Month: May 2010

  • At Long Last!

    Wow, I’ve forgotten to update for so long that I’m not quite sure how to cover everything that’s happened! Most everyone who reads my blog is also my friend on Facebook, so sometimes I’m too lazy to post again here. (If you haven’t added me, please do! I’m just Beverly O’Neal on FB.)

    Two weekends ago, our friends Ann and Erik came to stay with us for a few days of their SoCal vacation. Ann and I have been friends for a couple of years now through my July 2007 moms bulletin board, but this was the first time we met face-to-face. We had a great time! We ate a lot, hung out, went to the botanical garden, and went on a double-date without the kids Saturday night. It was great because Ann and Erik totally understand what life is like with kids around (they have two boys also, ages almost 3 and 5), so they were unfazed when Jack threw tantrums or when Derek was fussy. They were completely helpful with entertaining Jack and Derek, and as luck would have it, Ann is a nurse, which came in extremely handy because Derek was very sick when they were here (he’s fine now). Here are some pictures from our great weekend.

    Double date: dinner followed by a visit to a wine bar. We had a great time, despite the fact that I was running a pretty high fever. Next time, we shall all be healthy!

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    Jack tries to get in on the picture that Ann and I are taking at the botanical garden

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    Family pic!

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    Last weekend, I got a rare treat: An overnight trip away from home! I went with my parents, June and Charles to Las Vegas, to help June get settled into her rental house there. She’s there for a three-month optometry clinic. The poor girl sees about 60 patients a day! We’re all very proud. Anyway, we drove off Saturday morning with two cars full of June’s stuff, and returned on Sunday afternoon. We all stayed in a fantastic suite at the Palazzo, and we enjoyed the Wynn buffet, and even went clubbing at XS on Saturday night (well, our parents didn’t, but June, Charles, June’s friend and roommate Brian, and I did)! Don’t get me wrong, I love my boys (all four of them, Atari included), but it was awesome to spend an extended period of time with my family, and to enjoy a few meals where my attention wasn’t constantly on the boys.

    June and I with our parents at the Wynn buffet (sorry these are so large; I’m linking from FB, being too lazy to upload them here)

    June and I at the Venetian, on the way back from the club

    At the club

    It was a great trip. Now we’re looking forward to next month, when we leave for our summer trip to Michigan. Jack’s very excited to see his Nana and Papa, and he’s anticipating being able to watch DVDs in the car (we’re driving, so we told him we would be spending several nights at hotels, and that he would be able to watch movies in the car). Oh! I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention that Jack’s played his first video game. Ann was generous enough to lend us one of her boys’ Leapster 2 handheld game consoles. We gave it to Jack to see what he would do with it, and he turned it on right away, and with only a little help, completely got how to use the stylus. I got him a Ni Hao Kai-Lan game last week, and he was able to choose the correct option from the opening screen to choose the “cartridge game” (instead of playing games that are already loaded on the Leapster), and he knew how to choose different games on the cartridge, and how to use the D-pad to actually play them. It’s insane. Speaking as someone who didn’t learn how to use a mouse until she was 15, I am just astounded. Little kids these days are so smart! (I’m not naive enough to think that that Jack is the only almost three-year-old who instinctively knows how to play video games.) Anyway, we’ve taken it away for now, because Jack could easily sit there and play with it for two hours at a time. We’re saving it for the road trip, since we’ll be driving many hours each day for four days.

    Let’s see, what else? Oh! Jack now can disrobe, climb onto the actual toilet, get off of it, put his clothes back on, flush and wash his hands all by himself! Most of the time it’s still faster for me to help him with the steps, but it’s really nice that he can now go to the bathroom by himself if I’m busy changing Derek or something. Actually, Ann taught him how to take off his pants by himself without losing his balance. After she left, I saw Jack push his pants down past his butt, then sit down to take off his pants all the way. I asked, “Who taught you that?” His reply was, “Auntie Ann!” It’s a genius move — so simple, yet so effective. So, that’s a big development.

    Derek is pulling up to standing all over the place. I think he’s skipped the crawling stage altogether. He still army-crawls, and he moves his knees correctly, but his tummy remains on the floor. Anyway, now he has no patience for crawling, he just wants to cruise around everywhere! And he’s already attempting to climb stuff. I’m at a little bit of a loss, because Jack was never like this! He crawled everywhere, and he also liked to pull up to standing, but he rarely wanted to climb anything. And he never went for electric outlets or standing lamps or little objects. Derek, on the other hand, wants to stick his hand in all the outlets, he attempts to pull on any cord or standing lamp in sight, and he manages to find any small object and then wants to put it in his mouth. Jack has become very adept at pulling small things out of Derek’s way. He once found a loose screw in Derek’s path, said, “No, DEREK! DANGEROUS!” picked it up, and brought it to Johnny, saying, “I take this away from Derek.” Thank goodness! So, whereas we half-assed our babyproofing with Jack, we really have to step up our game with Derek. It is tiring! Thank goodness he’s a reliable nighttime sleeper. I definitely need my 12 hours of recharging time.

    OK, speaking of the little devils, Derek is up, so now it’s time to make our Costco run. Hope everyone’s having a great week.

  • He’s On To Us!

    Ever since Jack was old enough to ask for whatever food we were having (so, around one year old), whenever Johnny and I have had something that Jack can’t have — such as a frappucino — we’ve fed Jack the line of, “Oh, you don’t want it. It’s yucky.” Then we’ll make a face, and Jack goes about his business. Sometimes he’ll whine for a second or two, but it works almost all the time. I thought we had him fooled, but I guess now he’s in on the joke.

    This morning, I ran several errands with the boys — quick appointment at the dentist’s to check on my implant, Costco run, trip to the garden supply store. On our last errand, I noticed that it was nearly noon and decided to pick up a nuggets Happy Meal for Jack. We keep Jack’s diet pretty healthy, but I just knew that by the time I got home and prepared him a lunch, Derek would be fussing for his food, and it would be cutting into naptime. Derek’s food is easy — just microwave a couple cubes of the purees in the freezer — and I usually munch on fruit or leftovers for lunch, so the rest of us were set. Anyway, we breezed through the drive-through, and Jack was delighted by the thought of having nuggets and fries.

    We got home, I set out Jack’s food, microwaved Derek’s lunch and sat down to feed Derek. At one point, Derek stared intently at Jack’s food, and Jack caught Derek’s eye. Jack then held a protective arm over his plate, looked right at Derek and said, “No, no, Derek. This is yucky. Ew, no eat this. Yucky!” And then he paused, looked at me, and added, “Right, Mommy? Right?” And I swear to you he winked. He can’t do it with one eye, but he deliberately blinked both eyes extra hard. I was just like, “Uh … ” I couldn’t think of a response! I wonder how long Jack’s been calling our bluff?!

    I guess now the frappucinos or whatever we don’t want Jack to have will really have to wait until he’s in bed! Or, better yet, we’ll just start telling him that certain food is only for Mommy and Daddy.