Wordless Wednesday

Tests and Measurement

I was a psychology major in college. While I haven't directly used my degree to obtain a job in the last 5 years I have used several components of my degree in all my previous and current positions.  Most recently, in being a mom.  There was a class, PSY 361 - Test and Measurements - this class was supposed to teach us how to make effective judgements in our own lives, and be able to better deal with tests we will face in our own lives (and how to apply psychological testing to real life situations). I have felt like my degree has led me to over analyze things... so recently I've attempted to take a more laid back, wait and see approach with many things. Most recently ear wax.

Or, what I thought was ear wax.

A few weeks back J got a cold.  It crept up right before his birthday, and earned him a few days at home with Mommy.  We got back to good health and had some fun at school, a busy weekend and were enjoying planning for Memorial Day weekend when I began to notice that Jacob had some serious ear wax all of a sudden.  I didn't think much of it, grabbed a baby Q-tip to clean up the outside of his ear canal, and moved right along. My new laid back approach allowed me 72 hours of cleaning one ear 3 times a day before I began to google toddler ear wax followed by toddler, lots of ear wax.  Google told this Mommy that some kids just have lots of ear wax, and while you might not like it, just clean it up at bath time and move along.  Another 36 hours of ear wax and  I called the nurse at the pediatrician's office and began our conversation with...

"Should I be concerned..."

She decided since it was a holiday weekend coming up, that J should be seen, just to make sure all was well.  That afternoon I picked him up early from daycare and hoped right over to the pediatrician for a quick check of the ears.

The pediatrician checked Jacob's first ear and said everything looked good, tube is still in and clear.  And then she checked the ear wax ear...

*gross moment ahead*

Let me tell you, I was nothing short of surprised when she said

"Oh honey, that's not ear wax... that's puss."

EEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Jacob had his first real ear infection since getting tubes over a year ago.  The tubes were doing their job, draining the infection away, not causing Jacob to have any pain... but super mom over here thought she was dealing with ear wax.

You can go ahead and ship me my mom of the year award. I will accept it graciously! 4 1/2 documented days of draining ear infection, which means it had been there a little before that, is a great recomendation for that mom of the year award.

SERIOUSLY?!? What mom does this?

I think I'll take my psychology degree and put it back in force. Laid back, wait and see Mommy is not good for this little guy!



Had to toss in this picture from Chuck E. Cheese too.

To, Too, TWO!

Our own little man turned 2 yesterday. TWO!!!

He's such a happy little guy.  We'll get his stats this afternoon, but he's been growing!
He wears size 4 diapers, 24 month - 2T shirts and pants (as long as the pants have an adjustable waist), 18-24 month shorts, size 7 tennis shoes.  I swear he's getting skinnier.  We've had to break out the shorts from last summer his waist is so small. He is go-go-go all day long, so I'm sure this contributes to the little waist.

He's been progressing really well in his speech therapy and we're starting to hear him try and string together a few words here and there.  His favorite now is, "Mommy (or Daddy) mo mon" which is: Mommy, come on.  He waives his hand in the direction he wants us to go with him, or he'll come grab our finger and take us to his desired destination. It's very sweet (and sometimes demaning) but always fun! He's also very good about adding "peas" to his requests. "Milk, peas" , "Nakin, peas", "More, peas". Of course, he just ate his first peas willingly this past weekend, his "peas" is really please.  It's the easiest way for us to get him to use two words in rapid succession. He's very polite :) most of the time.  He's a stickler for his napkin in his lap at meal time too. If you are sitting at the table with him, be prepared to show him that you have your napkin in your lap - or you'll be putting it there ASAP! What a little gentleman. He's also not shy about his "wuv you"s and gives big hugs and kisses to go with them.

He loves music, as I've posted here.  And continues to sing and dance when he hears something he likes.  He can entertain any group of people with his head bobbing, stomping, jumping and swinging hips.

Everynight he reads with Daddy before bedtime, and his two favorite books right now are his Bible and The Very Hungry Catipilar.  We can't get through too many nights without reading both along with his other books.  And then... they say their prayers together. I caught them the other night on the monitor, hope you can see just a bit and hear Jacob's little voice. **turn your volume up to hear it, it's pretty quiet.**  Jacob knows the end is comming and starts trying to say amen during the last few lines.



For Birthday weekend, yes...weekend, we went to a friend's birthday party at Monkey Joes,

hung out with Nannie a little bit, did some shopping, had some friends over for a cook out, ate cake,

played in Jacob's new play house,

watched Daddy spend ALL DAY building a swing set, played on the swing set,

ate his first meatloaf with GiGi, Sissy and Nannie, had some cupcakes at school and then topped it all off with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

It was quite the weekend. The celebrating continues tonight, and tomorrow...birthday week isn't over in our house, it continues tongiht with a pool side dinner with Pappy, MiMi and Gracie and Thursday Night Live on Thursday! WHEW. It's been a fusy few days... and keeps going. But SO FUN!

In 2 Short Months

Jacob will  be TWO! Two months from today!
AHH!
Deep breath... exhale...deep breath....exhale...

How did this happen? How did he get so old? This time last year I was very excited, already had his birthday party planned and details were being ironed out. This year Pat and I are not prepared for a celebration in the least and have pondered just taking the little guy to Chuck E. Cheese for some pizza and basketball playing - maybe let a friend or two know when we'll be there if they would like to join us.



Although, he does love his basketball.

Wow.  Time really does fly!

One Year Pictures

I often link to CaraDee Photography and Mrs. Cara Dee herself.  She is SO sweet and talented!

Birthday

Jacob had a fantastic birthday day. Because Jacob's birthday fell on Memorial Day this year, Pat and I both had off work and spent the day with the little guy.
I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast for J and we played a little. He had a short morning nap and after that we had a yummy lunch of his favorite - mac & cheese and then headed out to Jacobson Park. J explored and got to swing for the first time. He got to feed the ducks and walk back and forth over a cute little foot bridge several times. It got a big cloudy so we went for a nice relaxing drive down some windy roads in southern Fayette county. Jacob seemed to enjoy the ride. We headed home to open presents, have dinner, some cake, a bath and a pillow fight before bed. It was a great day. We all just enjoyed being together and doing things that Jacob would like to do.

The following Saturday (June 5th) was his birthday party! Laura and Alice came up Friday night to help get the house ready and by 1:00 we were ready to roll (and Pat's new bar was open for business!) Jacob received two water tables as gifts, that arrived already put together. 6 kids left SOAKING WET and with big smiles on their faces. He had mastered cake eating at this point, and enjoyed more cake than icing. It was another successful event at our house!