Arguments

Driving the cars at CiCi's...we dread the day that he realizes he's not really playing until you put money in.

Watching Wes shoot the bad guys...

At my Papa and Granny's....of course Jay would find the tractor first.

Driving the golf cart around with Aunt Charlene!

Picking grapefruits....Jay swore this was an apple tree.

As you can see, he is correcting me by yelling "apple tree!" after I told him to pick a grapefruit.

Running in the fields behind my grandparents house

Very proud to walk on the bridge.

Resting with Granny Curry

At Mom's house, playing in the rain

the face he gave Mimi when she told him to come in and shut the door...who do you think won that fight?

Trying to catch a kiss on camera but Jay was too fast.

He found this hat my dad bought in Alaska and wore it around all day....dad would have loved it.

bouncing on uncle kurt....so fun for Jay, so painful for kurt

"Airplane!!"

As you can tell, they had ball together

Quick grin to appease mama, just before going down the slide backwards.

Copying Kurt hit leaves with golf clubs. It was very serious work.

And we still can't go to Mimi's without getting into "papa rich's" karaoke box. Jay walked around with the headphones and microphone all week.

These are the pictures I have from our week in Georgia. Mom, why didn't we get any of you and Jay???  It was a great week with everyone. Jay had a blast, as usual. It took him a few days to get back to normal once we got home. He kept running to the door asking for random family members he had seen. When we were in the car, the conversation would go like this:

Jay: "go see Mimi?"
Me: "no jay, mimi is at her house."
Jay: "see turt?"
me: "no baby, turt is at work."
Jay: "see ornen?
me: "ornen is at his house honey"
Jay: "see papa tim?, ross?"
me: "they are at work too baby."
And I could go on and on until every person we saw was mentioned.

Since we've been back he has shown more of the infamous, "terrible twos." I was at my wits end today when Wes got home and had to force myself to not snap at every person I saw. As I told Wes today, it's not that Jay is bad or that we have "bad days" but he is just so freakin' argumentative!  We argue ALL day long, about everything from putting on shoes to what pajamas to wear at bedtime. And he is a persistent little thing so each argument is at least 10minutes long. And the time we waste arguing, while is no problem for him, completely interrupts my carefully planned out day. And if you know me, you know I like to stick to the schedule. So this week as been a lot of me trying to remind myself to keep my priorities in line and to be patient with my completely normal 2 year old.

Otherwise, there is nothing to report....seriously, the constant arguments take up all of our time. Oh, i will share a very embarrassing story from today. This morning I had to go to church with just Jay since Wes had to work. So you can imagine how stressful I was trying to get his stubborn little self out of the house, into the car, get all of the stuff we needed for church, and then back out of the car and into church before we were late. So my hands were full and I was trying to keep a death grip on his hand so he wouldn't run out in front of a car in the parking lot. We were almost at the building and I dropped something. Jay, knowing I was acting crazy was closely watching me. Without thinking I yelled out, "Shoot!" and immediately jay followed. The whole way down the sidewalk, through the doors, pass the nice men who were welcoming us, down the hall to his classroom, and while going in to his room my little toddler yelled, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!"....yes, I was mortified and whispering, "no jay, hush, don't say that" but he just kept right on going. Of all places, this had to happen at church!  I am just praying he got distracted once in the classroom and didn't say it to his teacher. If so, I was probably added to the prayer list today.

Papa's tractor

Papa's tractor

Papa Ross...I bet you didn't know all of your tractors were at Lowes...

Our very own okefenokee boy....

 

This is Jay's new football alarm clock. He knows now that we aren't going to come get him in the mornings until it goes off. He just plays in his room until he hears it and then he yells, "yay!"

I haven't taken many pictures this week but luckily found several that I took with my phone a few weeks ago and forgot about. Jay has been an angel these last few weeks (and I am pretty sure I've NEVER said that), for two reasons I think. One, he is talking sooooo more more now, using sentences and verbalizing what is wrong much more clearly. It seems like a switch flipped when he turned two and he realized that Wes and I are not here to keep him from fun...but that if he listens to us things will work out much better. As long as he is not tired or hungry he does what I say pretty well - for a toddler at least. We still have battles and his favorite words are still "no" and "stop" but overall, he obeys us much faster than he used to (meaning after the 3rd time we say something rather than the 20th time). I probably only use 'time out' every 3 or 4 days instead of 10 times a day. I am so thrilled with this new leaf and hope that it lasts for a little while. Also, the weather has been so nice that we have spent most of the days outside. With him able to run, scream, make messes, bang on things, and throw things to his heart's content, he is a completely satisfied little boy.

Next week I am going home to visit Mom and Kurt. We have spent so little time together since Daddy died and I am just missing home. We are going to see other family too which will be wonderful and stop by the beloved "papa ross'" house for a night too. There is NO way Jay would let me go all the way to GA and not get a ride on "papa's tractor"....and I can't wait to see Mama and Papa Ross either....although I am indifferent on the tractor part. ;)

Here are the pictures I have.

We went to the craft store the other day and Jay was determined that it was "jay's duckhat".

Fishing with Jay is a hazard....he knows he is supposed to swing the pole around and does so with no regard to who may be in the way.

Notice how Wes is assisting from as far away as possible

Now for some fishing lessons.

Apparently not quite there yet with the casting part...

I laughed the entire time they were learning how to fish...Jay was very confident in what he was doing and Wes was just trying to protect his eyes from being whipped with the pole.

Jay wears his 'monkey boots' when we go to the pond. He loves to walk in the water and splash around.

"yay pond!" he says after he comes out of the water.

Telling me all about it.

What a proud little man.

Jay wanted to "ride boat" but I told him we couldn't until Daddy was home. So he stood on it and pranced around saying "daddy's boat, jay's on daddy's boat". This is when Wes said he looks like he should be in the Okefenokee Swamp book.

This last three are when we were at the shopping center the other day and they had train rides. As soon as I mentioned it Jay spent the next 15 min asking to "ride train?...ride train?....ride train..." literally did not stop saying that until we were on the train. And as you can tell by his expression, riding the train was some very serious stuff.

While on the train a group of motorcycles rode by, then two helicopters flew over...he was so in awe that he couldn't even speak...a difficult feat with this boy.

And a very successful trip to the store in his book.