Buddy, it's time to go to sleep," I said. He seemed to be exhausted. Maybe this would work, I thought. I quietly left.

On the monitor, the same pathetic mumblings. It was now 9:20PM, way, way past his bed time. All I could hear was the word, "Paci" uttered in despair. My resolve crumbled for the second time. I entered as Jack was getting ready to jettison his beloved Glow Worm doll, which issues soothing music, out of his crib. "Buddy, here's Paci," I said. "Thank you," he said and immediately laid down, calmness covering his body from head to toe. Poor guy, he was asleep before I got downstairs.

Jack, 1. Me, 0.

Doctor's Visit

2008-11-07T21:13:00.001-08:00

Three days ago, Jack awoke with a runny right nostril and a teary right eye. "My nose is runny," he said as I chased him trying to wipe it. I tried to get him to blow his nose but he ended up blowing out of his mouth. Poor guy. Recent literature, and the advice of our pediatrician, recommend no cold medicine be administered to children under the age of five so Jack will have to muddle through what I think is a minor cold.

It was time for a flu shot anyway so I made the appointment and went to our pediatrician, Dr. Morley. He was there at the hospital minutes after Jack's birth in late 2005 and has been his doctor ever since. I told Jack we were going to Dr. Morley who was going to give him medicine. He seemed okay with this.

When we got there, the nurse took his temperature under his armpit. Jack first thought this odd and then funny. Then we were left alone a while waiting for the doctor. I told Jack to greet Dr. Morley. When Dr. Morley arrived, Jack greeted him and he was surprised. His face seemed to say, "You can talk now?"

Dr. Morley examined Jack's ears, nose and throat and listened to his heart and lungs and said everything looked and sounded fine so it was likely just a cold. And he would be getting a flu mist not a shot.

During the examination, Dr. Morley saw Jack's pacifier on the table. "Oh, he's still using that?!" he exclaimed. "Throw it away. Blame it on me. You'll need to do that now or you're going to pay for later in braces." I felt a little embarrassed.

He left and the nurse returned with the flu mist. As I held Jack on my lap, she inserted a small tube into each of Jack's nostrils and sprayed a mist in. He was fine with it and even laughed as the second nostril was sprayed. I was remarkably impressed how he took it all in.

As we walked to the car, I said, "You did a great job!" Jack repeated it back to me several times later that day, "Dr. Morley gave me some medicine. I did a great job!"

E Pluribus Unum

2008-11-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

Many years from now, when people ask me, "Where were you when the first African-American president was elected?" I will say, why I was putting Jack to sleep. We had some milkies, read, "Zoo Parade," "Fire Truck," and "Numeros." When we were done, he turned off the light and said, "It's dark because it's nighttime," and I placed him in the crib.

My attractive wife was already in bed and had her Blackberry out and said, "Wow, Obama was elected." When I started Jack's good night routine, I knew Obama was ahead but I didn't think he would be called the winner until much later. Whatever side of the political fence you sit on, this was an historic night.

I tuned into CNN and caught Obama's acceptance speech and was truly impressed. After spending so much time in Iraq worrying about the Iraqi Provincial Election Law and waiting for it to be passed by the Council of Representatives, it was deeply gratifying to see our own election happen and with such a profound outcome.

As John McCain so graciously pointed out in his concession speech, we all are Americans and need to move forward together. It's more than just who was elected. As Joe Waldron wrote in a New York Times OPED, "Presidents come and go. Our nation, and our constitutional form of government, ones hopes, will endure."

E Pluribus Unum -- "From Many, One."