We're taking both kids to the doc for their check-ups today. This is Jesse's annual well check. I'm excited to see how tall he is and how much he weighs. I'm also wanting to ask our pediatrician a few questions about Jesse's verbal development (he's advanced, but the backwards thing concerns me).

So this is the place holder for the doc's report. Stay tuned ....

We have long suspected that Jesse is the size of a 4 year old rather than his actual 3 years. We got confirmation of that today. The stats:

Height: 40" - off the charts
Weight: 38 lbs - off the charts

The doc showed us where if we took both measurements out to the 50th percentile, he measures at 4 and 4.5 years respectively. It's not surprising that random people ask if he's 4 years old. Add his advanced verbals....

The doc suggested adding a multi-vitamin since Jesse, like most kids his age, balks at eating his veggies.

I mentioned his backwards phrasing and he said that most 3 year olds get their syntax twisted and eventually figure it out. I guess we've been spoiled with his rapid learning in speech that I need to remember that he's only just 3 years old.

We were assured that when he's ready to potty train he will make it known. He said having the little sister in diapers and every need cared for may be part of the disinterest, too.

Dentist should be seen sometime after he turns 4.

They took blood (from a finger) to check his cholesterol. Who knew they check that at such an early age? And he got his flu shot, which caused some limping on the way out to the car.

He's a healthy little kid.

Happy birthday, Jesse!

Then - born 3am; 7lbs, 5 oz, 20.25" long; 4 weeks early...


Now - stats to come on 1/25 after his well check up...

Jesse-o-Lantern...

Talking with a toddler is great. Jesse speaks in full sentences most of the time, although when he's really ramped up he has a tendancy to slur words into one long stream of gibberish and stuttering. But for the most part, he's easy to understand.

And he's a cute talker. It's fun to see how he's figuring out speech patterns and grammar. We're learning the phrases that we use a lot because he's parroting them back to us a lot.

He's already picked up his father's verbal crutch of Um... at the beginning of most sentences when asked a question. (Actually, Beau's crutch is "And um," but that's semantics.) So I'll ask him, "Do you want fish sticks?" He'll say, "Um ... no, thanks!"

The cutest thing he says is "cool offing." He's very careful to make sure that any hot food is sufficiently cooled before he'll put it into his mouth. We make sure to warn him that something needs to cool off before he can eat it. We've taught him to blow on hot food to help speed the cooling. He's very good to blow spit all over his food to cool it off. And he'll often announce that his food is "cool offing" when we ask him to take a bite.

I love that he gets the concept of grammar, but his implementation is slightly off. I love that in his mind it makes more sense that off gets the -ing added. This despite hearing us say "cooling off" all the time.

There was one other thing he says that I wanted to mention, but my mind is blank at the moment. I'll add it if I can remember it later.

While at Beau's Bro's for a party over the weekend, Beau got to chatting with a guy who happens to be a pediatric neurologist. Said neurologist had a chance to observe Jesse and commented that he's probably a genius (150 IQ was mentioned) based on his advanced verbal skills for his age.

We are trying hard to not think that Jesse is a genius so that we don't project our own desires, fears, whatever on him because he's smart. We're just trying to keep up with him, like all parents do with their kids.

But does the fact that this doctor said it mean we should maybe have him tested at some point? We don't know. We don't want him saddled with a label, no matter how positive it may be (or negative, either).

One night last week when we were eating dinner, we both got frustrated at Jesse. He wouldn't eat, was banging his sippy cup on the table, yelling/screaming randomly, etc. He wanted down so that he could play. In hindsight, we probably should have let him down so that he could play, but we're trying to teach him table manners, so we persisted in keeping him seated.

Eventually, Beau hit the wall (only slightly before I would have) and muttered, "I give up."

Our tender little boy, who adores his Daddy more than any other person in the world, reached out his little hand to pat his Dad's arm and said, "Don't give up, Daddy. Don't give up."

I think we both teared up a bit at that moment.

Jesse is one of the sweetest humans you'll ever meet. He is super considerate of other people, which is amazing in a nearly 3 year old. Don't get me wrong, he's nearly 3 years old, but he seems to be the people person that I am not - intuiting when there's something wrong and trying to encourage in the ways he knows how.

"Don't give up" has become a new mantra in our house thanks to Jesse.

Jesse scared the crap out of us this morning. I was leaving for work like normal. He and Beau usually come out to sit on the front stoop to wave and blow kisses while I drive away. Except that this morning I forgot to get my coffee-to-go so I went back in to get that.

While I heated coffee, Beau squeegeed my windows and Jesse played with his trucks in the outside steps. Molly Ann was in the kitchen, fussing. I decided to change her diaper while I waited for the coffee to heat in the microwave.

When I was done, I called for Beau to come take her. He came into the kitchen to take Molly Ann. I doctored my coffee and we all headed to the front door only to discover that Jesse was missing.

Beau runs up and down the walk yelling his name. I ran upstairs yelling his name, thinking that maybe he went to his room.

There's no sign of him. In about 30 seconds he had vanished.

Then Beau said, "Maybe he went to around to the back," and he headed around the side of our row of houses to check. I went the shorter way - through the house to the back door. I got out and yelled Jesse's name a couple of times and then I heard his voice underneath me, below the deck, "My dump truck!"

At that point Beau with Molly Ann came around the corner and I let him know that Jesse was back there.

I almost melted into a puddle for a second. I tried to explain to Jesse not to do that, but he's clueless. At least neither Beau nor I lost our temper with him, which would have just confused him, I think. Instead we hugged each other in immense relief and then I left for work with Beau and Jesse on the front stoop waving and blowing kisses while I drove away.

Last night we were all in the kitchen having dinner. Molly Ann was chilling out in her bouncy seat. Jesse was in his booster at the table. I was at the table, too. Beau was at the kitchen counter, getting seconds on our delicious fajitas.

On the floor in front of Molly Ann was a fabric block - one of those colorful blocks with rings and crinkly paper in flaps and a plastic mirror. Jesse started to babble about "Jesse's block" (everything is "Jesse's" these days). Most of what he said I didn't understand, until he said, "It has four sides."

"Yes, it does have four sides," I said back to him, pleased that he grasped the concept.

"No, it has six sides," he said then.

"Yes, you know, it does actually have six sides," I said back to him, without really thinking about it - there are four sides, a top, and a bottom - six sides.

Beau turned to me, "Did he just say that the block has six sides?" At that moment I realized what Jesse had said.

We don't think it was a fluke that he said it. We think he actually got the concept of the block having six sides.

And we are very afraid that we may not be able to keep up with his intelligence. He's that scary smart sometimes.

I watched Cars on TV this weekend. I liked it a lot because cars are my favorite thing of all time.

I have lots of cars. I have a big blue car with a Y on it (Mama's note: it's the Yankees logo). I have another blue car that Pop gave to me at the beach. I have a taxi. I used to have Duncan's Car, but I think that got lost at the place where Daddy got Mama's car fixed. And I have of trucks - dump trucks and a backhoe (Mama's note: it's a front-loader).

I like to watch the trash truck. And the orange truck and the red truck (Mama's note: there is an orange utility truck that gets parked across from our house and a red pick up that is parked in the street, too).

Anyway, Mama and Daddy called it a movie. We watched part of it on Saturday after church and then finished it on Sunday after my nap. I liked it a lot because it had lots of cars! The cars go fast!

Mama's note: I think Jesse gave it 5 checkered flags out of 5 since he asked to watch it again as soon as it ended. And then asked again yesterday, "Jesse watch Cars?"

In an update to the eating challenge, I think we finally hit on the problem - the time we eat dinner.

On the days I work at home, Beau has been taking Jesse to the pool in the evenings (it's half price from 6-8pm). To make things easier, I've started to prep dinner while they're at the pool. This means we don't actually eat until closer to 8pm. But it seems that Jesse will eat pretty much whatever we put in front of him (except for most veggies, of course).

Last night I cooked a very basic dinner of baked chicken, roasted potatoes, and peas. He scarfed down the chicken and potatoes (ignoring the peas except to note their presence on his plate and that Mama was eating her peas) and even asked for more.

We think we'll push back dinner to later from now on even on the nights they don't go to the pool to see how it works.

We were headed to church on Saturday night like normal. Beau was getting Molly Ann's diaper changed, so I went to get Jesse up from his nap and ready to go.

I opened the door to find brown finger smears on the wall, a poopy diaper on the floor, and Jesse laying half naked on his bed with poop smears all over the bedding.

Needless to say we didn't make it to church that night.

Beau's car required a new safety inspection in June. We forgot about it, so he found a warning note on his car on Friday last week and added in a trip to get the car inspected along with his other errands (getting Jesse's hair cut and a trip to Wegmans).

They waited for quite a while for the inspection, but Jesse did well enough playing with his toy taxi and probably watching some TV, too. They ended up postponing the hair cut for after lunch and a nap, but did go to Wegmans before returning home.

Anyway, cut to Sunday afternoon when out of the blue Jesse asked, "Where's Jesse's car?" (Everything is "Jesse's" these days.) We asked a few questions to figure out which car he was talking about - Beau remembered that Jesse had the taxi with him on Friday and thought he had forgotten it at the mechanic's garage.

Then yesterday, Beau and Jesse went to run errands, including a trip to the mechanic's to see if they could find the lost taxi. So they walked into the office area and Beau asked Jesse where he had the car last, "In the bathroom," he was told. The kid has an amazing memory. Beau went around the corner to check in the bathroom and discovered that the taxi was, in fact, still in the bathroom. He came back to the office area to hear the mechanic, who had come in from the garage area, asking Jesse why he was there.

"To pick up my car," Jesse replied. Of course!

*pause for laughter* At this point in the retelling of the story, Beau cracked up hard. The confusion on the mechanic's face was hilarious, apparently.

Anyway, Beau showed him the car that Jesse meant to clear up the confusion. And they headed back out for the rest of their trek.

Hi, my name is Jesse. I'm two and a half years old. I have a baby sister who came to our house three months ago. I like her. She's pretty, but she cries a lot. Mama spends a lot of time with Molly Ann, but that's Ok because I get to spend a lot of time with Daddy. Daddy is my favorite in the whole world. Unless Marmie is around - she is the best!

Anyway, I got bored in my room after I woke up this morning. My toys need updating. So I thought I'd try some fingerpainting today except that there isn't anything to paint with in my room. And then I had this smart idea.

You see, there's stuff in my diaper that would work great since it's soft and a nice brown color. So I painted Daddy's grandma's footstool thing that is next to my bed so that I can get up on my bed because it's too high for me to just get up. Like the high shelf in the kitchen where Daddy keeps the cookies and Goldfish, except that's way taller than my bed.

Anyway, I was busy painting when Daddy came to get me for breakfast and Little Einsteins. Except that he didn't seem too happy to see what I did because he kind of yelled. And them Mama came in and said, "I'll help." Daddy then put me in the bath. I love the bath! I get to play with my toys and splash the water and blow bubbles.

Next thing I know Mama is leaving for work, telling me to be good for Daddy today, and Daddy is still muttering under his breath while he does whatever in my room. I think he was messing around with my bed, putting new covers on there.

I hope Daddy takes me to the pool tonight like he did last night. That was fun.

I'll post the pictures when I download them from the camera, but in the meantime I'll tell the story of Jesse new toy box.

The box itself is actually my father's old navy trunk - a wood box that he used to pack his stuff for cruises. My sister and I used the trunk as a toy chest when we were kids - it was painted yellow. I later repainted it and used it as a coffee table for years. It has been sitting in our basement where we stored throw blankets.

I cleared out a bunch of those blankets in the winter when we hauled stuff to Goodwill, so I thought that now that it was empty it would make a good toy chest for Jesse. The top needs to be rehinged - I believe that Beau may take care of that today. Yesterday, Beau hauled it upstairs and we put it, sans top, into Jesse's room.

The hysterical crying started as soon as Beau tossed the first toy in there. You'd think we were killing a precious pet or something by the reaction we got to the displacement of Jesse's possessions into a wooden box. Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures of that - I was too busy consoling the poor boy.

Cut to bedtime - I went out to dinner with my small group ladies, but when I got home I went to check on Jesse and say goodnight. When I opened the door I immediately noticed that 1) the floor was clean but 2) the toy box was completely empty. Then I looked at Jesse in his bed and saw that every single toy that had been in the box was now on his bed. And he was laying there with a huge, happy grin on his face.

I called to Beau to grab the camera and to come see the sight. Again there were some tears when we replaced the toys into their new home, but when I reassured him that they wanted to sleep in there he seemed OK.

Pictures to come follow...

I was working in the afternoon yesterday when Beau came down to tell me a funny story. He felt terrible, because Jesse had been awake after his nap for a quite a while. But because The Boy was playing so quietly in his room Beau forgot about him. When he did go up to see how Jesse was doing he found the following:

Jesse was naked from the waist down and standing on the footstool at the side of his bed leaning over the side of his bed. He was muttering, "Poopy," or something to that effect. Laying on the floor very neatly was his soiled diaper - open to show the contents perfectly.

We have no clue how long Jesse stood like that, but I immediately thought it was something akin to the torture accusations. "It's like Gitmo torture!" I said to Beau, laughing hysterically. (Not that toture is funny. Not that I believe that anyone at Gitmo was truly tortured. Just to be clear.)

I was crying I was laughing so hard. Meanwhile, Beau felt terribly guilty for leaving him like that for who knows how long. Jesse seemed completely unconcerned when I saw him mere minutes later, fully dressed. He was ready to play some more.

I need to get the one of his chocolate smeared face from my Dad, but here are the two I took of his bed.

Note the dark spots in the upper left corner of his coverlet in the second picture - that's chocolate drool he left behind in his frenzy.

Like any parents of a toddler, we struggle with getting Jesse to eat properly. I read on another website that it may seem that toddlers exist on only crackers an air sometimes. We quote that to each other in those moments when it seems that the only things Jesse will consume are goldfish and milk.

"Crackers and air!" we cry in mock excitement.

However, he is expanding his foods and seems to sometimes have a sophisticated palate.

Ketchup - this is a new item only recently added. But he took to it like any child will. Last night he ate it by the spoonful. I'm not kidding, he bypassed the tater tots as ketchup vehicle for the spoon instead. I think he ate maybe 2 Tbsp by spoon ultimately. It's kinda gross.

Raisins - Beau and Jesse came in from a hot walk/play time this morning. Beau started munching on trail mix and shared "the black ones" (as opposed to the red, orange, or green M&Ms) with Jesse. He scarfed them down as fast as Beau put them on the counter. The funniest thing was that he held onto a red and green M&M in one hand while he used his other hand to grab the raisins.

Nuts - Also consumed from the trail mix were almonds and cashews. He seemed to prefer the almonds.

Orange juice - He's never been much for juices. And forget about water. He's all about his "nunk." However, he has begged for orange juice the past two mornings while we ate breakfast. Beau puts it into a real (plastic) juice glass for him in small amounts and he practices his drinking from a real cup skills while getting his juice fix. Two treats in one! Apparently, this morning he drank quite a bit of OJ. Yay, fruit.

On the sophisticated palate thing - there have been times when we've eaten something that I'd consider too spicy or strongly flavored for a two year old and he'll gobble it down as if it were peanut butter. For some reason, my mind is blank on specifics right now, except for the crab dip that was at the wedding we went to last weekend. And I made a chicken dish that had chipotle peppers that he seemed to like.

This post is making me hungry.

So Beau has started to reward Jesse with chocolate, in the form of M&Ms or Kisses, when he is successful with the potty. We brought a small ziploc bag with some chocolates to the beach to try to continue the potty training.

Yesterday, the last time I saw that bag of chocolate it was in out bathroom. Jesse has his own bathroom, but we're keeping that door closed so that he doesn't go in there when he isn't supposed to - he slams the shower door, plays with the toilet or the faucet, etc.

So we put Jesse down for a late afternoon nap yesterday. All was quiet and then I started to hear screeching from the monitor that indicated that Jesse was awake and playing with it somehow - either he had unplugged it, turned it off, or changed the channel. I went down to see what was up and found him sitting on the bed with chocolate all around his mouth and Kisses wrappers all over the bed. I couldn't help it - I busted out laughing.

Turns out that Beau had put the bag on top of the dresser, which is tall and should have been safe. However, Jesse did indeed play with the monitor - pulling on the cord enough to cause the bag to fall off of the dresser. He didn't get the ziploc open, but rather just tore into the plastic to get to his booty.

Of course, he wasn't too interested in dinner when the time came.

Hilarious.

I know that in Jesse's head, what he says sounds like it ought. But what we hear is vastly different from what it should be. Cases in point:

1. Milk - he says nulk. This is funny, in that it's very similar to my sister's mispronunciation of chocolate milk at the same age. Her version was colut nunk.

2. His version of chocolate is something like chocat.

3. Anything that starts with TR - he says FR, i.e., tow fruck, frain

4. School bus - fool bus

5. Stuck - suck, as in "I'm stuck," which sounds like "I'm suck"

6. Cookies - at times it sounds like he says khakis

Just a few examples I can think of off the top of my head this morning.