More Jake Quotes

With Arthur in flight school, it is back to just Jake and I most of the time.  It can be trying...for both of us...when we get so few "breaks" from one another (we both have have had to say a few "I'm sorry's" after losing our patience with one another).  However, I know this time together is a blessing and I love that I get to be around for all the funny, surprising, and adorable things Jake says and does everyday.  Here are just a few recent Jake quotes that I couldn't resist documenting.

1) Yesterday I asked Jake if he wanted to come get the mail with me (I have learned that doing tasks like this without his assistance can lead to a serious melt down).  Jake was busy coloring, or maybe he was "writing," so he replied, "Just a quick second.  Don't go get the mail quite yet Mommy."  I love when he talks like he is 45...it always makes me giggle.
2) I have known about Jake's love for brass instruments like trumpets and "really big tubas" for a few months now but I was unaware of how much he really knew about them until last night.  We were listening to the toddler music station while Jake danced around the family room.  Mambo Number 5 (the Bob the Builder version) came on and after a minute of dancing Jake stopped and said, "This is the trumpet song."  For one of the few times in my life I was actually speechless.  After lifting my jaw off the floor, I asked Arthur, "How does he know that?"  Arthur, who of course was studying in the next room, answered with slight annoyance in his voice, "He can hear it."  "Yeah, but he's two!"
3) Now I know that Jake cannot read yet (this I am sure of), but one would have thought so after our last trip to the library.  I was in the little kid section picking out stories for the week while Jake wondered off into the reference area geared more for school age children.  He was over there for several minutes as though he was looking for something.  Imagine my surprise when he brought over a book of Thanksgiving crafts and recipes and informed me, "We need this book."  We checked it out, along with the Thanksgiving stories and Halloween craft book I had already selected.  When I told Arthur about it all he said was, "Am I suppose to be surprised." 

Oh Jake, I am in love with your passion for life and learning.  I hope you learn as much from me as I do from you every day.

Color Blind

For months now I have been stressed about Jake's mastery of his colors.  I know it sounds silly.  He is only two and a half.  But I could not figure out how a child who can accurately locate and name a dorsal fin or tell where his frontal bone is could not identify the color yellow.  I have been doing everything I can think of to surround him with color learning.  We paint, we color...with markers, crayons, colored pencils, even colored chalk, we use color paper to make sicker art.  I made color matching games.  We group just about every toy he owns into color groups.  On walks we discuss the colors of the trees and flowers around our neighborhood, on drives we talk about the colors of the other cars that pass by.  While he has always grouped and matched like colors correctly, naming them correctly is pretty hit or miss.  I was beginning to think it was hopeless.  My father is red-green color blind, so I have understanding when it come to anything made up of those two colors.  However, two nights ago when I asked him about something yellow and he told me it was blue, I turned to Arthur and said, "I don't know what to do.  He really can't learn his colors."
Arthur, who is now a very busy flight school student, barely looked up from studying, "He knows his colors."  The calm and confidence in his voice upset me.  Does he not understand?!?  We have been working on this for months...I am at a loss.  I immediately had visions of Jake as a grown man, forever stunted in his life progression, because I had failed at teaching colors.  But before I broke down in some hormonally induced scene, Arthur explained, "He thinks it's funny to tell you the wrong answer."
Of course I argued with this.  "No, I really don't think he knows!  He just told me yellow was blue!"  Obviously, my husband was not seeing the severity in this.  Blue and yellow are practically opposites on the color wheel.  Not to mention, they are primary colors!! I quickly dismissed his ridiculous theory, who would purposely and continually give the wrong answer? 
Later that evening we headed to the park.  Jake and Arthur were busy running around when Jake announced, "I want to go to the purple slide."  I didn't give a second thought to his question until Arthur said, "Did you hear what he just said?  Doesn't know his colors, huh?"
Back at home I was moping the floor while Jake played in the family room.  Apparently, I had missed some of the dinner's runaway jello because Jake pointed to the corner and said, "I see something green over there."  Sure enough there was the green jello hiding under the table leg.  I froze and just stared at my son for a moment and let it all sink in "You do know your colors!" I exclaimed.   Without saying anything Jake nonchalantly turned around and continued what he was doing.  How long has this been going on?  How long have I missed this?  I have been too caught up in him answering my questions correctly that I wasn't listening to what he was really saying.
As for who would be wrong on purpose...to be funny?  Certainly not me, but apparently I forgot that two of us made this little person.  Guess that is why Daddy was the one to catch on to this little game first.  Boy, or should I say boys, am I in trouble.

Two and Half: A time for a little more wit and a million more "why's"

Every night I put Jake to bed (in his bed), and every morning he wakes up (in my bed) and the growth and changes that have occurred since the day before are too small to notice.  It isn't until I stand him in front of his growth chart or try to dress him in clothes that have suddenly become too small before I realize how much taller he has become.  Over the last few weeks I have felt the same way about the recent acceleration in his emotional and mental development.  Although, it isn't a growth chart that has forced me to take notice.  Instead it is his questions, comments, and all too often witty come backs that have caught my attention.

My big boy playing at the park with his best buddy Benjamin

Some may think that two and half is just another date on a mommy's calender, but in our house it was when I began to pick up on this "change" in my son.  There is no tricking or out smarting this little guy anymore because he is already two steps ahead of us, and often more like three or four.  For example, I must take great care in how I ask Jake a question.  I must not leave it too open ended.  This is not because he does not know the answer, but because he will give me the answer that will create the outcome that he had decided serves his best interest, or should I say, desires.  At two and a half you can't really refer to this as lying, but simply a sign of complex reasoning.  He has decided what he wants and he has played it out well enough in his mind to figure out a strategy to get there.  While this generally leads to a little chat about honesty, I am usually too impressed to be upset.

This question coin, like all coins, does in fact have two sides.  I am not the only one asking questions in this house.  It seems that a heavy storm of "w" words has blown into Jacob's brain and it shows no signs of stopping.  "Why?" is the most common and there never seems to be just one.  Gone are the days when a one or two word answer would satisfy or when we could grab a book and read it cover to cover.  Now we must analyze every line, picture, fact, and/or character within.  However, it does pay off when I hear Jake say things like, "The leaves are changing colors because it is autumn.  Do you see that beautiful tree Mommy?"  Or when he tells a friend that "people are omnivores" and can accurately explain why. 

While it can feel like he is playing some never ending game as I answer his steady stream of questions, I remind myself that his intention is not to annoy but to understand.  When I slow down and really listen, I realize how deep and insightful his questions usually are.  And isn't it my job to teach and explain?  I must remember there is a bigger lesson to these conversations.  Jake is not just learning answers to questions, but more importantly he is learning that he can come to me with any question and that he can trust in the answers that I give him.  When I look at it this way, the questions don't seem so silly and I want to give him the the best answer I can.

The funniest part to this two and a half business is how Jake can come up with comments and one liners that leave us all speechless (and usually trying hard not to laugh).  Since this happens on a daily basis, I will just give a few recent examples that come to mind.  The other night Jake was playing in the back yard.  He had exceeded his 30 second independent play threshold and now wanted someone to play with him.  Arthur had just arrived home from work and was hoping for a few minutes to unwind so when Jake announced, "Daddy you need to come outside," Arthur tried to throw him off by playfully saying, "You need to go outside."  Without missing a beat Jake stated, "I am already outside, now you need to come outside." Hard to argue with that.  Or there was yesterday when Jake walked up to Robyn and asked, "Did you brush your hair today?"  Robyn, who was lying on the couch feeling under the weather said, "No, Jacob I didn't."  "You need to brush your hair," Jake told her.  And when she asked why he explained, "So you can look beautiful." 

Jake is in love with high school football, but he can't decide if he want to play football or be in marching band and play "the really big tuba."

While I am not in love with every thing this period of his development has to offer, like the instant melt down if Jake is not the one to answer the door or the ridiculous power struggles he and I often get into just trying to get ready for the day, I love everything about him.  How can I not?  Both the adorable and the frustrating, the sweet and the naughty, together it is what makes up this special little boy who we are lucky enough to call ours.

Fading into Fall and Our First Army Anniversary

I must take a time out on recounting our cross country adventure back to Alabama.  Since there are far too many fun memories, cute quotes, and special visits with family, I will definitely be coming back to it but today my goal is to catch up on all our Fall fun so far.

In love with my seasonal pillows!

If you ever read my Facebook you may have seen some references to "fading into fall."  While, Arthur was the one who took the liberty of adding that status onto my page for me, it was quote that was heard all around our house the last week of September.  I tried my hardest to wait until the first of October to put up all my autumn decorations.  But I will be honest, I didn't make it much past the first official day of fall.  I love the way swapping out a few couch pillows changing up a few pieces of decor can completely change the feel of a room.

My attempt at camouflaging my melted candle

Unfortunately, I did learn a valuable lesson about storage in the south.  A garage attic in a place where temperature remains over 100 degrees all summer long is not the appropriate place to store candles.  Unless of course, you would like them to take the shape of whatever they are being stored around.
October also makes me feel like it is time to start seasonal baking.  Fall baking (at least the recipes I have) require at least one if not both of two ingredients: canned pumpkin and fresh cranberries.  I wasn't too surprised that local groceries stores are not carrying cranberries yet, but I became quite frustrated to find that canned pumpkin is considered a "seasonal item" and I guess the beginning of October is not far enough along into the season.  But I must remind myself, this is the State of Convenience and I must just roll with it.  Luckily, the grocery store on post carries canned pumpkin so all was not lost and last week my family was "forced" to eat pumpkin corn bread, pumpkin muffins (Jake helped me with those and referred to his job as the "grabber" since he had the important task of grabbing handfuls of dried pomegranates and throwing them into the batter), and pumpkin pancakes (however, no one realized that that is what they were).  This past weekend I also found fresh cranberries on post, so maybe I will try that white chocolate cranberry cake this week.  It is more of a Christmas recipe, but I have to practice at least once to make sure it will make the Christmas baking cut.
Fall festivities are not the only reason the month of October is special to our family.  The first of the month has always (or the last 24 years) been a day for celebration because it is my little sister's birthday.  She is amazing and I am grateful everyday to have her in my life.  I still remember the day she was born and walking into the hospital room to meet her for the first time.  23 years after her birth, October 1st took on another special meeting by becoming our families Army anniversary.

Ama and Jake one year ago waiting for Daddy to get sworn in

Daddy's in the Army now.  Just a few hours before we had to say goodbye.

Anniversaries generally cause me to reflect and this one was no different.  I spent the day thinking back to where we were a year ago, and appreciating how far we have come.  Having Arthur away at Boot Camp and then WOCS school was so difficult.  We missed him terribly, and the time and events Arthur was absent for were a huge sacrifice for all of us.  However,  I am cannot express my gratitude or pride in his decision.  It has and continues to bless our family is countless ways.  My favorite part is that it has allowed me to stay home full time and raise our baby (soon to be babies).  I also know that his decision to serve his country has created a legacy of honor and duty that our sons will look to as they grow into men.

One year later wearing Daddy's helicopter helmet

We didn't do anything too special to commemorate the day, Arthur just enjoyed spending the day at home.  Actually most of the day was spent in the garage with Bridger working on and experimenting with derby cars. This was followed by dinner at a Mexican restaurant and a local high school football game.  Luckily is didn't take much to make the day a million times better than his first day in the army.  But the best gift happened just a few days later, when almost a year to the day of joining the army, Arthur finally started flight school.  He officially starts flying this next Monday.  After all this time we are so excited to have him back in a helicopter again!

Love and a Little Shopping

The rest of our time in California was spent sharing as much quality time with family as possible...and maybe a little shopping. :-)  Forgive me if this post sounds a little like a third grade vacation journal, but for memories sake I would like to quickly document our last several days before we started our road trip.

Jake and I spent most of Saturday with Ama and Apa.  We had breakfast with the whole gang (Ama, Apa, Tio Lui, Tia Jessie, her boyfriend, Tio Frankie, and his girlfriend...although truth be told, Jake is pretty convinced that Jordan is actually his girlfriend) at Black Bear Diner.  Oh how I have missed their sweet cream pancakes.  Then we headed across the street to the Davis farmer's market.  It is strange how visiting places that you once frequented makes you forget how much time has passed or that you ever left at all.  As I watched Jake play on the play structure the past six months almost disappeared.  That is until Ama and Apa worriedly watched Jake go down a slide by himself, and then I remembered how much he has grown up in the since we moved.

I had done pretty well.  At this point I had been in California for a week and a half and I had stayed clear of all my old "shopping" grounds.  Alabama is a beautiful state, but its shopping options really leave something to be desired.  Well, Saturday would mark the end of this good behavior.  Ama, Apa, Tio Frankie, and I all headed the Vacaville Outlets.  Ama and I did some damage at...yep you guessed it...Osh Kosh.  Jake will be all ready for fall when it finally gets here.  And Ama spoiled baby James with some adorable new clothes from Carter's.  I guess he will get to be the original wearer of some things.  Shopping for him made this new little boy feel even more real and made me even more excited to meet him.  Ama has certain colors that she pictures him in when she thinks about him, and they are very different than the ones she has associated with Jake since before his birth. Jake has always been dark teals and browns and this baby now has a wardrobe of greens, baby blues, and yellows.  I don't know what it means exactly, but she has that same sixth sense that her son has, so it will be fun to see if it is a premonition about his coloring, personality, or both.

I stayed clear of anything for me, but that was taken care of Monday when my mom, Jake and I headed to my shopping heaven, Nordstrom.  While in California, Jake and I slept most nights at my parents house so we had already had some nice time together just hanging out at home.  Grandma Risse and Jake re-bonded over silly computer game voices, animals cards, and medical "procedures."  You should see this boy put on a band aid.  Do we see surgeon in his future?  But having a girls' day out (with Jake) was really nice.  While getting clothes is always fun, especially when your mom buys some of them, the best part was just hanging out with my mom.  Eating at the Nordstrom cafe and searching the sale racks together (she is way better at it than I am) just brings back fun memories from the many times we have done this together since I was a little girl.  Aside from Jake's melt down in the Brass Plum dressing room, it made for another great day.  And the drive there and back gave us lots of time for girl talk.

On Monday night my dad took Robyn, Ethan, Jake and I out for Pizza.  Pizza has been Ethan's favorite food since he could eat solids so it is the easiest way to get Ethan to join a family outing.  Ethan is great with Jake despite Jake announcing shortly after our arrival to California that "Ethan is scary."  But this was quickly overcome when Ethan set up his old Play Station (even walking down the street to pick up a missing piece from a friend) and let Jake have at it.  Before our order arrived the two of them hung out in the little arcade game.  I think Robyn made Jake wash his hand's nine times before she let him eat, but I loved watching the Ethan and Jake "play" the arcade games together.  The arcade is still really cheap when you are two.  The sounds and colors of the game preview are perfect...no quarters needed.  I love laid back evenings like this with my family.  Now that we live so far away, I appreciate these moments even more.

Tuesday was our last full day before we started our Tour de United States.  I killed two important birds with one stone as I ate at Pluto's one last time (my favorite restaurant in the world) with Fiona and her sweet Baby Will.  Jake was playing with Apa, so we were able to really talk and since Gap was just a few steps away, we may have gotten a little more Jake shopping in too.  Fiona is one of the friends I miss most so it was nice to get to see her several times over our trip.

Tuesday night was our last night, and since Aunt Robyn decided to head back with us, it was her last night too.  Debbie and Todd invited Ama, Apa, Jake, and I to join in the goodbye dinner they were making for her.  It was a lovely evening and the food was great!  Debbie never disappoints when she enters a kitchen and she even bought Jake new cars and a magna doodle for our long drive home.  Debbie is hard not to love anyway, but how much she loves Jake makes me love her even more.  The party they put together for Robyn was beautiful, but like all good things it had to come to and end as everyone had to get ready for the upcoming work day.  Saying goodbye to my in laws was sad.  The hardest part of the move is how far Jake is from family.  Luckily Arthur's family will be heading down for a visit at the end December and I'm hoping my family will be able to do the same early next year.

I thought Wednesday morning would be nothing but packing up Robyn's little Jetta and saying a few more goodbyes.  But I was in for a surprise.  One of my best and longest friends, (really more like family) Laura, drove all the way from the Bay Area just to go to breakfast with us.  She really lives in Utah, but she flew in late the night before to visit her family and meet her brand new nephew.  I felt pretty special that she came to see me before she even got a chance to see him.  That is a true friend.  I love you Laura, and you better head to the South soon.

And that was that.  After a few more hugs and goodbyes to my Mom and Dad and one last stop so Apa could give Jake one more hug (unfortunately he had already passed out) we were off.  Off on our great and very long adventure home.  Luckily we had lots of fun stops along the way, but more about that later.

A Day in the City with Grandpa Dave

With almost everyone in work or school during this week, days were drastically slower than the previous weekend and to slow us down even further was Jake's first fever in over a year.  I'm sure a 5 hour plane ride combined with four continuous days of fun and little sleep created the perfect storm for some little virus to overtake a normally stellar immune system.  Since he wasn't particularly uncomfortable, I restrained from giving him anything so that the fever could do its job.  Jake was a trooper about it and I actually enjoyed getting to cuddle the day away as he napped and I monitored his little body temperature.  The cutest part of the day was when we woke up from a nap as his fever spiked to groggily announce, "I have a fever again."  Within 36 hours Jake was up and running again, and we were ready for another long weekend of crazy busy fun. 

Friday morning Grandpa Dave, Aunt Robyn, Jake and I got going bright and early (okay not too early) to head into San Fransisco for a visit to the California Academy of Science.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are trips to museums with my dad and since I believe one of the best parts about being a parent is getting to share the things you loved with your children, I was very excited to take Jake and experience his reaction to such a fun place.  Jake could pretty much give tours at our aviation museum here on post and I already mentioned his love for zoos, but I knew a place like this would be taking thing to a whole new level of awe for my inquisitive two year old.

The museum did not disappoint...any of us.  It has been completely renovated since the last time we made a visit as a family.  If it hadn't been for the albino alligator tank, I don't think I could have made any connections from the museum of today with the museum in my memories. When you walk through the entrance there is a huge replica of a T-rex skeleton. Dinosaurs have been on Jake list of favorite things list for a few months now, but reading about them in books and playing with plastic action figures cannot translate the size of them the way standing right next a life size skeleton can. Seeing the look of wonder on Jake's face as he gazed up at this great creature, I knew we were in for a great day. 

We spent most of the morning in this large sphere that houses the "Rainforest."  Jake was all into it as we walked through all the levels of this ecosystem.  We analyzed all the exotic animals, incects, and spiders (luckily all in tanks).  A frog even took interest in Jake as we passed by.  Yep, you read right, the frog liked Jake.  He couldn't take his eyes off him.  He would move around the tank to ensure a clear view as Jake changed location, and at one point the frog even jumped up to be at eye level with him.  Jake was so startled that he jumped almost as high as the frog.

Things started to fall apart at we made it to the top of the rainsforest.  You see, Jake has inherited this really sweet trait in which as his blood sugar drops so does his mood.  Since my dad is one of the "carriers" of this darling feature, he had complete patience and even sympathy as my sweet little boy quickly deteriorated into a near tantrum screaming, "I'm hungry!"  At this point I realized that no rainforest bird or butterfly was going to distract him a minute longer.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and since Mommy left the bag with snacks in the car, this meant buying a 7 dollar organic hot dog. Within minutes of getting food into him, Jake's transformation came full circle as he turned back into a fun cute boy.  The hot dog gave us several more good hours.  We spent most of that time in the large aquarium that takes up nearly all of the bottom level of the museum.

Jake couldn't stop giggling as he watched this silly looking fish

It is amazing all the interesting and unique creatures that grace the waters of this beautiful planet so the three of us took turns trailing Jake around as he ran from exhibit to exhibit taking it all in.  It was such a fun morning!
Jake was worn out.  I imagine it takes a great deal of energy to process so much new information all in one morning.  As I carried him out of the museum and we started our trek back to the car, I felt his little body go limp in my arms.  He was out...true to form Jake gave 100%.

Unfortunetly, this left me carrying three people to the car...I guess it is good news that James (Baby Orr #2) barely weighed a pound and still doesn't require arms to be carried. :-)

Of course our day in the city was not over.  An overpriced hot dog was not going to cut it for my dad, so he spoiled us girls with a trip to the Cliff House, an amazing restaurant that over looks the beautiful California coast (that I have missed so much now that we live in the South).  The food was incredible and if your have never eaten a crab melt, I recommend it.  The clam chowder was delicious too.  Jake missed most of lunch to the land of dreams, but it is a nice to have meal out every once in a while that doesn't involve crayons.

After living through my first summer in the South, I was not anxious to leave the cool breezy weather of The City.  Jake, now awake from his nap, was also ready for a new adventure so the three of us headed down to the beach.  We ended up near some caves, and I was surprised when Jake wanted to venture in them.  It only took one near death experience as I tried to hold Jake, balance my pregnant body, and traverse the slippery rocks in flip flops in order to get to the cave entrance.  Luckily Aunt Robyn came to our rescue, and we made it without any cuts, bruises, or a sprained ankle.  Actually, I think I impressed my dad a little with how agile (if you will) I still was 5 months pregnant.

The caves were worth the effort.  Hearing the waves crash onto the cliff as you stand inside it is awesome.  There was even a little break in the rock where you watch the swells.  Jake was enthralled by the entire experience.  He still talks about the caves as he acts out the waves crashing into the rocks with his arms.  

It was such a fun way to end our afternoon.  Thank you again Dad (Grandpa Dave) for such a special day!