Jake Gets a Phone Call at Chuck E. Cheese's

RUN

I think we have one of the silliest kids on this planet. When Jake is free to run, he is the happiest, sweetest toddler I've ever seen. So, that's what we did this weekend. We RAN!!! Jake swam in our neighborhood pool, ran around Chuck E. Cheese's, ran around a huge outlet mall, ran around daddy's office building, ran around a community carnival and ran in the yard. He wore his harness at the mall and carnival and of course everyone stared at us, but I don't care. You have no idea how much energy this kid has. Greg calls him our beagle. If he were a dog, he'd surely be a beagle b/c he just wants to take off. I don't think he knows how to walk anymore because all he ever does is run. Maybe we have a Forest Gump on our hands. You can't contain this kind of energy. The nice thing about this is the fact that he is napping longer and sleeping in later in the mornings :)

This Past Week

It's been our typical frantic week, trying to squeeze in more activities than we have time for. But, overall, not so bad.
We went back to the zoo on Saturday to see a new giraffe exhibit. The giraffes will eventually eat crackers out of your hands or so they say. Right now the giraffes seem skittish and are attempting to adapt to their new environment. We left both cameras in the car, so I don't have any pictures. We plan to go back in a few weeks, so I should have pictures later in the summer.
Jake really doesn't seem to care about the animals at the zoo or the rides at King's Island. He just wants to run. To accomodate his desire to run wild, we got him a harness. I used to look at parents who put their kids on "leashes" and think they were insane. I know understand the necessity of this action. Our harnessing experience at the zoo was met with mixed reactions. We got lots of stares, but I also heard people say things like, "We need to get one of those" or "Jimmy has the same thing but his has a monkey on it." The harness seems to be a practical solution to Jake's intense level of energy and desire to be free. As both grandmothers say, "He is all GO!"
I can't believe that Jake will be 2 next month. Despite his extreme energy level, he is really a great kid. He is incredibly friendly and sociable. He flirts with everyone he encounters. I think he's pretty bright, too. He can now count backward from 5. He's recognizing shapes, colors and some words.

Another Hectic Week

The weeks just seem to fly by. We had more severe thunderstorms this weekend and another neighbor's house got struck by lightning. It looked like a canonball was shot straight into their roof, leaving a decent-sized hole.
We had several people spend Friday night at our house. Several friends from school spent the night because we had another seminar on Saturday. Jake loved all of the attention. He laughed so hard I thought he was going to puke his guts out. He had a smile on his face the whole time!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers, godfathers, grandfathers, uncles, and men who just love children!
I've been thinking about our unique situation and how fortunate I really am. Greg and I are nearly equal partners in the parenting of Jake. I recently read some stuff on gender roles for one of my classes and I realized how few parents have the ability or desire to have this type of partnership. I think we knew all along that this type of lifestyle was what we wanted. The fact that Jake has his mother and/or father with him the majority of the time is amazing.
I can't say how great of a father that Greg is. He's been a natural from the start. I remember countless nights that he took the 10pm-3am shift so I could get some sleep. Greg is very patient with Jake and isn't afraid to show affection.

I'll post some pics soon.

Butterfly Exhibit Video

We went to an Asian Butterfly Exhibit at the Krohn's Conservatory this weekend. I thought it was beautiful. There were butterflies everywhere and they were not afraid of people as you can see from the video and pictures. Jake, on the other hand, did not think the exhibit was all that interesting.

Included are also pictures of Jake playing outside. Enjoy!

Butterfly Exhibit

Fun In the Sun

Tornadoes, Bugs and Swimming

The past few days have been exciting and scary for us. Several tornadoes touched down around Cincinnati. While we didn't experience the full tornadic effect, we did experience severe thunderstorms Tuesday and Wednesday. Our neighbor's house got struck by lightning and the fire department and other emergency personnel were on the scene. The lightning strike left a whole in their roof. Surprisingly, Jake was not afraid of the lightning and thunder. He actually laughed and appeared excited. I was terrified and he was excited.

We've also been battling bugs - ants, spiders, earwigs, you name it. We had a company come and spray the inside and outside of our house to get rid of these pesty creatures.

Before the nasty weather hit, Jake was enjoying swimming in our community pools. We went swimming 3 out of 4 days. He LOVES the water! I have to keep my eyes on him all of the time because he frequently goes under the water, on purpose! I think he's going to be a fearless swimmer like his daddy.

I continue to remain swamped with school work. I've been psychological testing and I'm practicing on friend's children and adults. Greg gets IQ tested this weekend. I can't wait to see how "Mr. Gifted and Talented" turns out.