Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Light Swaber Fight

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



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

"Yes you can," I said. Heh.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

First Day of Preschool!

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

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

End of Day Care

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

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

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

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


Happiness

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

"You wanna play?"

Haircut

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

Jack in the Big Chair


Backyard Bullfight

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

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

Ole!

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

While you were out...

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