Laxitatiousness

Just realized it's Jake's "birthday." He's 20 months old, in his 21rst. Crazy. Jake, you're growing up fast, you really are.

Don't know if it's the holiday or that I feel a little sick (stomach feels sour), but I have no energy; no desire to do much of anything. Didn't really affect our day with the Jakers, but did affect my posting last night, which didn't happen. I apologize Jake. Went to the (final) baseball game. I think that had something to do with it. Always seems like I don't post on baseball days. Yesterday Jakers had Ohana Music in the AM. It was just me and him as omma felt kinda sick. Laters we went to meet Odin's new brother, Keagan. Whilst there he played with Odin for quite a while. We had dins together.

Today we had french toast for breaky (thanks omma), then did something that Jake enjoyed immensely: bought a new vacuum cleaner. He loved spending time in the VC area of Sears...loved it. Our old model was there and he kept saying "Appa!" whilst pointing at the vacuum. He was laughing too. Loved it.

Afters we ate lunch and went home for a whole family nap. Swam after the nap. He was on cloud nine for sures.

Interesting fact about Jake these days: Every time we drive by a bus, a Chevron station, the playground Jake and I sometimes play at before picking up omma (in Kahala/Kaimuki), or the smoothie place on Monserrat, Jake points and says "APPA!!" as in, "Appa, there' a place we go together a lot!" or, "You taught me what that is, a bus!" It's amazing to me and blows my mind that he knows/recognizes these things/places. Crazy.

Song of the Day: Cold War Kids: Hang Me Up to Dry

Super Million Hair

Monday. What can I say? Normal day? Yeah, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Picked up the Jakers (and omma) and went directly to Ala Moana b/c omma had some stuff to take care of (exchanges, returns, etc.) These days Jake is mos def not into the stroller thing. It must have looked a little funny b/c we decided we were going to get everything done as fast as we could so we wouldn't have to take him out of the stroller. If we did, he'd wander and pull stuff off shelves and do what any curious newish human would do. We were successful! He fussed a little, but with some inventive "strolling"--acting like I was going to crash into displays--he stayed occupied for the most part.

Dins was at Taiyo noodles. Great, basic food at this place and Jake was all for eating with me and omma without hassle. He was great and he wasn't even sitting in a highchair (the only one was occupied). It's days like these that renew my faith in our ability to eat out with the Jakes. A swell time was had by all.

On the development front: Jakers is definitely communicative with us. He doesn't say sentences, but he gets his point across. He'll rub his chest if he wants a bath, he'll say "mam" if he wants kimchi (which is every meal now, the kid is definitely Korean), and he'll point at stuff and say omma or appa if he finds it interesting. It's endlessly fascinating to me and it makes me so incredibly proud to watch him develop.

Song of the Day: Cornershop: Sleep on the Left Side

Same Same

Today's post could be very similar to yesterday's, but rather than rehash the whole thing, I'll just say that I tried a little harder today when things got difficult. Example later.

Today was a unique day in that I spent the entire thing with Jake. The babysitter was moving so it was all me. The gist: breakers at Whole Foods, school to get my papers to grade, oil change, home for nappers/cleans, lunch with omma (ramen), park for slides down the hill (Kakaako WP) on cardboard boxes, and dinner with Lina at chun-chon. That's where the fun began.

As per usual these days, Jake has about 5-6 bites of food, then gets antsy and starts saying "Omma" in a whiny voice whilst out-stretching his arms (toward omma). We usually take him out of the highchair and he proceeds to, well, do whatever he wants. Today it was open the cooler door, run around, pull stuff off the table, etc. etc. In light of what I wrote yesterday, I decided to try a new tact. I took him outside and for the first time used the dreaded "timeout." I told him what was appropriate behavior, asked if he was ready to go in the restaurant, etc. He kept saying "ne" (yes), so I took him in. He went right back to refusing the highchair/eating. I took him back out, except this time to the car, and talked to him. He listened to me, answered when I asked him questions, and showed he wanted to go back in. I did this about 4 times. I think it was a success. He knows what a timeout is now, and did sit and eat nicely for a while. Patience.

Sunhee suggested that he was too young to get right/wrong. He is in many ways, but he's also understanding what we're saying. He's smart. I think based on this fact it's OK to introduce limits, and that was my goal tonight.

An example of his intelligence: He has a box with 12 miniature Disney (Lion King, Cinderella, etc.) books in it. Each book is about 3"X3". This afternoon we were sitting on the couch and he said "appa" and pointed at a picture of one of the books on the back of the box (all 12 are represented there) and said "No!" I turned the box around, looked for the book, and sure enough, there were 11 books; the one he pointed to was missing. Freaked me out.

Song of the Day: Jimmy Cliff: I Can See Clearly Now

The Slider

Debated whether I was going to blog this, but then I figured no one is reading this (I haven't told anyone about it yet) and Jake will most likely be the only person who reads every post (I hope), I decided I'd go ahead and do it. I got an email from a friend to day that started like this:

"Jeff,

Jake is one of the most beautiful human beings I've ever seen."

Hey, I gotta admit, I'm proud as hell. I feel the same way, what can I say? Again, I debated blogging this, but Jake, I think you may want to see what your aunties and uncles said about you.

Great day with the Jakers again. It was the first sunny day in a while, so I took Jake to the playground as soon as we got home (took two cars today). He was in such a good mood and obviously so happy and having fun. We played all over the jungle gym, sliding, climbing. All was good until he pointed at his back. I thought he'd hurt it, turns out it was dookie pants. We went home.

On the same tip as Sunday's weird shoe incident (see Sunday blog, don't have the energy to hyperlink here), Jake did another crazy thing today. When we arrived at the lobby, I gave him my keys b/c he likes to act like he's opening doors with them. He grabbed them, headed strait for the mailboxes, picked out our mailbox key on the first try and, this is nuts considering there are a hundred boxes there, walked strait to our box and unlocked it. Obvious question: how the hell did he know that was our box?

Crazy, Jake.

Song of the Day: The Postal Service: Such Great Heights