i’m a little late on this entry. awhile ago aunt michele sent jack a big box of tanner’s old clothes. kelly and i loved the clothes. jack loved the box. he started crawling over to it push himself up on the box and then push it around the livingroom. box pushing video to come. other recent developments are that jack likes to climb stairs, help load and unload the dishwasher, empty the cat food dish, eat cat food, stand over the floor vent as air blows into his face, eat cat food, eat anything off the floor, watch himself on the video camera, remove fruits and vegetables from the crisper, pulls table-top lamps over on top of himself, eat cat food, stand in the bathtub, grab noses, grab eyeglasses, empty mom’s purse, push dad’s buttons, eat cat food, and eat cat food.
grades
so the other day as i was grading my identity and branding student’s final projects when i was reminded of a wonderful story from before jack was born. it’s a story of hope, pride, and in some ways, relief. let me preface it with this. deciding to have a child takes a lot of courage, especially if you’re of a certain age. there’s a lot of information out there for expectant parents, a lot of information that can be reassuring, and a lot of information that can be scary if you’re over 35. with that said this story always makes me laugh when i’m reminded of it. those of you who know kelly know that she is an amazing woman. she’s beautiful and intelligent and kind and lots of other things. and she’s driven and determined.
well, on a pleasent autumn day in 2004 kelly and i went to the doctor’s office for the ultrasound. there were lots of emotions running through our bodies as we stepped onto the elevator. the one thing we didn’t share was 32 ounces of water that kelly had to drink only a few hours before our appointment. as we sat in the waiting area i tried to distract kelly from her full bladder by talking about the studio, clients, school, and of course the gender of the baby. it was finally, and just ask kelly by what is meant by finally, our turn. we were taken to a room where the nurse rubbed some jelly on kelly’s belly (say that ten times fast) and began the ultrasound. kelly asked to use the restroom and the nurse said she just had to check one thing first that only took a few seconds. as the nurse was helping kelly off the table she asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby because in those few seconds she could tell. (later that day kelly would tell me she new it was a boy right then because the nurse knew so quickly. apparently boys are easier to spot. what’s that about?) kelly returned and over the next 30 to 45 minutes we got to see little jack from various angles. along with the joy, there was relief to know that everything was fine with our baby. it was overwhelming, to say the least, to see his little fingers, toes, and head. to hear his heartbeat. it was awesome.
okay, so what does this have to do with me grading projects 13 months later. as kelly and i were leaving the building i noticed this big smile. she turned to me and said “i sneaked a peek at jack’s report. i’m so proud of him. he got an A+.” I just had to smile and laugh. i looked at this proud mother to be and said “kelly, that’s jack’s blood type.”
thanksgiving
jack’s first thanksgiving was full of family, fun and food. nona and poppa arrived the sunday before and took care of a fair amount of the cooking, and eating for that matter. other than the traditional turkey meal that week jack also eat vietnamese, pizza, japanese noodles, and plenty of turkey leftovers. okay, maybe jack just had a few noodles, some pizza crust, bits of turkey, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and squash. on the tuesday before thanksgiving jack got to meet uncle sean for the second time, aunt angela, cousins aidan and jared for the first time. of course jack impressed them all with his box pushing, crawling, and grabbing abilities. for christmas jack is taking his one-man show to florida to visit the st.cyr family. now, where’s that johnny mathis christmas album.
crawling video
there’s been a lot more crawling in the house lately. and i’m not just talking about kelly and i crawling along the bathroom floor due to a nasty stomach flu. jack’s been crawling all over the place and he’s pretty fast. thus rilla has become a little quicker on her feet. check out the video.
what a day
with all that has happened to jack today he still remains cheerful and smiley. the day started off around 4am when kelly awoke to find that jack had spit up (that’s baby-speak for vomited, puked, blow chunks, etc.). we called that doctor just to be safe. the nurse said he seemed fine but just to keep an eye on him for the day. we did. and he was fine until later that morning around 10am when he wiped-out while trying to push himself up on a plastic container. fell right on his forehead. how do i know it was bad? to those of you without kids or who have never experienced a child in pain the sign of real pain is when the kid starts to cry (eyes squinting, mouth wide open. stiff arms) and nothing comes out of his mouth for a few seconds. ouch! it woke up kelly from her nap that she was enjoying upstairs. there’s nothing like a hug from mom to ease the pain. the afternoon was pretty uneventful until around 6:30pm when kelly and i were eating dinner and jack was playing in the kitchen. he crawled into the bathroom doorway and let out a cry that signified that something was not right again. as kelly stood up to get a closer look she noticed a bee carcass lying on the bathroom floor. the bee had stung jack in the hand. it got a little puffy so we decided to give him a bath to settle him down and now he’s back to being content playing in the livingroom with the train set that cousin tanner sent him. thanks tanner. another day almost over. thousands more to go.