School begins

The first day of school for Bailey came and went. It was nearly as uneventful as any regular day of school last year, which I welcomed with open arms. :) She immediately found her seat, greeted a few of her friends from last year, and began working on her morning work. Her teacher, Mrs. B, is super sweet and super tough, both very good things for our talkative and sometimes attention-deprived (haha) daughter.

Much like any normal day of school last year, we also had homework. Mrs. B wastes no time. And, as much as I would love to complain because it is SO much work, I would never breathe a negative word about it. Bailey really enjoys homework and learning... and she didn't really miss a beat in getting back into our after school routine. I was happy to hear that Bailey had Mrs. B when we found out it was her, because she is supposedly an awesome teacher. I also heard that she might be one of the toughest at our school... and tough really means work. If tough and homework equals Bailey excelling in school, well, I am happy to sit and work with her through homework from the very first day. :) I have a feeling Bailey is going to grow exponentially this year.


In other school news, Bailey is enjoying meeting new friends (of course) and was over the moon excited about her classroom having a new student today, who she has claimed as her "newest friend." I translate that into "Mom, I am going to show this girl how to do everything at our new school and introduce her to every person I know." Having moved from school to school more times that I would want to count, I am so happy to know that my daughter is the little girl who is running to make her feel welcome.


Bailey also is all about the clothes this year. I don't mind that too much, since I love to get her dressed up, but she is a little bit more obsessed than I expected. She doesn't want to wear anything that she has worn before. Fortunately, I convinced her that she really can't do that, otherwise, she's going to run out of clothes soon. I held my breath in fear that she was going to suggest that we just go buy more. Luckily, she laughed sheepishly and said something to the effect of how silly she was being for thinking that way. Shew. A close one for sure. lol.


Six school days in and we are feeling good (aside from a sniffle and cough here and there after the first two days - eek).


One child down...


... and the other to go. Tomorrow will be Jake's Open House at his new school (which he thought I said Haunted House and kind of freaked out a little - haha). We are very eager to see what he thinks. I am sure that he's going to be nervous and I'm quite honestly dreading next week because of it. I'm sure he will do great, but I know that he's going to have that sweet little nervous face when I get ready to leave. He's going to wring his hands and force a smile after he hugs and kisses me about 5 times. Then, I'm going to get that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, give him my best forced smile, tell him how much fun he's going to have, and then pray as I walk out the door that he doesn't shed a tear. This will happen for the entire first week, but I'm very hopeful that after that it will go away. Hoping and praying. So, if you are feeling prayerful and want to whisper a quick one for us for next week, I'd really appreciate it!


Pics of Jake's first day, coming soon. :)

Student of the Month

I make no excuses for bragging on my kids. I am sure it annoys the crap out of some people. Some people would probably hate to read my blog, because, in fact, a lot of it is me going on and on about my kids and how wonderful I think they are. Well, if you are one of those people, you really should stop reading this post. :)

I worked it out with my boss to come in and leave an hour early from work on Wednesday. I did this because Bailey's school has a monthly music showcase that they present and, on Wednesday, they were holding the first one of the year. Of course, I knew a lot of it would be the kids huddled up together, picking at one another, picking their noses, or waving at their families, and not a lot of it would consist of singing. I contemplated not going at all, not because I didn't want to be there, but I hated to have to "work out" my schedule when I was only two weeks into the job and then go to something at Bailey's school that wasn't really "necessary." It's kind of like I feel like I should budget these things... that I should make sure to use my time as wisely as possible because I might really "need" to be at something, like a school field trip. However, the mom guilt that plagues me daily pushed its way through and I went ahead and worked it out to go.

I was so happy that I did. Bailey's teacher, Mrs. O., came up to me as soon as I got there and said, "Oh... I am so glad you are here. I started to e-mail or call you to tell you to come, but I knew you had just started your job and I didn't want you to be really worried if you couldn't be here. Bailey is getting recognized as the Student of the Month from our class!" Relief washed over me. Thank goodness I had worked it out. Not that it would have been the end of the world if I hadn't made it. But, I know my daughter well enough to know that the self-induced guilt I have would be nothing in comparison to the guilt that she would have placed on me by saying, "And such and such's mom was there. And you and Daddy weren't... why weren't you there?" She would follow it up with a pitiful pouty face.

She was completely surprised when they called her name and gave her the certificate. She was thrilled. She kept waving to me and pointing to the certificate, and, of course, showing all of her friends. I was excited for her and very proud of her... especially when I read what the certificate said, "Bailey has a positive, can-do attitude and is a team player. She is willing to work hard to achieve her goals. Bailey works efficiently and always stays on task. She is a great friend to every child in our classroom."

I know the wonderful qualities my daughter possesses. I don't need her to get awards and trophies to make me proud of her. But, it does feel really good when others recognize all of the wonderful things that we see in her. She is a leader, not a follower. We prayed she would be able to stand on her own two feet and not follow the crowd. She loves to please people, so we have always worried that she would give in to her friends and do whatever they were doing, despite the rules. But, after seeing how well she is doing in school, we couldn't be more proud. We are so hopeful that this continues throughout the years... :)

So, sorry if I have annoyed you guys, but I just have to brag on my baby. She can be so rotten and we have such a hard time channeling all of her energy some days. As a parent, I have this intrinsic fear that we are going to screw up our kids' lives by teaching them or not teaching them things. But on days like this one, I feel confident that she will be just fine... way to go, Bailey... we are SO proud of you.

The big first day...

My girl loved school. 

She smiled when I picked her up... just like I hoped she would. She came running to the car with a huge smile and yelling, "Mommy!" No better feeling in the world. 

I asked her how it went. "Great!"

Ok... so tell me more. What all did you do? "I don't know. I can't remember." 

Well, did you make friends? "Yes... I am friends with all of the kids in my class. All of them." 

That's great! What are their names? "I don't know. There's one boy named Fred... you know, like Freddy on Scooby Doo."

Oh yeah? Cool. What about the little girls? Did you make any friends who were girls? "Yes... there were more girls than we thought. They are nice. I don't know their names. One pushed me in the car line. I told on her though." 

Bailey, it's not nice to tell on people, but she shouldn't have pushed you either. Try to handle things by using your words with your friends. "Ok, mom. I bought my milk at lunch all by myself. I'm going to put the change in my piggy bank."

Uh... no. Your change is going to be part of your milk money tomorrow. How was lunch? Did you have fun? Did you have enough to eat? "Oh... yep. That was my favorite part of the day. It was fun." 

So, what about the rest of the day? What did you guys do? Did you work on letters and numbers and stuff? "We had to write the entire alphabet and our numbers. I spelled two words for the teacher, too. Cat and Red. Those are the two that I know already, you know?" 

Yes... that's good. Did she ask you to spell them or did you just offer that information up? She shrugs with a sneaky grin. "She asked me." She lied. I know she did. It's OK though... I'm sure the teacher just laughed at our little miss smarty pants. 

Did you like your teachers? "Yes, but one of my teachers told someone that I farted."

What? Really? I couldn't help but crack up. So, did you fart? "No. I don't know... maybe. No. I didn't." Great... my kid is the kid farting in class. Awesome. :) She's totally Brad's kid. 

Then, she proceeded to tell me about how they won't let her just go to the bathroom any time. lol. I guess that means that she was going to excuse herself to the bathroom and chose not to because it wasn't bathroom time. lol. Wow... I didn't see that one coming on the first day.

That's about as much as we got for the day... there were a few other stories about kids falling asleep in class and one kid crying a lot... and another one not listening. I asked if that was her, but she said no. 

She came home exhausted. She was hateful. All evening. All evening she was so, so hateful. She yelled at me (repeatedly). She was sent to her room (repeatedly). She was in need of sleep. At 8:15, we were in the bed. She fell asleep before 9, which just doesn't happen. 

She is really happy about going back. That's all that matters. :) Hopefully, she'll not fart in class tomorrow. lol. And, yes, I do know how bad she is going to hate me later for writing this post. :) 

Her totally cool lunchbox... 

...And the back pocket that I hand-stitched on (no, I didn't hand-embroider it, people). :)

The cool Old Navy backpack with her name embroidered on it (can you see what I've been playing with?).

My posing little queen... adorably decked out... 

Posing again... but this time with the Lelli Kelly's showing. :)

And a more natural shot... right before we walked into the school. :) This was the last smile I got before dropping her off. :)

Bailey's First Day...

And she is at school... she did great. She was excited. She woke up early, ate breakfast (pancakes - her favorite, compliments of me), got dressed, and was ready. 


Off we went. 


By the time we got to the school, she was completely quiet. I think she got nervous. We went inside the school and the smile she had when she got up this morning was gone. She hardly spoke to anyone who talked to her. Everyone was making her feel welcome and good. Little girls complimented her on our outfit and her backpack. Yet, she barely acknowledged anyone. Even her teachers, who are fabulous, by the way, went on and on about how excited they were and how much fun they were going to have. Her teacher, Mrs. O. told her that her little girl had a pair of Lelli Kelly shoes just like Bailey's, but she didn't respond. The only thing she said was, "My milk money is in the pocket of my lunch box." It was mumbled and without Bailey's typical smile. That made me a little nervous. BUT... no tears. I smiled really big and told her how much fun she was going to have and told her that I'd see her in no time at all. She hugged me, but wouldn't really look at me, and found her seat. I think she was trying to fight back some tears... only because I think she knew she'd have fun, but she was still a little nervous. I remember being a little girl at a new school (it happened a lot because my dad was in the military until I was about 10). I remember that feeling exactly... knowing that I was going to be fine and enjoy it, but still feeling a little like crying because I was still a little nervous and still a little sad to be leaving my mom. 


She'll be fine... I'm sure she is already having fun and she's only been there for a half hour or so. I can't wait to hear how she likes it... to hear all the stories... and to see her smile again. I know she'll come running out to the car this afternoon with so much to tell me about. :) 


Until then... Jake and I are hanging out and watching a Batman cartoon for the gazillionth time. I have a dentist appointment this afternoon, and hopefully, hopefully, I'll get a call from the doctor's office about my gallbladder test. 


Pictures of Bailey's first day coming soon... got to download them. :)

'Twas the day before Kindergarten...

'Twas the day before Kindergarten and all through the house... you could hear my daughter saying, "I start school tomorrow." :) 


That's pretty much all I have heard all day. We went to bed last night after our orientation. It took her an hour and a half to fall asleep. She kept asking me questions about waking up early. She wanted to make sure we wouldn't be late. She asked me repeatedly to wake her up early this morning (Tuesday) for practice. She just wanted to make sure she could do it. I, of course, argued that today would be our last day of sleeping in, so we should totally enjoy it. :) That was me being selfish, of course. 


Orientation went well. It was chaotic to say the least, but overall, we were happy with how things went. Our overly-confident and excited daughter was very pleased with all that she saw, with the exception of the minimal amount of toys in the classroom. She was expecting something a little more like her preschool classroom at the Christian school she attended last year. We have explained that Kindergarten is less play and more work. She wasn't super-excited to hear that, but eventually, she came around to the idea that she will enjoy learning so much that she won't have time to miss toys.

And so, I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning to Bailey smiling in my face and saying, "I start school tomorrow. Would I have to be up earlier than this?" Yes, honey... you have to be school at 7:45.... please get in your bed and watch a cartoon or something. I want my last morning to sleep in to last a little longer. Please... please. :)


Sleeping in... not in the cards for me. But 8 a.m. isn't too bad, I suppose. 


We spent all day today at the pool. It was HOT... and the pool will be closed until 4 p.m. from here on out, so we all wanted to take advantage. It was kind of sad to me that our summer of spending complete days at the pool has ended. I hope it's not the last summer that I can take advantage of this, but even if it is, that's OK. We really have enjoyed it. I know how lucky I am that we had this very carefree summer to enjoy together. 


Bailey told everyone we saw at the pool that she was starting school tomorrow. She is completely psyched about it. And so did Jake... he also thinks he is starting school tomorrow. I don't know how we are going to handle that. I keep telling him that he is going to get to stay home with me and play. He just told me that I'm not fun... thanks, bud... I thought that wouldn't happen for a while. Before we went to bed, he was telling me that he was going to spend the day at his mimi and poppa's house tomorrow and while Bailey goes to school from here on out. Not sure where that came from either, but apparently it is much more fun than being at home with me. lol. I hate to tell him that we aren't driving 2 hours for him to stay with mimi and poppa each day... even if they didn't have jobs and would be at home, which isn't the case. :) 


And so it all begins... the lunch box and backpack are ready to go. My camera battery is all charged up. The adorable outfit that Cilla bought for Bailey a few weeks ago is laying out in her room for her special day. I hope she will do as wonderfully as we expect. She is dying to ride the bus and has spent as much time as possible trying to convince me to let her ride the bus tomorrow. To and from school... she doesn't "need" me to walk her in. She keeps telling me she knows where she is going. I am so happy that she's so ready... but man, it would be a little nice to be needed for a moment. lol. Don't worry... Jake will be the kid crying and hanging on my leg. I'll be regretting ever wishing for something other than a child who can't wait to get to school. 


Oh... and because I know you'll ask... I haven't heard from the doctor. The results have been sent to their office, so I should hear something tomorrow morning. If not... I might have a nervous breakdown. :)

I'm a big kid now...

No word from the doc yet... I will keep you posted. 

But, in the meantime... 

I have a little girl who has been ready for her Kindergarten orientation for two hours. She insisted that we not be late. It starts at 5. She was bathed and dressed by 3. She's ready... and telling me every time that the clock turns another minute later. We had to pick out an outfit that would be beautiful, in her words, because she might meet a cute boy. Yes... it has begun and I'm not looking forward to hearing about that. lol. She actually met a boy in her class when we went for the Kindergarten testing about a week ago. I asked her if she thought he was nice. Her response was that he was OK, but he wasn't cute, so he could not be her boyfriend. Poor kid. I hope she didn't tell him that. She probably did, though. It's something we are working on with Bailey (among other things)... learning when to shut up. She must be a lot like her dad (right, Brad?). She typically has good taste, though... I have to give her credit. She usually does pick out the cutest kid in the class. lol. 

I'm excited that she's excited. Tonight should be a fun night for her... she'll get to see her classroom, meet some of her classmates, and take in all of her school supplies (I'm bringing in muscle-man Brad to carry it all)... :) Jake will be with us, so that could be really interesting... but good for him to see what's going on, too.  

It will be fun for me, too. I have to admit that, while I'm kind of sad that she's growing up, I am also really excited about this phase of her life. It will be a lot of fun to participate in school activities and watch her learn all of the fun stuff kids learn (with the exception of the attitude that I am certain will happen very quickly with Bailey). I am looking forward to signing up for fun things, like hopefully the 5K they have each spring and the Walk your Child to School Day. I am not looking forward too much to the 4 day minimum of homework policy that the school has, but I suppose that all comes with the territory. 

Jake is pretty excited about it all, too. I'm not sure that he's going to be OK when we take her on Wednesday. He thinks he is going, too. He has a backpack and a lunchbox, because you simply can't buy one for Bailey and not buy one for Jake. What a little heartbreaker he can be... He has told at least a half dozen people that he is going to a new school with his backpack. I can see us taking her now, with Jake and his backpack and lunchbox, too. Except, I'm not sure he'll be completely devastated when he gets to come home with his mommy. You just never know with him. But, most of the time, he still loves me and our home more than anything. Well, really, it's his home and his toys (especially when he has it all to himself). Who could blame him? The kid has it made. 

So, our little journey begins... a new phase in our life... let's hope she loves it as much as she is planning to love it. :)

My Little Speaker

To distract myself from my growling stomach and my aching side and back, I am up sewing cornhole bags. Yippee. :) Actually, my sewing machine is embroidering cornhole bags, so I'm sitting on the computer, waiting for it to finish so that I can sew them. 


Anyway... I thought I'd do a quick update, since I haven't already, about Jake's speech therapy. 


I believe that the last time I posted anything about this we were still waiting to hear from the speech therapist. Sorry if I'm wrong and have posted more... 


I talked to the speech therapist that did Jake's evaluation about a week after we went in. She reported that he was in need of therapy two times a week for 30 minutes each session. Nothing that she told me surprised me... we were very aware of the areas that he did well in and the areas he didn't do well in. The only real surprise in the conversation was the fact that she failed to check to see if he would qualify for anything through the school system. I had asked for her to let me know if he would qualify for Early Start or for the speech therapy component of the Early Start program. She didn't. When I asked why, her response was that they felt that one-on-one attention at their office was more beneficial. I think that they really thought the $80 out-of-pocket-after-insurance co-pay was more important. Sorry. I know business is business, but really? So, I called back to the Early Start office (we had already talked once and they weren't able to get him in to get evaluated until August). I talked to the lady in the office, who indicated that she thought if he qualified with one therapist, he'd qualify for another. So, we wait until they come back in to the office on Wednesday. We'll schedule an appointment at that time to see if he qualifies for Early Start or just for speech therapy or anything at all. For free. :) 


Yes, God is teaching me patience this week. :) He's trying to at least... I'm not a very good student. :) 


I love my baby boy... he's going to be a fine speaker one day... I just know it. :)

About my kids

Since I'm frustrated about running or the lack thereof, and because I am nervous about tomorrow morning, and since my husband and two children have been fast asleep since 10, I have lots of energy. Not really energy to go do anything or to fold the laundry that really needs to be folded. Energy to do things like... play on the computer or think too much. I could easily watch a movie, but I can't really focus on the television, what with the thinking and all. 


So, I blog... driving everyone crazy with my erratic behavior... blog five times in a day... then don't blog at all for five days... etc. :) Sorry. I know... it annoys me, too. 


I have lots to blog about over the past couple of weeks... we have been very busy. I could list it all here, but I'm actually going to do that in my next "big" post. Sorry. I know the long ones aren't everyone's favorites (well, sometimes they are), but I can't see getting "caught up" on all of it without just doing a "Summer Activities" post, complete with lots of pictures and small notes about the actual trips. Hehehe... I know. You are all saying, "Yeah... right... small notes about the trips. That won't happen. She has to tell the backstory on EVERYTHING." :) Are you wondering why I don't just do that post now? Well, I'm being lazy, icing my foot on an elevated chair in the office, and I simply don't want to walk downstairs to get the camera from my purse to download pictures. 


Instead, I'm going to tell you about my kids, as if you don't already know a lot about them. You don't have to read if I get too long-winded. I know sometimes I don't want to read what I've written. lol. But, sometimes, I feel like I need to tell about things that my kids will want to read about when they are older... you know, how they acted and what they "did" that made me so crazy. So completely crazy... about them. 


I'll start with Bailey... she's the oldest and would totally think that she deserves to go first... it's an argument I hear daily. It's OK though. Jake just looks at Bailey after everything and says, "I win," and she is totally exasperated because she can't make him understand that she won. :)


Bailey is a great little girl... always interested in following the rules and doing the right thing. She does this almost to a fault, driving us crazy telling on her brother or reminding us not to break our own rules from time to time (she loves to lecture Brad when he and Paul smoke cigars or tell me to slow down when I'm driving too fast and yelling at people in front of me). She is going to be the teacher's pet, I'm sure. She just has that personality. If you have seen the movie School of Rock, just imagine the little girl who is the band manager and you'll get a pretty solid idea of why I think Bailey is going to be the pet. :) She loves to play school, often calling me teacher and raising her hand throughout the day. I love it that she's so interested in learning, even if her unending questions sometimes baffle me and leave me wishing that I had all the answers so that I wouldn't have to say, "I don't know... ask your dad," so much. It's a pride thing, people. I don't want to be less smart than daddy, in anyone's eyes. :) She loves to play rough... she can wrestle with the boys on any given day, but is just as likely to be caught kissing one as punching one. She is a girly girl, in every sense. She has this way about her... she is just naturally prissy. She pushes her hair away from her face very flippantly, as if she is a princess. And, she definitely is convinced that she is a real princess, I am a queen, Daddy is the King, and Jake is the prince. I believe that she had a sincere argument with some of the kids in her preschool about this... she came home to tell me all about how one little girl told her that she wasn't a "real" princess and that I really needed to go in to school and explain to them that she was indeed a real princess. Yes, you can imagine my difficulty in managing that conversation. Obviously, I was not convincing when I explained how she is our princess. She still thinks she's a real princess. She even asked when we were going to move into the castle on Versailles Road. :) She is so excited about starting dance classes this fall. I have caught her on multiple occasions dancing in front of her mirror in her room, practicing ballet. It's really adorable.  


Bailey acts ten years older than she should be. We forget that she's only five pretty regularly. She is too intelligent for her own good sometimes, which backfires more on her than it does on us. She ends up in trouble for things that most five-year olds wouldn't get into trouble for, simply because we know she understands right from wrong so well. It's not fair to her. I can see that Jake already gets by with things that Bailey did not get by with at the age of three. I hate that. I hate it because that was me and it sucked. The boys always got by with more than I did. Not cool, but a reality that I must admit is simply inevitable. I can't change it, despite my attempts to become more aware of it. It's just simply there.


She's been harder on us this summer than usual. She is going through a phase where she whines when she doesn't get her way. She whines when she does get her way. She just whines a lot. And if there's one thing in this world that I always swore I would never let my kid do, it was whine. So... you can imagine how tough of a summer it's been in that sense. Vacation was interesting. Bailey whined to go to the beach. Then, when we got there, she'd be satisfied for a few minutes, then she'd whine to go to the pool. She'd whine that she was hot, then whine that she was cold. Everything was hard for Bailey... she just had a rough time realizing that the world does not revolve around her and her alone. It's a tough lesson to learn. There was a time when I actually dragged her off the beach. She kicked and screamed and tried to run. Her little body was greasy with sunscreen, so it probably looked like I was tearing her arms off as she kept slipping away from me. It was horribly embarrassing, and it made me about as furious as I've ever been at a child. Thankfully, Brad intervened and took her and Jake to the room for some rest time. After an hour or so, things seemed to be better. I'm hoping that Brad had a conversation with her on how to act. :) Whatever he did, worked. She was better. And, so we had to come up with some solutions for this behavior. Bailey has never been threatened by time out. She makes everyone miserable when she's in it and it simply doesn't work. What does work is taking things away. And, we finally figured out a few ways to really get her attention. First was the computer. Second was the TV in her room. Third, I promised to buy her a watch ($6 at Target) if she could go a week and a half without losing any toys. And so far, so good. It's a little combo of negative and positive reinforcement. She doesn't like it, but it's working. She even told my parents that when they aren't around, Brad and I aren't nice to her. lol. Yes, this was all during the week that Bailey had lost her computer privileges and the TV for a week. It hurt my feelings that she said it like that, but you know what? It works. She's actually listening better. And, she got the watch. She had it for about 3 hours before I had to take it away because she and her brother wouldn't stop fighting (Jake got one too), but she did get it. And, she'll get it back tomorrow morning. She still whines... don't get me wrong. We went to the Bluegrass Fair on Thursday. She whined when we left that she didn't get to ride some ride (we were there for at least 4 hours and she rode nearly everything there that she was able to ride). I just made the comment that you'd think she'd be happier after spending so much time at the fair. She quickly responded with, "Thank you for bringing us, mommy." It's really not the way that I want to teach her to appreciate things, but I hope that those little reminders of the fun that she's had will help her remember the next time that we go that we don't HAVE to do all these fun things. It's something we've had to have lots of conversations about this summer... I just hope it's sticking. 


While it's really bittersweet for me, Bailey is super-excited about school starting in August. When we found out she got into the school we were hoping for, she went through the house yelling, "I'm going to the school I wanted!" It was pretty cute and it made me really happy to see that she's not going to be the kid clinging to my leg and crying on that first day. I will probably be the one crying when I get home... knowing that her little life will pass by so quickly now. I never thought this first 5 years would go by this fast... but I've loved every little phase, good and bad, along the way. 


Which brings me to Jake. My little man who is so easy that if I had him first, I would have had like ten kids. :) He is the sweetest, funniest little boy I think I've ever been around. Mommy's little boy is the perfect description. Oh, don't get me wrong, he has his moments. But, he gives the best hugs and is the most cuddly little boy I've ever been around. He could easily sit in my lap for an hour every morning, just content to be snuggling and eating a pop tart breakfast. The complete opposite of his sister in many ways, he is calm and quiet. Not demanding or high maintenance. He follows some rules, ignores others, which can be completely terrifying for a mother. Unlike his sister, who I know would never run out into a parking lot at the ball field, I have to watch Jake's every move. He thinks it's hilarious to sneak away from me and watch me panic as I look for him. I've caught him hiding under the bleachers or behind the dugout wall too many times to count. He's always standing there watching me search for him, with a huge grin on his face. It's horrible that I want to scare him by having someone else grab him up one day, just so he can see how easy it would be when he's pulling that crap. Yes... terrifying. But, he's also a cautious kid... the one who doesn't like water in his face and doesn't like to be the first to try anything. He wants to sit back and see how everything is done before he decides he's going to join in. Yet, if you get him on a roller coaster or anything that goes super fast (sans water), he's going to outlast you. Trust me... he could have ridden the Tilt-A-Whirl for hours... I was about to die after just a few minutes. :) No haunted houses for him though... and definitely no pirates. :) 


Jake is sneaky and smart. He tricks us into things all that time. He even tricks Bailey. She's part of his laziness problem. When he avoids helping to clean up his toys, I tell him that if he doesn't pick them all up by the end of a cartoon, they are going in the garage. Instead of letting him lose his toys, Bailey cleans them up for him. She can't stand the thought of toys in the garage. He reminds me of Brad. If he hears me talking about cleaning up anything, he'll sneak down the stairs and get on the couch. Just like his dad. :) He is also stubborn. If he doesn't want to do something, he's not going to. He won't sell out. Ever. You can force him to do things by use of physical force, but he will not willingly do something he doesn't want to do. Once he's made up his mind, you will not change it. Period. While we have a serious tug of war because of that, I am also very happy about this. I just have to teach him to make the right choices and then, hopefully, he'll stick with them no matter what. :) How nice would that be?! 


Jake's stubbornness is sometimes his downfall. He refuses to learn sometimes... just because he doesn't feel like it. If I ask Jake his address or his colors or shapes or basically anything and he's not interested in doing it, he's just not going to do it. It makes us nervous about his school days. His speech is getting better, but it's not where we hoped it would be by now. Yet, we don't know if we have realistic expectations or not. It all just seems to depend on what standards we compare him to. What I hate the most about his speech is that it's beginning to affect his confidence. I can see it. It's heart-breaking. He shies away from people if they don't immediately understand what he's saying. He even lowers his head when people talk to him and refuses to answer their questions sometimes, especially if they don't seem to understand his initial conversation. Sometimes, it's not his fault... it's just that the person hasn't heard him or something. But that doesn't matter... he still gets nervous about it. So... we're working on some ways to improve that for him... not for us. I want him to be confident and not insecure being himself. I can't stand to see him avoid talking to people because he's worried they won't understand him. Monday will be a big day for us. We have an appointment with a speech therapist that morning to see what their thoughts are. If he's in a normal range of speech, then we're just going to work with him on speaking more clearly and speaking louder, and being more confident. If he has a delay, then we'll figure out the best route and go from there. In any case, I hope that he can move past that insecurity and grow up feeling stronger. 


One of my favorite things about having a boy is watching him grow up admiring his dad. Jake has always been crazy about being like Brad, but never as much as he is right now. He wants his mommy at bed time and wants me to treat him like a baby on most days. But, when it comes to dad, he wants to be big. He wants to play basketball like dad. He wants to drive a truck... well, he thinks dad's truck is HIS truck. They have already argued about it. I don't know if Brad knew how much it meant to Jake that he took Jake to Walmart with him a few weeks ago to get a tire fixed and to look around at tools and toys. I didn't know what a big deal it was in Jake's mind. But, today, we walked past the auto center at Walmart and Jake said, "Stop Mommy. Daddy bwought me here. We wooked at tools and Buzz and Woody. Wet's go wook at tools." :) And, since we have to have a hitch for our truck, daddy now has an appointment with Jake to come back to the auto area of Walmart with his little man and look at tools. :)