Jackie Visits the Zoo

This past weekend (8/22; it took a while to finish writing this post) we decided it was finally time to check out the little zoo near our new home. The Capron Park Zoo (capronparkzoo.com) is about a 5 minute drive away from our house, and it would be shorter but the closest bridge is out. So off we went on Saturday afternoon to the zoo.

Now this was Jackie's very first visit to a zoo. Sadly we have not made it to the zoo in Fort Worth yet. (Partially because Daddy wanted to be with us on the first visit to a zoo.) So Jackie was not quite sure what to expect, even though we kept telling her she would see lots of animals. And she did not begin to understand until after we got to the zoo and saw the first couple of animals. That is when she started getting really excited about the zoo.

The first animals you see upon entering the little zoo are the kangaroos, emus, and tortoises. This left me wondering what happens to the kangaroos and other warm weather friends during a nice cold MA winter, but I guess we will find out soon enough. Jackie thought they were nice but a little boring as they were all just laying around in the grass. Jackie's excitement really peaked when we entered the Sadler building where quite a few of the smaller African animals live. She really liked standing and looking into their exhibits and watching the little energetic tamarins, meerkats, and lemurs playing. Jackie also enjoyed the rainforest building with its frogs and birds of bright colors.

Jackie's favorite animal we saw were the lions. She probably would have stayed there next to the lion exhibit all afternoon if we had let her. She kept talking to the lions and shouting exclamations of joy over the two lionesses and the male lion with his mane. When Daddy finally told her she had to leave the lions she waved and said, "Bye lion." She also bestowed many kisses and hugs on the lions. It makes a mother glad that she could not get really close the lions since there was only joy and no fear on Jackie's part. It was so cute watching her tell the lions goodbye. Luckily for us, Don was video-ing the whole proceeding. I'm sure someday soon he will get the clip on the web for y'all to watch.

Because of Jackie's joy and excitement, Don and I decided to become members of the zoo. Now Jackie can visit her lions often. In fact, I'm sure she would love to show them to you if you come for a visit. Granma GeeKee and Granpa enjoyed seeing the lions with her this Sunday (9/6). And Jackie again had to wave and tell the lions bye, giving them even more kisses and hugs. Jackie has also started roaring like a lion since we visited the zoo the first time. She hasn't heard our lions roar in person yet (it might scare her b/c it will be loud), but it doesn't stop her from roaring at us. She is also pretending to be a lion. And she says, "Ben lion. Ma lion. Daddy lion." Then she wants us to roar with her. So watch out if you come to visit, you might have to be a lion with Jackie. :-)

Vignettes of Benjamin

Since it has been a while from the last posting about Ben, I thought I would write a few little vignettes about what he has been up to.

So the best story recently, happened Saturday night while we were over at Nee's apartment for dinner. (Now remember that Nee is a 93 year-old Sicilian woman, who does/ says what she wants. She has after all earned the right.) I had Ben laying on the couch and was changing his diaper. Nee was sitting across the room facing the couch and apparently looked over just as I was placing the clean diaper under Ben's little bum. "Look at that fat ass," Nee exclaimed. And just in case we had not heard her the first time, she said it again in response to a question my father-in -law posed. I apologize for the language but in all fairness, that is an exact quote. The whole group of us burst out laughing and Don lamented not catching it on video.

And for all of you wondering if Ben has rolled over yet; the answer is yes. Ben rolled from his back onto his belly on Thursday the 13. We had just come downstairs that morning and I laid Ben on his back on the playmat while I changed Jackie and got her breakfast together. I looked over just in time to see him resting on his side almost all the way over reaching for his pacifier. I started to look for the video camera but couldn't find it and so grabbed my camera instead. I took a few pictures before I realized I really needed to use Don's fancy camera. All the while I was cheering him on to roll the rest of the way over. And when he did, it didn't startle him. Ben was just smiling up at me as proud as he could be. Or at least very excited by my attention which was soon divided with Jackie as she got a little jealous of my praising Ben. And in true Foster fashion, he hasn't rolled over since. Once is all it takes to prove you can do something!

Don and I were discussing dinner options for the week and Don mentioned Carbonara. Ben gave him this great big smile. And so now Don and Ben have a little game of Benny Carbonara. The look on Ben's face is so cute, but it only works for Don. "Do you want a little Carbonara?"

Don likes to spend time in the evenings and weekends finding ways to make Ben smile and laugh. Recently one of the things that really gets Ben going is singing and dancing with Daddy. Don will sing a song (sometimes changing the words to make it about Ben) or hum a tune and hold Ben under the arms moving him to the beat of the music. Sometimes there is a little chest shake or other fancy dance move as well. Ben finds this little game quite funny and he will give his daddy little "huh, huh-s." I will try to catch some of it on video soon before the funny breaks.

Ben's most recent accomplishment is standing by himself. Now don't get too excited, he isn't pulling up yet- just standing. I can place him on his feet next to the trunk and place his hands on top of the trunk and let go. And Ben can hold himself up for quite a while. Now I do have to make sure his little legs are not too far apart and I do lean him just a bit forward (mainly because our balance is still a little off,) but he can stand all by himself.

I will also try to post other cute little Ben stories as they happen, but you know how it is. Sometimes life gets in the way of our intentions.

Out of the running for "Mom of the Year"

So today was one of those days that takes you out of the running for "mom of the year." Well, at least, it started off that way. Any other mom out there knows what I am talking about; we all have them and we all wished they did not exist.

When something inside of me kept telling me to roll back over and go back to sleep this morning, I should have listened. I had already done that once though and Jackie was awake so I ignored the impulse for more sleep and dragged myself out of bed. After taking Ben downstairs and returning upstairs, I opened the door to the kids room to find myself staring at Jackie. She had learned this morning how to climb out of her twin bed. I kept expecting it, yet I kept hoping the day would not come. So today I must stop procrastinating and finally put up the gate outside of their bedroom door. And I think to myself that I need a new plan for enforcing nap time and then we head downstairs.

I began to gather their diapers and clothing for the day so we could all be ready for errands after breakfast. Since I was so tired, I had not thought to bring clothes down for them. So in a sleepy state, I head back upstairs for the third time this morning. Normally Jackie would behave while I was upstairs, but something was amiss this morning. Maybe it was the air hanging limp from the impending heat of the day, or the pride of managing to wiggle from her bed, but Jackie was up to no good. I don't know, that might be a little harsh. For all I know she might have been trying to help when she decided to open the clean diapers waiting near Ben and take Ben's to the bathroom and drop it in the toilet. She might have witnessed Don rinsing a poopy diaper in the toilet in the past and thought she might do the same. Only this diaper was clean; no need for rinsing.

I thought she was playing in the living room since I could not hear any strange sounds echoing up the stairwell outside their door. But as I stepped down towards the landing, Jackie heard me and came running from the direction of the bathroom with a mischievous grin and the water-proof diaper bag (the one for dirty diapers when we are out of the house) in her hands. I knew something wasn't right and as I grabbed the bag from her I could tell her hands were wet. I felt of the bag and it was dry so I went to place it back in the bathroom and that's when I discovered her diaper escapades. There was Ben's clean white diaper pushed into the bowl of the toilet. I was mildly thankful that it didn't appear to have been flushed (I don't think Jackie knows how yet.) And this is the moment I lost the "mother of the year" award. I yelled, "Jacqueline Frances," and I don't think there was a reason to yell as she had followed me into the bathroom. Apparently she was proud of what she had accomplished while I was gone. That feeling did not last long as I let into her verbally. I did swat at her big blue padded bottom in the midst of the tirade and her look changed to one of forlorn sadness as she realized I was very upset.

As I finished rinsing out the diaper, washing my hands and banishing her from the bathroom, we headed into the living room to dress both kids. I was still fuming when I discovered she had been playing with her clean diaper as well and that it had toilet water on it and was now also dirty. By this point Jackie had been told that if she did anything she was not supposed to or had to be asked more than once to follow instructions she would head back up to bed. And she did; shortly after getting dressed, she threw a toy. This is an ongoing battle with us about not throwing things and so up she went after being downstairs for around a half hour. This time she stayed upstairs just long enough to change and dress Ben.

We finally ate breakfast, rounded the kids into the car and headed out on our errands. And then Ben decided to scream the 30 min from our house, through the construction, to Nana's and Papa's house. Apparently he really was hungry when I tried to feed him before we left but playing was more interesting at the time. So the list of errands was rearranged to care for Ben and my nerves were rattled beyond measure. But Ben calmed down after eating and we made it through the grocery store and Target without too many rough patches. Although in the grocery store I told Jackie that I was sorry but she would just have to be upset if something was not the way she wanted it.

And after getting home and having Ben scream half the way back, all during the time I needed to unload the car and put away the cold stuff, my nerves were really frazzled. I changed diapers, fed Ben and gave Jackie her milk, and then finally I fixed lunch. By this point it was three o'clock and luckily Jackie and I had each eaten a cereal bar on the way home from Target. I had bought Jackie Annie's Spaghetti O's while shopping because she had asked for them and I figured it was worth a shot if she ended up eating them. So I asked if she wanted them for lunch and she agreed. I no more got her sitting in her little chair with the bib on and the food on the tray then she threw her bowl to the ground. That was it! No second chance here, it was nap time and it was over-due. I told her to lay down and if she crawled off the bed she would sleep in a crib. Jackie stayed put and within 10 minutes lay sleeping. That is the moment my day finally started to turn around. Ben fell asleep on his playmat and it was finally quiet in the house.

Jackie woke up in a better mood and found me in a better mood as well. It is nice to know that even on bad days things can end well. It is good that toddlers soon forget the bad times with their parents and can show them great affection. It is reassuring that they seem to bounce back and recover their pride so easily. It helps to think that we can overcome our bad moments and build our children up to hopefully be better people than we are. God is very wise to make our children so forgiving of their parents mistakes when they are little. I know that there will be more mistakes to be made, but to also know that as long as I show my children love we will overcome those mistakes is a very promising thing. Now if only our children stayed as forgiving as they grew into teenagers. But again God is wise in teaching our children about fallibility through their parents' short-comings; it makes us strive to follow his will more closely as our children grow.

~Tiffany

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

So as far as a toddler is concerned if you go to bed early because you are extra tired, it doesn't mean you need to stay asleep until your usual wake-up time. Jackie headed to bed a little earlier than normal last night because she was exhausted. So after her 10 or so hours of sleep she decided it was time to wake-up and have some milk. Pay no attention to the fact that it is 6:30 am; I'm a toddler and I demand my needs be met immediately. So Don, who was getting ready to leave for work, brought up her milk. Only Jackie did not want Don giving it to her in her bed; Jackie wanted Mama to give her her milk in our bed. Deluding myself with the thought that she might settle back into sleep if we appeased her and thinking some Jackie cuddles might be nice, I sleepily agreed to give her her milk in my bed.

The Jackie cuddles were nice, but they lasted briefly longer than it took to drink her milk. She laid down just a little past the time it took for me to take the rest of her milk back down to the refrigerator and climb back into bed. Then, because she could sense that I might be right and she might fall back into dream land where everyone belongs at 6:30 in the morning, Jackie started to play. For you see at this point in Jackie's life we have become rather attached to a few items. And whenever we are tired or just need a little comfort, we bring these things along. That really means when Jackie was placed into bed for her milk this morning, I should have said that Baby, blanket and Olivia (the Piggy) all fell into bed with her. Thus when fear of actually falling back asleep set in, Jackie had friends along to entertain her. I let Jackie play quietly beside me while I tried to catch a little extra sleep. Ben had finished his early morning snack around the time Jackie requested hers, so I knew he would sleep for another hour and a half or so and thought I might be able to rest during that time as well. Unfortunately, Jackie had other plans.

As I drifted in and out of slumber, never fully asleep but not what I would call fully awake either, Jackie entertained herself. But that gets a little repetitive after a while and she needed to find something else to do. So Jackie would lay down, and get up, and crawl around the bed, and talk with Baby and Olivia, and pat my arm in an effort to stay awake. She would drift between these activities while I drifted between sleep when she realized that Ben was sleeping in the basinet at the foot of the bed. This sparked a new idea. Jackie could entertain herself with Ben. At first she just pointed to him and exclaimed about his presence while I shushed her to keep from waking him. Then after moving on to something else she returned to Ben. Only this time I was asleep and Ben had woken up. So I hear her talking to him and him laughing at her and I can sense she is near the foot of the bed but not quite where she is. I sit up, and there she is. . . not at the foot of our bed at all, instead she is at the foot of Ben's bed. That's right she had crawled into his basinet, which is barely big enough for him, and was sitting just at the end of his folded up legs. They both thought it was quite funny for a two-year-old to be in the basinet with her four-month-old brother; they were having quite a nice time together. All I could think of was that basinet tumbling off its hinges to the floor and a pile of Ben-Jackies underneath. So no, I did not run down the stairs to grab the camera and shoot a few pictures of the scene and thus condone it by documenting it (Jackie thinks the camera means something is good and deserves repetition). Instead I jumped to the foot of the bed and pulled Jackie out as fast as I could. Sensing this was the end of any rest I might have attained this morning, I crawled out of bed just before 8 to "start" the day.

I don't think Jackie will be permitted any more early morning, half asleep Mama cuddles while the basinet sits at the foot of our bed.

~Tiffany

Curiosity

So I was looking through old blog posts and stumbled upon one Don had written with Jackie's two month check up stats. That piqued my interest as to how big she was at four months. It turns out she was 13 lbs 6.8oz and 2' 1" tall. When you compare that to Ben's 16 lbs and 2' 1.5" tall, she seems like a light weight. I guess size all depends on perspective because thinking back to Jackie at four months I felt like she was so big. And she was if I compare her to where she was after losing all that weight in the beginning, but she was not if I compare her to Ben.

Life as a Two- Year-Old

It is official, as of August first Jackie is now 2. And I think she would tell you that from her short experience (three whole days), life is grand when you are two. Don and I managed to pull together a party for her in just about a week. A small group of family and friends gathered on Saturday to help Jackie celebrate the momentous occasion. And as she was the center of many adults' attention she was quite satisfied. That and I had spent hours working on a bunny cake that she couldn't wait to eat. If you need the full saga of the bunny cake you will have to check it out on facebook (Bunny-cake Baking Debacle). 

My favorite part of the party, aside from the fantastic cake (if I do say so myself), was Jackie opening her presents. She was filled with such joy and awe. Each package deserved her full attention and trying to pry her away from it once she had opened it was nearly impossible. Jackie wanted to take each toy out of its packaging and play with it right away. Every new present brought new exclamations of "oh boy" and "wow"and "oooh." The unwrapping was fun and what was inside was even more exciting. There were a couple of toys that really stood out from the others. She received these neat blocks called Wedgits that I have to admit I have been playing with. She also received a set of chimes to play with mallets. Don has been playing with those, he especially likes the tone each one has. Jackie is so musical by nature that she has really enjoyed playing with the chimes and also with her xylophone which Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She will sit with both in front of her and give a little solo performance, clapping for herself at the conclusion of each of her songs.

After Jackie's party, the family headed over to Capron Park. It was such a nice place for her to play and there was a little rose garden where we took pictures of Jackie and Ben together. There is a little zoo at the park which we will visit another day soon. I can not wait to see her joy over the animals; I am sure she will point and exclaim each of their names for us with great excitement. 

After the park, we returned home and Jackie took a nice long nap. So nice was the nap that she did not want to go to sleep Saturday night. In fact, Jackie stayed up later than Don did. She was still so excited over all of her new toys she didn't want to fall asleep for fear they would be gone in the morning. I was finally able to convince her to head up to bed and allowed her to take her new little stuffed Olivia the pig upstairs with her. After tucking Jackie in and laying the toy next to her in bed, Jackie picked up the pig, sat it on her chest, and in the the sweetest voice said, "hello piggy."  That was how she ended her birthday.

Today was the big day we took Jackie to have her well check-up. She is growing very nicely just like Ben. Jackie is now 34" or 2' 10" tall and she weighs 26.2 lbs. That means she only outweighs Ben by 10 lbs. That isn't much and I'm guessing it won't be too long before that gap is narrowed even more. Ben is definitely half of one Jackie. And Jackie did not need any shots today, just a finger prick. She did very well during the finger prick but was very glad when it was over. No more doctor's visits for Jackie until she is three (unless she gets sick or to get the flu vaccine.)

This year promises to bring even more wonder for Jackie as she interacts with the world in new ways. I can not wait to see life as a two-year-old sees it.

~Tiffany

Benja Moose

So last Monday (July 27) we took the four month old Ben to the doctor for his well baby visit. We were all curious to see how he has been growing and it turns out we were right. Every time we look at him, he is a bit bigger. He is now (drum roll please) 16lbs even and 25 1/2" long / tall (however you look at it.) He is a Benja Moose. For those of you who can not remember our "little" Benjamin was only 7lbs 9oz and 20 1/2 " long at birth. That is a lot of growing in just four months. I guess all I can say is he sure does think Mama makes yummy  milk. We are very pleased with the progress he is making and it is rewarding to see him doing so well.

Now that we have the business of growth out of the way we can move on to more exciting things. What is more exciting than a 16 pound baby, you ask? Well the things that baby does, I say. Ben is the mellowest little fellow I have ever known. Two months ago when Ben had his first round of immunizations I was impressed by how little he cried. This time he cried even less. He only received two shots this trip and he didn't cry at all with the first one and only let out a fuss over the second because his pacifier fell out. That is definitely doing his brave. He also travels well. Load him into the car seat and he just chills no matter where we go or how long we are gone. He might fuss a bit if he starts to get warm but other than that he either sleeps or just plays with the toys on the seat. 

There have been a few times lately where Jackie decided to pull Ben off of his playmat while I was in the kitchen. I had no idea she had done this until I walked into the room and he was laying in the middle of the floor. He just looked up at me and smiled. Ben had made no fuss over her moving him at all. But it seems that Ben adores Jackie so much that I don't think it would matter what she did to him, he would still smile at her. I hope they can maintain a good relationship throughout their childhoods and lives. 

Ben is also becoming quite impressive physically. He loves to be stood on his feet and to hold himself up while grasping your fingers. He has done this so much that he has rather good balance and only sways after standing for a while. He is definitely grabbing onto objects now but instead of just holding onto them, he is learning to maneuver them to his mouth. I think his favorite pastime at the moment is penguin wrestling. We have these little stuffed penguins with different textures and colors and I will sit one or two of them on the floor near him while he plays. He likes to grab onto them and hold them against his chest, sometimes gnawing on them while he holds them. So to me it looks like he is wrestling with them. 

Ben has gotten close a few times to rolling from his back onto his belly. One time he was sucking his finger and refused to stop so he got stuck just short of rolling over. I think within the next month he will be rolling all over the place. He might also be scooting around everywhere. He can move himself all over his playmat like a little crab. Every now and then he will start to fuss because he has found himself stuck with an arm under the entertainment center. It sits next to the playmat and he will start pushing himself along with his feet, leaving his shoulders on the ground and wind up caught. Jackie was always content to stay in one place as long as she didn't feel left out. If she could see you, she would play quietly by herself on her mat not feeling the need to explore outside of it. She accepted her boundaries as they were given to her. Ben feels the need for adventure. Instead of fussing until you move him, he simply moves himself. Maybe he has already established that he will need to keep up with Jackie so he better start learning how so he won't be left behind. 

~Tiffany

New Photos

Just a quick post to let everyone know there are new photos on the website. You will find them under the family photos tab and they are way down at the bottom of the page. Don finally found a little time to compile the pictures of the move into the new house. He is hoping to get the pictures of Jackie's second birthday on the site soon. And I promise to write a few posts about life over the last couple of weeks. Jackie is headed for her 24 month check-up with the doctor on Monday so we will let y'all know how big she has grown. 

More soon,

Tiffany