a voice only a mother could love...

it is a little hard to hear, but jack has recently starting "singing!" i'll admit it is hard to keep a straight face when he does it, but he is so sincere that who couldn't find beauty in that:)

happy (belated) father's day!

we had a really nice day. we headed to the maritime aquarium in norwalk, ct. packed a picnic lunch and ate by the water.

this day, of course, would not have been possible without my amazing husband. mike is a truly awesome father, and both jack and i could not be luckier to have him! he and jack are such buddies these days, and it is so cute to watch their relationship grow. happy father's day mike!! we love you:)

touching a crab at the "please touch" tank

starfish

the frog exhibit was awesome!

i think was jack's favorite part--we spent at least 5 minutes just watching this enormous turtle!

blurry, but you can see his excitement during the seals' feeding

i just love this reaction from mike...he and jack both had these awe-struck looks a lot:)

he was tentative about crawling into the hippo at first, but then we had to bribe him to come back out!

lucky...

there are days where being a mom can be so trying i question why i chose this path, but then you have days where your child perfectly epitomizes what you expected motherhood to be. today was that day. for those who are mothers, i think you can relate...when an ordinary day just goes perfectly according to plan, you savor it!

here is how our simple, yet highly productive day went; jack ate 3 solid meals (a feat in and of itself considering he has recently taken to just eating the insides of his sandwich!), he obliged me as i cleaned the house from top to bottom, we played, read stories and when it was time for a nap there was no resistance (say what!?), nap was followed by a target run (and he contentedly sat in the cart as i meandered around target trying to figure out what i had forgotten to write down on my list), then came sheer joy when i handed him his vanilla milk from starbucks (that alone was enough to brighten my day), we had a great bath and no crying when it was time to get out, and the pinnacle of my day was after we kissed night-night and jack proceeded to ask (sign) for more kisses. sigh....there is not a more amazing moment as a parent than when your child expresses his/her love for you. it makes it all truly worth it!

jack i hope you will always want to give me kisses! love, mommy

orange...

is officially jack's favorite color! all of a sudden he loves all things orange. he insisted on wearing his orange shirt the other day, when we color he almost always has all 3 orange crayons in hand, and let's not forget his love for his orange crocs. i think it's so funny how he has picked up on his colors and now has a preference!

on another note, he is a babbling fool these days. i wouldn't call it a word explosion, but he has started to say more and more. he is also thinking about the words when you ask him to say it, and at the very least will try and sound it out. i knew this would come eventually, but i was getting a little concerned when he showed no interest. yay jack!

here are some pics from the past weekend. we took advantage of the one nice afternoon and went to harbour island in mamaroneck. it was so pretty and jack had a blast!

rain, rain GO away!

the sun finally made an appearance this afternoon, and jack and i wasted no time getting to the park! to say that we were a bit stir crazy, would have been an understatement.

i decided to let jack wear his beloved rain boots because i had a feeling there would be some serious puddles--call it mommy intuition, as it didn't take jack all but 5 minutes to find the largest puddle there!! you should have seen his face when walked into it for the first time unknowingly...it was a little confused, but mostly elated. i actually think this was the first time he stomped through puddles...

just having his snack, his current fave strawberry applesauce. he loves to use a spoon and feed himself, he's so proud of himself when he does it:)

a jack funny...

so jack loves to play on my bed. he is constantly asking to go up on it, and he mostly just free falls and snuggles on the pillows. well yesterday he was insistent we go on the bed, so i complied, and i figured we would read some books. i guess jack had something else in mind because just as soon as i brought him up he was back down and disappeared into the hallway. he reemerged about 10 seconds later with my make-up bag in hand!? apparently i started a habit, because we always hang out on my bed while i put on my make-up and jack rummages through everything!! its either that or he was trying to tell me something;)

sidennote: this is highly reminiscent of my little brother tim who wouldn't even look at my mom in the morning until she put her "face" on--haha!!

happy 20 months!

it is hard to believe jack is 20 months today. i know i say this constantly, but it has gone by so quickly. i keep reminding myself to enjoy everyday with him because he'll be all grown up before i know it!

just to keep track, jack is saying about 8 words consistently. he is attempting to sound out words, and while i can tell he wants to talk, he's just not quite there yet. on the flip side, he has mastered the fork and spoon--he's been able to do this for a while, but he's gotten much more consistent as of late. he is also starting to differentiate colors--i think coloring has helped this a lot, because i'm constantly asking him for certain crayons.

speaking of coloring, this is one if his new favorite things to do. he's kind of funny though, because he knows you're only supposed to color on paper, but he'll hold the crayon to say the couch, my leg, the floor, etc. and then make a certain noise as if he's asking "can i color on this?" so i've been very dilligent in my explaining that we only color on paper!

on that note, happy 20 months "big" guy! i can't wait to see what you discover next:)

a little perspective...one year ago today!

these were taken this morning...jack had run to look out our window to watch dad on his way to work:)

whoa, whoa, whoa...

is what jack would say if he saw just how delinquent i've been with the posts!? i guess jack has been keeping me busy!

he is becoming more and more precocious these days...i'm not sure if he's testing me or testing himself, but it is for sure keeping me on my toes. i know it is par for the course, but when he looks right at me when i tell him "no" and then does it anyway, it literally takes all my patience not to scream!! i think we're both still adjusting to this chapter of toddlerhood.

that being said, he makes me smile far more than frown. he can be such a goofball as he runs around screaming and jabbering. our new favorite thing is dance party...turn up the sound dock and dance. jack only really has one signature move, but i'm for sure no one to talk;)

lastly, i finally got my dslr, so bear with me as i learn the ins and outs...it is far more intuitive than i am! i vow to take much better pictures than the ones posted below...

you're never to young to start...

and as per usual, this is the face you get when you tell jack to "smile!"