Very Last "Baby Jack" Blogpost

I think I told you that I have decided that when Jack learns to walk by himself that I would call him a boy and not a baby so no more Baby Jack blog label posts. Well, today Jack came for a visit and we made a little video of Jack taking some steps all by himself. He has been doing this for sometime. So after today I will label future Jack posts Jack Aidan. I like his middle name Aidan and it will keep down confusion with my Jack. I don't want to refer to them at Big Jack or Little Jack. Tune in tomorrow to see my video of Jack Aidan stepping out on his own. In the bottom photo Jack is learning that Grandpa's computer chair is big and goes round and round like a merry go round. Get ready Little Dude. Grandpa is ready to give you a spin.

Ride 'Em Cowboy

Our grandson Jack on the Fisher Price toy horse that his mommy used to ride when she was Jack's age. That used to be a white Arabian? horse. With the passage of time I think it has turned into a yellow Palomino horse.What can I say. Look below. The original rider of this horse has changed just a little bit too but she still has that great smile and dimple.
Ok, smile for the camera before we go for a little trot.
Now how much audio does this horse have? Well, back in 1976/77

Fisher Price toys didn't have much audio capability.

So Jack stop pulling on the ears and grab those reins and pull up and you will hear a little neigh.

Neigh, Neigh, Neigh.

Note to reader: Baby Jack loves sounds, especially music. Give him musical sounds and his little bottom starts dancing. And if a toy makes no music, he is not interested in it for very long and he gives it a toss. The one exception is books. He loves his books.

Someone asked us when we were going to stop calling Baby Jack, Baby Jack. I replied when this boy starts walking all by himself then we will call him Jack Aidan. And I will have to then create a new label category for the blog called Jack Aidan.

Miniature Farm Animals and A Big Appetite

After we went through the children's barn we discovered some more cute animals in another barn. I really liked the miniature brown horse and the two miniature cows. Miniature cows? I've never seen miniature cows before. Baby Jack said he hadn't either. We never did find Charlotte the Spider or her famous web. See what I mean. Those barns were just too fresh and clean. Not like a real barn on a farm. But it sure would have been nice if someone had written some pig above that black potbellied pig!

Our grandson got hot and thirsty and so did we so we trooped over to the food tents and had some barbecue ribs and a dish of ice cream. Here is our hot and sweaty little man sampling Mommy's ice cream. I wish he could tell us what he thought of the fair and all the kids and animals. Maybe next year he will have some words in his vocabulary besides Mama and Dada and Cat. Hmmmmmmmm.....we didn't see any barn cats.

Baby Jack at the Fair

Grandpa had a great time taking Baby Jack into the children's petting barn to see some of the littlest and gentlest farm animals on display. Lots of families were in this barn so they had to wait in line until the crowd cleared. Baby Jack seemed to realize that that was what they had to do if they wanted to see the farm animals, so he didn't seem to mind. Notice that our little boy doesn't have any shoes on at this point. He seemed to like the feel of the fresh straw. Thank goodness it was very fresh and not sullied with manure!

There was this very fat black potbellied pig that all the kids wanted to see and pet. With grandpa's help Baby Jack got right up there and petted the pig. I don't think a regular pig would have been so accommodating unless it was Wilbur the Pig from Charlottes's Web.

The Wild Side of Baby Jack

I wish I knew what Baby Jack was thinking.

Maybe something like, Mommy you ain't seen nothing yet.
Wait till I learn how to get out of this thing.

Or Daddy I can't wait till I'm old enough to go to fraternity parties.

Or I know Auntie Jeanine will take me to the Arlington hangouts soon as I learn to walk all by myself.

Or I have my grandparents wrapped around my little finger.

Cape Cod Visiters

This weekend our grandson's paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. K flew down from Cape Cod to see Jack Aidan get baptised at the Floris Methodist Church and to see their daughter, Samantha, and son-in-law, Jim, become Jack Aidan's Godparents. The baptismal service was lovely and later the Sunday sermon the pastor gave was unusual and poignant. The topic of the sermon was Jesus and Christian kindness and to get us all thinking he connected Christian kindness to the story of Horton Hears A Who. We got to watch a church youth group act out Horton's kindness to the Who. And then we got to watch a video of ultimate human kindness and unselfishness played out in a women's college softball game where two of the opposing team players helped an injured runner round the bases and make a home run after suffering a torn ACL in her knee. This story actually happened in Washington state between two state university teams in the college softball playoffs. Well, I don't think there was a dry eye in the church after watching that video. And that had to be the perfect Sunday sermon for Baby Jack's relatives from Massachusetts who are die hard Boston Red Sox fans! Tomorrow I'll post a photo or two of Samantha and Jim's little toddlers who are in training to be adult Boston Red Sox fanatics.

Learning The White Sock Stomp

Grandma showed me the dance moves and I watched and imitated her. I got my feet going and my hands moving and I threw a white sock to add some interest to the dance. Grandma said I could grow up and become another John Travolta. Who is John Travolta? The dance king I know is that tall and handsome Jason Taylor from Dancing With The Stars who just signed to play for the Washington Redskins. I wonder if he will wear jersey #99 if he wins the dance playoff with the Redskin player who wears #99 currently. I'm betting on Jason Taylor in that particular danceoff.
NEWS UPDATE FROM BABY JACK:
JASON TAYLOR DECIDED TO GET A NEW NUMBER. WATCH FOR #55 THIS FALL.

My Daughter Is Blogging On New Site

http://jennandterry.blogspot.com/
Our daughter, Jennifer, is blogging now on a new site. If you click on this you can see our Baby Jack on his real birth day. And if you scroll down a bit you can find photos of her kitchen makeover. Jack and I spent one week painting the oak cupboards white. The rest she had professionally installed. We all felt like we were on one of those HGTV makeover shows. But luckily we all got along better than some on those shows.

What Is This?

Grandma's Brag Book

Incredulous News

Baby Jack had been babbling dadadada and mamamama for quite some time but he hadn't really communicated with a real first word that we could recognize till Monday's Blast From the Past event. (See yesterday's post).

While Jenn went to call Terry Monday morning to see how the workers were doing laying the cherry hardwood floors Jack and I took little Jack to our patio because he loves the outdoors and it was still cool at that hour. (Later in the day we reached 92 degrees.) Jack was holding him at the patio table when he spied our little cat statue. He pointed at it and said plain as day: "Cat!" He smiled and said it again. When we relayed this breaking baby news to our daughter Jenn she simply couldn't believe it. You mean this baby that has lived for nine months in and almost 12 months out, chooses cat as his first word. Unbelievable. And Terry was incredulous too.
But later in the day Baby Jack spotted another little cat statue under a table in our dining room and said the word cat again. Jenn and Terry are still incredulous. They can't believe that Jack might like their house cat, Mr. Merlin Cat, better than them. We tried to explain that that first word can be absolutely anything besides Mom or Dad. So here's a question for you. Did someone write down your first word? If so, what was it? Or if you are a parent, can you remember that first word that your child spoke? If so, what was it?

A Blast From The Past

It was a quiet summer day. No, wrong lead in sentence. It was a hot and loud summer day with many bangs. Our daughter and son-in -law had new

hardwood floors installed on the main floor of their home yesterday so Jenn and Baby Jack spent from 8:30 to 4:30 at our house which meant that there was more activity than normal at the retirement home. Then the doorbell rang and we learned that our next door neighbor needed to run an errend and could we watch her daughter and her daughter's playmate. So into the house marched two of the cutest little kids who will be in first grade this year. Well, do we still have toys for kids that age? No indeed. So we turned Baby Jack into a toy. Something like Baby Elmo and Sponge Bob Squarepants rolled into one. Or rather like Baby Elmo and Sponge Bob Wet Diaper rolled into one. That kept them amused for about five minutes. Then we used Baby Jack's shapes ball to do a lesson on do you know your shapes? The pentagon and the hexagon threw them for a loop though they both had heard of that big military building right outside D.C. called The Pentagon. Another ten minutes elapsed. Then I noticed the little tuffets that Jack made me for our wing chairs by the fireplace so I got the bright idea to have them act out Little Miss Muffet Sat On A Tuffet. That was pretty cute. Little Miss Muffet ate her curds and whey and then along came Spiderman to chase her away. This inspired the very bright and talkative little boy to give us a demonstration of all his Tai Kwando moves. Well this kid knows his stuff and we got quite a demonstration. I'm just glad he didn't put his little foot through our big screen TV. At that point someone said that they hadn't had breakfast or lunch or dinner today. Someone else said that they couldn't have had supper because it was still morning. So we found the peanut butter and jelly and orange juice to quench their appetites. The PBandJ was a winner. The orange juice was not because it had pulp. At that point they discovered our swing in the backyard and wanted to go swing in it. Just then the doorbell rang once more and we were literally saved by the bell because in walked our neighbor to pick them up just when we were getting into the swing of things so to speak!

Final thought: Did I have and raise two little babies? And did I teach first grade for eight years? Well, that must have been in a previous life because I sure don't remember all the details of what I once did. So the day was literally a blast from the past.

But little did we know that our exciting day was not finished yet. For once more the doorbell rang and we discovered a young seventeen year old man on our doorstep to remind us of past teenage encounters. We learned that he wanted to join the navy and become a pilot and he could do all these things if we could help him earn enough points in his youth program by buying some books. What? And what again? Well, it was too hot outside for an explanation on our doorstep so we invited him to step in and explain this at the kitchen table which he did. Kitchen tables were meant for talks with teenagers. You can look at the table when you don't want to look at each other. So after some looking and listening we bought some books to help him out and to give us a little tax write off for next year. Again Baby Jack was the ice breaker by just being the happy baby that he usually is. But this time we skipped the shapes and nursery rhymes and all the rest although I bet this young man would have enjoyed a Tai Kwando demonstration while having a PBandJ.

Some Rain Must Fall

Virginia is overcast and rainy this weekend so it is a good time for indoor projects like washing some windows. The rain and overcast skies actually feel very good for a change. We got an email from Kuwait from Jeanine's beau who has now left Iraq and who hopes to be home in just two short? weeks. Bryan says that it is very hot there. I read the other day that it can get up to 140 degrees in that desert starting in early July. I just can't imagine what it would be like to live in that kind of summer heat. I thought Phoenix, Arizona at 116 degrees in the summer of 1989 was bad enough. And our Baby Jack pictured here moving along with his standup walker has been listening to lots of noise at his house. Part II of the kitchen renovation was on Thursday when the new granite counters were installed. Part III will be this Monday when the new wood floors get installed. Jack plans to visit Grandpa Jack to escape the noise.

If A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words describe my daughter Jennifer's new blog. This past week the entire family was at a lost when we discovered that Jennifer's old blog had disappeared from the web and it would take a hundred dollar bill to reclaim it. Then Jenn decided to use the same blogsite service that Jack and I use and started to create a new blog from her reservoir of photos of Baby Jack. Luckily she had previously printed out her monthly summations of Baby Jack's growing experiences since his arrival last July 16 (Which by the way is just around the corner once more.) so she had these "letters to Jack" to post. And she had all these wonderful photos of Baby Jack so she started a Flicker account to post them. Yes, this is what the entire family was so concerned with---you mean you have lost all those wonderful pics of Baby Jack that we love to go back and look at again and again and AGAIN! Let's face it grandparents and aunties get a little anal about baby photos being available at all hours of the day. Like when you are down and out and feeling a little blue just look at the baby photos and you will soon be smiling and laughing your fool head off. So if you would like to smile and laugh your fool head off, head on over to daughter Jenn's new blog.
http://jennandterry.blogspot.com/

Naval Academy Application

Will the Naval Academy consider your application if you have a baby plug in your mouth? A friend of Baby Jack's Daddy gave Baby Jack this outfit. Doesn't Jack Aidan look cute in it? He also reminds me of John McCain.

Blowing Bubbles

This past Wednesday on a paint break we blew bubbles for Baby Jack to catch. Did you know that they now have bubbles on steroids? These are latex bubbles and they last a long, long time. In fact, some stuck on Jack's little red car and they were still stuck there when we returned Thursday morning. Jack really enjoyed seeing the bubbles and trying to catch them. We enjoyed the bubbles too. Reminded me of Lawrence Welk and his bubble machine.You are never too old for some bubble fun.

I Want To Hold Your Hands

Our grandson, Jack Aidan, has learned a new trick. If you hold his hands he can move his legs and walk with you. Last week he and Grandpa were high stepping around the kitchen table and the kitchen island. He knew he had done something outstanding because he flashed us this big grin. But has he taken to crawling on all fours? No, not yet. He may walk before he crawls I think because he likes to stand on his own tiny two feet.

Click on the photos to see my little walking man up close.

The Drinking Bar Is Going Out

I should be behind this window in my library doing my almost daily blog.

But I have more important things to accomplish this morning. Got to get ready and go with my husband to babysit our grandson. Wish us lots of luck. We will need it as his drinking bar (our daughter) heads out the door to her appointment. I don't do breastfeeding. That means we got to do the sippy cup and pureed fresh veggies and fruits to keep him happy until the drinking bar returns. Wish us lots of luck.

We did good babysitting today but I did take a nap when I got home. Now I am awake to watch the final dance of the NCAA Tournament. Looks like tonight's game will be close. May the best team win.

Kansas took the championship. The computer prediction was right on.

Tennessee took the Women's NCAA Championship. Stanford lost.

When Toys Won't Stop Talking

Last night I must have been in a deep deep sleep after the basketball games because I failed to hear it but Jack did. We have in our family room in a corner some toys and a little baby seat/walker for our grandson. The baby seat is all about Baby Elmo. Well, for some reason that is unexplainable to us the baby seat started talking last night without any prompting. Jack couldn't figure out who was in the house giggling and laughing like a baby. He went downstairs to investigate this mysterious noise and found the Baby Elmo seat doing the talking so he turned it off and went back to bed to sleep without all the giggles.

And this occurrence reminds me of another toy that acted up years ago. Our second daughter Jeanine fell in love with this big beautiful talking doll and told us that that was the only thing she wanted for her next birthday. And after I priced the doll I exclaimed that that was the only thing she would get for her birthday because it cost over a hundred dollars. Well, to make a long story short some time after she got her doll for her birthday one night
she came into our bedroom around 2 A.M. crying hysterically: "I'm frightened Daddy. I'm scared Mommy. I don't want that baby doll anymore. She is scaring me to death. She won't shut up Daddy! What am I going to do Mommy? I can't sleep like this. Do something quick Daddy! "

Well, when all else fails hit the batteries and take them out. And that's what my husband did. To this day everyone in the family calls that doll the doll from hell but actually it was from China.

Well Dressed Spring Baby

Quack Quack Baby Jack