Eye Candy

Ok, I promised some new pictures and I'm sure you're ready for them after a series of boring, text-only entries. Here's a shot from tonight, just before bedtime. See more photos here.

They were having so much fun together in Jake's room - jumping off his bed, rolling around on Jake's sleeping bag, and then climbing up on the rocking chair together (yep, Sadie climbed up on her own). Watching them play together, I always think of the Woody Allen movie Sweet and Lowdown. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth the rental. Sean Penn plays a 1930's jazz guitarist who's kind of a sympathetic scoundrel, who falls for a mute girl, who in turn loves him unconditionally, despite his sometimes derisive treatment of her. There are so many scenes in that movie where he talks and talks about himself to her and she just nods and smiles and loves him with her eyes. Jake doesn't play guitar very well yet, but he talks and talks to Sadie, and often pushes her around, and she just stares back at him and smiles and loves him. So, has anyone seen this movie? Maybe I should stick to mainstream movie references. Anyway, this was supposed to be a post all about the visuals. Here's a little movie starring Captain Hook (played by Jake) as he fights Peter Pan (played by Ali's index finger):

And here's a video of Jake giving us his favorite quotes from Finding Nemo:

"What's the crab say?"
"Says: HEY HEY HEY (in Australian accent)"
"And what does Nemo say?"
"Nemo says: 'I don't need any help'"
"And what does Dory say?"
"Dory says: 'You need help'"
"And what does Nemo's daddy say?"
"????"

Tune in next week when Jake reads from "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Newzzzzzzzzzzz

I know how it is. You're at work, you're a little bored, maybe you'll check to see if there's anything new on Tripdub. Nope, still NOTHING! Or maybe you're semi-retired on a lake somewhere and thinking, I wonder what my grandchildren are up to? But that no-good-son-in-law still hasn't posted ANYTHING in the last week or so!

Well, we're still here. We've been having a lot of fun during the days, but maybe not so much at night. Saturday we did our farmer's market run, picking up some sweet potatoes which Sadie happens to LOVE! We were so happy to find something besides bananas for her. She'll eat a whole banana while you're checking your email, but she turns her nose up at just about everything else.

Then we headed to IKEA for their lingonberry pancake breakfasts. I think we pay more for gas to get there than on the actual breakfast, but it's a fun place for everyone. They have little kid stations here and there and Ali and I can look at the furniture and think, "that looks great, but who's going to distract the kids for the 6 hours it takes to assemble it?"

Jake's back at First Steps-- his old pre-school-- for three mornings a week. He was a little bit wary at first, but he seems to be having fun there now, and I think the interaction with the other kids is good. Last week his teacher told us he was doing well, but he often ignored group time and wanted to do his own thing. On the way home that day, Ali attempted to broach the subject:

"Jake, do you always listen to Ami (his teacher) and sit down with the other kids?"

"No"

"Well, it's important to listen to Ami. But.....it's also important to retain your individuality"

"ok"

I'm sure he got the message.

We also went swimming at the local rec center pool this weekend. Jake jumped right in with his water wings and swam up and down the lane like a pro. Sadie seemed to enjoy herself too, smiling and giggling.

The nights have been a struggle, though. On the up side, Sadie's been sleeping through the night for about a week. And that's no small feat. But, on the down side, Jake's new found freedom of his big boy bed has left us a bit sleep deprived.

Jake's always been a pretty good sleeper, so we're hoping it will just take an adjustment in our approach to get us back to restful nights. Our new strategy when he gets out of bed at night is to take him back to bed without any talking, except to say "You have to stay in bed." No more negotiations or pleading or promises or threats ("the sun won't come up in the morning unless you go to sleep") -- just brief, firm but gentle insistence that it's bedtime. This might seem obvious, but logic is pretty fuzzy at 3:30am.

More pictures soon!