Allergies are the new pink eye

Last week, JJ came down with what Dr. Mom and Dr. Dad were CERTAIN was pink eye. He had all the signs - rubbing his eyes, complaining of itchiness, blood shot eyes, the whole nine yards. Being proactive parents, we kept him home from school and administered eye drops and made him wash his hands a million times a day and followed him around with antibacterial wipes to wipe down every surface he touched like we were trying to remove evidence from a crime scene.

A week later, no progress. So we broke down and decided to take him to a REAL doctor.

Survey says? Allergies. Yup, good old fashioned allergies. Now, we KNOW he's got allergies - the constantly running nose and occasional rash is more proof than needed for that - but this is a first for the eye thing. I felt like a total idiot treating him for something he doesn't have. Dang it - stupid lack of medical degree....

Meanwhile, at the doctor, JJ and I are leaving and he stops to say "Wait! Mommy I have a really important question I need to ask the doctor!"
"What is it honey? I can see if he can come back out here if he needs to..."
"Do I have to go to school today?"

And there we have the priorities of the 4 year old :) Needless to say, he was none too pleased to find out that allergies are NOT contagious. Sorry about that jellybean!

JJ quotes

(sound of " flatulence") I burped out of my bum!
My eyes are heavy cuz I ate too much cinnamon roll.

Not available in all regions

Looking at some of his sticker art on the fridge, JJ "reads" the letters (which actually spell Trick or Treat):

Mommy, this says "Not available in all regions."

snort.

JJ asks a girl for a date

*sniff* My little boy is getting all grown up. At the end of his swim lesson, he approached his swim teacher (cute girl, Taylor, about 17 yrs old) and said "We have pizza and games at my house. Do you want to come over and have pizza and games with me?" She told him "Sure!" and then she and I started talking about how we were going to engage her for baby sitting in Dec. We head home and when we get there, I start unbuckling him from the car seat and he says "Where Taylor?" I explained that she went home to her house because it was a "school night" and she would come over another night to visit. He got this stricken look on his face and said "But, I told her!" We nearly had a meltdown, before I could comfort him that Taylor had not stood him up but would be over another day.

My little Casanova - what a cutie!

I'm not lion

JJ picked out his and Zoe's outfits this year. I gotta say - the kid has good taste :)

Dead T-Rex

JJ has a small plastic T-Rex dinosaur. Last night he runs up to John with this exchange:

"Oh no! Daddy. The T-Rex dead."

"Where JJ?"

"Over der, on de floah. Yoo needta kween him UP!"

"OK"

"What shold we do with him, JJ?"

"Lay him DOWN. Over heah, onna couch. No not like dat! Onna piwwow."

"How did the Trex die, JJ"

"He jus' dead. Iss veree sadt."

"But what happened to him?"

"I not know. Oh no. Trex deadt."

"Will he be better tomorrow?

"Yeah... HEY! Lookat dis, Daddy!"

And indeed, the T-Rex was up and around and attempting to bite Zoe's head this morning. Apparently he's familiar with Monty Python's Holy Grail (I think I'll go for a walk...) ;)

Say hello to my leetle friend

John and I love to quote movies and sometimes the results with a literal minded toddler are a bit unexpected.

John made some little pancakes for JJ. He brought them over to him saying "Say hello to my leetle pancakes!" ala Scarface.

JJ, without missing a beat, says in a high falsetto voice "Hello little pancakes!"

Empathy for toes

JJ is an exceptionally bright child, but he is also very empathic. I've been told that he will often offer comfort to crying children in his classroom, and I've observed how concerned he gets when his sister cries or when John or I hurt ourselves (stump our toes, etc.) always wanting to "kiss it!" He's pretty convinced that any amount of physical pain can be overcome with a carefully applied kiss - and in extreme cases, a band aid.

However, his little thoughtfulnesses continue to warm me. Yesterday I was doing some stretching before bed and explaining to him what I was doing (If I move like this, I can feel it here). I was doing the classic reach-forward-grab-your-toes hamstring stretch, minus the actual ability to grab my toes because my hamstrings are REALLY tight. I told him "And now I'm going to try to grab my toes. I can't ever seem to get them though." He got a very concerned look on his face, and quickly scrambled off the bed to land on the floor next to my feet. He reached forward and promptly grabbed my toes saying "Don't worry Mommy. I got your toes."

Ninja Mommy

We had a big family reunion this weekend at my grandfather's lake house. Loads of people all over, playing games, fishing, swimming, etc. John decides he is going to take JJ fishing down at the dock and swimming. We had gotten him a lifejacket before the trip but had not had a chance to try it on him yet. SO, after 20 minutes or so, I head down to the dock to take pictures of everyone. I find John helping JJ get out of the lake. He tells me that JJ freaked out in the water and that the lifejacket is too big on him (will not keep his face out of the water) and would I please watch him so John can go swimming.

I'm thinking, "no problem".

SO, JJ and I are sitting on the dock with 5 or 6 other folks and he's "fishing" (no hook, no bait - that's a daddy thing to deal with ;) ). It's a floating boat dock, so there's a railing on one side (to the open lake) and no rail on the other side (to the boat slip). JJ turns around and starts "fishing" in the empty boat slip. I am sitting right next to him. The next thing I know he's falling forward into the boat slip (he apparently saw a fish and was leaning forward to get a better look). I grab with my left hand and MISS. I grab his FOOT with my right hand (because at this point he is well and truly falling) and bodily haul him back up and into my lap. He got half his face wet, and scraped his leg on the way out, but was otherwise fine. I am checking him all over making sure he hasn't inhaled any water. He's ok (thank heavens!) In fact, he's so ok, he goes right back to doing what got him in trouble in the first place! (AHHHH!)

Next thing I know, half my family is over next to us exclaiming about my ninja-like reflexes. Apparently I moved faster than anyone had ever seen! One of my aunts said it looked like I teleported him out of the water. Personally, it all seemed like slow motion to me - I was absolutely terrified he would go in and inhale a bunch of water in his panic. I had visions of my beautiful baby boy drowned. It was horrible. The next day, my whole right side hurt like the devil, from my shoulder to my lower back. I had really wrenched something.

So, those stories they tell you about mom's lifting buses and stuff like that. I totally believe it now. And watch those little ones near the water this summer. I'm still not over the scare.

A substantial breakfast

JJ asked to have a cookie for breakfast. I said "No. you need something more substantial than that." He thought a minute and said "Ok mommy. 2 cookies."

Breakfast options

JJ when asked if he wants a cereal bar or yogurt for breakfast "No thanks, just ice cream.

What a day...

Up this morning and off to the Farmer's Market - Zoe's first since her arrival. Lots of fun stuff to see as it turns out because it is a Civil War reenactment weekend! JJ got to see his first spinning wheel in action (very cool). Then this afternoon we went to a friend's child's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. This was the first time JJ or I (or Zoe, for that matter) had been to a Chuck E Cheese. Oh my. I can't believe people actually pay to go to those things - it was insane! The noise alone was enough to make me want to run. JJ handled it ok, but was definitely ready to go within 30 minutes. We decided we were all too stressed out to cook dinner, so we stopped at Pho Mac on the way home for yummy cha gio (Vietnamese egg rolls). JJ, who turns up his nose at anything but macaroni and cheese these days, ate an entire egg roll and some rice noodles. Yeah! Then, during tummy time, Zoe turned over for the first time. WOW! what a day...

Getting on top of things

I've got to give it to the little guy - he is just amazing for being only 2. We have entered the infamous terrible twos, a time when children are trying to establish their independence, but still needing the security of mommy and daddy. Hormones are rampant as they go through growth spurts and learn huge amounts of new information daily. From a child's perspective, it's got to be pretty strange - sometimes mom and dad are all supportive of your latest discovery, for example when you point out a strange new bug you found and sometimes they just squash what you're trying to do, for example when you rub macaroni and cheese inside your shirt to see what it feels like on your chest.

I really wish that last part had been a hypothetical. Really I do.

But, in spite of the craziness of being two, coupled with the not inconsiderable stresses of a new little sister in the house, JJ is doing great. Do we have meltdowns? Of course. Does he refuse to eat anything that doesn't involve pasta some days? Yup. Do the words "no" and "self" figure prominently in his vocabulary? Absolutely. But, most importantly (to me at least), he has the ability to "get on top of it" if he needs to. No matter the meltdown, the tantrum, the pout...if I look him in the eye and say, "JJ, you need to get on top of this. Take a couple of deep breaths" he will do just that. And within minutes he'll be happy and back to doing something fun again. If it's a really bad one, I can hold him and say "It's ok, I've gotcha sweetie." and rock him and all will soon be right again. He worries about his sister when she cries and about his friends at daycare when they're upset. He loves his dog and his cats and tries very hard to help around the house. And he's so very very smart.

And best of all, when he wakes up in the morning, he throws his arms around me and whispers "I gotcha Mommy."