In October

*Jack has discovered the joys of a DVD. Pixar's Cars, Toy Story, Thomas the Tank Engine. He will watch the movie for about 20 minutes, then will go to something else. Sometimes that something else will be another movie. I secretly love when he wants to watch Cars. I love that movie.
*He knows his ABC's. He knows the letter O. But if you show him a letter and say it, he will repeat it.
*He says "What is that? Who's that? Look at that!
*We went to a pumpkin patch and he attempted to only pick up the heaviest pumpkins. What a strong guy.
*We had our toughest night yet as parents last night. Jack has been battling a fever on and off last night. He woke up around 1 am and didn't go to sleep til 4 am. Around 3 am, we put on Thomas the Tank Engine and it was a bit surreal to see a bunch of trains run around and talk and crash in the wee hours of the morning. He woke up around 9:30 this morning with high spirits.
Coming up in November - three birthdays to attend to, a Thanksgiving, and the official countdown til our guy turns 2. sniff sniff

The Mobile

The mobile is this great invention that I think has fooled all parents. Let's just get that out of the way. Show of hands, how many parents out there have had the mobile actually soothe their baby?
I saw this episode , even before I was pregnant, on Sex and the City, where Miranda went to her baby's room and turned on the mobile and the baby stopped crying. I thought how lovely a scene that was and when I found out that I was pregnant, my mind retreated to that episode and that specific mobile song. In the days that Jack was a fussy baby, and there was some, Brian and I would do everything. Leave him in the crib, swaddle, turn on the mobile. That will work!
No, it didn't. I can only remember one time when the mobile did stop Jack from crying and when the song ended, he would cry all over again.
Jack will be 21 months tomorrow, so I decided on Monday to take down the mobile. Even though we rarely used it , I got incredibly sad to take it down. That mobile stood as a symbol of his infancy, and the excitement that we had to have a new baby in the house. That new baby now runs around, has his own likes and dislikes, and goes to bed on his own.
I did cry a bit as I placed the mobile in his closet, and I did replay that sweet mobile song one last time in my head.

Frances Lila Morrison

pictures taken by Brian. Jack and I will meet Frances on Wednesday

Frances Lila Morrison was born on October 16, 2009. Brian asked as his Christmas wish last year for a baby cousin for Jack. His wish was granted 10 months later.

The Many Faces of Jack Morowczynski

No.
That's right. Jack has said "No" followed by a shaking of the head. My worst fear come true. I cannot remember now what happened, but I think Jack was standing on the chair perhaps. Brian told him to sit down and Jack responded with a "No". Brian asked back NO??? with the " Are you kidding me?" tone. At that point Jack sat down.
Which brings me to the subject on how to discipline a child. I have been playing the role of the Patient Mom, which I will not yell but just talk sternly but calmly to Jack, should he do any wrong. It works sometimes. And sometimes, while I am telling him on why he should not have thrown his food on the floor, Jack will stare off into space. He is probably thinking, "Wow, what the heck is Mommy saying?"
Where do these kids learn these things? And why so soon?
My mom never really yelled at us when we were kids. She just had the LOOK. Once we got that LOOK, fun was out the window. I am trying to perfect the LOOK. I saw Brian give Jack the LOOK yesterday as well. It works somehow. I am hoping that it works for the next 18 years.

Last Days of Summer

I feel that there were not enough days in the summer. Granted we did go out as much as we could have. But we had a ritual every day. Come home from work, eat dinner, play at the park til the sun came down. Our days in the park are numbered, especially with this special weather we are having recently. I told Brian that I wouldn't have minded so much if it was a bit chilly, but this moist weather makes it impossible to go to the park even with our jackets on.

Summer 2009 - the summer that Jack slid down a slide for the first time, and by summer's end was mastering even the highest slides all by himself.

Just....breathe

What we find amazing now are the actual words that Jack is saying. Not just the blah, grrgglle, whsgrrgnron. He is actually saying real words. This is however a bit bittersweet for me since I love his baby blabber. I am not ready for him to say "Hey mom, how about today we go to the park" in actual English. Or Spanish in his case.
We are getting closer to his second birthday which made me think "Oh my god. I am the mother of a two year old.I have a kid! When did that happen?" There are moments that I have to stop myself and relish in the little laughs and giggles and hugs that Jack gives us. Why do we always have to run around and worry about work and time and dinner? And as soon as dinner is over, I have to hurry and clean him up, give him a bath, oh no it's already 8:10! Gotta put him to bed. I secretly love the times that he wants us to still carry him and hold him, because I know that those moments will not be as much as he gets older.

Jack words:
Otro - means "another" in Spanish
Ay! - It is kind of like the "oh no!" in Spanish. He will say it when some water spills from his cup.
Girraf - Giraffe!
Dirdle - Circle
Choose - Shoes
Eyes, irs, noooooss - Eyes, ears and nose

New likes

Every Thursday night is library night for us. We were in a habit of picking Thomas the Tank Engine videos so Jack can have his weekend treat. That "weekend" treat turned into an every day, all day treat that he wanted. It got to a point where as soon as Jack woke up, he would go to the TV and point to the DVD player.

"I'm awake Mommy, now where's Thomas?"



We stopped renting the Thomas videos just for that reason. In hopes that Jack wouldn't cry for Thomas all the time, I put on Toy Story once for him to introduce him to the cool toys that talk. That was my introduction to him about this movie. Now Jack has gotten into the Pixar movies. Great for us, since we are a huge Pixar family. Bad for us, since now all Jack wants to see is Toy Story or The Incredibles.



If you see Jack the next time, show him The Incredibles DVD , point to Edna Mode , and ask him who that is. Nine times out of ten, he will say "Mama".