Thursday, May 27, 2010

Toddler Bed

A few weeks ago Jack decided that cribs were for babies and he wouldn't get in his anymore! That decision came just a few days after I'd asked him if he was going to get a new big boy bed and share his crib with his baby brother. He didn't say much when I asked him that night, but clearly, he thought about it. His big boy bed has been ordered for months and just hasn't come in yet so his timing was less than perfect. Knowing Jack, we didn't really want to deal with two transitions so we planned to skip the toddler bed phase all together and go straight from crib to big boy bed. But...since he staged his protest about 3 weeks before the delivery of the big boy bed, we were left without many options! The toddler bed seemed necessary, so he and Kenny set to work disassembling the crib...





He fell in love right away - oh the freedom of getting in and out of bed all by yourself!



He immediately started diving out head first!



Then much jumping ensued...(forgive the lack of sound, we didn't have the right camera handy)!



It was really bittersweet for both Kenny and me. As we stood there looking at this bed it seemed so obvious how big he really is and how small he really isn't. It all went so fast! What happened to our baby? We're excited for him of course, and looking forward to starting over with Jack's little brother, but still, our baby is turning into a big boy SO fast!

As for sleeping in it...well...it's not gone that great. I thought he'd get up a lot and wander around, but he doesn't at all. If he wakes up, he still yells for one of us and waits in bed until we get there. But I guess he lost some sense of security with the crib because if he wakes up he can't seem to put himself back to sleep without one of us sitting with him....in the "rocket" chair! He did roll out a few times, but just as the books all said, after a few nights of that, he did seem to figure out how to not do that anymore! The new bed arrives this weekend and that will be yet another adventure! A whole double bed to roll around in and jump on! Let's just hope he doesn't try and dive head first off of that one!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

A trip to the farm

A few weekends ago we piled in the car and went to Orange to visit with the Higginbothams and their animals! Jack has been in love with animals his entire life really but a few weeks prior we went to the Berry Farm and got to ride on a tractor, which sparked a love of all things farming.

Ansley and Page have a really cool donkey named Gisele!



She let Jack brush her and was so patient and calm with him. Thanks Gisele!



Jack spotted a tractor pretty quick and he and Kenny jumped in to explore a little bit.





Then we took a ride on the Gator to see what other animals we could find...



COWS! Look at those cute babies! It was really hot and they weren't moving out of the shade for anything, but we had fun watching them anyway.



It's really neat for Jack to get to see animals in their real environments. He wasn't scared at all, just curious!



Jack and Daddy went in for a closer look while the expectant mothers stood back and gabbed a bit! :)! Fun for all!



Thanks Ansley and Page for a wonderful day! We can't wait to get back and are looking forward to so much more fun to come with baby boy Higginbotham to share in it with us!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Cuteness

Our computer broke and it took a little bit to figure out how to recover things and buy a new one and all of that, so forgive the ridiculously long stretch of no posting.



Two has certainly brought its share of frustration with "NO!" and "I do it" arguments being quite frequent, but it also has raised the bar on cuteness! There is just nothing cuter than a toddler trying to express himself (at least when he's using his word and not a tantrum)!

Jack knows the word instruments. But says it inamints. I attribute this to Miss Elva, his music teacher at school that he LOVES. She only comes on Wednesday mornings and when you want Jack up and moving out the door on Wednesday morning, all you have to do is mention her name and he's ready to go!

Jack likes to play "guess animals" in the car. This involves you both naming every animal you can think of. He made this game up all on his own, at least as far as we know.

When Jack doesn't have clothes on, he says he's "naken!" The other morning on the way to school, two men were running across the Nickel Bridge without shirts on. Jack exclaimed "Look Momma, two nakens!"

He's got his colors down, except red. I don't know what the hang up is with this one. He often calls it yellow. He's doing better with it though, every day we see a little improvement.

Since taking the side off the crib so that he can get in and out of bed, he wants someone to stay with him for a few minutes after we read books to go to sleep. He wants that person to sit in the "rocket chair." That's rocking chair to the rest of us.

He thought the Arts in the Park flags on Douglasdale were birthday cakes.

They are in fact pots full of paint brushes, but birthday cake isn't that big of a stretch!

He is obsessed with dinosaurs. It happened instantly after watching ONE episode of Dinosaur Train. Grandma bought him a stuffed T-Rex (which Jack can say very well and it's really cute) which he did try and share with the baby (by pushing the T-Rex into my belly), we think. He could have been trying to get the T-Rex to eat his little brother. We can't be entirely sure.

When Jack wants you to pick him up he says "carry you!" We reinforce that it's "carry me" every time but he refuses to change.

Jack knows the difference in numbers and letters. If he sees words or letters, he will start randomly naming any letters he knows. The same goes when he sees numbers. He can always pick out Q and X though. Counting continues to develop. It started with everything being 5, 6, 10. Now he knows how to recognize 2 things and then moves on to 4,5, 6, 10.

I often say "oh goodness" instead of "oh my gosh" or "oh no". Jack has started to say "goodness" too. He also will say "Whoa Nelly" and "Bonk!" They all make me laugh, a lot!

When Jack wakes up in the morning, even though he could leave his room and come find us, he just yells for one of us and waits. When you get there, he's gathered up his blanket, lion, t-rex and cow pillow and wants to take them all to our bed where we all lie around and wake up a little bit together.

Jack's always trying to feed his dinosaur or animal toys and stuffed animals. Sometimes he'll even try and get them to take his medicine for him! It's nice he wants to share I guess. Here's a picture of him with all of his puzzle pieces lined up and one Nilla wafer offered to each one...





Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Jack's going to have a little...

BROTHER!!

Two boys...!...I'm definitely outnumbered but if this one is anywhere near as amazing as Kenny and Jack, I'll be the luckiest girl in all the world!

He looks healthy and seems to have all the expected parts in all the right places, so we are very thankful and feel so fortunate. He was lying across my belly, looking at my back and wouldn't flip over so the ultrasound tech couldn't get all the images of his heart and umbilical cord that she needed, so we'll get another peek at him in a couple of weeks. She doesn't think anything is wrong, just couldn't see what she needed to. He weighed in at 12 ounces and we got to see him move his little mouth. I think he was trying to tell us hi! :)!

We didn't get great pics. Hopefully next time he'll be more cooperative, but here's a great picture of a leg made for kicking...



We can't wait to meet him in September!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Flying Squirrels

Richmond has a new baseball team, the Flying Squirrels, and Friday night my co-workers and Kenny and Jack and I all went to check them out! We didn't have high expectations for Jack to cooperate for very long, but it seemed he really enjoyed it and we stayed until almost 9:00! He watched the game and ate peanuts and looked all over for squirrels!









He seems to have picked up on the whole idea of hitting a ball with the bat. He's not quite ready for the majors yet...but it's a start!

Mail!

The other day when we got home from school, there was a very special delivery waiting at the door for Jack...





A ball, mailed to Jack! It would always be fun to get a ball in the mail, but somehow it is even more fun when the ball has the postage applied right to it and the address written right on it!



Who knew you could even do that? That O'Donnell clan is always thinking of the cutest ideas! We love you guys!

Little helper

Jack loves nothing more than being outside and this time of year brings plenty of opportunity! Sometimes though we have to do a little work while we're out there...and Jack's always glad to help out!

Whether it's helping Daddy with the trash...





or moving a little mulch around...





or digging up dead plant roots...



or doing a little raking...







he's your guy! He's not for hire just yet - we still have a lot of work to be done around here, but we'll let you know when he's available!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Easter

We had a great Easter! It was one of the most beautiful weekends Richmond has ever seen I think and we took advantage of it! We went to Maymont's Easter Egg hunt on Saturday and searched for one of the 100 eggs hidden among their 100 acres. We didn't find any eggs, but enjoyed the park, as always. We really can't get enough of Maymont and are so fortunate to be so close to such a Richmond treasure. Every afternoon, on the way home from school, as we pass the entrance, Jack points and says "That way Momma, go barn!" and then cries from there until we get home because we couldn't go. While the park is open until 7, the barn closes at 5. Jack's not quite got the grasp of time yet and doesn't understand why the animals have already gone to bed before dinner!



He loves the eagle exhibit and we finally convinced him to check out his wingspan. He's got a ways to go before he can fly I think.



Jack also got to try his first snow cone that day. He liked it pretty well...



Easter morning we went to Grams and Gramps' house for breakfast and an egg hunt! There were books to be read (no trip to Grams and Gramps' is complete without a reading of Dear Zoo!)...



and peeps to eat...



and eggs to find...









and hide and find again...









and holes to dig...





and plenty of smiles to go around!





Like father, like son...when Kenny is thinking or working on something, he often looks just like this...with his tongue sticking out a bit.



and clearly like mother, like son...Jack also takes after me and tends to put his hands on his hips when he's trying to figure something out!



Jack really loved egg hunting. He had a little egg hunt at school the Friday before Easter so he was ready to go on Sunday! I think he would have hunted them all day. He really concentrated hard and didn't give up. He didn't quite grasp the concept that real eggs break when you aren't careful with them, but that was ok!

Digging holes is his new favorite activity, thanks to Gramps! As I type this, he's digging a hole with a shovel in a bowl of dried macaroni because it's just too early to go outside and dig one. He just thinks digging in the dirt is the most fun ever!

We sure hope the Easter bunny was good to you and that you are all enjoying this beautiful Spring weather!