Jack has a little bit of Mommy in him - he has to tuck the bags in the kitchen cupboard in so they don't stick out when he closes the cupboard, he has to straighten the rug (when he's not moving it by dragging his toys around)

Today, Jack was standing near Jeffry in the kitchen and said to me; "What doing, Mommy?"

After dinner tonight, Leesha pulled her hat down over her eyes and Jack said; "Where's Leesha? Peek Boo."

When someone passed gas near him tonight, he said; "Poopin'".

More recent words:
"di-waff"= giraffe
"dow tares" = downstairs
"Miss lippy/Mid-iffy" = Mississippi
"Tin Tin" = Tin Tin
David Bowie
"gouch" = couch
toyee
"le-pert" = leopard
"cup-pert" = cupboard
"kit-en" = kitchen
money
"'pider" = spider

Okay, so the other night, we sit down to dinner, and I asked Jack if he wanted to pray. I led; "Thank you Jesus," "Kake you Jesus"; "For our nummies", "nummies"; "Amen", "Amen". How cute is that?

Today, Leesha went to Bethel University to attend a Young Author's Conference. I think she really enjoyed her day. She has read her new writings to everyone she's seen since. Jack (and I) heard some several times. One was about Jack's hands.

This afternoon, on our way home, Leesha was trying to get Jack to memorize the poem she'd written today. She kept saying; "By Leesha" and Jack kept repeating it. I'm sure he was wondering; "I've said "Bye" so many times, when are you going to leave?" I was just wondering when she was going to leave him alone.

I took both kids to the Dr. yesterday for regular checkups. On the information sheet they gave me, it said Jack should have a vocabulary of 7-20 words. Well, I don't want to brag, BUT ....

When Jeffry gets home now, Jack almost immediately suggests "David .... Gnome" the show the two of them watch bits of when they get the chance. I guess there are Trolls in it which Jack has called puppies.

The other day, we were driving up to get Leesha when Jack declares; "Puppy". I did my usual; "Oh, did you see a puppy somewhere, I didn't see on....." stopping short as I noticed the advertisement for the MN Children's Museum Clifford Exhibit just passing us. Wow, kids are fast.

Last night, I was busy re-installing the carseat in the Jeep, so Jack was in Jeffry's care. Jeffry told him they could watch the Gnome, but he needed to check his email first, then asked if that was okay. Jack agreed, and just to make sure, Jeffry asked again. Jack agreed again. It was like a mini-conversation

Tonight at dinner, I was sharing about how I taught about (King) David today, and Jack agreed heartily with; "David ... Gnome".


"Bly-bly" = butterfly

Today's words:
Dishes
Nothing

Birthday Girl

I woke Leesha up at 7:10 yesterday singing "Happy Birthday". She wanted chocolate chip pancakes so we had those before heading over to see the Midwife. I told the Midwife that it was Leesha's birthday and that I'd brought the family to hear "Toto's" heartbeat, so she allowed Leesha to use the instrument they use to find the heartbeat. I'm hoping that was a bit of a rush for Leesha.
Back at home, we did the semi-annual measuring to learn she is now 5 feet, 2.75 inches. Officially taller than some of our friends and family.
We celebrated with lunch and cake (another chocolate cake with blue frosting and a rubber duck) at Culvers with Grandma Darlene and Grandpa David. On the way over there, Jack would say; "Ha bood-ay Ee-ahh".

Running commentary for Saturday .....

Phrase for this morning: "okay".
Phrase for yesterday: "hey mom".

Jack just looked at one of his Clifford books where there is the phrase "many more ..." and he said "many more".

Jack started eating breakfast before I did, so when I sat down, he put his spoon down, placed his hands together and said; "Pay." He was reminding me to pray. Also at breakfast, he said; "egg" and apparently "email" is oatmeal. When he had finished his eggs, he handed me his bowl and said; "kake you Mama" (thank you). Oh, how sweet!

At one point, he pointed to Leesha's door and said; "Leesha" (although the "sh" isn't really an "sh" sound, more of an "s"). I replied that; "Leesha is with her daddy." His response; "Daddy. Dad. Jiffy (Jeffry)."

He brought his flamingo over to me to ask what it was, so I told him. I said it a few times to see if he could get it. He said something like; "Fla-bli-go".

While he was eating lunch, a research company called for what seemed the third time so far today (gotta love Caller ID), so I gave the phone to Jack and whispered; "Say Hello." No response. I tried again; "Say banana." Jack: "Hello banana." Me: "Say bye bye." Jack: "Bye bye."

I just cut his nails, and was counting his fingers as I went. When I got to 6, he counted ahead of me for 7-9.

I wish I knew what he really meant by; "Num on Jesus" (translated: "come on Jesus")

The other day in the car, Jack would say; "Hi Ee-ah" and she would respond with; "Hi Ack". This would then cause both of them to laugh genuinely. Very cute.


Other words: (some likely previously mentioned)
lotion
moon
"doo-dy" = dirty
"o-tich" = ostrich
"happo" = hippo
rhino
"daa-phine" = dolphin
"tee-o" = seal
Dimon = Simon?
"dower" = shower
"le-pert" = leopard
diaper
cake
"bak an por" = back and forth (rocking)
I love you vs. "ah-woo"
"lippers" = slippers
"butt-um" = bottom
mess
gnome
"bly-bly"= butterfly

Jack's words for today included: "Bless you", "banana" (vs. 'nana), "Leesha" (vs. "Ee-ah")."pock-ee" (pocket),


Recent words include: hippo (sounds a lot like apple), rhino, mouse, mice, rice, "o'trich" (ostrich), "vu'ture" (vulture), "bu'dee (bird-y), "'noman" (snowman),

I might just as well keep this open all day and just record Jack's antics.
Only a moment ago, he was busy re-locating his critters from their comfy laundry basket in his room to the floor in front of the fridge. He said; "'Night Pooh" and then, "Pooh hug" before proceeding to give his Pooh bear a hug . Now he's moving his animals from the kitchen shelf to the floor in front of the fridge. What will I do when I can't see around my belly and start tripping on all his toys in my kitchen?

Snapshots

This seemed so much easier when it was a new and novel idea .... Sorry to those of you who keep checking it in vain.
Some blurbs about the recent days ...
I caught Jack on video saying "calculator and alligator" (okay, alligator comes out as agilator - still, very cute).
Today he said; "dinosaur".
On Tuesday, we did a white elephant gift exchange with our small group. I (Cara) got an "easy" button from Staples. Jack just loves it. He calls it his "dizzy button" and now says "that easy" once it's done saying; "that was easy"
He is doing a marvelous job with a spoon and fork when given the chance. Cottage cheese was a bit messy, but otherwise, he's very clean. We know he's done with his food when he puts his plate on his head and says "hat" (I'm not sure if that is supposed to be "head" or "hat").
With our COLD snap, I've been putting socks on his "hannies" (hands) due to a lack of mittens that work. At least a couple of times, he's taken the socks off his feet and tried to put them on his hands. He's only capable of putting one on a hand. Still, cute.
He and I braved the COLD today and went to Trader Joe's. When we went in, a woman was inflating balloons. He noted this and started saying "ball" or "bloon", so she came over and gave him one. There were very few other customers, so he could be heard throughout the store laughing gleefully about his balloon.
Leesha is working on homework tonight. Looking forward to a week of only 2 days of school next week in addition to turning 11. She is hoping to get money towards the purchase of a violin. She hopes to take lessons.

Evil Eye

Leesha is with her dad this weekend. She was supposed to have her friend over for the night last night. This friend had gone to school with her until just about a year ago and Leesha has really missed her. I'm hoping they had a really good time together.

Moments ago, I was feeding Jack some yogurt. Since he does not like food on his face now, I thought I'd be funny and smear some of the yogurt by his mouth. He didn't think that seemed right, but when I cleaned it off and laughed about it, I swear he gave me the evil eye.
He's continuing to be fascinated with animals (a good Sorley descendant), learning "dolphin" and "'lope" (antelope) recently.
Earlier today, I told him to be careful while he was standing on the toilet lid while I did stuff at the sink. He repeated; "careful".
This morning, he was watching the lights on his stacking toy as they blinked on and off. His head was bobbing up and down like a dog does when you wave a treat in front of them. Jeffry had made an interesting sound effect on the same toy this morning by patting the speaker. Jack has learned to do the same thing. Amazing ....
It was so heartbreaking to see him lose weight while he was sick, but I think he's more than made up for it in these last few days with all that he's eating. It's getting harder to lift him up.
Yesterday, his friend Keane came over for a little bit. I was telling him that Keane was coming over and Jack was saying; "Hi Keane" until (of course) he got here, then Jack was as quiet as a mouse.

Stylist in the making?

Jack's words for yesterday were; "comb" and "brush". He also said "Honda" at some point, but we're not counting it yet. We're happy to see him back to some of his old antics despite the illness that still seems to be lingering.

New Year

I guess I stayed pretty caught up with Jack's vocabulary since he's basically been sucking on his pacifier for the last 6 days. We did however hear "Bible" and coax "Jesus" and "Mary" out of him.

So, like Jeffry has already commented, Jack got sick about 1:30 on Sunday afternoon and threw up most recently yesterday afternoon at about 3:30. It's tough to see your little guy so sick.

Then, Leesha decided to bring in the New Year in the same fashion as Jack. Fortunately, she was really good about taking care of herself and I didn't fear for her getting dehydrated too quickly.

Jeffry seems to have something else which has kept him in bed most of the day today.

I have experienced nothing besides the usual tiredness and nausea associated with pregnancy.

With all the illness going around, we had a perfectly lazy day. I even took a couple of naps while spending most of the day sitting in my recliner.

If I could have worked on Christmas day to have a well family, I would have done that. Although, I do realize this is NOTHING compared to what some families face with long illnesses. I am counting the blessings of good (and healthy) times with both extended and nuclear family over our vacation, and that nobody is any worse than they were or are.

Introducing Toto

Toto is the working title of whoever is growing inside Cara right now!

Happy New Year

Yeah...

At about 1:30AM Leesha got sick. She's been spitting up through out the morning. This has been a less-than-fun holiday vacation for the Willis East Household.