49 and Holding

We recently purchased Jackson a wood-block jigsaw puzzle of the United States. This puzzle will teach Jack all the states, capital, state motto, state bird, and state flower. A lot for a 2 year old we know, but we are optimistic. :)

In playing with his new toy, Jackson put to use his future President skills with an executive edict. The piece of Wyoming has a Buffalo on it and Colorado's empty space has a train in it. Jackson Logic clearly states that buffaloes ride on trains. Its rule 175c if you need to look it up.

So, with Wyoming now clearly warmer and farther south, Colorado has been left to its own devices as to find it new place in our Union. Being a much larger state, and unable to adjust in this new political climate, Colorado has been removed from the United States. And thank the Lord too, because not having Denver in the mix will surely help the Chiefs win the Divisional Championship this year.

Jackson has become so adamant about this point, that he polices the puzzle regularly to insure his will is being enforced. To my obvious error I corrected the puzzle the other night after bed time. The next morning Jackson checked the puzzle within minutes of joining the living, corrected the change, drew it to my attention (actually shaking his finger for emphasis), and flung Colorado onto the floor. "The Buffalo rides the train Dad!"

49 and Holding

We recently purchased Jackson a wood-block jigsaw puzzle of the United States. This puzzle will teach Jack all the states, capital, state motto, state bird, and state flower. A lot for a 2 year old we know, but we are optimistic. :)

In playing with his new toy, Jackson put to use his future President skills with an executive edict. The piece of Wyoming has a Buffalo on it and Colorado's empty space has a train in it. Jackson Logic clearly states that buffaloes ride on trains. Its rule 175c if you need to look it up.

So, with Wyoming now clearly warmer and farther south, Colorado has been left to its own devices as to find it new place in our Union. Being a much larger state, and unable to adjust in this new political climate, Colorado has been removed from the United States. And thank the Lord too, because not having Denver in the mix will surely help the Chiefs win the Divisional Championship this year.

Jackson has become so adamant about this point, that he polices the puzzle regularly to insure his will is being enforced. To my obvious error I corrected the puzzle the other night after bed time. The next morning Jackson checked the puzzle within minutes of joining the living, corrected the change, drew it to my attention (actually shaking his finger for emphasis), and flung Colorado onto the floor. "The Buffalo rides the train Dad!"

The Adventures of Silly Bean

Just wanted to post this picture before anything else to thank Norma & Randy for their gift of the Georgia Scrubs. These were really cute and we love them.

So now, the Adventures of Silly Bean. Well, I'm sure you can guess who Silly Bean is on the first try so we won't go into that. But some of his anticts have been classics this week so I thought I would share.
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The other day, Daddy & Jackson were left to their own demise for dinner and went to the grocery store together to gather what they needed for their "picnic" at home. Those of you with experience may begin laughing now.

Yes, Jackson wanted one of everything, and still wanted to carry the basket? Jackson also quickly learned the lingo of grocery store life. After denying him the occasional whatnot, he would repeat back to me, "No Daddy, we already have one of those at home," and reshelved my next selection? So when I convinced Jack that life would be better if I carried everything, he took that opportunity to release his magic unto the whole store.

Jack immediately seizing upon a yellow squash, which he used for what he calls his "pew-pew." For the neophytes in the audience, a pew-pew is something our little terrorist picked up from watching action movies. Yes, sad and true, but a fact of life nonetheless. With his rifle in hand, our little soldier proceed to go on a search and destroy mission throughout the produce department. He maneuvered himself with stealth-like precision from island to island picking off unsuspecting shoppers who struggled with great effort to pretend nothing was happening. In the end they lost on both fronts.
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Friday night Silly Bean had an uber-moment. After a wonderful evening of football and friendship Jackson and I stopped off on our way home to check on Momma after her season ending Softball game. They were tailgating in celebration of their split decision for one last hoorah.

Michelle has mastered the multi-functionality of "the blanket" as part of her tailgating skills. Not only does it provide comfort for the weary player who wants to sit it the parking lot, but it also provides excellent cover for the bladder weary female searching for relief of beer consumption. (Finally a reason for women to go two at a time?)

Well, in the middle of play with other kids, Jackson notices Mommy on screen duty for her girl-friend and goes running over to find out what is going on. The group of us immediately start laughing in anticipation.

When Jackson gets there, he looks behind the screen, appraises the situation, and immediately starts taking off his clothes to join in the fun. Michelle, who can't stop what she is doing without sacrificing the innocence of her friend, cries out for back-up. To which I of course yell back "hell no," because I thought this to be way to funny. So Jackson then, careless of any blanket, lets it fly for the whole world to see and draws the attention of all in the parking lot as to what is going on. It was a roar.
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Finally, Doctor Shank (the Bull Dog scrubs) is sitting here with me as I post this piece. He has decided to get in the mood and play doctor. Yes I am the patient, and the tape dispenser on my desk is an endless supply of band-aids. Thankfully, our little doctor has covered the several dozen boo-boos on my face with the necessary number of band-aids so I will be okay. Thank God they didn't send a barber's smock! :)

Balance

Friday was the "Bumblebees" class trip to the pumpkin patch, and as I indicated in the previous post Michelle and I went along as chaperones.

Jackson was terribly well behaved an had a wonderful time. The event was at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead (http://www.opprf.org/Farm.htm). I have loaded pictures of Jackson's adventures in the Photo Album for you to see. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it as much as he did.

The funniest part of the day was on our way back to school. As chaperones we took Jackson's other car seat and another child with us. Ashton is new to Jackson's class and was very quiet. He and Jackson split a Granola Bar to finish their lunches. Ashton fell asleep on the way back to school with his head cocked back, mouth open, and a grip of life on the Granola bar. We couldn't decide if he looked more like a lounge singer frozen on the last note of a song with the granola bar as his microphone, or the Statue of Liberty. Regardless, it was a funny site.

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Note on Dad. Darin's team took 1st place in the annual xpedx employee golf tournament at Teetering Rocks Golf Course. Darin contributed primarily with his iron work and putting. He hit 18 & 25 foot puts to save par on two holes and sunk a 12 footer for birdie on 17 to give our team a final score of 3 under overall. We each won a $50 Dick's Sporting Good's gift card. It was another beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.

The Terrible Two's

I apologize for the delay in posting. I have been working on a research paper that was due for my Economics Class last night. We had a very busy weekend an when we got back I needed Sunday to rest, and Monday and Tuesday to work on the paper.

Some of you know by now from phone conversations that we are experiencing the terrible two’s right now at full throttle, and Saturday was a rancor day in the life of our child. We had been planning this day for awhile. As former residents of Omaha, NE, we had always vowed to bring Jackson back to visit the Zoo. Omaha, for all else you can say about it, has arguably one of the top 5 zoos in North America. (Remember Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom?)

So we booked a hotel in the Downtown / Old Market area and headed off on the 3 hour trip from Kansas City to the big O Saturday morning. We were in the zoo parking lot when Jackson started to turn ugly, and were walking out of the zoo in total disgust and embarrassment at right at 1 hour. I will not entertain you with an articulation of his behavior, but suffice it to say we were those parents you occasionally pity in public places who are struggling to contain a wrathful child.

So back to the hotel. We were very thankful we had booked through Priceline and gotten it for a song. We used what was probably one of the most beautiful days we could have asked for to watch the Georgia Football game and take a family nap in a hotel room. By the way, hotel bathrooms are ideal for timeouts.

Feeling brave, determined, and stupid we then took Jackson down to the Old Market for dinner. After walking all around the Old Market, we ate at the Up Stream Brewery. As part of his abnormally strange behavior, Jackson was a perfect gentleman at the restaurant and allowed his parents to have their first meal out in sometime. Technically, it was our first family dinner out (just the 3 of us) since Jackson was an infant.

The night at the hotel was hell. Jackson took forever to go to bed. Then at 2:30 a.m. he awoke in a fit, barreled his way out of bed, crawled under the drapes, and yelled at us at how we wasn’t doing to sleep in the bed. We didn’t argue with him. But after 30 minutes of us being scared we would be kicked out of the hotel from his tantrums, he finally quieted down and spent the rest of the night on the floor.

Sunday morning was another interesting performance. It took awhile to convince Jackson that the only way to get food was to leave the hotel room. But when we did eat down in the hotel restaurant, he was well behaved and even entertained all there with a toddler’s rendition of “Monster Mash.”

Thank the Lord Jesus; he slept for 2 of the 3 hours back to Kansas City. We made the most of an opportunity to literally drive down memory lane for Darin, grabbed some Runza’s to go, and then headed home.

Sunday afternoon we had our first event with the Kansas City Swiss Society (August 25th post). As parents we were more concerned our little terrorist would blow up the place than the impression we would make on the group. But again, Jackson was wonderful. He absolutely charmed the lot. He played well with the other kids, was respectful to the adults, and except for the ten minutes it took us at one point to convince him that taking off his clothes was not a good idea, he was well behaved.

Jackson’s behavior has been tyrannical for about 2 weeks now and we can’t wait till he passes through this. We realize that could be when he graduates high school, but we are hoping for age 4. Jackson regularly gets put into timeout at school now and we receive bad reports at pick up time with his behavior. He even kicked a young girl in the face this week for reasons no one could infer; just walked over to her when she was trying to stand and kicked her. If you Quincyians don’t see us at Thanksgiving, know it is because we are trying to contain the menace.

This Friday is Jackson’s annual school trip to the pumpkin patch. Michelle and I both are going as chaperons just in case. We’ve also moved Jackson’s bedtime down to 8pm from 9pm. With this I wait to study until after bedtime and we both are there and involved with him. We are hoping these changes give him more sleep and structure. Pray for us please.

We did take our new camera with us over the weekend. Michelle ruined her Christmas surprise by reading the American Express bill for the first time ever. Later tonight I will load pictures from the Zoo and Schutzenfest in the Photo Album for all to see.

Land Rover

My GMC Sierra is gone. Filling a large gas tank with expensive gas just to drive to work everyday is gone. The dent in the quarter panel and the cracked windshield are gone. The limited ability to carry multiple passengers is gone. The truck that I absolutely loved driving is gone. My ability to haul dirt, stone, and whatever else I need is gone. My son's so loved "Big Truck" and my wife's constant source of bitching material is gone.

And now we have:


This is are new (to us) Land Rover Freelander SE. It was Motor Trend's Sport Utility Vehicle of the year in this model year, 2002. We picked it up with just 38,000 miles on it

Everything is this truck is automatic except the seats, which are heated. Even the cup holders are automatic. It is a 6 cylinder and gets much better gas mileage than the Sierra. The Land Rover also comes with All Wheel Drive and the ability to change back and forth from a manual transmission to a stick. I was told this is a common feature in British made cars?

Of course we had to get all leather. The Sierra taught us quickly about leather and kids. I told the salesman not to even show me cloth unless he could guarantee us an aftermarket option. Everything you need to control this vehicle is at the fingertips of the driver. Its a lot of fun to drive. The Land Rover seats 5. I can even sit comfortably in the back seat (that was another test of the cars I looked at).

Finally, I just think it looks cool. So does Michelle, who now is already talking about borrowing my car. Hmmm?

But the best part of this vehicle is - Its an import that came with a 5 year / 60,000 mile warranty starting at current miles. That means I have a full warranty up to 98,000 miles on this puppy. We bought this at CARMAX. I couldn't believe the deal I got. They were the last place I went on my car shopping marathon, and they will be the first place I go next time. They even paid my taxes and requested my tags for me.