Christmas Wrapup

I've been a terrible blogger lately. But here's the lowdown on the past couple of weeks or so since I've blogged last.

Christmas was great. Jackson was way excited about the Christmas tree, which we actually made sure to put up a couple of weeks before the big day. He spent a lot of time admiring the ornaments and removing a few from the tree. Luckily I kept the non-breakable "sacrificial" ornaments at his level. Also over the past couple of weeks, Jackson has decided that he will not be called "Jack", but he is "Jackson". I have been calling him "Jack" for almost three years now, so it's a bit of an adjustment. But it's his name, and I'm respecting his feelings on the matter.

We discovered the source of Tucker's constant chewing. Two teeth arrived just in time for Christmas, while we were at their Granna and Pa's house (my inlaws). Jackson got a tractor for Christmas from them, as well as other goodies. Unfortunately he won't get on it yet. "It's scary." But he's fascinated with it and I am sure by spring, when we have some good weather, he'll want to be on this all the time:

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Christmas morning and day was toy overload. We could hardly get them (Jackson primarily) to eat or sleep for all the new toys. In our attempts to expand his interests beyond all-things-auto, Jackson got a castle Christmas morning:

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Of course, the next day cars had managed to defeat the knights to take ownership of the castle.

Jackson was more than happy to help Tucker unwrap and play with his gifts.

Happy 2007 everyone!

Especially for Laura...

And for those of you who, like me, were guinea pigs to "Channel One" in high school, watching the likes of Anderson Cooper, Lisa Ling and Serena Altschul (sp?) make their debuts to "news", this might be a little interesting.

The Southern Gentleman

Heard while Jack was playing with a toy (ornament) airplane and toy (ornament) dump truck. The dump truck had just given the airplane a ride:

Airplane: Thank you.
Truck: You're welcome.

'Cuz it's midnight and what else am I going to do, sleep?

You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

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Chillin' at my Folks

I should be going to bed, but thought I'd take this opportunity for a quick post.

First a quick kiddo update - Tucker went to the doctor for his 4 mo. checkup, weighing in a 16.1 lbs! He's now 75th percentile in both height and weight, so good and proportional. He's doing great.

A's at a conference in Virginia all this week, so the kiddos and I are at my folks' house since they only live an hour away, and live closer to my office than I do too. One week without another adult around would just be too much. Anyway, Tucker and Jack are having a great time being spoiled, but not without incident. They've both been "Mr. Late Night Party" for several nights now, and finally both of them went to bed decently tonight (our 4th night here). Additionally, we had to remove the baby gate yesterday, as Jack pushed against it too hard and fell down two steps, scaring the h-e-double hockey sticks out of me and him (I've since read online that those gates are really only guaranteed until about 24 mos.).

We talked about it this morning, Jack and I, as I wanted to be sure he was aware that the gate is down, and that he needs to be more careful around the stairs.

Me: Jack, remember yesterday? How you fell on the stairs?
Jack (ticked off look of concentration).
Me: Papaw took the gate down. So be careful around the stairs, OK?
Jack: I cryin'.
Me: Baby, I know you cried. It scared me too.

Making Peace with Tinky Winky

OK, so Jack loves the Teletubbies.

I've never been a fan. They're just plain weird with the laughing baby in the sun. And forget any shred of educational value. Add to something I read months back (can't find the article now) of a link between Teletubbies and language delays (thank goodness Jack is about a year ahead of where he's supposed to be), and I'd rather not watch them.

But I've made my peace. They REALLY make Jack laugh, and as with all things on the tube, this will be a phase and within a few weeks he probably won't care for them.

I've decided they're the toddler equivalent to Weekend at Bernie's. No value whatsoever, just a dumb laugh. And laughing is never a bad thing. So I guess I can abide Tinky Winky until Jack's over it.