31 Cent Cone Day!

Unfortunately there is only one Ben and Jerry's in all of Chicago so we were not able to participate in Free Cone Day yesterday :( Mommy was quite bummed until Daddy informed her this morning that today was 31 Cent Cone Day at Baskin Robbins! Well there is a Baskins Robbins/Dunkin Donuts on almost every corner in Chicago so we planned to go for an after dinner treat. Jack has become fiercely independent as of late and insists on doing everything on his own, including eating ice cream. This is what happens when you let an almost 2 year old go wild with a scoop of chocolate ice cream! (Yes, that is ice cream on his forehead!)

Ladies' Man

Apparently Jack is a ladies' man. He flirts ALL the time and it ends up being quite embarrassing for Mommy and Daddy because he only flirts with attractive women. Seriously, if an unattractive woman tries to talk to him he turns his head away and pretends like he can't hear her. But if a beautiful young woman walks by or pays him any sort of attention, he gives a very sly flirtatious smile and (I swear) he winks. This little guy already knows how to play the game.

Today Mommy took him to Fantasy Kingdom, an indoor playground, because the weather has been rather chilly. He immediately took to flirting with a set of 2 year old triplets. He gave them all the toys he had, followed them incessantly, and just stared at them. Unfortunately, they weren't returning the love...

Contortionist or Just Resourceful??

The other day in the car, Jack noticed that Nana was talking on her cell phone in the front seat and he wanted to talk on the phone too. Unfortunately, Jack didn't have a cell phone handy so he used the next best thing--his shoe. The funny thing is that he was still wearing it! He managed to bring his foot all the way up to his ear and started to talk into it!!!

Our Little Artist

We have spoken often on this blog about Jack's obsession with crayons, markers, or anything that marks on paper. He really loves to color and completely freaks out when he sees a pen or crayon and is denied the right to use it on anything and everything within reach. (As a side note, he can't say crayon or coloring or really anything related to it so for some reason that we have yet to figure out he says "ho". That's right! "Ho!" When he sees a crayon or pen he points to it and yells "Ho" until we finally give in and give it to him. This also goes for coloring books. Strange, we know.) Anyway, Jack took an art class yesterday and he was in absolute heaven. He dabbled in all aspects of art--clay sculpting, painting, pointilism, drawing, gluing, and of course snack eating and story time. Here are his finished products. It actually makes mommy kind of sad because it is just another reminder that Jack is growing up so quickly and is old enough to have take-home art projects to hang on the refrigerator** **Sniff sniff

Take the Toys, Leave the Cannoli

This outfit cracks me up! Jack looks like he should be Tony Soprano's tough yet undeniably adorable sidekick. And yes, that is Mommy standing on the chair in the background fixing the blind. Thus is the reason Jack is standing on the ottoman...

He is ALL Boy!

Uh-oh! Mommy is in trouble! Jack is ALL boy! Mommy is such a girly-girl and Jack LOVES dirt. Seriously, the kid has some sort of magnetic draw to the stuff. He simply can't pass it up. There is still a pile of dirt in our back yard from the new fence being put in and this small pile of dirt has become a favorite of Mr. Jack. He will sit for literally 45 minutes to an hour transferring dirt from the pile to his bucket. He is also fond of pouring the dirt into his shoes and also down his pants! Yesterday he buried his small plastic dogs ("dados" as he calls them) in the pile and then fished them out with his shovel.
It really doesn't seem to bother him when he emerges with dirt from head to toe. Here he has dirt only on one side of his face (and in his eyebrow, eyelashes, and ear) because...
he actually HUGGED the pile of dirt!!!! Just shows you how much he really loves it!

Gaww!

Well Daddy's (and Papa's) dream has finally come true. Jack has started to play golf (or "gawww" as he calls it). Granted, Jack is not allowed to play with actual golf clubs because of the near certainty that everything in sight would be broken (including bones) within a matter of minutes) but for now the giant rubber club and styrofoam balls seem to work well. Jack LOVES gawww and wants to play it all the time. Seems that Mommy is going to have to dust off her clubs so that she can hang with the boys :)

Yay for Spring!

Jack and Mommy spent some quality time in the back yard today and we had a blast! Jack had so much fun just exploring and of course getting his picture taken. The boy is a ham for the camera!!!
Jack tries very hard to be a "big boy" and one way he does this is by drinking out of straws. This cup with water was Mommy's but Jack hijacked it and claimed it for his own.
Jack LOVES bubbles and he is learning how to blow them himself. This usually entails getting half the bubble solution in his mouth. Yuck!
For some reason, Jack's favorite place to sit in the backyard is on the step leading to the garage. Here he is telling Mommy "I Luuuuuuuuuuuuv you" while swaying back and forth.
Of course, an afternoon would not be complete without hugs for Milo. Seriously, Jack loves Milo more than anything else in the whole world.

Flashcards!

We have been working with Jack on flashcards to teach him some new words. Don't worry! We're not those obsessive parents who think their kids should be reading Nietzsche by the time they enter kindergarten. Jack thinks its loads of fun because they are puzzle flashcards and so he works on putting them together and then we practice the word.

Hanging at the Lincoln Park Zoo

The weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend and we spent every possible moment outside. On Saturday we played at the park and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around our little section of the city, even getting an ice cream snack in the afternoon!

On Sunday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was so fun to take Jack back this year because he was so interested and amazed by every single animal. He would say hello and watch them and then when it was time to move on he would wave goodbye! However, he insisted on calling EVERY animal a dog!

Here he is checking out the gorillas.
Jack is trying to get an eye-to-eye view of the giraffes.
Crawling through a termite mound!

Jack and Mommy checking out the giraffe through the window...
Jack and Mommy in front of the seal and sea lion pond.
Jack and Daddy at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder. Are you noticing Jack's new obsession with showing his belly???

Me and My Buds

Jack had friends over for playtime and lunch today. What could be better than sharing chicken nuggets and cookies with your best buds?

This is what happens when you leave a mischievous almost-2 year old by himself for 5 minutes!

Yep! Those are markers all over my hardwood floors. Luckily they are washable!!!