Video summary

I posted  few videos from the week. My pictures all seem to be the same lately so the videos show more of what Jay has learned. I think we are all well aware that he knows how to throw, hit, and jump by this point. :)  As far as the videos go: He loves to pick vegetables out of my pitiful garden. I am trying to teach him when things are ready to be picked but he usually just randomly chooses what he wants. So about half of what he brings me is no where near ripened but I just put them on the counter and act like it's exactly what I needed to cook supper with. When he and Wes are working in the yard Wes helps him pick out a flower or two and he runs it inside yelling, "mama! I got a flower for you!"  It is so sweet and I go overboard about how much I love it.
When I ask him to spell his name, knowing that it starts with "J", he goes into a recitation of "J, K, L...P!" He does this on a video and then finishes the correct spelling after that.
He is also working with Wes at the table. I just thought this video was funny because we can see Wes' clone copying him write on a paper. Wes is filling out a form and Jay is drawing helicopters....

Working with Daddy

Bringing me peppers...

Working in my garden

Playing outside

Quick Update

These are picture of our trip to a national park nearby. Jay had to take a break to eat his snack.

I asked him to smile...this is as good as I got.

Watching the turtles....and feeding them some chips.

Helping daddy read the map, he kept saying "I need to look at it." as if he were a vital part of our navigation decisions.

A real smile this time. :)  Notice the strap around his shirt, those were binoculars that he HAD to use the entire time. He apparently saw kangaroos, bears, and snakes with them.

Trying to reach the berries...very poisonous berries I might add.

For some reason he had to blow on every worm, millipede, spider, etc. that he came across...not sure what purpose he thought that served but he add to "blow on it" for about 10 min each time.

This is all I have of pictures this week. The rest of the days were our usual...work, school, church, and playing around the house. Hopefully I will get some this week. As far as what is going on here...

Jay has been going to school for about 3 weeks now and he loves it more this year than last. In fact, he asks to go to school almost every day. I am having a hard time keeping him happy on the days we are are here, as I realize every time he asks me in the middle of, what I think, is a fun day if it is time to go to school. I am going to start taking him 3 days a week at the end of the month so I can grade papers and make assignments at the hospital before clinical days. And hopefully, this will give me a few hours to get housework done as well....without my sweet "helper" under my feet the whole time.

For more things about Jay:
- He is so curious and doesn't miss a thing. It is amazing to see how his little brain is working and how much of what we say, no matter how brief, sticks in his memory. I know how much he is learning due to his incessant conversation he has with me every day, all day. While I love his little voice and I don't think there is a sweeter sound in the world, I have to just shake my head and tune him out sometimes. He talks and talks and talks. Most times the things he says makes me laugh all day long thinking about it, but he loves to repeat himself and ask questions that he already knows the answer to, both of which can be so unbelievably annoying! And Wes wonders why I love complete silence in the house at night....

- Potty training is, as I dare say it out loud, pretty much completed. Last week he was in underwear at school all day with no accidents and we have gone about a week at home with none either. He still wears pull-ups at night and I think that will last for a while but the days are now completely diaper-free. I still put him in pull-ups when I know it will be hard getting to a bathroom quickly but usually he will stay dry anyway. Tonight after his bath he had to poopey and gave me a detailed narrative of the activity. "That's a lot of poopey, it's a snake poopey, i'm trying, don't touch it (as if I were the least bit tempted), there's my poopey right there, it went down the drain, monkeys poopey too, jake poopies outside, I poopied a big one!"  I told you it was detailed. :)

- I think he has Wes' sense of direction (thank goodness!). He tells me where and which way to turn every time we go somewhere. The other day I had to turn around for something and he told me I turned the wrong way to go home. When I say where we are going he knows exactly how I usually get there and if I go a different way or run an errand first he passionately explains how I turned the wrong way and that I need to go back.

- He loves talking about his grandparents. Today he wanted me to draw a picture of Papa and Mama Ross. He always has to know where they are during the day. He sees things in the store that they have and gets so excited about them. He yells, "that's papa's!  that's mama ross'!"  When he wears something they gave him he always reminds me that "mama ross gave this to me!" Mom and I moved a chair from the guestroom to his room recently and he asks every night since to "go sit in Mimi's chair" to read a book. Every time he puts on his new "soldier underwear" he exclaims that "mimi gave it to me!" When he sees a white SUV he says, "that's Mimi's car!  go talk to Mimi!" And he always specifies, "that's MY Mimi" when we talk about her. As for Papa Rich, his favorite book is still the one I made with pictures of him and Papa Rich and he asks to read it several times a week....and still loves to sing with him too.

As for me and Wes we are just working and trying to keep up with crazy boy. The pregnancy is still going well. I am 26 weeks now and am feeling every bit of it. My "belly bump" is more of a big hill now, making it a constant annoyance has I try to hop up and down with jay all day. And carrying him around is not fun. He knows that there are times that I just won't carry him around but I give in a lot. I tried to play airplane with him the other day and I just couldn't do it. I tell him to look at my big tummy and that it won't let me do things I used to do with him. He'll say, "mama has a big belly!" when I tell him no which is both cute and insulting at the same time.
Little Eli moves so much and he is now big enough that I watch my stomach move all the time. Last night he was so active I couldn't sleep. I love this part, when I get constant reminders that there is this little person growing inside of me and not just a mean alien that invaded my body. It makes all of the little "sacrifices" of pregnancy seem like an honor rather than a punishment. :)

Wes is now at the VA clinics for the rest of the year. I like this rotation because he gets home every day around 5:30 and doesn't have to be there until 8 in the morning. He is on call this weekend though and had to go in to see a patient at 5am and hasn't been home since (it's almost 10pm). So this weekend is not one of the good ones. But it's only every 6th weekend so it will be a nice break before the next one. And it's all valuable educational opportunities, right???  Well, at least that's the theory.

That's it for now. Hopefully my husband will be home soon...at least long enough to say hey and goodnight until the next eye issue rolls into the ER.

Beach Trip

I took this picture to compare it to the one I took of Jay sitting in this same place at 4 months old...what a difference.

This is his bookbag that he carries around now that a diaper bag is not necessary. He wore it around for the first week until the excitement wore off...now I am left carrying around a lime green bag with zoo animals on it...

Singing for us while sitting on his "giant rock"

Playing with his float plane

Building a sand castle, his favorite part was beating the sand as hard as he could

He is still nervous about the waves, as he's always been, and just runs away as they come up

Waving at Daddy

He kept saying, "here comes a big one, mama!" and running as fast as he could

snack time

Shooting the birds with his new shotgun....handmade by Wes

This was a big deal and still is when we go for walks. He has to take his shotgun so he can "shoot bears"

I guess he got his target

Learning to bowl

So exciting!

Jay thought he needed to show Wes how to hold the bowling ball

He was determined to roll it all by himself so the majority of the time was spent watching the ball slowly make it down the lane until it just barely hit a pin or two.

Jay was so proud of himself

Smiling at me from the lazy river

Ice cream time

In Bass Pro driving an ATV, he told Wes he needed to "sit down in the seat"

He just had to drive the bulldozer we found

And hop on the school bus. he decided arthur was his brother and kept his arm around him the whole time, then wanted "brother to go with us"

Watching "that man throw fire"...this was really cool and Jay was looking forward to this more than anything but he was exhausted that night. He still loved it and tells everyone about it still.

Sooooo sleepy

More sandcastles

And he had to take "my john deer tractor" with him everywhere that week

Break time

Poor boy was sick and tired by the last night. He had a fever here and was getting ready to fall asleep.

Only to come alive again a few hours (and a spoonful of Motrin) later. So we took him to the amusement park

Other than the type of vehicle the rides all looked the same to me and Wes, but Jay was more thrilled each time

And was amazed at the helicopter he got to fly

A truck...why wouldn't he enjoy this one?

The boat ride required his complete attention, he had to drive it around the water and ring the bell at the same time

Holding his ticket to give to the ride operator.

I will give an update later, just wanted to go ahead and get these pictures up before any more time passed. As you can tell he had so much fun and, by the end of the trip, was completely worn out. With him so entertained, cute pictures were easy to get. Not so much the story now that we are back home. :)