Solid...

...Water,

We thoroughly enjoyed the post-spring equinox snow we had. By far the best of the year!

Soap,

Apparently we've never let Jackson take a bubble bath. He had to do it himself by pouring all the shampoo into the tub. 30 min later he was still thrilled by the bubbles.


and 7 months.

Celebrating her 7 month birthday, Allie decided to sit up. Literally on March 21st she stopped falling over. She also chose that day to eat 3 different foods--but only if they were solidly chunky. Now about getting that solid poop out of her body. (Apparently this is a regional issue since prune juice was sold out at Target... goodness!)

Autonomy vs. Shame

We are definitely in the midst Erik Erikson's psychosocial development phase of Autonomy vs. Shame. At least with Jackson. This weekend he seemed to push every boundary he knew of with great autonomy. It was certainly enough to run me ragged and leave some scars on his friends. Thankfully he carried plenty of shame along with his mistakes, which made me feel a little hope for his future as a functioning person in society. As soon as he knew he was in trouble, he'd run to one of his 10 favorite hiding spots throughout the house. Sometimes I cared, sometimes I didn't. Always I was just tired or finding the balance of policing and injury prevention and letting him figure stuff out on his own. 

I really only got pictures of the cute autonomous stuff. Instances where I tried really hard not to laugh so he wouldn't be inspired to do it again and again.

On my stressed mamma day (Tuesday), I really wanted him to take a nap--for the safety of himself and all those involved in his life. This is what he looked like after an hour and a half of trying. Oh my cute. 

We explored plenty with this little whale. Apparently the whale got bored of all the imaginative water. "And then, the whale went SPLASH!" with arm movements showing me what "the whale" did. Again, desperately holding the laughter in.





The good news was he ate plenty of healthy food this weekend--including most of this can of black beans. He insisted on eating them from the can, in the kitchen, on a chair. Each detail was tied to a tantrum if it wasn't executed.

Allie didn't want to miss out on the fun. I felt like all weekend she was screaming, "don't forget about me!"

We tried many ways to deal with his massive amounts of curious, aggressive energy. We employed a trip to the track (where completed a 400 meter dash with two breaks and no walking), a bowling excursion and a little bike ride. Videos of latter two to enjoy. Sorry-- no videos of the tantrums that happened afterward.

Not Quite Mom...

For a number of weeks, Jackson has taken to using the phrase, "no, not quite." He says it with the sweetest, thoughtful tone and never inserts "yet." Obviously he hears us say it all the time, but his application of this parrot phrase have been phenomenally creative, and oh so cute. 

"Would you like to have lunch Jackson?"

"Not quite Mom. I'm playing"

-------

"Jackson it's time to to preschool bud."

"No, not quite. There's no preschool today."

------

"Jackson, do you need to go potty?"

(Sigh) "Not quite."

-----

"OK, go climb in bed Jackson."

"No, not quite mom. I need to eat my dinner."

-----


This is all part of a larger stalling phase he's embraced with great talent. Mostly it comes out in that last situation, at bedtime. Somehow 8:00 seems to be the magical time of hunger, a sincere desire to slowly clean up all toys, and go poop in the toilet. The "not quite" part still makes me laugh, but by 8:30 I start turning into mad mama when we're still working on putting his blankets on.

I suppose we should a) not let him do these things--though I like that he eventually eats his dinner, cleans up toys and poops in the toilet--or b) move up his bed time. With the crazy time change of last week that we're all still adjusting to, this bed time move up could be difficult. I can only imagine Jackson looking out the window and sighing, "not quite mom. It's not dark yet." But, to get a happy mama, we are quite going to have to. 

Aliens and Allie

Remember how Allie used to love to chat?

She now converses, but only with one consonant and syllable: Ba. Oh it's hilarious when she gets her jaw going up and down as she does her "ba ba ba."  Reminds me of these classic characters from Sesame Street:

Our aliens Allie and Jackson:

 How cute!