Jack & Spencer's World

This afternoon, Justin, who had taken the day off, checked his voicemail and found that he had seven messages. He felt really important until he listened to them and found that six were from Jack. Jack had had some free time with my phone this morning while we were waiting for his surgery. And that's my segue to the real story... Jack had minor surgery this afternoon. Everything went well. Jack is fine and in a deep sleep right now. He will be out of commission for a couple of days, but we expect him to be back to normal (well, really better than normal) in a week. This experience was a tough one. We knew it was coming and that it would be tough. Jack surprised us in that he was such a trooper even though he was hungry and tired. I took him into the operating room. It was hard to see him get upset at the new and slightly scary setting, but he was under anesthesia so quickly that even that part wasn't that hard. The most difficult part was in recovery. He was really really...

Articles are frequently written about the importance of a solid father figure in childrens' lives, especially for boys. Father figures help equip kids with invaluable skills. That said, I'd like to share pictures from one of the more enlightening learning experiences between Jack and Justin. I'm sure that these skills will pay off in spades in the coming years. :)            

Jack attends music classes offered by Music Together. It's one of his favorite activities each week. This Saturday, Music Together hosted a charity concert near us. We went with Niamh and Imy and their Mom  Lisa and Lila and her Mom Lori (who will now be known as the Ladies on 8 - because they all live there!). It was so fun! Jack recognized the music immediately. While he was initially distracted by pretzels, he was soon up in the aisle wiggling his little bum and smiling ear to ear. The girls soon joined him and we had a little dance-a-thon happening. In the middle of the concert, Jack and the girls went up front to be closer to the music. Jack watched the singers and musicians and was in awe. He just stood there with his egg shaker taking it all in. We're so glad that Jack loves music. The Music Together classes have exposed him to many different types of music and instruments. He has so much fun each week. I hope that Jack remains interested in music as he grows up.

Whenever someone would ask how is Spence sleeping during the first 10 or so weeks of his life, we would cautiously answer "really well". We were afraid that the sleep gods would hear us proclaim that he was regularly sleeping for 6-7 hours at a time (sometimes longer) and think that we were committing hubris. Even though we were careful with our words, we pissed off someone, somewhere. Spence has successfully and frequently reminded us that he is a baby and that the idiom "sleep like a baby" is complete hogwash. Good thing I blocked memories of Jack going through this phase! Now to get Spence over the hump!

On Saturday, September 10th, we celebrated Jack's Birthday with his friends here in NYC. Shhh...don't tell him that his birthday was a month ago. I figure I'll only be able to get away with belated birthday parties for a year or two. All week leading up to the party, I was worried about the weather. We had rain. Rain. Rain. And more rain. Planning to have a party outside was beginning to seem like a bad idea (especially with no back up location available). Fortunately, the weather cleared at the end of the week and allowed the ground to dry (some). With the concern about rain gone, we found the driest spot we could in the park and set up shop. Many of Jack's friends were able to attend. They all had a great time - lots and lots of giggling toddlers. These giggling toddlers also managed to find the less dry areas. Jack ended up covered in mud. He is such a boy! At the end of the party, Jack and his friends Jake and Lia started playing ring-around-the-rosie. It was so...