The Adventures of J Man

My kids are great. (I know every parent thinks that about their kids, or they should anyway.) J Man loves videos. He especially likes Novi Ierusalim (see novij.com). He gets that from me. He also likes anything with buttons or switches. Unfortunately, I can't always keep him from pushing or flipping them because I do have to feed Pretty Girl sometime. Yeah, he likes to get up on the love seat, lean over as far as he can, and flip the switch to the fireplace. Well, Double-O-Daddy took care of that this week. He swapped out the face plate with a blank. Now the boy just looks at it and fondly thinks of days gone by.

The J lair is another issue. It was a bit of bad planning on my part to put the changing table under the light switch. Yep, rookie mistake. Of course I thought the worst of it was just keeping the boy in the right position while trying to change him. Nope. One night when the J Man had captured a pretty nasty super villain (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it), he decided to flip the switch while I was in the middle of doing the paperwork for incarceration. Yep, I had two legs in one hand, a full confession statement in the other, and no light. Oy!

He was really cute the other day though. For some reason, he likes to be startled and he likes to be chased. Well, I had him up in the ball room (a room that is empty except for balls and a few other toys so it's is safe for the J Man to throw, kick, and play), and I decided to tire him out a little. As I began to chase him with my characteristic "Gonna Getcha Hand" (outstretched arm and wiggling fingers), he squealed with glee, threw his arms above his head, and ran for the safety of the closet. Unfortunately though, he wasn't looking where he was going and smacked right into the back of the closet. His arms were still above his head and it looked just like a cartoon. He seemed OK (he was still giggling), so I laughed. I just couldn't help it.

These kids bring me so much joy. I wish I could post pictures, but Double-O-Daddy said no. (I suppose it's a national security issue.) But take it from me, they are cute!

Things I Never Thought I'd...

Hello again. You know, life never ceases to amaze me. I'm not talking about the awe-inspiring type of amazement like the Grand Canyon, a rainbow, or Mt. Rushmore. I'm talking about the "I can't believe this is actually happening" and "I'm going to laugh about this later" variety. And it seems that some of the things that amaze me most have happened after I've had children. For instance, there have been things that I never ever would have imagined myself saying or doing until after I had children and actually did them. I'm sure those of you who have these sweet little ankle-biting blessings completely understand. Here are just a few things I never thought I'd _______ (fill in the blank with a nice verb), that is until I had kids...

1) I never thought I'd have to tell someone, "Stop dancing on my chest." And believe it or not I was standing up at the time.

2) I never thought I'd hear myself say, "Get your foot out of the baby food jar!" That was before I started using a high chair. Can you imagine a baby trying to stick his foot into a jar of green beans while I'm trying to feed him? Ah, the J Man, he is a cutie.

3) Speaking of green beans, I never thought I'd have to clean baby food off of the wall above the sliding patio door. Yep. Cleaning it off of the floor and vertical blinds below was the easy part.

4) I never thought I'd find food on several sides of my computer. Come to think of it, the food was green beans. Hmm, I'm beginning to sense a theme here. I'm just glad he likes the orange vegetables.

And I know that these little tidbits will not be the last or even the greatest amazements, but with two kids under two, I'm still new to this parenting thing. I'm just trying to enjoy this time of peace before my son learns to flush the toilet... Ugh!