Jared made it home from Evanston! These month-long away rotations are emotional whiplash. It takes a few weeks for me to get into the swing of solo parenting, and then just when I've adapted, Jared gets back home and it takes another few weeks to adapt back to that. Luckily this time he's here to stay at least through the end of July, and hopefully longer.
The day after Jared got home we celebrated Jack's second birthday! We kept it simple. That's our style, and Jack's still young enough that we can get away with keeping things extremely low-key. I made him a pig cake from a funfetti mix and some hot pink frosting Jared's mom sent in a Valentine's package for Jack. Jack looooved it. We put up a couple balloons for the "decor," and then he opened a couple presents from grandparents--a chocolate egg with a little paw patrol dog, and a wooden waffle iron for his "new" wood kitchen we found at the thrift store. He got some other great gifts from both sets of grandparents, but I gradually let him open all of those on days when he was especially difficult to entertain during my stint of solo parenting. Here are some pictures I want to remember around Jack turning two, and at the end I'll do some "Jack at two" highlights.
Jack at Age 2:
-Wearing mostly 3T clothes. I don't have his weight and height stats, but he's a tall kid for his age. Most people guess at him being a year or two older than he is.
-Knows all his colors: reh, nho, yehyoh, ghee, boo, popo, gink, nack, bow, white
-Sleeps pretty great! He never wakes up during the night anymore, which I would never have believed if you'd told me a year ago. It's insane how much changes between year one and year two. He usually sleeps from around 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m, with a 2-hr nap in the afternoon. Every time we do the travel thing his sleep gets bad again, but we've been home for a few months now and the sleep is wonderful.
-It took a long time, but we finally found a nighttime routine that works for Jack and minimizes his crying to sleep. We get him changed and in his jammies and sleep sack while he watches a cute 5-minute short about the stars and the moon called "La Luna" to prevent him from rolling and running around. Then we brush his teeth while we read some bedtime stories. Then he cleans up his toys around the house while we sing the tidying song. Then he gives Savvy a squeeze and a muh and tells her "I, you!" (I love you) Then I ask him if he wants to walk to bed, or fly to bed. He always wants to fly. So I fly him around the house twice and then put him in his crib and sing "Twinkle Little Star" while I rub his face. He says the last word of every line. Then I leave the room and say "nigh night." He usually pouts for just a few seconds, which is amazing considering how long he'd cry after we'd put him in bed for most of his first two years of life! I think the improvement is equal parts developmental growth and a solid bedtime routine that he likes.
-Jack's true loves are cars, "wah-woes" (waffles), Ya-ya (Savvy), his stuffed "buh buh" (bunny), and "kha-kha" (chocolate).
He also loves all the family members on both sides of his family and will just start listing off everyone's names several times during the day, particularly when he's in his crib before or after going to sleep. Gamma (grandma), Umpa (grandpa), Nana (Great Grandma), Wih (Will), Ree (Marie), En (Steven), Nae (Mae), Ee (Annie), Kiss (Chris), Cait (Caitlin), Coh (Cole), Jajo (Jordan), Nuh (Amanda), Ush (Asher), Pit (Peter), Ah-ie (Abby), Tih (Tim).
-One of his biggest turning-two milestones has been that he recently developed the attention span to watch movies from start to finish! This makes long road trip soooo much less painful. He is also playing pretend now, with his toys and play kitchen, which is a lot of fun. He isn't doing a ton of independent play yet--I still have to spend almost all of the time he is awake right by his side--but I think by this time next year he'll be playing by himself a lot more often.
-He has discovered how to push the kitchen chairs all around the house to get onto high surfaces and turn lights on and off. So that's great (nope).
-Jack's favorite foods are meat, chocolate, smoothies, and waffles. Other than waffles, he actually isn't a huge bread guy. Vegetables and fruits are hit and miss for him.
-Jack loves going to "sto" and "chuch." Also the "pahk" as we're starting to get tolerable days here and there. He's distrusting of nursery with Jared leaving town for weeks at a time lately. I think he's afraid I'm going to leave him there and then just never come back. We'll get there. Also, I don't have it in me to take him to stores alone anymore. He refuses to sit in a cart--he can jump out even if he's buckled in. He gets into everything, squats by the toys and won't let me get the things I need--it's just a nightmare. So I'll only take him to the store for emergencies. Otherwise I stick to my walmart grocery pickup runs and let Jared take him to Sam's Club for some father-son time on the weekends.
Those are just a few highlights, but there is so much more to our mischievous, fun-loving Jackster! He keeps us on our toes, which is exhausting but also lots of fun. I can't wait for all the adventures we'll get to do together this summer now that he's old enough to go all day without a nap if needed, and now that he can manage long car rides. It's going to be a great year with our Bubba Jack!