Really ?!?

Jack: "COW" (pointing at horse on TV)
Me: "No, that's a HORSE." (he knows the difference)
Jack: "ooks ika cow" (I swear it sounded like, "Looks like a cow")

Pizza Pizza!!!

We got to Jen and Chris's house on Sunday afternoon once the snow plows had managed to make their subdivision passable. They had decided to make pizzas for the Super Bowl (we still love you, Colts'). We had never had Chris's homemade, grilled pizzas before, but, let me tell you, I don't know if I've ever had a better pizza. It was awesome, and took some serious dedication on his part to shovel through the 30 inches and make a path to the grill (see below). The kids all got to have fun by making their own little pizzas. Jack was not incredibly interested in rolling the dough in a conventional way, but he managed to enjoy himself nonetheless.

(This was just after Round #1)

Its hard to see, but, in the background, you can see part of a pine tree, which is normally upright but had fallen over due to the weight of the snow.

Under the Weather

We really are 'under the weather'. More snow got dumped on us this morning, and in the other sense of the term, Jack has had a cold for 2 weeks and a mild fever for the last 3 days (I am pretty sure its an ear infection, we'll find out tomorrow at the doctor).

Anyway, the real point was, Jack isn't feeling stellar so we were having a post-nap cuddle on the couch watching Cars on the DVR. A little bit into it, he kept pointing at the couch saying 'car'. I kept telling him there were no cars over there...and offered him multiple other objects, to which he replied 'no' and kept saying 'car'. It had gone to a commercial, and I finally figured out that he was pointing to the remote, and telling me to put it back on the movie "Cars". His little brain never ceases to amaze me!

Vroom Vroom

I thought these were so cute of Jack the other day, and I wanted to get them on here even though I still have a ton of Baltimore pictures to add. Jack loves to go play behind the curtains. Usually its more to hide, we say 'Where's Jack?', and then he shows his face and giggles. On Saturday, I noticed he had been back there for awhile, so I peeked and this is what I found.

This, of course, brings me to my new obsession. Cars. Jack loves the movie 'Cars'. Its by far his favorite, and he even knows most of them by name:

Keen-Lightning McQUEEN

Kin-The King

Tik-Chick

Mone-Ramone

Sa-ee-Sally

Daa-Doc

Mader-Mater

Maa-Mack

Tak-tuh-Tractor

I started getting Jack a few of the characters whenever I saw them. Once Jack started playing with these Cars, he stopped playing with all his other little Matchbox cars, but I realized there were so many from the movie that aren't available anymore. I have spent the last 3 days finding most of them and bidding on ebay. Hopefully, they'll arrive this week.

I'm going to try to post all the pictures of our wonderful week in Baltimore with the Gesells tonight and/or tomorrow.

Thank you, Aunt Andrea!!

Unfortunately, the day we left for Philadelphia, my Aunt Andrea got a case of shingles, and we were unable to see her. She has met Jack once before, but we were still looking forward to spending some time with her. She (and I'm guessing Uncle Tom as well) got Jack this adorable little wooden xylophone. He loves it, and frequently tinkers away on it throughout the day. Thank you so much!!!

Philadelphia

We spent Friday morning thru Sunday afternoon at my Aunt Wendy's house...

My little cousin, Ellie

Her big brother, Michael

My Uncle Tom and cousin Katie

(Thank you so much, Wendy and Michael, for having us. It was so good to spend time with you all!)

Let's Try This Again

Last week we took a trip out east. We could not have possibly picked a worse week weather-wise if we had tried. The only time I've ever seen that much snow was in 6th grade when we took a trip through the mountains around Colorado. It definitely hindered our plans, but we managed to have a wonderful week spending time first with my family and then with Bob's sister and her family. Wendy had mentioned before we came that Michael and Jack might enjoy playing in the snow. I have to admit I was more than a little leary to attempt it again after the last time which was a nightmare. This time it went wonderfully. Jack had a blast, and, in fact, threw a temper tantrum when it was time to come inside. I am glad that they had so much fun outside, and I am certain that next year I will be on the ball getting some good snow attire for the winter.

Fireman...

Pouting

Mommy: "Jack, can you say I love you?"
Jack: "No."

P-O-T-T-Y

Jack just 'used' his little potty for the first time. I am certain that it was not intentional...but it's still a first. (We're not potty training whatsoever, but we keep his little potty in the bathroom, and he usually sits on it before his baths. We'll keep waiting to see more interest before we start to tackle that job!)

More Tidbits

This morning Jack and I ran errands in preparation for our trip out east--we leave Thursday night. When we went inside Best Buy, it was just going to be a quick trip, so I went without the stroller and sadly, they had no carts. I carried him because he's not a stellar hand-holder (he constantly tries to get away), but he kept telling me "e wanna wa"...I want to walk! Of course, if he's going to use words to express himself and not crazy arching, screaming tantrums, I'm going to oblige--but basically this just meant I set him down, and 30 seconds later was picking him up again when he tried to get away, he'd say he wants to walk, and repeat. We survived without a meltdown, though, and actually got what we came for. Progress!

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Out in public, Jack says 'HI' to every single person we pass. Which in many stores amounts to hi, hi, hi, hi, hi....hi...hi....

Its quite endearing to us, but its surprising how many people don't even turn their heads to that sweet little voice. He's so social, though, and even went so far as to initiate peek-a-boo with the couple behind us.

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Every time I went to get Jack out of his carseat today, when I'd open the back door, he'd look at me, raise a finger crookedly to his little mouth and go, 'Shhhhhhhhhhh' and giggle. How cute!!!

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(I'm trying to do more short little posts like this to remember all the little things Jack is saying and doing. I didn't do a conventional baby book, so for all intents and purposes, this is his baby book. So, sorry for some of the possibly boring little posts without pictures, but I know I'll be glad to have them in a few years!)

Jack: "Mama"
Me: "What?"
Jack: "Mommy"
Me: "What?"
Jack: "Mom"
Me: "What!?!"
Jack: "MOM"
Me: "WHAT????"
Jack: (grins and sucks his thumb)

Winter at the Zoo

These ducks don't fly south for the winter.

And, they are fearless.

And hungry.

So we fed them a bunch of Cheerios.

This little feller kept going under the stroller to find the stray Cheerios. He was the only one smart enough to get on the ground to catch all the ones the others didn't get.

I can't hear you...

The bears were at least visible...but they were both soundly sleeping.

Going to the zoo on a winter day in January is a surefire way to beat the crowds and get a stellar seat for the (lackluster) dolphin show. But if you go to the zoo to see the animals (as most do), you might be a tad disappointed since there are only a few of them out in the chilly weather. Jack, of course, enjoyed himself (especially the few times he tried to make an escape), and it wore him out just in time for his nap.