Pants is 1279 days old!

Yesterday Jack was 3 1/2 years old it is unbelievable to me. For the last year I have been swearing up and down at myself for not recording the marvelousness that is Jack. This last year has slipped away. I keep thinking I'll remember things he says or does, and I do, but not in the same was as if they are recorded. It's magic this time and I don't want to forget it. I used to jot notes on random pieces of paper or the calendar to try and remember, but now I am going to use this blog to record all the things that are so amazing about our boy.

It is easier to start with now, than to try and remember all of the last 1279 days, so I'll start here and pull in the past as I go along.

Jack is trying to fall asleep next to me right now for his "nap". He's completely covered up wiht a pink blanket and keeps squirming all over. On weekends I usually let him nap in our bed while I work or read or nap, it's nice and it's easy. But it usually takes him forever to settle down. He just popped his head out and said:

Mommy do you know what a donut is?
Yes, it's food.
With sugar on it.
Yes

Back under the covers he goes.

We just got back from the paint store to buy some paint samples for the living room. I know he will want to go with me, so I warn him that I'll be leaving soon and that he needs to put his clothes on before we go. Lately all he wants to do is wear his pajamas. I dress him in the morning and every single day when I get home he has his pajamas back on. And just to point out, that we haven't really stocked up on pj's that fit him, so he's still wearing the ones that say 18-24 months on them and they are all tight and short...very nice. But those actually work out to be the best ones to wear under clothes, because that's his other favorite thing to do with them, that way it's super easy to just strip off clothes when he gets home and PRESTO pj's already on! So I have to cojole him into his clothes, yes the baby blue boat shirt can stay on under the green UO duck shirt (GO DUCKS...big game today) but the batman jammy bottoms have got to come off because they are HUGE and there's no way I can cram them into the jeans. So negotiations settle in, once he gets home, he can change back!

Jack hates change, he doesn't want us to paint. He doesn't want us to buy paint, but he has to come with me because he clings to me like glue whenever I am not at work. So off we go, but before going in he kept saying over and over until I acknowledge him, "Let's paint later...let's paint later...let's paint later" until I told him he could help pick out the color~that seemed to appease him for the moment.

When we get inside, he's talking non-stop

Mommy, I love you.
I love you to sweety.
I've got something for you (hugs my leg)
I've got something else for you (kisses my hand)
Thanks buddy that's so sweet.
Mommy what color do you like.
Blue.
(pulls out a blue paint swatch)
Here's a blue one.
Uh huh.
What color does daddy like?
What color do you think daddy likes (distracted, trying to find the numbers for the colors I want as fast as humanly possible while trying to keep him entertained....

Stopped at QFC on the way home to get some lunch. He says he wants chiken nuggets. Huh? I've never really seen him eat a chicken nugget (without bribery anyway). They don't have nuggets but they do have breaded chicken breast pieces. So we get a small one (thinking he won't even eat it) but he wants it open and then proceeds to take a bite and then he eats the whole thing while we shop through the store! I can't keep up with the pickiness, you just never know what he'll eat. I guess we just need to trust him! It's such a parent thing to do, to try and control what your kids eat, and we've obsessed about it since he was 1 hour old (how many hours would that be .... 30,696 hours!

In the last year and a half we have done a 180 from the first year and a half. When I fed Jack, I wouldn't drink caffeine, alcohol or eat nuts or broccoli or anything that would upset his tummy. When he started solids it was fresh smashed bananas and homemade rice biscuits (we worried about dairy for a long time, it aggravated the reflux), but as time went on we got more desperate for him to actually eat. He stayed at to the bottom of the weight and height charts at 1, he still wasn't swallong hard foods. He would chew them up, enjoy, and then spit it out. Of course it makes sense that it was from the reflux and throwing up for all that time. So we had to take him off to an occupational therapist, which makes you feel like a complete failure as a mother. I would take him up to Doernbecher children's hospital and meet the really nice lady (named? hmmm no idea) who would do things like dip a kush ball in yoghurt and let him play with it; take frozen french fries - not cooked- and use them like dipping sticks; and basically play with his food. It worked, he eventually started swallowing real actual food. We felt like superhero parents! And thus started the begining of the "do whatever it takes to get him to eat" strategy. I would slather his crackers and bread with real butter and he'd lick it off, and I'd put more on. We let him play with his food. We'd chase him around and shovel spoons of food in his mouth. I'd mix yoghurt with ice cream and milk and put it in a sippy cup, we called them "yogies". I eventually gave up making everything home made, too much work and too much waste. I'd make him something and he'd take one bite - or no bites- and I'd have to throw it away. It was exhausting and frustrating. I took to dipping everything in "special sauce" or barbeque sauce and that worked for a long time (now, ha! he won't touch anything with sauce or ketchup, all plain and dry for this boy)

At his 2 year check up he was still at the very bottom of the charts and the doctor essentially gave us the OK to fatten him up however we could. So, hello, McDonalds! The wonders of the $3 happy meal, which he eventually would actually eat, chock full of fat and calories which he needed. No work for me. And a toy! But so much underlying guilt. What kind of mother lets her 2 year old baby eat McDonalds? Horrible monster! Corporate destructor contibutor! Heart and artery clogger! But, it was so beautiful to see him eat 2 fries and 1 bite of cheeseburger! So I sacrificed and sucked up the guilt and we now have a huge collection of happy meal toys to show for it!

He's asleep now, curled up next to me and it is the best feeling in the world. He's beautiful when he sleeps, peaceful and quiet. We don't get that much. He's like atomic energy most of the day. From the second he opens his eyes in the morning until he finally stops talking at night, he is a bundle of electricity (the rare exception, is waking up from a late nap, and then he is like a cranky lump on a log who just stares and flops around and takes 30 minutes to rejoin us!).

I get these emails from parenting.com or something like that and it had an article "is your child gifted?" so of course I read it! I already know the answer, but want to see anyway. So I look at the checklist and more than half of the things apply to my little einstein. Talks in sentences before other kids his age. Check. Big vocabulary (do any 3 year olds you know say "perogative"?). Check. Asks lots of questions. Check, check. Curious. Check. Retains random facts from tv or things he sees and says them out of the blue. Check. They didn't include on the list anything about a sense of humor, but he's got one, he is the funniest kid! He loves to make us laugh and does this little dance move for me and says "this will make you laugh". Which reminds me to remind myself to report on his techno dance skills (next time).

I am blessed. This is bliss. happy 1279th day birthday little buddy. We love you!

Jack's nicknames: Pants, Mister, Buddy, Bud, Butterbean, Sweety, Love, Nutball....