Advanced Psychology

No Sir!

2009-05-08T15:17:00.002-04:00

I grew up in California, and the whole concept of kids saying "sir" and "ma'am" to adults is just downright creepy to me. Since kids are expected to say "sir" and "ma'am" to adults where we live, I figured that my kid would just be the rude-one-with-the-weird-parents-who-don't-teach him-any-manners. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Two weeks ago, while Matt was out of town, Jackson started saying, "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" to me in response to every question. I gently said, "Honey, I'm your mommy. You don't have to say ma'am to me." But it didn't work. He brashly continued to fling "ma'am" in my face at every opportunity. Impudent kid. Then Matt came home from his trip, and (I'll bet you could see this coming) now Jackson is calling him ma'am too. Do we ignore the whole situation and hope it goes away? Do we do start teaching him to call Matt sir? Do we pack up and move somewhere a little less civilized? We'll keep you posted.

Sonoma Train Town

2009-03-14T13:44:00.003-04:00

On a recent trip to see my family, we made a little side trip to see the Sonoma Train Town. This is pretty much a 3 year old boy's greatest fantasy - a park with a scale model railroad that really runs over bridges, through tunnels, past streams, and by tiny scale towns. The railroad ride itself is about 20 minutes, including a 10 minute stop at a petting zoo with llamas, sheep, and goats. They also have a few toddler-friendly rides like a carousel and flying airplanes. Jackson and Mimi getting ready to get on the train ride...Jackson and Mimi on a carousel together. This was his first ride without someone holding onto him. No, I didn't pre-approve this idea. Yes, I was very nervous.Ok, so when I heard that parents couldn't go on the airplane ride with their kids, I thought, "fat chance my kid is going to do this!" I started to get pretty anxious when my mom put him into his seat because it would have taken me at least 30 seconds to leap the rails to go get him, and I wasn't sure if they would stop the ride if it was already going when he started crying. The real emotion set in, however, when I realized that he wasn't scared! In fact, he was having a great time and didn't need me at all! Ouch! This rather un-sentimental mommy definitely had tears in her eyes.

So You Think You Can't Take Your Kid To a Winery?

2009-03-14T13:30:00.005-04:00

Do you think that taking a child to a winery might be akin to child abuse? Au contraire, mon frère! My parents live in the Dry Creek area of Sonoma, so Jackson has been visiting wineries since he was about 6 weeks old. Most wineries have beautiful grounds for your kids to explore, and many have awesome picnic areas to enjoy. Some even have novelty experiences like castles. The best part is that while your kid enjoys a beautiful California day outdoors, you can load up on some fancy-dancy wine for cheap (even if there is a tasting fee, most wineries waive it if you buy something). Here are some photos from our recent trip to Ferrari-Carano:

National Academy of Sciences (San Francisco)

2009-03-14T13:19:00.004-04:00

On a recent trip to San Francisco we had the opportunity to visit the newly remodeled National Academy of Sciences. It is so beautiful, and so incredibly toddler friendly (except for the food court, where nary a chicken nugget could be found...).

The entire roof is covered in green plants to control heating and air costs. I totally want one. Plus, jumping in the roof puddles may have been the highlight of the entire day for Jackson.

They have this really cute Children's Museum-esque play area

just for kids under 5

Jackson really could have spent all day in front of this giant tank looking for the one Nemo-fish swimming around in it

Everyone liked getting to touch the sea creatures in this

aquatic version of a petting zoo

They also have traditional dioramas, which might be sort of boring to some of us (me), but toddlers apparently find fascinating...

Money, Money, Money

2009-03-14T13:06:00.003-04:00

For Jackson's third birthday our very good friends sent him three dollar bills. I figured this would go over like a lead balloon with our three year old. I mean, what does money mean to a three year old? It's just great paper, right? Wrong, wrong wrong. Apparently our friends know more about kids then we do (they have three of their own) because Jackson was THRILLED with his "money." He carried it proudly around the house and kept saying, "This is MY money. This is Jackson's money!" The first weekend after the three dollars arrived, he even wanted to bring them with us when we went shopping.

I decided that Jackson was definitely ready for his own piggy bank. I ordered this awesome, handpainted, personalized fire truck piggy off of etsy.com (the website where I now just have my paycheck deposited directly, because I am so obsessed with it):

Jackson loves to find "money" (mainly pennies) to put in his new bank. If this financial crisis continues, we may be coming to him for loans in the near future...

Jackson's Little Gym Party

2009-02-14T13:54:00.002-05:00

You may be inclined to ask WHICH party I am blogging about, because Jackson had no less than 3 parties this year - one with his Nana and Pap-pap on his actual birthday, one at school on his birthday, and one a week later at the Little Gym. The Little Gym party was by far the cutest. We invited all the kids in his preschool class, plus a few special friends, and about 13 or 14 kids ended up coming, which was a perfect number. During the first hour of the party, the kids got to alternate between free play on all the cool gym equipment, and organized activities with the two party leaders. I was so impressed with how much these little 2 and 3 year olds were able to do. After the kids were completely worn out, we adjourned to a little party room for cake and juice. Here are a few highlights:

PLAYING WITH BALLS AND BUBBLES (ON TOP OF A DEFLATING JUMP APPARATUS)

JACKSON GOT TO SIT IN THE MIDDLE OF A PARACHUTE WHICH THE REST OF THE KIDS SPUN HIM AROUND
KIDS DANCING WITH FOAM BARS

CIRCLE TIME

FREE PLAY ON THE GYM EQUIPMENT

Jackson couldn't have been happier with his special day. He was all smiles for every second of it. The best part? When it was over, all I had to do was get in the car and drive home! No messy clean up for me! Yay!

The Fish Saga

2009-02-08T12:21:00.006-05:00

Because Jackson has more toys than we can reasonably fit in our house, I wanted to find something else to get him for his birthday. Matt and I decided on a fish, because he loves the movie Finding Nemo, and he gets really excited whenever we see a fish tank. We bought this cute little Finding Nemo tank for about $35, which I thought was a pretty good deal, and put a blue (Jackson's favorite color) Betta fish into it.

Jackson was pretty jazzed about his fish, which he named "Blue". Unfortunately (but predictably I believe) the next morning, the fish was DEAD. We quickly scooped him out of the tank on the way out of the house, and picked up another blue Betta on the way home from work. We were convinced that Jackson would never know the difference...except that when we put the new fish into the tank, it was RED! I really don't know how this happened. The funny part is that Jackson didn't seem to notice that "Blue" was now red. Blue2 lasted approximately three days longer than Blue1. When I went to PetSmart to discuss the fact that we clearly are fish murderers, the girl (same one who helped me pick out the system, by the way - I'll save my rant about PetSmart for another day) informed me that Bettas don't like filtered tanks. Apparently they prefer to live in tiny dirty fish bowls? Whatever. So now we have two tiny guppies and a really cute frog, which we have managed not to kill yet, but it's only been a week.

I'll be headed to another pet store today (NOT Petsmart) to drop a week's salary on tank care accessories. I'd be bitter about this whole sage except I have to admit that I am a little in love with our tiny frog.

Jackson turns 3 today

2009-02-02T07:38:00.005-05:00

Today is Jackson's third birthday. He's been talking about it for about 2 months, so I think he was in complete disbelief when we woke him up this morning and the day was actually here. He kept saying, "It's my birthday? Today my birthday?" like a lottery winner who can't quite believe their good fortune. Stay tuned for more birthday-related breaking news....

"My's? It's my's birthday?" (see how he's pointing at himself in disbelief?)

For once I didn't have to bribe him to get a smiling picture - this is the real deal.

Mylar balloons - pretty much the highlight of any toddler's day.

How cute is this monkey birthday shirt that I ordered off of etsy.com?

He's still asking if it's really his birthday....

Shot of the birthday shirt from the back - it has his name and big 3 on it.

Time to go to school. For once no fussing since two dozen cupcakes are coming with him. Jackson and I made yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting (coincidentally mommy's favorite...), rainbow dot sprinkles, and Mickey Mouse ring toppers for his class.

I'm a Cowboy

2009-02-01T08:21:00.000-05:00

For MLK day, Jackson's entire school was supposed to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up. I hadn't planned to send him to school that day since I had the day off, but he was sick the entire week before, so Matt and I both needed some time to get work done. That morning after he was already dressed, I remember that he was supposed to dress up. I thought for a minute and then quickly threw a cowboy hat on his head and gave him a toy horse and told him, "When people ask what you are going to be when you grow up, say a COWBOY." He was none to thrilled with the idea, as you can see from the reluctant picture below (apparently cowboys also carry binoculars). So on the way to school, I said, "Jackson, if someone asks what you are going to be when you grow up, what are you going to say?" He thought for a minute, and the grinned and said, "A HAT!" I had hoped for a doctor, but instead I got...a hat.

Potty training....again...

2009-02-01T08:06:00.000-05:00

I've heard that regression in potty training is not uncommon, but this didn't really prepare me for the frustration/bewilderment of having a complete backslide (pardon the pun) in potty training after the holidays. Jackson started refusing to use the toilet even when he was doing the disco version of the pee-pee dance, and inevitably started having accidents. We decided to make him a new potty training chart where he earned one sticker for each "dry day." We promised him a reward of these two plastic horses he had seen at Target.
He didn't earn one sticker in the first 3 days - that's how bad our backslide was! We then tried compliance training - in other words, rewarding him with M&Ms for using the toilet when we told him too, and that worked so-so. He finally earned his first sticker this way, but then un-earned it by having an accident right before we put him to bed! I tried to remove the sticker from the sheet to make a point, but it was stuck on really well, so I ended up spending five minutes ragefully picking it off piece by piece while Jackson cried. Not exactly high-quality parenting.

But the most effective intervention came when we started enforcing regular potty breaks after meals using the inspired little poem, "After we sit at the table and eat, it's time to sit on the potty seat." Jackson was a little skeptical about this at first, but after a couple of days, started enthusiastically using the toilet four times a day (three meals plus a snack) while reciting this poem. Combined with scheduled trips before nap and bedtime, this seemed to do the trick and he quickly earned all 10 stickers needed to get his horses, and we haven't had an accident in weeks! We were so excited that when he earned his stickers he got THREE horses (Mommy, Daddy, and Baby) instead of two.

My Little Elephant

2009-02-01T07:55:00.000-05:00

Jackson has recently decided that he is a baby elephant. This game comes with the elaborate prop of a wet washcloth that he carries around in his mouth and pretends is his trunk. Needless to say, we have molding wet washcloths all over the house.

Snow Day

2009-01-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

So, as you may have guessed, it doesn't snow in Beach Town. So we were all very excited when a local fun park brought in a bunch of snow for the day so that kids could go sledding. I have to say that when we first saw the pathetic little 24 square foot area covered in snow, we were a little skeptical about the fun factor, but Matt and Jackson had a blast sledding down the little hill. We topped the afternoon off with a few rides and some go-karting. Too cute.

Blog Alert: PostSecret

2009-01-07T07:51:00.002-05:00

My obsession with Cakewrecks has not diminished, but I thought I would share another blog that I heart. The blog is called PostSecret and it provides a place for people to artistically and anonymously share their secrets with the world. I've already learned that I'm just about the last person on the planet to discover this website - it's won awards, spawned books, and clearly has quite a following. But if you haven't already stumbled across this yourself, check it out and I'll bet you will become as hooked as I am.

Christmas: Take Two

2009-01-04T13:24:00.005-05:00

Because we had a trip to DisneyWorld planned for early December, we decided not to buy our tree until about 10 days before Christmas. Please learn from our experience: this is a TERRIBLE idea. We naively showed up at Lowe's ready to buy our normal 8 foot, reasonably priced beauty and found only pathetic looking, lopsided 6 footers. After roaming the aisles of trees for about 15 minutes in total disbelief, hoping that perhaps there was one lone high quality tree left, we finally settled on this little Charlie Brown tree:

Pathetic, right? Our only consolation was that it was majorly (but fairly!) discounted. We decided to let it "rest" overnight before decorating it, hoping that it might magically fill out over night. But the next morning brought an ominous surprise: the water was still filled to the top of the stand. The tree wasn't drinking ANYTHING. That night we cut another chunk off of the bottom of the tree and said a little prayer. The next morning, like a prisoner, the tree was still refusing water. We were expecting a houseful of guests for Christmas, so we decided to visit one of the notoriously overpriced tree lots, and found this little guy:

Totally worth it, right? Oh, and here's a really cool picture of Jackson decorating the tree with fireworks. Ok, my shutter just isn't fast enough to keep up with my two year old, but it's still pretty cool, right?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T15:03:00.003-05:00

At school this year, Jackson's class made a big list of what everyone wanted for Christmas. Jackson's wish was for a Fire Truck. Even though we had already done our shopping, we rushed out to Target and bought the biggest, shiniest fire truck we could find to put on the fireplace on Christmas morning.

A few days later, Santa came to visit his school. While we were walking over to see him, I said, "Jackson, are you going to ask Santa for a fire truck?" "No!" he answered, "I want a kite." "Ummm..what, baby? I thought you wanted a fire truck." "No, I want a kite," he said. When Santa asked what he wanted, he firmly said, "I want a kite!"

My dad and I drove down to the beach with me a few days before Christmas, and we managed to locate a kite (they're hard to find this time of year!). But on Christmas morning, Jackson just seemed confused. He kept asking, "Where my kite?" I can only imagine that he had envisioned the kite floating around the room on Christmas morning.
That didn't stop him from thoroughly enjoying his gifts. He couldn't open them fast enough, and had trouble waiting for everyone else to open theirs (and believe me, the vast majority were for him anyway!).

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

The Best Day to Visit the Zoo

2008-12-24T14:47:00.004-05:00

After spending a long weekend in Disney, we were sick of huge crowds and lines. So we were pleasantly surprised to find that the best possible day to visit the zoo is actually Christmas Eve! We just about had the whole place to ourselves.

Jackson got to pick any animal on the carousel (and could take as long as he
wanted to pick).

This experience was a little freakier then it looks...these birds are loud and
aggressive!

No need to strain through crowds to see the animals! Most of the time it was
just us.

We actually got to feed a giraffe with our hands! Amazing!

Me and my baby...I think this is where Santa was supposed to sit....

Christmas in Disney World!

2008-12-16T19:51:00.000-05:00

On the spur of the moment, Matt and I decided to book a long weekend in Disney World a couple of weeks before Chrismas. Despite a little bit of rainy and cold weather, December is a wonderful time to visit Disney. They have so many beautiful holiday themed displays and shows, and the crowds are reportedly smaller than usual in the weeks before Christmas (I've heard that the weeks around Christmas and New Years are actually among the busiest). I say reportedly because I really can't imagine them being any larger. Even on a supposedly quiet week, Disney is pretty darn busy. One of the bonus parts to our trip is that most things in Disney World are free for kids under 3, so it was a great time to go because Jackson was old enough to really get into the magic of it all, but young enough to be FREE. We had an amazing time and are talking about making annual visits.

EPCOT HAS A BEAUTIFUL LIGHTS DISPLAY THAT IS SET TO MUSIC

MORE EPCOT LIGHTS TO ENJOY WHILE WAITING (ENDLESSLY) FOR DINNER RESERVATIONS

THIS GINGERBREAD HOUSE IN EPCOT IS MADE OUT OF 100% EDIBLE MATERIALS. IT SMELLED AMAZING!

THE CASTLE AT NIGHT IS SO MUCH BETTER THEN I REMEMBER FROM MY OWN CHILDHOOD. THIS MIGHT NOT BE A SPECIAL HOLIDAY DISPLAY, BUT THEY MADE THE CASTLE LOOK LIKE IT WAS MADE OUT OF ICE.

Honey We Shrunk the Kid Playground

2008-12-15T19:59:00.004-05:00

Jackson loved Disney World, but we noticed that he spent a lot of time sitting - in his stroller as we raced across the parks (and this is a child who has not ridden in a stroller for months), in rides, on boats, on buses...it's a lot of walking for mom and dad, but a lot of sitting for toddlers. So I think Jackson was thrilled beyond belief by the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground at Hollywood Studios. It's designed like a gigantic garden and you are the size of an ant inside of it. They have tons of cool caves, slides, webs, and other neat things to discover. Jackson especially liked these grass stubs (I guess that's what they are...) that made chiming noises when you jump on them. I'm not kidding when I say that at least half of the kids there left crying because they wanted to stay longer. Here are a few highlights:

Disney World Rides

2008-12-15T19:56:00.005-05:00

One of the the things that really surprised me about our Disney World trip was just how many rides they have for little kids. Jackson isn't the largest two year old, and pretty much the only things he couldn't ride were the really big roller coasters. Heck, they even have a roller coaster in Disney's Toon Town that is designed just for kids, and Jackson loved it so much we actually did it twice (and while it's no Six Flags ride, it's pretty thrilling even for adults). Matt's favorite ride was Pirates of the Caribbean (he's so old school). My favorite was the new 3D Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios - so cool. One of the other surprises was that the line for most rides was 20 minutes or less (we used Fastpass a lot on the popular rides, which definitely helped). Here are few that we managed to get pictures of:

MY CRAZY HUSBAND ACTUALLY LET JACKSON

DRIVE THE CAR ON THIS RACE CAR RIDE

THIS

ROCKET RIDE WENT REALLY FAST -
IT WAS EVEN EXCITING FOR

THE ADULTS

THE AFRICAN SAFARI RIDE AT ANIMAL KINGDOM IS REALLY COOL, BUT GOES BY WAY TOO
QUICK CONSIDERING HOW MANY COOL ANIMALS THERE ARE

Character Mania!

2008-12-15T19:54:00.006-05:00

One of the reasons that we haven't hadn't Disney World before now is that Jackson was absolutely terrified in characters in costumes. I envisioned walking around the Magic Kingdom dripping sweat while dragging a terrified and exhausted child behind me. But we recently ran into our local baseball mascot at our Children's Museum, and he wasn't afraid at all, so I knew it was safe to make the trip. One of the things that I didn't realize was that the characters aren't just wandering around the park waiting to scare small children anyway. For the most part you have to wait in lines to meet them, so really they could be mostly avoided if you have a phobic child. Plus, I think they must hire tiny teenage girls to play the characters because most of them are really quite small, despite the big masks. Anyway, Jackson decided that he loved meeting the characters, so we toted him around from park to park so that he could hug them. He kept asking, "He going to talk? Why he not talk?" but otherwise was pretty awed by the whole thing.

THIS WAS THE FIRST CHARACTER THAT JACKSON MET, AND HE JUST ABOUT BURST OUT HIS LITTLE FLEECE PULLOVER IN EXCITEMENT. LOOK AT THAT GRIN!

JACKSON WAS CONVINCED THIS WAS AN OCTOPUS...NO CLUE WHY...

THE TOY STORY MEET AND GREET WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRIP FOR ME. THE CHARACTERS WERE SO SWEET, AND CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME PICTURE ON ANDY'S BED:

WE ALSO DID A CHARACTER BREAKFAST WITH THE LITTLE EINSTEINS AND JO JO. JACKSON WAS VISIBLY DISAPPOINTED THAT HIS FAVORITE CHARACTER ANNIE DIDN'T MAKE AN APPEARANCE, BUT WAS SO HAPPY TO MEET

LEO, JUNE, JOJO, AND GOLIATH.

THIS PICTURE DIDN'T COME OUT THAT GREAT, BUT I WILL LOVE WINNIE THE POOH CHARACTERS FOREVER BECAUSE AFTER WE MET POOH, EEYORE, AND TIGGER, THE HOSTESS TOLD US THAT JACKSON WAS THE BEST BEHAVED CHILD THAT THEY HAD HAD ALL DAY. I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH THEY PAY HER TO SAY THAT: IT MADE MY WHOLE WEEK. LUCKILY SHE DIDN'T SEE HIM TWO DAYS LATER WHEN HE HAD A FALL DOWN DRAG OUT TANTRUM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MAGIC KINGDOM BECAUSE MATT PUT KETCHUP ON HIS HOT DOG (OR SOME OTHER EQUALLY INANE REASON - WE WERE NEVER QUITE CLEAR ON IT).

The Best/Worst 8 Dollars We Spent In Disney World

2008-12-15T19:48:00.002-05:00

The Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney has this great marketing ploy where they basically force you to hang out in their gift shop while you wait to be seated for your meal. It's a really cool gift shop with lifesized animals that move, so it's actually not that bad of an experience. Anyway, we spent about 35 minutes there on our first night in Disney World, and Jackson fell in love with this hideous, remarkably real looking snake. I should add that Matt and I are both terribly disgusted by snakes, and my fear actually borders on a true phobia. So the fact that we purchased this creature for Jackson is a sign of how obsessed we are with our child (if the fact that we've devoted an entire blog to parenting him didn't already clue you in). Matt got the snake as a surprise for him while Jackson and I were being seated, and that animal did not leave his side for the next five days. It ate dinner with us, slept with us (or worse, slept curled up next to our bed in a horrifyingly realistic manner), and went on every ride that Disney has to offer. If you want to have a little fun with our Disney pictures, you can play a Where's Waldo type game with the snake. Here are few to get you started....

Luckily the snake has lost it's favored status once we got home, and frankly after spending 5 days in Disney with a realistic looking toy snake, I'm not as afraid of them anymore anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-22T07:54:00.003-05:00

Jackson's daycare had a big Thanksgiving feast on Friday and invited all the parents. Matt worked from home so that he could attend, and I baked a pumpkin pie (and by baked, I mean I opened the box, stuck the frozen pie in the oven, and left it in there for 65-75 minutes). Jackson was super excited about the special day. How cute does he look?
We've always sort of suspected that daycare was telling us tall tales when they marked the little box next to "I ate all my food" on his daily sheet, just because he really doesn't eat all that much at home. It turns out that they don't lie. Matt said that Jackson ate so much that he started to get worried that he would be sick. He was still eating when the rest of the class had gone back to get ready for their naps, and the three year olds started setting up for their feast.

We have many things to be thankful for, and one of them is his awesome daycare. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My Maid

2008-11-21T18:58:00.005-05:00

Ok, so if you've ever lived with me (I'm talking to you Mom), you know that neatness isn't exactly my thing. I drop my clothes on the floor when I take them off. I leave the cupboards open in the kitchen. I am incapable of pouring anything without spilling at least some of it. So I knew I hit the jackpot when I married Matt. If you've ever lived with Matt, you know that he is very, very neat - - in a good way - not a Sleeping with the Enemy or OCD kind of way. What I mean is that he washes the pots before we even eat dinner. He empties the dishwasher whenever it is clean. He rarely spills anything or leaves a mess. No, you can't have him. He's mine. Anyway, not to make anyone jealous, but it turns out that I hit the jackpot twice when I got my mini-Matt (AKA Jackson). He follows behind me and closes cabinets and doors while I cook. When I want to make him happy, I hand him a Clorox wipe and ask him to clean the counter. If he sees a spot on the floor, he'll go wet a paper towel and try to clean it. He even puts things away when he's done using them. Frankly, it's pretty awesome. So anyway, we took him to the park the other day, and he found this little house that he just loved. He kept putting pebbles on the table and then brushing them off. When I asked what he was doing, he said, "I cleaning Mommy!" Sweet!

We Don't Need No Education

2008-11-21T18:42:00.006-05:00

Every day when we pick Jackson up from daycare, his folder is full of all kinds of drawings, worksheets, and projects for us to take home. I recently commented to Matt that his art seems to be getting worse and worse, and then we realized that they are probably actually letting him do more and more himself. Seriously, we have received art projects in which we really couldn't discern what part a two year old possibly could have contributed. The intricate cutting? The carefully drawn labels? The perfect glue job? Anyway, we go quite a surprise this Monday when we went to Jackson's folder and found a blank worksheet entitled "Homework". Not only a blank worksheet entitled "Homework", but one involving matching numbers of items that Jackson couldn't possibly be expected to do. We both chuckled over his first homework assignment and I dropped the "Homework" in the recycling bin along with the rest of his "art" and the junk mail.

But the laugh was on us the next day when we came to pick Jackson up. "Did Jackson do his homework?" his teacher asked. At first I panicked. I pasted a big smile on my face and looked at Jackson, "Jackson did you do your homework, honey?" Then I realized how incredibly mean and ridiculous it was for me to blame my parenting failure on Jackson; it sort of felt like telling the teacher that your dog ate your homework. So I confessed, "Um...I guess we didn't get to it last night. We'll do it tonight for sure." I may as well have worn a t-shirt that said, "I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY CHILD'S EDUCATION." I rushed home and dug the wretched worksheet out of the recycling bin. Over dinner, Matt and I tried to explain squirrel math (certainly 3 or even 4 year old work, right?) while Jackson yelled, "I don wan do HOMEWORK!!."

The next day, the three of us proudly turned in Jackson's homework. Matt and I chuckled about the whole thing again, and hoped that was the end of 2 year old homework. That afternoon, we found this waiting for us in Jackson's box:

I don't know what's funnier: the fact that they graded an assignment that he clearly never could have done on his own, or that fact that he got 100/100 as his grade.

The Donner Party

2008-11-16T18:04:00.004-05:00

When the weather is not brutally hot, our favorite weekend activity is "hiking" (AKA relatively short walks in wooded areas). The last 6 months have been a bit a of a challenge because Jackson no longer wants to be carried in a backpack, so our progress is incredibly slow. Every few feet he either trips and cries, stops to kick some moss, or, inexplicably, walks backward. Even when he does let us carry him, 29 pounds on your hip or shoulders gets heavy pretty quickly.
So today we decided to explore a "nature trail" that we had not done before. At the beginning, we lightheartedly noted that the trail was so covered in fall leaves that it was difficult to follow. But like the heroine in a horror movie that just can't resist going into the basement when she hears a spooky sound, we proceeded anyway. Predictably, we lost the trail within 20 minutes. We didn't really want to turn back because we doing so would mean a longer walk back to the bathrooms and car. So we plugged along, stopping frequently to say, "this sort of looks like a trail, doesn't it?" and "I'm pretty sure we're headed in the right direction anyway, aren't you?" Just when our jokes about cannibalism were starting to give way to real desperation (I had to go to the bathroom really badly), we came up on the paved trail and made our way home. Disaster averted. I would say "lesson learned" except this isn't the first time this has happened to us, so I'm guessing it won't be the last either. Some people never learn.

Election news

2008-11-07T19:55:00.001-05:00

Well, you know when you've been overly consumed by the election when your husband asks, "Who's this?" (with a picture of Obama) and your son replies, "President O'Mama!"

Slide Therapy

2008-11-04T20:05:00.004-05:00

Jackson has always been amazingly un-afraid of slides. I say "amazingly" only because he tends not to be the most adventurously soul in most other aspects of his life (and really, I can't imagine where he got THAT from...), but he has always been willing to go down any slide no matter how tall or steep. So we were really surprised when we took him to the park this weekend and he was suddenly too scared to go down the tallest slide. I decided that this was a good sign - a sign that he recognized that it really IS tall and really IS a little dangerous. Matt disagreed and embarked on a 20 minute therapy session that involved doing the slide together, and then slowly fading himself out until Jackson could do it on his own. I swear he really misses doing therapy even though he says he doesn't.

Here are some photos from the "slide therapy" session:

And here are some photos documenting treatment success:

VOTE!

2008-11-04T19:52:00.002-05:00

When we picked Jackson up at daycare today, we were greeted with a roomful of not-so-subtle reminders to do our civic duty. Even in a state where the election is all but decided before the polls even open, there was a lot of excitement this year. Matt and I waited two hours to vote, but it was worth it since Jackson's daycare teacher demanded we show our "I VOTED!" stickers when we came to pick him up. We're both a little scared of her, so we were relieved that we could comply. Happy election day, everyone!

PS Yes, that IS a bowlful of miniature sherbet scoops. Our little pollster is still demanding daily rewards for potty training and we are more than happy to comply.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-01T14:59:00.002-04:00

Jackson really go into Trick-or-Treating this year. Despite some early protests regarding his costume, when the time came he put it on proudly and couldn't wait to go to the neighbors for candy. We did a lot of practicing with the whole "Trick or Treat!" and "Thank you!" thing, but he still had trouble getting it right. Matt says that the person would open the door and Jackson would proudly announce, "Thank you!" to them. Ah well. Here are a few pictures from the big event.

Halloween Carnival

2008-11-01T14:45:00.002-04:00

They had a cute little Halloween Carnival in our neighborhood last weekend. All the kids dressed up in costumes and they had jump castles (which Jackson calls "jump casicles"), face painters, balloon animals, firetrucks to climb on, and more. Jackson wasn't too keen on wearing his costume, even though he was supposed to be a fire truck, and fire trucks are pretty much his favorite thing in the world. I told him that he wouldn't get any candy at the Halloween Carnival if he wasn't dressed up, so he grudgingly put his costume on. Let me ask you this: Would you ever considering having a Halloween carnival WITHOUT candy? Apparently someone would, because this was a candy free zone. Nary a Candy Corn nor a Sweetart could be found anywhere. Jackson wandered through the crowds of princesses and scarecrows and spidermen saying sadly, "Where candy? Where candy?" I finally gave in and let him have a bag of popcorn (choking hazard) because I felt so bad. As a consolation, we went home and carved a pumpkin together (and by we, I mean Matt).

Jackson was pretty excited about the "Scary" pumpkin

He was even more excited when we showed him how it can light up

Jackson giving the scary pumpkin a kiss

Potty Training Part 3

2008-11-01T14:11:00.007-04:00

Jackson has had the "front end" of potty training down for a while. He stayed dry for two weeks straight to earn Rocket from Little Einsteins, which he was so excited about, and continues to remind us, "I EARNED that!" This is the cute little sticker chart I made for him with the picture of Rocket.

Anyway, despite our "front end" success, the "back end" part continued to give him trouble. We bribed him, cajoled him, reasoned with him (which involved way too much frank discussion of bodily functions for anyone's comfort), and even threatened him, but nothing seemed to do any good. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that it dawned on me that he didn't just not want to poop on the potty - he didn't want to poop AT ALL - anywhere or at any time. It's ironic because I work with stool withholders all the time at work, but it never crossed my mind that this could be Jackson's problem. Anyway, after a little trial and error and TLC (AKA regular doses of prune juice), he finally started pooping on the potty! After months of trying to get him to do this, we had pretty much promised him a pony and a BMW for pooping on the potty, so he started cashing in on all his promised rewards at a rapid rate. Ice cream? Sure! A big mylar balloon? Here you go!

So on Thursday we picked him up at school and he came running up to us announcing, "I poo poo on the potty! I get ice cream! I get ice cream now!" We tried to shush him so his teachers wouldn't figure out that we parent through bribery, and shuttled him home. He had been settled into his seat at the table with a big bowl of rainbow sherbet for only a few minutes, when his eyes fell on a giant orange pumpkin sitting on the counter and filled with awesome Halloween candy (no cheapies around here!). He immediately demanded, "I want candy! I want that candy! I want that candy now!" "Well honey," I said sweetly, "Maybe the next time you poo poo on the potty, you can earn a special piece of candy from the pumpkin!" I then sat back quietly and marvelled at my brilliant parenting. He sat back quietly too. Then he announced suddenly, "I have go poo poo! I have go poo poo on the potty!" and ran off to the bathroom. About 10 minutes later, Matt walked in the front door to discover his son sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of ice cream and munching on a "fun size" bag of M&Ms (which hold way more candy then you would ever think). The truth is, however, that we were both SO EXCITED to be done with diapers that we almost didn't care when he didn't eat his dinner that night. Yay for no more diapers!

Sorry for the intermission!

2008-11-01T14:10:00.001-04:00

Ok Advanced Psychology fans - I took a little intermission from posting due to some problems with my photo program, but I am back in business now!

Animal Care

2008-09-20T13:59:00.004-04:00

One of the big selling points when we bought our house was the cute little pond out back that is full of turtles, fish, ducks, and birds. We just sort of assumed that ponds naturally attract wildlife, and for the last 3 years, we've been enjoying nature without much thought about the whole thing. The illusion was broken when our next door neighbors (see World's Best Neighbors) went on vacation for three weeks and asked us to take care of their house. Apparently, the World's Best Neighbors are also the World's Best Animal Lovers. We had some vague notion that they fed the wildlife of the pond, but we had NO IDEA of the extent of it. Jackson has had a blast with the job.

On the way down to the duck feeding area

(they have their own little concrete pad to eat off of)

The pampered ducks get two scoops of corn plus a scoop of turtle food
(who knew turtles had their own food?)

This picture doesn't really capture the frenzy of a feeding session - the ducks peck at each other and step on each other while trying to get the food

Back to the house to reload

Time for turtle food

Getting the turtle food into the pond itself takes a

little bit of effort when you are 2
But whatever spills on the grass is gone by the next day

We no longer have to wonder why the turtles in our pond are freakishly large
On the way to feed the fish

Aww...our happy little zoo keeper

Not pictured: refilling of no less than 4 bird feeders every three days. Apparently our backyard is teeming with wildlife for a reason....

Ace of Cupcakes

2008-09-07T16:55:00.003-04:00

If you've received baked goods from us recently, chances are you've been the unknowing victim...err...recipient of Jackson's hard work. I love to bake anyway, and now that Jackson loves to bake too, we've been having a ball. So far he's made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting (this is what's pictured below), banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin cookies. The fact that he's not at all cautious when dumping ingredients in means that he makes surprising few errors (you know - pouring it all in with one confident flick of the wrist), but when errors are made, they are of massive proportions. There's no in between. So far our dishes have turned out fine anyway. Another plus: since he's in a picky toddler stage, he doesn't try to eat anything except a spare chocolate chip here or there. Matt and I still get to lick the beaters...

How do I turn this thing on?

My turn! My turn!

Ok Mom - What's next?

Do I have the next Chef Duff on my hands? Here's hoping!

My Bear! My Bear!

2008-09-07T16:53:00.003-04:00

Jackson has recently discovered the concept of "mine." I'm not really sure what took him so long, being a daycare kid and all. Anyway, he walks around the house pointing at things and happily announcing, "My door!", "My closet!", "My chair!", etc. If you don't immediately affirm that the objects is indeed his, he will add, "JACKSON'S DOOR!" for emphasis, just in case you didn't completely understand that it's his...allllllll his.

In recent weeks, his trusty old Bear (who has literally traveled the world with us) has become My Bear. His new game is to have My Bear do whatever you've told HIM to do. Tell Jackson to go potty, and My Bear goes potty instead. Tell Jackson to get dressed, and My Bear gets dressed instead. In this picture My Bear is wearing the shirt that I picked out for Jackson for a visit to his grandparent's house (I had to put a back up on Jackson instead).

My Bear! My Bear!

My Bear getting ready to go visit Nana and Papap for the day

(we fastened him in)

Adjusting My Bear's seat belt

Even though he thinks that everything belongs to him, he seems happy to share it all with us for now. I wonder when that ends?

Monkey Love

2008-09-05T19:42:00.002-04:00

We have this super cute monkey puppet that was actually mine when I was a child. I can't remember who gave it to me (feel free to chime in if it was you...!) but I remember being beside myself with joy as I envisioned myself walking down the street with this puppet and fooling people into thinking that I had a real monkey with me. I'm embarrassed to admit that I wasn't all that young at the time. Anyway, the monkey is now entertaining another generation and Jackson can't get enough of him.

Oh no! The monkey's a little scary!

Getting a little braver....
Aaaagh! The monkey's biting me!
Maybe I can tame him with my juice...

Eww! You have banana breath!

I think I'm in love...

Play-doh Party

2008-09-05T16:17:00.005-04:00

Jackson has been invited to a few birthday parties recently, and has really gotten into playing "birthday party" with play-doh cake, french fry candles, and a menagerie of furry friends. This would be really cute and fun if it wasn't eerily similar to a task from a test that I give multiple times a week at work.

Judging from the look on Elmo's face, I'm thinking I'm not the only unwilling participant in this game.

And no, this isn't a nudie shot. There's underwear on under there! At home we tend to skip the shorts for easy access to the potty.

The Picture Madness Continues

2008-09-05T16:11:00.005-04:00

Now that I've figured out how easy it is to upload and print pictures, I've gone nuts with the idea. My most recent inspiration was to label Jackson's drawers with pictures so he can pick out his own clothes (and perhaps someday put them away too?).
I came up with this idea after Jackson tried to pick out his own clothes for the first time recently and dress himself. I'm not sure what was worse: the fact that he picked out long pajama pants to wear (in 90 degree heat) or the way they hideously clashed with the shirt he picked out. Yes, I should have left him in it long enough to snap a picture, but I just couldn't stomach the vision any longer then it took to coax him into a new outfit.

Sleepy Time

2008-09-05T16:03:00.003-04:00

The other day Jackson was having a great time pretending to put Matt to bed. He covered him with his blanket, gave him his special bear, and turned on the "birds" (the little blue crib toy on the left side of the picture). In this picture he has a book and is pretending to read to Matt. This little scene probably wouldn't have been blog-worthy if it was not for the scene below, which happened a couple of days later. Jackson woke up cranky after a long nap and Matt lay down on the floor to comfort him for a few minutes. The next thing he knew, he was completely trapped by almost 30 pounds of snoozing 2 year old. One of the million reasons why I love him: he actually stayed on the floor like this for at least 15 minutes before succumbing to the pain and getting up.

I Go Beach!

2008-09-01T16:17:00.003-04:00

We woke up on Labor Day to ominous looking grey clouds in the sky. Jackson woke up saying, "I go beach! I get doughnuts!" We always stop on the way to the beach to get iced coffee for us, and chocolate doughnut holes for Jackson (which honestly may hold more appeal for him then the beach itself). We didn't have the heart to tell him that it might be too cloudy for the beach, so off we went.

When we got to the beach, the error in our judgement became apparent very quickly. The tide was so high that there really wasn't a "beach" at all, and the clouds in the sky were starting to look more black then grey. Since we were already there, we set up our chairs (pretty much at the edge of the dunes) and hoped for the best. Within 20 minutes the ocean had washed up onto the dunes, soaking our towels and chairs. We packed up our stuff, and milled around the beach until the surfers actually started getting out of the water, at which point we knew it was time to make our escape too. As we made a mad dash for the car, the rain started pouring. We still got our coffee and Jackson still got his doughnut holes, and we actually got some pretty cool pictures, so it wasn't too big of a disaster after all...

Funny Blog: Cake Wrecks

2008-08-24T18:02:00.004-04:00

Has anyone else seen this hilarious blog?

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Take a look, but only if you have time to spare. I wasted at least 45 minutes reading this blog, and would have spent more time if Jackson hadn't woken up from his nap. If you are an Ace of Cakes fan like me (fabulous and bizarrely addictive show), then you'll love it even more. Enjoy!

Advanced Psychology Milestone

2008-08-17T09:05:00.003-04:00

About a week ago, our 500th visitor made their way to the Advanced Psychology blog (we'll ignore the fact that 450 of these "visits" were probably me checking on the site). In honor of this milestone, I've retooled a few things on the blog. The most exciting is the new GUEST BOOK, which took way more technical skill to set up then you would think. Please consider saying hello on it. I've also removed my "Time Since I Slept Past 7am" ticker because Jackson has slept past 7 several times in the last few weeks!!! In fact, he slept until 7:30 this morning. Finally, I've added a BlogRoll to my page. These blogs are ones I check regularly, and they are definitely worth a read. If you have any suggestions of other blogs you love, please pass them on.

Jackson's Photo Album

2008-08-16T12:47:00.004-04:00

I just had to show off this cute little "photo album" that Jackson and I made of his trip to the beach:Ok, I actually made it by myself at 10:00 at night while cursing at my glue dot dispenser, which chose that exact moment (the night before Jackson had to return to school) to jam up. It's just a folded piece of photo paper with pictures and stickers glued to each of the four sides. I made it so that he could bring pictures of his trip to show his daycare class and teachers, but he has really enjoyed looking at it since then too:

It's certainly not the masterpiece my mom would have made (sometime I'll have to blog about her homemade books) , but on the other hand if it gets messed up it's not a big deal since it's just photos, paper and stickers.

The Grocery Store

2008-08-16T11:27:00.005-04:00

The grocery store closest to my house does a lot to try to lure in customers with kids. They have free sugar cookies as you enter the store, and free balloons as you exit. Jackson calls the balloons his "doggies" (I think because they are like dogs on a leash once they deflate) and he named this one "Sam":Cookies and balloons are both nice little treats that would make a trip to the grocery store a coveted outing for any two year old. So why not just leave it at that? But no, the store had to try even harder, so they got these giant grocery carts that are shaped like race cars. The kids get to sit in the driver's seat and pretend to drive the cart. In this picture Jackson is mad at me because I'm insisting on taking his picture while he wants to be "driving":Sounds like a good idea, right? Um, no. These monster carts are so hard to maneuver that you must never forget an item because you cannot back-up or turn around. At least once a visit I cause a big traffic jam in an aisle because this cart is so huge it blocks everyone's way. Plus, the end of it is so far in front of me that I invariably push out of the aisle in front of some poor unsuspecting person and then I have to apologize profusely because, remember, I can't turn around or back up. Every time we go to the store I say a silent prayer that all the car carts will be taken. This has only happened twice, but I can keep praying.

Despite the trials and tribulations of the car cart, I continue to use them because I've seen the alternative: the kid sized cart! The last thing we need is Jackson careening around the grocery store with his own cart while pulling random items off the bottom shelf of each aisle. I've heard that the next big thing coming to upscale grocery stores are car carts that come with little TVs for kids to watch while you shop. In my life before parenthood, I might have said that this was a terrible idea, but I have to say I am starting to see the appeal...

The $23 Haircut

2008-08-16T11:07:00.007-04:00

About once a month, Matt gets shocked all over again that Jackson's haircuts cost more then his do. Frankly, I'm not sure if this says more about the cost of Jackson's haircuts, or the cost of SportsClips, Matt's favorite "hair salon." Anyway, I fully admit that paying almost $25 for a two year old boy's haircut is a little bit...extravagant. But I have some good reasons. First of all, he loves going there. Who wouldn't? They have a train table, airplanes to sit in while you get your hair cut, and lollipops. We make sure to always go on the day "Miss Heather" is working because we both love her. He gets super excited whenever I tell him we are going. But the real reason I'm willing to pay $17 plus tip for a haircut is a little more complicated. You see, before I had Jackson, I always thought that I'd have a docile little angel who would read quietly at a restaurant while waiting for his meal, and then calmly eat whatever he ordered, and then charm the other diners with sweet smiles and funny little quips. I'm pretty sure kids like this exist - my friend Carla seems to have one of them. But trips in public with Jackson often involve more running, screaming, and fussing then I imagined in my pre-kid fantasies. Which brings me to the $23 haircut. The haircut place is the only place we go where Jackson is consistently the sweetest, most enviable kid in the establishment. While other kids hide behind their parents, cry when placed in the chair, and shrink from the clippers, Jackson walks into the store with a big smile and greets his "stylist" (Miss Heather), jumps into the airplane, and giggles when it's time for the clippers. We usually make a special morning of it: Starbucks for mom and dad, special time with the train table, and wrapping up with a trip to Petsmart (which, by the way, is like a free trip to the zoo for a two year old). Can you blame me for wanting to spend a little extra cash for a morning like this? Today we all had a reason to smile because it was his tenth haircut, and it was FREE!

Jellyfish

2008-08-08T11:09:00.003-04:00

Day 6 of our vacation and everything has been even better than expected. It's been bright and sunny, and there hasn't been a drop of rain in the sky. The beach has been gorgeous and quiet. No one has gotten sunburned. The kids haven't seriously hurt each other (yet). Ahhh, paradise. And just when I thought that things were absolutely perfect.....JELLYFISH STRIKE! The ironic thing is that I've spent the whole vacation worrying about one of the kids falling into a sand hole on the beach (did you know that holes in the sand cause more deaths than shark bites?), and it turns out that the real danger was quietly lurking in the clear waters just off shore.

It was one of the few times this week that I was swimming without one of the little kids, and I was just sort of riding little waves back and forth when all of a sudden - AAAAGH! Searing pain on my calf and ankle! Since I didn't have a child with me, I went into full histrionics of screaming and flailing, which I am more than a little embarrassed about today. I limped my way back to shore fully prepared to see that all the skin on my leg had been completely flayed (this is what it felt like), only to see.....nothing. Well, maybe some slight redness, but pretty much nothing. A jellyfish sting is quite painful, but it sure doesn't leave much of a battle wound to brag about. After an hour or two, you could see about five red lashes across my calf, but frankly it is so unimpressive in the picture that I took of it that I am not even going to embarrass myself by posting it. You'll just have to trust me that it was quite painful. I got no sympathy from the rest of my group, who made comments like, "did you see him coming?" and "weren't you looking out for them?" and best of all "yeah, I'm not surprised; I saw tons of them swimming around us this morning." Gee, thanks. I limped my way back to the house, and applied rubbing alcohol (which didn't help at all) and vinegar (which helped a lot) and looked on the Internet to find out if I was going to die (not unless I'm in Australia).

The pain subsided within about four hours, but the red lash marks are still visible today. I promised Matt that I'll go back into the ocean today, but the thing is, I've got all this blogging to do...and dishes...and someone needs to watch the babies.... Besides, I can see the beach perfectly well from the safety of the deck.

Our Eskimo

2008-08-07T09:35:00.000-04:00

Jackson decided about a month or two ago that he likes to eat frozen things. Don't worry, I'm not talking about raw food - just cooked, frozen food. So far he regularly eats frozen waffles and frozen "cupcakes" (vegi muffins). I had to draw the line at frozen fish sticks despite having to endure a huge tantrum - I know they're already cooked, but that's just gross!

Time to Get Away

2008-08-05T09:59:00.005-04:00

Where do people who live in Beachtown go when they go on vacation? The beach of course! Even though we live just six miles from the ocean, we have only been to the beach four times this whole season. Renting a house right on the beach forces us to take the time to appreciate it. We're at the beach for a whole week with two other families. The other five adults (excluding me) have known each other since college, which I think is pretty cool. This is the first year that the adults have been outnumbered by the children, courtesy of two adorable baby twin girls that joined one of the families this year. Yes, we think their parents are very brave too.

Our car was packed to top, but I'm not really sure why since we brought nothing but t-shirts, shorts, and swimsuits to wear. Ok, I did bring two pairs of flip-flops, but so far I've only had to put them on a couple of times.

Our house this year is AWESOME. There are four big bedrooms - one for each family and one for the older kids. Here's a view of the house from the beach:

And here's a view of the beach from the house:

Jackson was a little freaked out by the waves at first, but by the second day, we were having a hard time getting him to come inside even after hours of playing in the surf. We're on day 3 of the trip and miraculously no one has gotten seriously burned yet. Jackson is doing remarkably well considering that he's going to bed super duper late and still getting up early.

Tonight we are headed to fireworks on the beach...life doesn't get much better than this.

Update: My First Picture Schedule

2008-08-02T06:37:00.007-04:00

I've had a few requests asking for an update on our Picture Schedule. The next couple of days after the original post were still rough. The first step was to get Jackson to understand that when he found the picture of Dora at the end of his schedule, he would get a Special Treat. After two or three days of receiving Special Treats, we explained to him that if we had to put him in time-out during the Picture Schedule, he would not get a Special Treat. After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing. During days 3-5, we had to tell him a few times, "you can either put your shirt on, or go to time-out. Remember, if you go to time-out during your pictures, no special treat."

Since day 5, he's been doing awesome. He pulls his pictures off himself and tells me what we are doing next. After about a week and half, he started waking up in the morning and spontaneously asking to use the pictures. Toddlers love to have a sense of control, and the picture schedule has given this to him.

This intervention might sound like a lot of work, but if you have enough technical skills to follow a blog, you can definitely pull this off with very little effort. Basically, you grab your digital camera and run around the house taking pictures. Then you upload them to the computer and print them on photo paper using the "wallet sized" photo setting (8 print on a page using this setting, so you really don't have to waste a ton of paper). You could laminate them if you are really motivated, but I find the photo paper is fairly sturdy, and you can always print another one if you need to. Then you go to Wal-mart in the sewing section and grab a roll of plain old velcro (no super duper sticking stuff - it should be fairly easy for little hands to take apart). Cut half the velcro into little squares and stick it to the back of the pictures, and put a strip of the other half on a piece of cardboard. Viola - picture schedule in ten minutes or less. And let me tell you, it is ten minutes well spent. The time for our morning routine has dropped to less than ten minutes, and we are all much happier in the mornings now.

Why I'm Going Prematurely Gray

2008-08-02T06:06:00.003-04:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I was going gray long before I had Jackson, but I'd still like to blame it on him. Here is a transcript of an actual conversation we had two nights ago:

SCENE: Jackson is sitting at the table eating angel food cake and strawberries while I clean up, and Matt is on an important work call. In the interest of full disclosure, this is probably the third time I've had to clean up since we've been married...Jackson and I are the mess-makers, and Matt is the cleaner-uper (and no, you can't have him). I walk over to check on Jackson and realize that the floor around his chair is covered in cake crumbs - way more then could be explained by messy eating*.

Me: Jackson, who put all this cake on the ground?

Jackson (feigning lack of comprehension): Who?

Me: You heard me. WHO put all this cake on the ground?

Jackson: Who?

Me: Jackson, YOU put that cake on the ground! Why did you do it? Why did you put the cake on the ground?

Jackson (I'll admit that WHY probably blew his little circuits): Why?

Me: Jackson, we don't put cake on the ground. It makes a big mess. Yuck!

Jackson (gleefully): Yuck! Yuck!

In the midst of shouting Yuck! he bounces around until the chair moves slightly and makes a terrible squeaking sound

Jackson (even more gleefully): Mommy! I did it! I make dat sound!

Me: (silence while I go to get the Dustbuster and clean up)

I return to cleaning the kitchen. Two minutes later:

Me: Jackson! There is more cake on the floor!

Jackson (very serious): Who? Who did dat?

Me: (speechless will individual hairs on my head spontaneously pop out in gray)

*Another street cred disclaimer: I promise that I don't normally discipline by having inane conversations with my child. For meals, I usually put the offending utensil or food item in "time out" on the counter for a minute or so. It's a lot less work then putting Jackson in time out, and works great for minor infractions. But in this case, I wasn't 100% SURE that he had dropped a bazillion little crumbs on the floor on PURPOSE...

Finally a Use for Wrapping Paper Scraps

2008-07-29T20:02:00.004-04:00

Matt and I really like to travel. In fact, I think we once calculated that Jackson had been on 14 trips comprised of over forty separate flights in his first two years of life. To make matters worse, the trip we make most often (to see my parents) involves two flights (one of them is five to six hours) and a two hour car ride. Let me tell you how much fun it is to travel 12 hours straight with a toddler.

Anyway, to keep him happy on long trips, I keep my eyes peeled for bargain "junk" that I can give to him along the way to amuse him. The key is to always be looking throughout the year so you can pick up the real bargains. I try to find little figures, vehicles, books, and non-messy art projects in the clearance section at places like Target or Wal-Mart or Kohl's and then I just store them away for our next trip. To make the junk...I mean awesome new toys... more exciting, we wrap everything loosely in leftover wrapping paper scraps. The cool thing is that it doesn't matter if the paper is Christmas, Hanukkah, or Birthday, and it doesn't even matter if it totally covers the object. In fact, for little ones it's better to wrap loosely so they can open it on their own. For plane trips, I remove all packaging before wrapping to keep the bulk down, but this weekend we are doing a car trip, so I decided to wrap the presents whole because sometimes the packaging itself is cute:
For this trip, Jackson will be getting two presents on the way there, and two on the way back. The presents are: a tiny die cast bus ($.99), two Little Einsteins characters ($1.50), a book about Dora and Diego ($1.50), and a cool coloring book that "colors" with a non-marking crayon ($7.00). So I spent a grand total of $11.00, but the coloring book was the only real splurge, and even that was on clearance.

Our last car trip looked something like this:

Hour one (we usually leave for car trips around nap time): Jackson plays with toys and books, and eats snacks

Hour two (and three, if we're lucky - yeah right): Nap time!

After nap: Pit stop

After pit stop: Bribe Jackson back into car with the promise of a PRESENT! Jackson plays with new toy and eats more snacks

Desperation hits (part 1): Time for PRESENT number 2!

Desperation his (part 2): When times get REALLY desperate, we pull out the DVD player. We try to reserve this for the last hour of the trip - you don't want to bring out the big guns right at the start!

Our First Date

2008-07-25T18:52:00.003-04:00

Ok, so maybe he didn't pay for me, and maybe his table manners leave something to be desired, but my first date with Jackson was still pretty cool. Matt was out of town, so Jackson and I went to our favorite fine dining establishment: IHOP (apparently they serve dinner too - who knew?). Jackson ordered his usual (pancakes and eggs) and ate the whole thing. The little camel probably won't eat again for three days. I ordered a salad, but don't be impressed by my health-consciousness. I have a feeling that layering fried chicken, cheese, bacon and honey mustard on top of spinach doesn't get me any credit in this regard. Like any date, Jackson tried to impress me with his knowledge. He proudly announced, "uno dos tres quatro cinco eleven twelve thirteen seventeen eighteen!" in the middle of our meal. When I told him that he didn't have school tomorrow because it was the weekend, he told me, "today Friday!" I almost choked on my fried salad because I was so excited. Definitely makes me think that all that dough we blow on daycare just might be worth it. It was a good date. I think I see a second one in our future.

My Alien Child

2008-07-20T12:01:00.009-04:00

My first clue that Jackson was abducted by aliens should have come when he slept until the unheard of hour of 7am, but at that point we really didn't suspect much. For those of you that are keeping score, I won't be changing my ticker of "Days Since I Slept Past 7am" because Matt and I were both awake trying to decide whether or not he was dead. I started to suspect that aliens had replaced my child when he made it through his entire picture schedule without crying or fussing once. Further evidence arose when we entered IHOP (one of the few restaurants where we dare to bring him) and our normally very shy toddler waved at the hostess and announced, "Hi! I eat pancakes!" Then he politely said, "Thank you!" to the waiter each time he came within 10 feet of our table and then happily ate his pancakes and eggs. Not a single piece of food ended up in the hair of another diner. At this point, Matt and I tried to decide whether we would mind raising this alien child, even if it meant that, perhaps, he might try to eat us someday. The final piece of evidence came about an hour later at Target, when Jackson spontaneously asked to use the bathroom and then did it. When I let him flush the toilet he said, "Thank you Mommy flush toilet!" like I just gave him a new toy or something.

For those of you that would be bored to tears reading a blog about this perfect child, don't worry; I'm certain the aliens will be wanting to give him back soon.

*cute cartoon courtesy of soundghost.co.uk

Life in Our House

2008-07-19T09:38:00.004-04:00

I thought about calling this post "Psychologists: We're Just like Everyone Else, Just a Little Bit Lamer" but decided that was too negative to put in the table of contents. Anyway, this is a direct transcript of a conversation that took place at our dinner table a couple of nights ago:

Jackson: Quietly eating pizza (you need to know that neither the quiet part nor the eating part is typical behavior for Jackson in order to understand what happened next...)

Matt: "Wow Jackson! I really like the way you are sitting quietly and eating your pizza! Great job!"

Me (without a trace of irony): "Wow Matt! That was great labeling of praise!"

Both: Wince....awkward silence while we ponder the total and complete lameness of this reinforcement of reinforcement...

Daddy

2008-07-15T19:30:00.004-04:00

Jackson's aunt and uncle gave him this really cool Geotrax train set last Christmas. It came with three inch-tall people that are supposed to ride on the train. About a week after we got the set, Jackson held up one of the people and announced, "Daddy!" with a huge smile on his face. After examining the little man, I had to admit that he does, in fact, look a lot like Matt...right down to the laptop and Starbucks coffee. Daddy is accompanied by two friends: Sally (creatively named by me) and Man (creatively named by Jackson).
Jackson makes sure that Sally and Daddy take turns driving the train and often scolds them if he feels they aren't sharing ("Time out Daddy!"). Sadly, Man doesn't seem to get much opportunity to drive and is typically relegated to riding in the freight car if he gets to ride at all. Matt actually doesn't find his namesake to be as hilarious as I do. I think he's holding out a secret hope that we will rename Daddy someday, but it's not going to happen on my watch!

My First Picture Schedule

2008-07-11T21:49:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I'm not exactly an infant/toddler psychologist, so outside of applying basic behavioral principles to parenting, I haven't really gotten a chance to apply what I learned in graduate school to parenting....until now. Our morning dressing routine had slowly disintegrated to the point where it was taking excruciatingly long and was accompanied by almost continuous banshee-like screaming. So I grabbed the bull by the horns and made Jackson his first Picture Schedule. This is an intervention typically used with kids that are very visual and very concrete. Does this sound like anyone we know? Jackson has a picture schedule of tasks he needs to complete in the morning, and when he finds the picture of Dora at the end, he earns a SPECIAL SURPRISE (a gummy worm). At least, this is the idea.

I was all excited the first morning we tried the picture schedule because I wanted to show Matt what a talented psychologist I am. Unfortunately, our first morning with the picture schedule was pretty much a disaster since he was so preoccupied with his SPECIAL SURPRISE that he couldn't really do much else (you'd think I might have learned from Potty Training: Day 1, but no).

But I haven't given up hope! Since we started this intervention, our time to complete these tasks has steadily dropped from "excruciatingly long" to only ridiculously long and the amount of screaming has dropped from "banshee-like screaming" to only occasional shrieks of protest. It's progress, right?

Dancing

2008-07-11T21:36:00.001-04:00

One of Jackson's favorite activities is watching videos on YouTube. If you are a fan of this blog (I like to flatter myself and imagine that there are AdvancedPsychology fans out there), you can guess the general types of videos we watch: trains, airplanes, buses, trains, garbage trucks etc. If I'm lucky he picks Mr. Potato Head or laughing baby videos. Anyway, I wanted to share a video that has totally captured us. It's completely silly and random, but somehow quite charming and moving. In typical toddler fashion, Jackson and I watched it five times today. If you are one of the few people left who hasn't already seen it, it's called Where the Hell is Matt (2008). Make sure you watch it in High Quality. Prepare to be awed.

Fire Truck! Fire Truck!

2008-07-06T16:30:00.000-04:00

I know that research has shown that some elements of "gender" are actually genetically hard wired, but actually having my own little boy has proven this idea beyond a doubt to me. Jackson, for no explicable reason other than biology (I promise his Mommy and Daddy are not particularly mechanical), is enamoured with trucks, tractor, airplanes, and pretty much anything with an engine. So I knew that today's birthday party would be a big hit. The birthday party was held at .....a FIREHOUSE! It was pretty cool. They let the kids get up and explore the trucks and pretend to drive. They gave them a tour of the firehouse, and then they got to have cake and ice cream in the engine bay. Here are a few pictures of Jackson enjoying the trucks:

They also had a jump castle in case the kids got tired of exploring the firetrucks, but our little firefighter had no interest in this kind of child's play. He tolerated it about as long as it took me to snap this picture, and then he headed back to the shiny red firetrucks.

We knew it was time to say Adios when Jackson's demands escalated from sitting in the driver's seat to, "start engine" and "drive firetruck." Hey, you can't blame a kid for trying, right?

Happy Fourth of July

2008-07-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

We usually try not to tell Jackson about upcoming events until the day before because his little brain doesn't seem to be able to process anything longer than "tomorrow" (this is progress; we used to not be able to tell him anything until the actual day of the event). But last Sunday Uncle Will let it slip to Jackson that we were going boating for the Fourth of July. Thus, our week went something like this:

Monday: Jackson wakes up and says in a sleepy voice, "Boat today?"

Tuesday: We pick Jackson up at school and he says, "All done school! Now, BOAT!"

Wednesday: As we drive Jackson to school, he says, "NOOOO! No school! Boat!"

Thursday: Jackson repeatedly asks us all day, "Boat tomorrow? First nap, then boat?"

Friday (4th of July): The clock has barely struck six when Jackson opens one sleepy eye and exclaims, "BOAT!"

So when the big day finally arrived, we were all pretty jazzed. Jackson even cooperated with putting on sunscreen (a first for him this summer). When we finally got to Uncle Will's house and saw the boat, Jackson said proudly, "My boat! My boat!" This is a picture of him in his cute little swim trunks and water shoes, ready to go:

Boating in Beachtown is a lot of fun. There are tons of little creeks and rivers to explore. Plus, you can go out into the harbor and see the bridges, shipping terminals and other fun sites. It seems to be easier to get around Beachtown by boat than by car. Being safety-minded folks, we decided that only sober people should drive the boat. Unfortunately, that didn't leave too many options:

Now we just need to teach him to launch the boat, and we'll be all set...

Rules are Subject to Change Without Notice

2008-07-01T18:27:00.001-04:00

We have been in the "independent stage" for a while now (it makes us feel better to think of problem behaviors as "stages" because stages end, don't they?). The early rules for the "independent stage" were relatively simple.

1. Any time Mommy and Daddy try to help in any way (getting into the car, getting clothes on, getting on and off of chairs), then the two year old must say the magic sentence, "Noooo! I do it!"

2. It is important to use the magic sentence any time help is offered, even if it is something the two year old is physically incapable of doing.

For example, today Jackson went to daycare in his PJ top because he couldn't get it off and we certainly were not allowed to help.

3. If Mommy and Daddy help even the teeny tiniest bit, then the two year old must start the entire process over again.

For example, if Jackson has been struggling to get his pants on and and Daddy straightens out the leg of the pants to make it easier to finish, then the pants must come off entirely and the process has to start all over. I keep telling myself that persistence and independence are GOOD qualities (I repeat this to myself 20 times a day and it really isn't helping). Anyway, in the last two days we seem to have discovered a new rule for the"independent stage."

4. The two year old is obligated to say the complete opposite of whatever Mommy and Daddy say, just to make sure it's clear that he is a separate being with his own thoughts. The rule is that he MUST say the opposite, no matter what.

If we say, "Jackson do you need to pee pee?" We hear, "Noooo! No pee pee! Play!"

If we say, "Jackson, do you want to play?" We hear, "Noooo!! I pee pee! I M&M!"

Sometimes following these rules can create an endless logic loop. For example, if we say, "Jackson would you like to make a smoothie?" We hear, "Noooo! No smoothie! Oatmeal!" This is what's known as a trick response: if we start to get out the oatmeal, he will immediately demand a smoothie. If we then go to the blender, he will immediately demand the oatmeal, and so forth.

Following these toddler rules can be challenging even for kids sometimes. The other night Jackson pooped on the potty (!) and we told him that we were very proud and that we would go get ice cream to celebrate. He immediately burst into tears and said, "No ice cream! I want play bus!" All I can say is that it was a very sad evening in our house when bedtime arrived shortly thereafter and he realized that he was, in fact, not going to get ice cream.

My New Boyfriend

2008-06-28T13:45:00.000-04:00

For the last month we have been bringing Jackson into our bed with us on occasion when he wakes up in the middle of the night (**see disclaimer below) . Matt's not too happy with the arrangement because he says that Jackson kicks him continuously throughout the rest of the night. I don't have the heart to tell him what's going on on the OTHER side of the bed while he is getting bruised ribs. You see, I'm pretty sure Jackson thinks he's my new boyfriend. He snuggles up to me, links his little arm tightly around my neck, kisses my head and face and back and pretty much whatever he can find to kiss, and says, "I wuv you Mommy." It's great fun. I wake up in the morning with a big smile on my face, and Matt wakes up needing an aspirin. I can only assume this is Jackson's way of compensating me for 27 hours of back labor and a c-section.

**For the record, and in the interest of maintaining our street cred, it's a really bad idea to bring your kid into your bed in the middle of the night. Your warm snugly bed is the best reinforcer in the world for a tired little two year old. What does a reinforcer do? It increases a behavior. Thus, bringing your two year old into your bed increases middle of the night awakening behavior, which can generalize into problems going to sleep too. I'm embarrassed to say this isn't just a theoretical example; it just took us a while to see the light. When you think about it, it's a nice little example of operant conditioning. Sadly we've had to put a sudden end to middle of the night snuggling/kickboxing.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

2008-06-26T17:07:00.000-04:00

Jackson's two truest loves are Dora (see I Heart Dora) and airplanes. He seems to be blessed with bionic hearing for airplanes, and loves to inform us when there is one flying over us, which happens a lot because we live about 10 miles from the airport. Matchbox airplanes are the best toys because they are tiny and portable. If we go out, I toss one or two in my purse and viola: instant party. Jackson's Pap-pap gives him an airplane each time he sees him, so we now have an ridiculously large collection of them. Every night Jackson sleeps with an airplane clutched in one hand, and his teddy bear clutched in the other. God help us if we can't find the exact airplane he wants ("I want boo [blue] airpane....Nooooooo!!! Uda [other] boo airplane! Uda boo airpane!"). Because of this, Matt and I are rather obsessive about making sure that airplanes always make it back to the "airplane box": Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of blowing half my paycheck at Target (a weekly occurrence, sad to say), when I happened upon.....

...that's right....DORA IN AN AIRPLANE!!!! His two favorite toy...in one! I snapped it up and hid it for a special occasion. The best thing about having a toddler is knowing that a two dollar toy like this will totally rock his world.

Potty Training: Day 2

2008-06-23T08:35:00.001-04:00

This morning we considered throwing in the towel on potty training and just letting Jackson go to college in diapers. He had two accidents and zero successes. I'm fairly certain that some marriages have ended over this issue. However, after his nap he stayed dry straight through until bed time, and peed on the toilet about a million times (still motivated by those M&Ms!). We went out and bought him a Dora potty seat. Believe me, we'd pay Dora herself to make a personal visit to our home if it would mean the end of diapers...
Anyway, he's pretty excited about wearing underpants, and who could blame him? How stinking cute is this?

Potty Training: Day 1

2008-06-22T14:39:00.000-04:00

Our first day of potty training was thwarted by the Mars Corporation. Let me explain. Being bookish, academic types, Matt and I spent at least a week preparing for potty training using the book Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. We studied the book carefully, took notes, and purchased everything they suggested, right down to the M&Ms, which eventually proved to be our downfall. Jackson, unaccustomed to such gourmet items as M&Ms, became completely preoccupied with them within five seconds of starting training. The "teaching questions" went like this:

"Jackson, where do you pee pee?" "M&Ms!"

"Jackson, do you pee pee in your pants?" "M&Ms!"

"Jackson, the potty doll is wet! Oh no!" "M&Ms!"

"Jackson, are your pants wet or dry?" "M&Ms, M&Ms, M&Ms...waaaaaahhhhh!"

We did have some successes. He peed in the potty several times. He even spontanesouly used the toilet at a party at my boss' house (we put him in a diaper for the party - I'm not crazy) that afternoon after he saw a little girl go. Here's a picture of him scooting away in his new Thomas underpants:

Despite the promises of the book, he was not anywhere near potty trained by naptime. He did gleefully anounce, "I pee pee! M&M!" while standing in the middle of our kitchen. Maybe we should have used raisins.

I Heart Dora

2008-06-18T15:15:00.000-04:00

Jackson loves, loves, loves Dora the Explorer. We try not to go crazy on character merchandise, but when you see how excited your kid gets about a cookie shaped like his favorite character, it's hard to resist. Unfortunately, most Dora stuff is sort of, well, pink. And our efforts at trying to get Jackson to convert his affections to Diego (Dora's male cousin) have been met with an underwhelming response. But we've managed to secure some good Dora loot for him anyway like this....

Yes, that's a can of Dora corn in there. How can you resist a character that promotes corn?! So anyway, about a month ago we were getting ready to make a cross country trip to visit my parents, and we decided to get Jackson his own backpack to carry his toys. We took him to Target and Matt picked out two options and I brought Jackson over to let him choose (this, by the way, was our fatal mistake). He was diligently trying to decide which very manly backpack he wanted, when his eyes happend to travel upwards and land on...

...a giant pink Dora backpack! "Dora!" he exclaimed, quickly losing all interest in the manly backpacks. Matt and silently locked eyes. This was a critical moment in our parenting career. We are, after all, psychologists. Of course we don't want to promote gender discrimination and our kid should be who he wants to be, right? I caved in first. "Jackson," I lied, "those backpacks aren't for sale. They're just to look at." "Yes!" Matt shouted with a sigh of relief, "Now how about a nice Diego backpack?" Let the gender stereotyping begin!

No Thank You

2008-06-15T09:15:00.001-04:00

Jackson has a favorite game. It's called the "No Thank You" game. It's not very complicated. Basically it involves him offering you a bite of food. When you open your mouth wide to take the food, he takes it back, stuffs it in his mouth, and gleefully says, "No thank you!" Then he laughs hysterically while you pretend to pout or cry. This is a pretty funny game over all, and generally makes us all laugh. The only problem is that once in a while he decides to be generous and actually gives you a bite of the offered food. This typically involves a piece of already chewed food that has been dipped into something disgusting. Today I opened wide, fully expecting to have an unidentifiable piece of food swiped away, and instead I received a piece of cold soggy waffle covered in chunks of cottage cheese and smeared in banana. I'm still trying to gag back mini-throw ups. I don't think Bobby Flay has anything to worry about.

The Germany Flag

2008-06-15T09:05:00.000-04:00

Jackson goes to a full time daycare (or "School" as we prefer to call it; it makes us feel less guilty for some reason) while Matt and I work. In his Walker class (which comes after the Crawler class, and before the Twos class), each week has a theme, and each day has a focus related to the theme. So if the weekly theme is Colors, the focus might be red, blue, or green. A weekly theme of Sea Life might include days on whales, sharks, and seahorses. We usually get cute flashcards related to the weekly theme and the kids do related art projects. It's all very cute. So we were rather surprised to get this last week:Yes, you read that right. The theme of the week was GERMANY. The daily themes included Germany, The "Germany Flag", German Cornucopia, and German. Random? Perhaps. Hilarious? Totally.

Toddler Time

2008-06-14T20:46:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it seems like I spend all day hurrying Jackson along by cajoling, threatening, and bribing. Our most overused trick is to threaten to "help" him if he doesn't get a move on. For example,

"Jackson get your pants on before I count to three or I'm going to help you."

Toddlers really really really don't like help. It occurred to me that the poor kid never gets a break. I mean, even an event that's supposed to be fun like going to the beach involves thirty minutes of heavy prompting to get dressed, get downstairs, eat breakfast, put on sunscreen, get in the car, etc. So today I decided that maybe instead of trying to get him to do things on MY time, I should try to slow down and live on Toddler Time for a while...

2:01 Jackson wakes up from his nap. We sit in his chair and read Amazing Airplanes three times. I don't actually have to read it at this point because I have it memorized. It's a long story. I'm fairly certain this is going to impress someone, someday.

2:16 I suggest that we go to the grocery store. This is usually a very exciting opportunity for Jackson because our grocery store gives away free cookies and balloons, and has these horrible car shaped carts for the kids to ride in. Jackson gets very excited and shouts GROCERY STORE! I tell him that we will need to 1) put his shoes on, 2) go downstairs and 3) get in the car.

2:17 Jackson leaps off my lap to look for his shoes, which he brings in my general direction. On his way back he finds a gummy ring that used to light up. He drops his shoes and works intently on getting the ring on. I sit back in his chair and stare blankly out the window, trying to enjoy Toddler Time.

2:25 A scream of rage interrupts my thoughts. Jackson has found his shoes again and is trying to put them on himself. Any attempts at helping are met with an angry "Jackson do it!"

2:27 Shoes are on the floor, and Jackson is now happily playing with his yellow school bus.

2:35 Jackson brings his shoes to me and demands "Mommy do it shoes on grocery store cookie." I first try to decide if this counts as an eight word sentence (I'm pretty sure it doesn't), and then I oblige and try not to notice that it's now been 20 minutes since I suggested going to the store.

2:38 We head downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs Jackson exclaims, "TRACTOR!" in a voice reserved for long lost friends that you run into unexpectedly at Starbucks. The tractor is sitting where he has left it after playing with it before his nap. I try to use deep breathing to decrease my blood pressure and then decide to clean the kitchen while he plays with the tractor. This IS Toddler Time after all.

3:06 My kitchen is sparkling clean and Jackson is still playing with the tractor. I finally ask gently, "Jackson, honey, did you want to go to the grocery store with Mommy?" He jumps up and runs for the door yelling, "Push button!" (AKA 'open the garage door'). As soon as he pushes the button, he squirms out of my arms and makes a beeline....straight out of the garage and into the driveway where he runs around in circles whooping like a teenager at a concert. I think, "Oh my god, it's like this kid has no frontal lobe!" And that's when it hits me. He. Literally. Has. No. Frontal. Lobe. Or at least the one he has isn't working yet AT ALL. I'M supposed to be his frontal lobe. I'M the one that is supposed to keep him on track (insert cheesy trumpet song)!

3:08 "Jackson," I say firmly, "you have ten seconds to get in your car seat or Mommy is going to help you." He runs happily to the car and chants with me, "One...Two...Three..."

My Mom's Birthday Party

2008-06-14T13:46:00.000-04:00

In early May we had a 70th (gulp - I swear she must have been 45 when she had me) birthday party for my mom. She tried to beg off of the whole thing on a few occasions, but we bullied her into it, and I think she had a good time in spite of herself. Here are some of the highlights:

World's Best Neighbors

2008-06-14T13:12:00.000-04:00

We have the World's Best Neighbors. Seriously. I almost don't want to tell you about them because you might try to buy our house and frankly we can't afford to move. When I had Jackson just a couple of months after moving in, they showed up with gifts and dinners. When we gave them a card for Christmas, they showed up with a bag of Christmas treats. When I learned my lesson and made them bread the following Christmas, they bought Jackson, Matt and I each individual gifts, plus they gave us a gift for the whole family. When I made them cookies because one of them had surgery, my gift tin got returned....full of even better cookies. When we go on vacation they get our mail and water our plants...even when we haven't asked them to. Ok, so sometimes it is a bit weird, but they are still the Best. So, you would think that the World's Best Neighbors couldn't do anything more, until they gave Jackson the World's Best Toy....

Jackson calls this his "green car" and rides it pretty much every day. He thinks it can only be driven on the driveway, so Matt and I relax in lawn chairs while he goes through endless rounds of the "travel game." This fun toddler invention entails him screaming "Bye Bye! Have a good trip! Bon Voyage!"and then scooting around the driveway and then returning and saying "Welcome Back! Have a good trip?" Good times.

In case you are wondering, Matt assuages our guilt at having the World's Best Neighbors by mowing their front lawn. It's the least we can do.

Family Photos

2008-06-14T12:43:00.000-04:00

We got all of Jackson's cousins together last weekend, and my mother-in-law "Nana" begged us to get a beautiful picture of all the children together. You might think that this was a reasonable request until you hear the ages of the models: 1, 2, 2, 3, and 6. Now, just getting five children and six adults dressed and ready to take pictures is quite an achievement. After at least an hour of showers, diaper changes, spills, and waking up of napping children, we finally got the whole crowd together. It was going to be everything Nana dreamed of...until the 3 year old decided that he was NOT GOING TO GET HIS PICTURE TAKEN! With a capitol NO! Thus, our pictures look like this (that's the back of his head in my arms on the far right):

Since we didn't think this was quite what my mother-in-law envisioned, we decided to shamelessly bribe the troops with Popsicles. Unfortunately, getting five children eating Popsicles to focus on anything but the Popsicle turned out to be close to impossible, and Jackson decided that it was much more fun to stand in the wobbly chair and drip on the rest of the kids then to do anything else.

Soooo....here you go Nana! It's not a perfect family, but it's yours!