Little man update / Fall

I know it’s been a bit since my last update.  The reason I have not updated in awhile is the same reason Little Man has so many daddy guilt gifts lately.  A daddy guilt gift is when dad has been traveling and away so much feeling guilty for not being around and buys a gift. 

Just before I had to leave on one of the many trips recently, Jynx was heading to fill in on Aunt Jea Jea’s bowling team.  I was not planning on going with but we were told that John, one of the regulars that   watch his sister Amy, was going to be there.  John is fond of Jame and just cleaned out a friend’s house and we were told he had a few toys for him.  He had his car stuffed with toys including a robot and a mountain construction set with a crane.  The robot is great and I think every little boy should have his own robot.

Little Man is doing great just growing way to fast.  We are continuing with the speech therapy.  The therapist tells us he is very advanced in everything (probably why he was potty trained before he was 2) expect for the speech.  I was able to be home for one of the sessions, he had just received a new truck from John and when the therapist was over he noticed a screw on the truck. He pointed and ran into his bedroom grabbed his toolbox, opened it up and looked through it and grabbed the right flathead screwdriver to fit the screw.  Needless to say I did not let him disassemble the truck but we were both amazed. The words do seem to be coming.  We get the lk from milk, Dog, Oww and he still says the word train but without moving his lips.

Friday September 30, 2011 was our now annual trip to Great America’s Fright Fest.  Our good friends get us in on this private party at Fright Fest the night before it opens.  This year Little Man was actually tall enough to go on a few of the adult rides with a supervising adult.  Not only was he tall enough but they also said that I qualified as a supervising adult (LOL).  We were trying to convince Little Man to go on what looked like a version of the scrambler but he kept shaking his head no until I asked if he wanted to go on those cars then we couldn’t hold him back.  After a quick measurement we were onto the first car and he climbed right in.  I sat there the first few minutes before the ride and started wondering if this was a good idea.  What if he started vomiting?  How do I handle that, do I just keep yelling sorry to all the other people on the ride?  The ride started out slowly and a smile grew on his face as a car moved along and then they ramped up the speed.  As we whipped passed the other cars in Scrambler style, I looked down at Little Man whose mouth suddenly opened wide and a huge laugh came out of his mouth.  Little Man loved the ride and laughed the entire time.  Later that night, we took him on the big tea cups.  Once again Little Man ran in and jumped right in and stated pounding on the wheel like a drum.  Once the ride started, he laughed but then in Fright Night fashion the lights went out and a light show started with strobes and lasers, he was in simple awe of all the lights and sounds that now filled the room.  Fright Night wore him out and we headed to the car with Little Man asleep in his wagon.

Sunday we headed to church some place we had not been to in a while due to hectic schedules.  Our church was having service with several other churches and the service was different as each church had their choir sing and the choirs were definitely taking it up a notch.  Little Man loved the music and even started patting his hands along with the bongo player in one of the songs.  He also now claps at the end of the songs and even at the end of movies now.

Halloween is quickly approaching and since I’ve started writing this post a lot has happened.  We had our annual Homecoming and bonfire.  It was a great success, we carved a trail though the woods around our house, the driveway was repaved, we rented a bounce house from a neighbor and I we even resurrected the Haunted Hunt.  Little Man dressed up as a train engineer and spent a good part of the night in the bounce house with the other children. He also enjoyed scarring people by saying, BOOO! The Haunted Hunt was great fun just to sit back and watch the teams struggle along from clue to clue, only at the end to tell us how much fun it was.

We made what I truly hope is our annual trip to County Line Orchard for pumpkins.  We met Baley and her parents Wendy and Duane, and the kids were filled with excitement.  The Corn Maze was a bit muddy but we got enough of it before we discovered an exit from the maze to the pumpkin patch.  The kids love trying to pick up the pumpkins and it makes for some great pictures.  Little Man did okay with the pumpkins but was more interested in the tractors, pulling wagons of people around the orchard.  Once the tractor headed our way there was no stopping him from jumping on and heading up to the front to watch the tractor. 

 Little Man’s close second favorite was the Moo Choo, a train made from barrels painted like cows and pulled around the orchard with of course, a tractor. I wasn’t sure we would be able to get him off the Moo Choo.  After getting him off the Moo Choo we headed over to the petting zoo, where he was extremely excited to feed the goats and the cows and he loved seeing the other animals but they meant nothing, once he saw the toy tractors to play on.  As we headed out the kids once again had fun playing around all the pumpkins they had for sale and of course, I started snapping pictures again.  I had over 2,000 photos to go through by the time we left.  I don’t think we made it down the street from the orchard when he fell asleep dreaming of all the fun we had.  Just when I think this whole dad thing has been great we have a day like we did at the orchard and it gets even better.  I can hardly wait for Halloween and trick or treating.

Birthday Number TWO!

Here we sit with all the celebrations over, and our Little Man is now TWO!  I think we did his second birthday proud.  On his actual birthday we had a small celebration dinner at his favorite restaurant then about a week and a half later a huge birthday bash.

On Little Man’s birthday we headed for his birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant, Tyler’s Tender.  We can hardly contain him as we pull into the parking lot and he notices where we are; all his focus is on getting inside, then he runs around not sure where to go first.  We had a nice dinner and Little Man tore into his gifts.  He loved all his gifts but I think his favorite was his toolbox with a hammer and some play nails to pound.  The next hard part was convincing Little Man to leave Tyler’s Tender.

We spent every spare minute in the next day’s planning and getting ready for Little Man’s party.  Additions to his play set, a sand box, cleaning up the yard and house, and that was only the start.  Then a phone call from Auntie Jea Jea who was passing through Rensselaer, IN and thought she saw a train sandbox but it was actually a train bed.  Of course we wanted it and Little Man loved it.

The day of the party Little Man seemed a bit overwhelmed as guest after guest started to show up.  The grill fired up and hot dogs and hamburgers began to fly off the grill and from time to time I was able to catch a glimpse of Little Man enjoying his day.  I finally was able to take a break from the grill and grab a quick bite, when some guests started saying their goodbyes.  OH NO! You’re not going anywhere until we hit the piñata and sing Happy Birthday!  We got the piñata festivities started, I wasn’t too sure how Little Man would take to hitting a Lightning McQueen piñata but he got right into beating his cartoon hero with a baseball bat.  Each kid got a turn until it fell to the ground one last time and we let them beat open the piñata on the ground.  Next was the cake, a huge monster of a cake with Thomas the train on top.  At some point Little Man had stuffed a piece of candy into his mouth and when he went to blow out the candles, drool came out of his mouth and right down onto the cake.  Everyone had a great laugh.  Little Man finished blowing out the candles then reached for Thomas who he tried to push on the tracks made of icing.

Hard to believe it has been two years since our race down to Florida but what a great two years.  Funny, how we can’t seem to imagine our lives now without him.  Happy Birthday Little Man. We love you so much!

One Down, One to go

I was in the middle of craziness; covering political madness in Minneapolis when my phone buzzed with a text message.  I reached down and grabbed my phone to view the message, I was assuming it was from our producer telling us to get out of there, but it wasn’t.  It was a text message from Auntie Jea Jea “Hey Rog Big guy pooped in the potty.”  All the screaming and yelling around me seemed to melt away as I read the message.  Little Man had just taken one small poop but one giant poop towards potty training.

Thomas the Train potty seat, the truck toilet that makes a start up engine sound when you pee in it, did not compare to simply putting him on a regular toilet seat backwards so he faces the tank. He was able to get a better look at his accomplishments when pooping and peeing. Now he will occasionally want to look at his train magazines while he sits on the toilet normally.  Since the first time he used the toilet he has been wearing underwear during the day and a pull up at night.  We have had a few mistakes, but for the most part, he has made it through with a dry pull up in the morning.

Now I do find it humorous that he is potty trained and yet still not saying much of anything.  When we tell friends of his accomplishment they all tell us how great that is for a not quite 2 year old and for a boy at that.  We are still working on the talking but it is not coming easy, we do our best to get him to ask for things but he always seems to find a way to let us know without talking.  Just this morning, he saw me getting a drink and he wanted some and I knew it, but wanted him to ask.  I waited for him to ask, but instead he walked over to the cabinet where his Sippy cups are kept and he opened up the cabinet, like there was not even a child safety lock on it and brought me not only the cup but the right lid for it as well.  DOH! 

We took Little Man to the Drive-In to see the new movie, Cars 2.  We loaded into the Jeep with the top down, stopped off to pick up a pizza.  Little Man was able to have some pizza, walk around and played with other kids.  When the movie started he sat on my lap and was fixed on the screen as we watched Mater, Lighting McQueen and Pit Stop.  Okay, Pit Stop is my favorite.  He soon started to move around a bit and found his way to his little chair and eventually started walking closer and closer to the screen while holding the chair to his butt.  The movie had to start late because of waiting for the sun to go down and he made it through the movie but was tired after it was over.  The Drive-In lived up to our expectations and we reminisced about when we were first dating and would go to the Drive In.  I’m hoping the Lakeshore Drive-In in Monticello, Indiana is around for years to come,  so that Little Man will one day love the Drive-In as much as we have.              

Off the Yellow Brick Road and on the train

Goodbye yellow brick road; the Wizard of Oz room served us well and one day it will be resurrected again.  The Yellow brick road now has a train track that carries Thomas the Train.  Even though Little Man didn’t seem to mind the Wizard of Oz, we felt it was time for him to have a room that suited him more. Mom was a trooper as she helped pack up all of her Wizard of Oz treasures all for her little Jame Jack.   He now points and smiles at all the pictures of trains that now cover his room and he gets very excited when we hit the train horns on the soundboard I installed in his room.  We even changed the curtain hangers to Rail Road crossing signs.  The room is not finished yet but it seems more like Little Man’s room now.

Little Man’s other love is cars, including the movie Cars and my Jeep that he thinks is his play toy that I get to borrow.  Since we had a hot day, I decided it was time to switch tops on the Jeep but also thought it would be fun to have Little Man out there when I did.  He took right to the hose and started to play with the water and by the end of the wash he was completely soaked but laughing.  I think he had as much fun as we did watching him.  As Jynx gave him a bath and changed him I put his car seat in the back of the Jeep with the top off.  We left later for Grandpa Jim and Grandma Rosie’s house to help them move some furniture.  Little Man wasn’t too sure of the open Jeep at first but then he quickly got used to it.

The move went quickly and Grandpa Jim and I walked Little Man over to the train station to see a train but no luck today, we seem to be on the wrong side for the Metra trains arriving and the freight didn’t come through.  When we arrived back at the house Jynx had started transplanting a few plants and needed the watering can.  Little Man jumped right in helping carrying the watering can and wanted to water every plant in the yard including an empty pot. 

As we headed for home Little Man climbed right up the side of the jeep and into his seat.  He sat back there on the trip home looking over the new train magazines he got from Grandpa Jim.  I glanced back and Little Man fell asleep out in the open air of the Jeep probably dreaming of trains and cars.

National Train Day

Little Man’s love for trains seems to grow as fast as he does.  I’m not sure at this point how much longer I’ll be able to refer to him as Little Man before he starts calling me that.  Our lives have been on quite a roller coaster lately but that’s life.

Jynx has been busy with her cousin Bobby who passed away the other day from Cirrhosis of the liver.  It was a bumpy ride and we will miss Bobby who passed at the young age of 54.  During this time, Jynx has been spending time with Bobby’s parents, Bob and Dorothy, who have enjoyed seeing Little Man and have named themselves Grandparents, we had a good chuckle over the number of grandparents he now has.

Little Man started holding his head like he had a headache, so much so, that we decided to call the doctor.  We took him to his pediatrician who informed us once again that we are raising a giant; Little Man is in the 98 percentile for his height.  She recommended that he see an optometrist to see if everything was okay.  We also asked the Doctor about his lack of talking and what we could do about this.  I know everyone tells us not to worry and when he does start talking a lot we will wish he never started but I do want to get to that point.  The doctor recommended a program called First Steps but they cannot evaluate him for some time yet.  Jynx took him to the optometrist who after learning that his birth mom wore glasses asked to see the adoption certificate.  Yes, we thought that was strange as well.  After the examination, the doctor’s advice was to try and wash his eyelashes.  Wash his eyelashes?  Think we may need to find a new optometrist.  Now Little Man has all but stopped touching his head like he has a headache, we are thinking it was possibly a dog hair or something in his eye.

I received an e mail from Little Man’s great Uncle Brett about National Train Day at Union Station.  Who knew there was a National Train Day?  Of course we had to take him.  We arrived at Union Station and started down those famous steps the words, “I’m not sure exactly where this is at.” Just left my mouth when we saw the massive crowd and knew we had found it.  Not exactly sure what was going on we made our way over and found ourselves in line to tour an Amtrak train.  Little Man was in amazement as we headed down to the tracks and he saw the huge trains.  He could hardly wait to jump up on the train and start our tour.  The only bad part was there is not a lot of room on the train and you are in a single file line for too long for a child that is not quite two.  We did our best to sit every once in a while and kept him entertained.  After we got out of the modern Amtrak, the line then lead us to an older train that we decided to pass on for lunch.

After lunch we headed over to the other trains, once again not exactly sure what we were going to see.  This time we found ourselves on another Amtrak train that gave us a forty five minute ride and tour of the train yard.  Little Man’s eyes lit up as the train surged ahead taking us out of the station and on to a nearby bridge.  The train rumbled back and forth and he pointed out every train in the yard with a big smile on his face.  After forty five minutes and learning exactly where our stimulus dollars went, the train returned to the station.

We started to head back to the car but gave little man a moment to play on those famous Union Station steps and of course I had to take a few photos.  I have been buying hard drives to store all the photos, I now seem to be taking.  I don’t think Little Man was awake when we left the parking garage, hopefully dreaming of all the big and shiny trains he got to see.  For Jynx and me, it was a good distraction from all the stress that life had been handing us.  I know God won’t give us anything he doesn’t think we can handle; I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.   

Easter 2011

Wow, what a crazy but great Easter.  We had so much to do and so little time but it was great fun.  Little man is at the age now where holidays are becoming fun to spend time with him.  Little man got some quality time with the Easter Bunny and he was a bigger hit than Santa.

A few days before Easter, the Bunny stopped by our house to say hello to Little Man.  When he walked Little Man was unsure at the sight of this huge bunny standing inside the house.  Already it was a big improvement from Santa since he didn’t run out of the room crying.  Little Man walked up and gave the bunny five, but still a bit unsure, we walked over to a chair to see if we could take a few pictures.    The Easter Bunny sat down but he was still unsure until he glanced over to see the picture with him and the Easter Bunny from last year.  His face light up and he pointed with a big smile, the Easter Bunny was golden.  We placed him on the Bunny’s lap and started taking pictures.  After the pictures the bunny went to leave and little man waved goodbye, much to my surprise he ran to the backdoor to see where the bunny went.

The next day we decided to color Easter eggs.  Jynx got a fancy new system to color the eggs, they were q tips filled with dye and when you snapped the end it filled the cotton with the dye.  I went with the traditional method of dye tablets in the cups.  I’m not sure what happened but the dye in the cups did not work too well.  Jynx’s q-tips were a big hit and little man loved using the q-tips to color the eggs.  He made a good mess of himself and the eggs and required a bath that night.

Easter Morning and I was up getting things ready when Little Man woke up, came out and saw the new Cars pajamas the Easter Bunny had brought for him.  He let out a big gasp and ran over to them he looked then quickly ripped them down, I saw pieces of the hanger fly in the air.  Jynx heard the noise and came to help him open the rest of his basket.  Every time he pulled out a matchbox car, he wanted it opened immediately.  Matchbox cars, Thomas Pez, bubbles, bunny and duck candy dispensers, pajamas and peeps are what the bunny brought for little man.  First thing in the morning and already Easter was one of the best.

We got Little Man dressed and headed out for church.  Little Man was very excited at church, I’m sure he had an idea this was a special day.  He was also fascinated by all the butterflies hanging in the sanctuary.  He was very good during church he stayed awake for the passing of the peace and the choir songs but quickly fell asleep during the sermon.  After church the kids went outside for the egg hunt, it was a beautiful day for the egg hunt.  Jame quickly got into the hunt and soon started putting eggs not only into his basket but other kid’s baskets as well.  Little Man got a bit of help from the Easter Bunny during the hunt and took time to thank the bunny with several hugs. 

We arrived home and started to get ready for Easter dinner, Little Man went to play with his new matchbox cars.  As family and friends arrived little man got more Easter gifts all that needed to get out of the package as soon as possible.  He got a Tonka truck from Grandma Rose and Grandpa Jim; it was great to see the Tonka truck was still made out of metal.  He quickly removed everything from the table to give the new truck a spin, soon after the matchbox cars were loaded in the back of the truck for a ride.  He got a block train from his Great Uncle Brett that once again quickly required taking everything off the table so the train could get a proper test. 

At the end of the day he was happy to get into his new Cars pajamas but fought going to sleep since he had so many new toys to play with.  I’m not sure what I expected from this Easter, but with Little Man being so excited about the Bunny, the basket and the egg hunts, our future holidays are going to be great fun.

Easter Egg Hunt

We took Little Man to the town Easter egg hunt this weekend and he seemed to have a great time.  We rushed out of the house Saturday to the park only to wind up at the wrong park.  Doh!  I spun the minivan around and raced to the right park, I was convinced we would pull up to see a bunch of kids walking away from the hunt.  We arrived at the park to find and empty parking lot and a girl standing there in a raincoat who informed us the hunt had been rained out but it would be held at the same time tomorrow.

The next day came and we headed out early to the right park.  We arrived this time with plenty of time which was good since the parking lot was filling up quickly.  We were hoping to see the Easter Bunny just to see how Little Man would react to him but no sign of the Bunny.  We made our way to the two and under part of the hunt, which was located in the tennis courts.  The workers kindly asked us to stay along the fence.  HA!  Good luck keeping an almost two year old along a fence and away from a bunch of candy and plastic eggs blowing in the wind.  We were not alone in or struggle.

After several agonizing minutes of holding Little Man back the siren rang out and off he went.  Little man was not too sure at first but he quickly got the hang of it.  Our first priority was to get an egg; each child was allowed one egg that was turned in later to get a bunny sippy cup.  Little Man loved running around picking up the prizes which were mostly goldfish and cheerios.  He soon began to pick up the prizes and started to place them in other kids bags mostly girls.  As his Mom said “He likes the ladies.”  Of course I had to jump in quickly and remind him to put the treats into his basket.

Little Man finished the hunt and we stuck around for the raffle.  Number after number after number was called. I thought for sure we were going to be the only ones not winning a prize but our number was called and we think everyone got a prize and near the end they announced that if your number had not been called you could come up and they had bubbles for any children that were left.  Little Man fell asleep before we hit the car and took a nice nap.  Later that day he awoke to play with some of the toys and eat the candy from his great hunt.  I’m sure he enjoyed the day but I know we enjoyed the day just as much.