Grab your popcorn 'cause it's movie time!

I am really VERY talented ....

(Click on the link. Running time is approximately 6 to 7 minutes. You'll need sound on to get the full experience)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZE3b04NcSE

My original intent was to have this posted right after his birthday. But apparently I got a little carried away with the amount of pictures, etc. I added which resulted in a HA-uge video that was virtually impossible to send via email, upload to a hosting site, or even work with on my computer. I had to reduce the file size by a LOT of MBs (or KBs? or GBs? All those Bs are confusing). Thus the quality of the pics here has suffered somewhat. But you get the picture. Or, I should say, you get the the 1,383, 462 pictures.

You can, however, order high quality dvds for $19.95 + S&H ......

Fridge Fun

Jack loves playing with his fridge magnets!



SUCH a little boy, this kid!

I realized that I haven't posted any updates on what Jack is doing these days. I figured I better fill you in lest you think that Jack is still just cruising around saying "DaDa" and showing us how big he is.

Words:
Dada (of course)
Ball BaBa (his bottle)
Buhhhhhbllll (bubbles)
Steeeee (Steve. As in the guy who used to host Blues Clues before he "went to college" and his brother Joe took over)
Pool (the boy loves to swim!)

Hmmm .. I think that is about it. Yet again do you notice anything missing from that list? Anything? ANYTHING??? Ma. freaking. ma. He said a month or two ago for about a week then mysteriously stopped and hasn't spoken the word since. Begging and pleading doesn't work. "Fake" crying doesn't work. Four kit kats, a sippy cup full of root beer and 3 hours straight of the Noggin Network doesn't work. He says STEVE ferchrissakes! Don't let the kid fool you. He only looks super adorable and innocent. He knows what he is doing. I can just see him now at 16 years old standing in the lot of the BMW dealership and saying "I swear I'll say it if you buy me one." (At which point I will, of course, buy him one.)

In other World of Jack news we have also started doing baby sign language! The thought behind this being that babies have the capacity to communicate way before their vocal chords are developed enough do to so verbally. We started right before his birthday armed with a baby sign language book and a "Signint Time - My First Signs" video. Any guesses what his first sign was??? Eat. That's my boy. I showed him the sign for "eat" - I kid you not - twice. He got it just like that (Picture me snapping.) Only downside is that he now wants to eat everything you eat. It was one thing having him just sit there watching you eat. He could be thinking "I wish I had some of that bagel" or he could be thinking "I wonder what color BMW I'll chose" - you just don't know. Now he actually looks at you, points to your bagel and signs eat. No way you can resist sharing when he does that. So Jack eats a lot more and Mama eats a lot less. Everybody wins!

Here are the signs he currently has:

Eat (he'll even bring me the bag of cat treats and sign eat!)
Dog (will do this one sporadically as he also has a sound that he makes that means dog. It's actually his version of "woof" and it sounds like a person imitating a cat clearing a hairball out of it's throat. It's honestly cuter then it sounds.)
Bird (will do it when he sees birds on television OR in real life. What is the word I'm looking for here? Oh yes - genius)
Ball (He won't actually do this one but if I do it he immediately runs and gets his bouncy ball)
Help (He's just getting this one. He'll do it when he can't get the toy chest open by himself)

And in case you're wondering YES I've tried to get him to do the sign for Mama and NO he won't do it. And no I'm not bitter (SO am).

And with that I will borrow from Eric the Actor and say "bye for now"!

The Little Gym

So we recently started taking an infant/parent class at The Little Gym. We go every Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. and play to our hearts content. Jack is in the 10 to 18 month category and that makes him a "bird". The younger kids are "bugs", and the older kids are "beasts" and "super beasts". You'd think they could have picked some softer sounding names (the rainbows? The cafe lattes?) but I digress.

This past Saturday Gramps and Granny came to watch our class and took some great pictures. I think I might make them "official blog photographers". I should look into getting them some press credentials.

The elusive Mama makes an appearance in most of these shots. (Don't be scared to ask for my autograph. I put my pants on one leg at a time just like you.)


Here we are at opening circle. They pass out bells and we sing our "How do you do, ya big birds, how do ya do? (jingle jingle)" song. Note all the "birds" sitting nicely with their parents ringing their bells. Note my "bird" dancing in the middle of the circle as I ring my bell alone.

After circle time we usually have some kind of activity. This week it was forward rolls (Jack is mid roll here. The big yellow dot I'm leaning over is him).

Followed by Backwards Whoopdie Dos! As you can see by Jack's face those Whoopdie Dos are just as zany as they sound.

Next comes "Exploring" time where the birds can go off and do the activity of their choice. Jack chose to check out the parallel bars.

Go up some stairs.

And shoot some hoops!

That is it for the pictures we have, but it wasn't the end of the class. After exploring time we get back together as a group for bubbles (Teacher blows 'em. We pop 'em) then balls (teacher dumps 23,562 balls out on the floor. Kids all grab for one and fight over it while the remaining 23,561 balls remain untouched.) then finally closing circle for the goodbye song ("Bye Bye Big Birds .. until we meet again" or something like that) and we're done.

Whew!

I'm exhausted just writing that all out. There is my exercise for the day!

Bloopers!

One of the reasons I love renting dvds as opposed to seeing movies in the theater is that the dvd often comes with "extras" such as deleted scenes and bloopers. (The other reason being that I can watch the rented dvd at home on my couch in my old ratty cut-off sweat shorts and oh-so-comfy-permanently-stained-by-hot-fudge tank top. Sorry boys, I'm taken!)

With that in mind I present the long awaited "Making of the Father's Day Photo Montage Bloopers"!!!

We started on the patio. Adorable outfit. Adorable matching hat. Totally uncooperative (yet adorable) baby.

Hmmmm maybe if we went inside. Yes, inside on the stairway landing ...

Ummmm, no.

Maybe if we go back outside and lose the hat ...

Nope. (forgot about young Gifford's aversion to grass)

Upstairs in our bedroom near the window?

Yikes! Not so much.

Clothes off, on the chair in the living room?

Negative. Poor thing.

Immediately after this one we headed upstairs for naptime (Jack broke out into a chorus of "Hallelujah!" on the way up).

And finally after the nap, post-bottle, while watching "Blues Clues" I struck gold ...

Okay, I struck Technibond (Home Shopping Network's less expensive gold alternative. Limited Lifetime manufacturer's warranty on each piece!).

Next year we're stopping with breakfast in bed.