Jack's trying to grow up on us.

Big Boy Car Seat
Jack's car seat was falling apart, so we decided it was time for him to get Cat's old booster seat. He thinks it's really cool and loves sitting in it, until he gets bored. At which time he wiggles out of the seat belt and stands up. And it doesn't matter if we're driving 20 mph on our road, or 70 mph on the Interstate. We're thinking about reverting back at this point...


Using the Potty
About a month ago Jack started asking to use the potty. I didn't think he was quite ready to be potty trained, but we figured letting him use it once in a while would be good for him. So he asked to use the potty several times over the next few days, but has hardly asked since. Oh well, at least he's been introduced to the basics.

A few days later he picked up the little potty seat that was next to the toilet, placed it on top of his head and said, "Wook. I'm a hat."


Using a Big Boy Cup
When I told him that you have to be very big to use a big boy cup he said, "But I'm vewy vewy vewy big." How could I argue with that? So we let him use them more often, but soon learned that "vewy vewy vewy big" doesn't necessarily mean "vewy vewy vewy mature." We had to discontinue use of the big boy cup when he insisted on using it as a dunking booth for food, toys, and our phone.


Learning Mommy's Methods
A few weeks ago I started doing some Simon Says with Jack. He wasn't catching on to anything except doing fun actions when ever I told him to, but still had fun with it. When it was time to go to the library for story time, he was pretty slow-moving and wasn't obeying when I told him to come with me to the car. So, I said, "Simon says MARCH!" and we marched for a little while, toward the car. Then I said, "Simon says HOP!" and we hopped toward the car, eventually getting all the way in. Once we were on our way, Jack said to me, "Simon says GO TO THE LIBRARY."


Whispering
Jack has two methods of whispering.
#1. The Imitative Whisper: Moving his mouth but not letting any distinguishable words come out.
#2. The Excited Whisper: Fluctuates between #1 and yelling. It goes kind of like this: "We can have a cookie. We CAN have a cookie. We can HAVE a COOKie. We can have A COOKIE. WE CAN have a cookIE.


Reasoning
"I want to watch a movie. Because I'm hungwee."

"Because I don't wike it."

(a conversation at about 9am)
Jack: "Can we watch a movie?"
Mom: "No. It's not time yet."
Jack: "I want to WATCH a MOVIE."
Mom: "No. You can't watch a movie."
Jack: "You make dinner and I will watch a movie."

Mom: "Do you want a banana?"
Jack: "No. Because I'm scwatch."

Mom: "What are you doing??"
Jack: "I hitting Wiza."
Mom: "No. That's not okay. Don't hit Eliza."
Jack: "BUT I WANT TO HIT WIZA!"
(We have a similar exchange usually at least once a day, but sometimes we substitute "sit on," "kick," or "push" for the word "hit.")


Big Boy Bed
Over the last 10 months or so, Jack has had trouble limiting his sleep to his bed. He has changed bedrooms a couple of times, which may or may not have helped. But recently he went back to having his own room again, and sleeping on a big double bed. We really hoped this would get him back into a routine of sleeping by himself, but he still comes looking for company in the middle of the night. We even try getting him all psyched up about sleeping in his own big bed. When he says "I want to sweep in Mommy's bed," at nap time or bed time, we respond with, "Jack, you get to sleep in your big boy bed!" At least he usually falls asleep in his bed. Even if he doesn't always stay there.


Puzzles
Jack hasn't spent a lot of time putting together puzzles, since our collection of puzzles has been out of his reach for a while, and we didn't get them out very often. But when we moved Jack into his own room, we decided to get the puzzles out, and he's had a field day with them. He's also getting really good and putting pieces back where they go and doesn't need any help.


Obsessing
Jack has obsessed over lots of things over the last few months. For most things, such as books and songs, his obsessions only last for a few days. He asks for the same songs in the car over and over again until he chooses new favorites. Same with books at story time. But one obsession that has lasted for over a month now is the fact that Grammy has a copy of the movie "Dumbo" at her house. He loves the song "Baby Mine," which I think he mostly knows from me singing to him. And he asks me at least once a day, "Grammy has Baby Mine?" and I have to confirm that she still possesses a copy of the movie.


Haircut
Until a couple of weeks ago, Jack had always had haircuts courtesy of Mom or Dad. I was curious how it would look (and how he would behave) if we took him to a barber shop for a few haircut. He did a great job (I'm sure the promise of a lollipop helped) and the haircut turned out pretty cute.

When the hair cutter was doing this, Cat thought it was hilarious that Jack's hair was spiky.