Jack & Spencer's World

The title of this post is completely misleading - I never watched this show when it was on MTV (I'm pretty sure that we didn't even have cable tv when this show was on). And, I do not like the kind of music that was featured on said show. That said, it's a perfect description of what happens when our little ones get very tired or frustrated. Jack used to do this when he was under one. He would get upset and then sit on the floor and bang his forehead on the floor -- hard. It seriously freaked me out - especially when he did it on the hardwood floors. All I could think was that he was causing irreparable damage to his brain and that child services would somehow know and come knocking at my door. I was hoping that this habit would skip Spence since we hadn't seen him do this to date. But alas, I watched him do a slow version of this move this evening. Poor little guy was so tired that he started plopping his head on the floor. Fortunately, we were in the boys' roo...

One of today's projects at NY Kids Club was a self portrait. Jack's turned out pretty nice. One interesting note: Jack refers to it as "spots" which I suppose comes from the spots he used to create the eyes and nose.

As you've read in previous posts, I'm working to get the boys sleeping in the same room together. So far, it's going ok. Nights are better than naps, but we're getting there. Tonight, Spence went down around 7:15 and Jack went into the room around 8:10. Even though we were super quiet, Spence sat up in bed as soon as Jack and I entered the room. I'm thinking, great - both boys are awake - it could take forever for them to get back to sleep. Jack started talking and singing. Spencer was responding as well as laying back down in his crib (he's was clearly very tired). Justin and I went in a couple of times trying to Jack to lower the volume and really stop talking altogether. After about 20 minutes, I went in again and asked Jack to be quiet. Within a minute of my leaving, he's talking and Spence is starting up with his loud "wah wah wah". (it's not crying, just a sound). I realize that Jack isn't just talking, but has picked up Spencer...

The ABC's have become an even more important part of our life. For whatever reason, Spence loves hearing the ABC's sung. It (mostly) calms him when eating, taking medicine, or just fussing in general. The great part is that Jack can participate. He will sing along with me at night which is oh so precious. It will be interesting to see if Spence picks up the ABC's as quickly as Jack did.

This evening while cleaning up after dinner, Justin was keeping Jack engaged by going through the alphabet and matching letters to their sounds and words. Here's how the first four went - according to Jack. A is for apple. B is for basement. C is cat. D is for Dunkin Donuts. You'd think we have one near us, but we don't. Of course, we do have a McDonald's near us and for whatever reason, Jack calls McDonald's "Dunkin Donuts". Ah, the mind of a 2.5 year old!

Just realized that I posted a picture of my cat cleaning his bum...didn't even realize what he was doing! Oh well. :)

Today, my best friend, Rachel, gave birth to her first baby! Welcome Michael Louis Savage Bednarz! We can't wait to meet you! Rachel - welcome to the wonderful world of motherhood. You're going to be great! Michael and Rachel, aka: Proud new mom. First close-up Michael and Michael. Proud Dad, beautiful son.

After tubs last night, Jack hung out in his extra large green monster towel. He really hammed it up for the camera.

I'm totally jinxing myself...regardless, I had to post. It's 8:07 pm, Tuesday, February 7, 2012. Spence was asleep by 7:15. Jack was in bed IN THE SAME ROOM, by 7:40. IT WAS QUIET BY 8 PM!!!!! To catch you up, this is the first night in a while that I've tried putting both boys in the room together for the night. Spence has had a variety of "bedrooms": 1) co-sleeper in the foyer by the kitchen, 2) mini-crib in our room, 3) mini-crib in my closet, 4) now, the big crib in the boys' room. Recently, Jack's sleeping situation has also changed. Since he came home from the hospital, Jack has been in his room (now his and Spence's room) in the big crib. We moved him to the toddler bed in October - a move that he loved (big phew from us). At the beginning of this year, we moved his mattress into our room. He's slept there most of this year while Spence adjusted to the big crib and worked to sleep through the night. Fortunately, Jack was a trooper and ...

This is our view of Spence now - constantly in motion...and he LOVES it!! He crawls around the house chasing the cats or a knocking a ball around and giggles, giggles, giggles. It's just precious!

This afternoon after the boys were up from their naps, we headed out to enjoy the end of a nice day. I asked Jack where he wanted to go as we were waiting by the elevator. His response was the zoo. I said that the zoo may be closed. Jack quickly and softly said, "it may be open". The optimism and sweetness in that single statement warmed my soul. As a post script, the zoo closed right as we arrived. Instead, we went to FAO Schwartz. Jack was wide-eyed the entire time we were there and he left with Woody and Rex figures from Toy Story. All around a great afternoon!!