Somehow...

...my teeny tiny little baby turned three years old today. And all of a sudden, he doesn't resemble a baby at all any more.

I'm not really sure when or how it happened, but Jake is three. He's a little boy. He's walking and running around; speaking in complete and grammatically correct sentences; giving me his opinion and preferences; sleeping in a big boy bed; pee-peeing and poo-pooing in the potty; telling me what he wants to listen to on the radio and identifying an astounding number of the top-40 artists; recalling stories and events that happened nearly a year ago; playing well with real and imaginary friends; doing chores around the house; hitting and throwing balls quite well; expressing his emotions with words and phrases; using perfect manners and behaving in public; offering his hand when about to cross a street or parking lot; creating stories and telling me about his dreams; making up funny games and role-playing. Nope, he's no longer a baby in any sense of the word. But when I kissed him goodnight, I reminded him he will ALWAYS be my baby.

A new pet, and other news...

Jake has a new pet these days, but if you ask him about his pet, he probably will just say, "Who, Ru?"

Remind me not to take Jake with me when I go shopping for dog food next time. What started out as a bargain ("Wow, you can get a beautiful fish for only $3.89?") turned into a $17 love affair between boy and betta that only lasted until we got home and put the little guy in his new overpriced gravel-carpeted vase (why, oh why, did I not think to just use one of the myriad vases I already have laying around my house?) and fed him his first fish-pellet dinner.


In other news, Jake has had some progress with potty training, thanks to his grandma, known affectionately in these parts as "Geedah." Jake went to stay with my mom for a few days last week when not only Ralph was out of town (FL and AZ for 10 days), but my mother-in-law Mary was out of town as well (FL for a week, then home for a few days, then to Italy to visit my lil sis Laura). Me and Jake, with no one else to give us any distraction or breaks from each other for the better part of three weeks (my in-laws just returned from Italy today), did our best on our own - lol. Usually, Jake goes to Mema Mary's twice a week so I can get work done. Mondays and Thursdays when he's there, I work literally 12+ hour days, since the rest of the weekdays I spend with Jake. It's a good system that works out well. (Sooo glad you're back Mema & Papa!)

So me and Jake were left to fend for ourselves - tee hee - and I knew ahead of time I needed to call in reinforcements ;) Geedah happily stepped up to the plate. I think Jake was happy for the break from me too - we were really starting to butt heads and my patience was at zero. So Jake spent Wednesday through Sunday at Geedah & Peepa's house, and I went along my merry way and reveled in the solitude. I stayed up late, worked until ridiculous hours in the morning, slept on the couch with the dog, ate junk food, watched movies, drank wine with one of my oldest and dearest friends when we both found ourselves child-free for a night, went shopping, and enjoyed the heck out of myself! It was over sooo quickly, but I designed four wedding albums for my fabulous clients and cleared massive amounts of obligations off my to-do list. And, as Ralph can tell you, I didn't touch a stinkin dish in the kitchen sink (sorry babe!).

When Jake returned to me, he had stories of triumph over the potty and sported big-boy underpants! I was so very proud of my little guy. Geedah has far more patience with Jake than I do (thanks again Mom!). We've had a bit of back-sliding this week (he will do #2 in the potty for me, but still has yet to produce a #1 for me), but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Jake's birthday party is this weekend. How I have a three-year-old son is beyond me. (Jake's actual birthday isn't until Monday the 30th). Fifteen of Jake's closest friends will enjoy a Thomas the Tank Engine-themed extravaganza. Yippee!

More Prayers for Stellan

Please head on over to MckMama's blog to read the latest, but I am asking again for your prayers for baby Stellan, who is the son of my friend MckMama. Stellan is now hospitalized due to an alarmingly high heart rate (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia). Stellan previously battled this, and overcame all the odds when he was very sick in utero, but needs your prayers again. If you are the praying kind, please join me in asking for a miraculous healing of poor Stellan, and also to comfort his family in what must be an unimaginably tough time.

Norwalk Maritime Center

You may remember this post, where Jake and Ralph were headed out the door to go to the aquarium in Connecticut. Well, we forgot to send Ralph with a real camera that day, but he took quite a few cell phone pictures. I took these all into photoshop and did the best job I could do, but they are *still* just cell phone pictures. You'll have to forgive us ;)

Things that go bump in the night...

So the first night in the big boy bed actually went fairly well. Since Jake didn't nap at all yesterday (we are still doing naps 4 out of 5 days for the most part), he was fairly worn out by bedtime. I put him in his big boy crib, told him the rules (no getting out of the crib until tomorrow morning when it's daytime), and put up the baby gate just in case. (He doesn't have a bedroom door, only curtains, and his doorway is right next to the stairs, better safe than sorry).

So he went to bed without much fuss, and only called me once:
"Mommy, I dropped my binkie!"
"Okay Jake, you can get out of the crib to get your binkie, but get right back in bed okay?"
"Okay...."
"Goodnight sweetheart, I love you, I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight mommy."

All was well until about 1am. Ruthie and I were downstairs watching TV when suddenly a thud came from upstairs. Ruthie jumped up and barked loudly like the good watchdog she is. I ran up the stairs in record time, threw open the curtains and literally ran through the baby gate (oops, forgot about that!) to find Jake crying in the middle of his bedroom, on the floor. After a few tears and hugs, he was back into bed, tucked in tightly, and stayed firmly in bed the rest of the night. See those body pillows from the previous post? Yeah, AFTER he fell, I had the brilliant idea to position them below the crib. Luckily we didn't need them, but they will stay there just in case.


As soon as the sun came up: "Mommy, it's daytime! Can I get up now?" Lol.

Look who's in a big boy bed!

If bedtime goes as poorly as naptime went though, we might be back to a crib by 9:30 tonight - lol.

Jake wearing Mommy's Gloves in NYC