Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve this year -- our first together as a family in Los Angeles.  We spent the evening at Jack's Tio Victor and Aunt Chloe's house, where there was good food, lots of little ones for Jack to play with and  . . . . a neighborhood Christmas parade!  The parade was really a treat and I think a new tradition for our family.  It had such a small-town, community feel to it as people were out in their yards and following it through the streets wishing one another happy holidays and such.  When we did finally head home around 10 pm we had to pry Jack out of his Grandpapa Julio's arms as he did not want to leave yet!

No, that is not a doll that papa is holding -- it is Jack's lovely little cousin Lindsey.

'twas the week before Christmas

And our little drummer boy has found some new sticks . . .

rumpa pum pum . . . 

It has actually been cold enough to bundle up here in LA this holiday season . . .

We were busy this week preparing our Christmas tree site . . .

and decorating . . .

playing with papa's ear muffs . . .

constantly pulling out the wallet for this or that . . . 

spending time with family and singing . . .

and dancing . . . 

(did I mention that Jack has started a serious love affair with Elmo . . . how did this happen?!)

Happy Holidays!!!

thank you

There is nothing that can melt my heart faster these days than the sound of Jack's little voice saying "thank you" --which sounds a little more like "tank coo".  

We had been saying it consistently for him and around him for awhile.  Then a couple of weeks ago he was playing with a little friend, Nova, who is about five months older than him.  She was using "thank you" a lot and they share so well together that she was saying it every few minutes while we were there.  A day or so later it popped out of Jack's mouth at an appropriate moment and he has not stopped using it since.

He can be having a meltdown to end all meltdowns  -- like today in his carseat when I pulled out some dried mango as he was screaming and kicking and just as I handed it to him, he stopped short and calmly said, "tank coo", the huge tears on his face the only remnant of the complete meltdown occurring seconds before.

Words are so interesting for him in that way.  They truly serve this amazing tranformative purpose -- I suppose it has to do greatly with his short attention span or ability to only really live in the present moment.  But the act of him simply saying a word can shift his energy so dramatically sometimes.  Sometimes I lead him in that direction but sometimes I have nothing to do with it at all.  It is very clear that the understanding that he has of those few words like "bye bye" and "thank you" really help him create some little bit of order in his world that is still so full of unknowns.

making his escape

Today Jack picked up his papa's keys, walked to the front door with a big smile on his face and started trying to put different keys into the door.  This is the first time he has done this.  He was saying his favorite words:  "bye bye" and "go go".  He smiled at me as if to say, "Aha!  now I am unstoppable!"  You can imagine his frustration when the door did not magically open.  

He is fascinated with keys right now as they have been added to the list of things that he associates with "going".  He is always eager to "Go!  go ! go!"

an artist is born

okay. . . so mostly he throws them around and/or tries to eat them while looking at me directly in the eye with this coy look as if to say "oh, do you have a problem with me eating this?" . . . . But Jack did get his first box of crayons this week and is quite fascinated with them -- and the box they reside in.  Occasionally he makes a light mark here or there.

As with everything these days, when he decides he is done he (attempts to) put one or two away in their box and then says "bye bye" and moves on to something else.  He also does this when he is ready to leave a particular place.  He just starts saying "bye bye" and as of lately he has added,"go! go!" to his repertoire as well.

my first earthquake

So, I experienced my first earthquake a few days ago.  I was here alone with Jack and he had just gone down for the night at 8pm.  I was sitting in the quiet apartment around 8:15 pm when everything, including the floor, started shaking . . . for about 10 seconds.  It was not a violent shaking.  It was actually a more subtle, gentle shaking that was incredibly surreal.  It was considered a moderate earthquake but was felt far away from its epicenter in the Mojave Desert.  There was no damage nor any injuries reported from it.  But I will say that one Carolina girl got her first taste of the feeling of the earth shaking under her feet and found it be very odd and quite humbling.  Jack slept through it of course.  

Jack at 16 months old

(originally started this one the day Jack did turn 16 months old --Dec. 1st-- and then life took over . . .)

Today Jack turns 16 months old!  

It never ceases to amaze me how time seems to move at a different speed once one has a child.  

Let's see . . . a list of big and little things that I am noticing these days . . . 

Jack loves to talk to people . . . he says "Hey!" and "ByeBye" to any person, animal -- and often inanimate objects -- that cross his path.  He is incredibly warm and social when he is comfortable in a situation.  

In fact, the word "ByeBye" is just the most magnificent word as far as Jack is concerned.  He has gotten to where he says it when he is playing and puts one toy down in order to pick up another.

Having said that, he is a cautious and careful little man who warms up slowly to new environments in most cases and who takes his time physically getting to know a space before starting to take risks.  But once he is comfortable, he knows no strangers and fears no physical challenge.

I think he might think he owns the tennis club where he often visits his Aunt Sam.  He walks all over the grounds, interacts with everyone, sits quietly and watches tennis, plays with balls and other things he finds laying around. . . . he loves that place.

He definitely loves to mimic behavior now  . . . and words.  Just in the last few days it as if someone turned on a talking faucet.  He is talking almost non-stop, singing, mimicking words and using more words correctly than ever before.  He has started to say "thank you" about half of the time.  His words now include( or at least the ones I can think of at the moment) :  hey, bye bye, go, no, mama (more), bird, maaa (that's me--his mother), papa,  book, ball, thank you, agua (water), jugo (juice), run, truck . . . .and then lots of words that we are still trying to figure out and lots more that he mimicks here and there but are not showing up consistently yet.

He can throw a good tantrum.  We are definitely at that phase.

He is finally starting to come and actually sit in our laps and hand us a book to read to him . . . and sometimes we even get all the way through the book before he has moved on to something else.  He has always loved books but, until now, has not brought a book to us and sat still long enough for us to read it to him.

He understands so much.  He understands when we ask him to put something away now and is especially good at helping us put away his books at night before he goes to bed.

He has always had some great dance moves but he just started doing this really cute thing where he moves his feet really fast . . . his own little tribute to James Brown.

He sat across from me today at his kid-sized table for the first time and ate a snack with me.  He says "Mmmm" after a bite he likes, he says "Aaahh" after taking a sip of water . . . . when we were done I was wiping the table with a cloth and he took it from me and started mimicking me and then proceeded to clean me and everything else in the room with it.

When he says "bye" now, he often leans forward to give a kiss.  This is not exactly new, but the consistency of it is.  I love it cause I can never get enough Jack kisses.  Every once and awhile, when I least expect it, he will stop what he is doing, come over to me, lean in slowly and give me a kiss.  This is rare but delicious.

two hands

Lately, Jack likes to have something in both hands as he moves around the world.  

Ideally it is two of the same thing . . . a cracker in each hand, a ball in each hand . . . or his three favorites lately:  a water cup in each hand, a little car or truck in each hand, and/or a bag in each hand ( as you see, he too supports local, organic farming and an end to wasting plastic bags) . . .