All about JACK

Wow, my hat tips off to Mr. Josh the 3year old kids soccer coach for last Friday’s practice. Seriously I have no idea how he managed…talk about controlled chaos! And I mean controlled because they were in an auditorium with four walls and the door shut….there were balls flying every which way you looked…littles blind siding each other, crying, runny noses, pushing….you name it.

But it was fun…

And Arlin loves soccer! It’s perfect timing for sports to start too…been a little cooped up with the weather lately…a good time to blow off some jitter bugs and get those legs ah shakin’!

That’s coach Josh (buddy Ben’s Papa)

that’s Ben with his arm around Arlin…too cute!

Trying to decide on a team name with a group of 3 yr olds was fun to watch…Josh ended up picking the “Rockets!”

if they’d had it their way they would have be the spiders, or the spidermans, or the batmans! ha.

I dont’ know who was more bummed his soccer shoes didn’t get here in time for Arlin’s first soccer practice- him or his Papa!

Arlin and Ben behind him…

Coach Josh showing how to kick the ball…

My little soccer star. He makes me so proud. He got a treat after practice- which he chose Chocolate milk…

“I want the one with the cow on it Mama!” (the horizon box milks) O.k. buddy let’s go get you a chocolate milk.

He stunk when I went to latch him in his car seat…he was all sweaty with his “huge” new soccer jersey on…made me realize this is just the beginning of sports and “stinky” boy things….am I ready I thought to myself???

I’m ready!

Sorry, been lagging on Jacker’s blog…seem to be lacking that “extra” time lately, Arlin has become quite demanding of my attention in the every waking moment, this boy keeps us busy- always!

Anyways…

Arlin Jack paints his first canvas with Mama in her studio…

not so easy holding my EOS in one hand to snap a pic…:)

Arlin barked the colors out loud he wanted the paint dispenser (Mama) to put on his palette…

Mama: “Arlin, We just did green.”

Arlin: “Ummm…uh, a SPECIAL GREEN! Mom”

Mama: “Oh, o.k. I’ll get you the “special” green color, coming right up!”

Arlin: “Thank you Mama”

(I’m very proud of Arlin’s politeness with thank you and your welcome, I just wish it was a 100% percent of the time…you know, like the times when someone takes “his” shovel at the community toy sharing park!)

how cute are his little munchkin feet on the ladder? (that he decorated with Stella’s bottle cap magnets!)

surprisingly he was patient with this project…he listened and followed instruction well…I’d say he painted for a good 10 minutes, and for Jacker’s (his latest nickname) that’s fantastic.

We’ll be painting more often now, I think I was afraid of the mess, but really he was a champ about the whole process!

Arlin’s new favorite music to jam out to…The Backyardigans episode; Surf’s Up, this kiddo loves to sing & shake it! And of all the cruddy cartoons out there, I really like this one; the music and dancing is hysterical, I caught myself singing right along and doing the moves with Arlin!)

Actually there’s nothing bad about this potty trained boy! He is doing SO well lately. He had regressed a tad with the move and all the chaos, which I kind of expected would happen, But he is no longer wearing a diaper to school in the mornings or to the gym play area. We even fibbed and said he was 3yr. old and left him for an hour in the Ikea play zone…we got buzzed to come pick him up half way through his time slot…to our surprise it wasn’t because he pee’d his pants but because he was supposedly throwing balls at a little girl in the bouncy ball room…wonder who he gets that from (Papa!) After a firm scolding from Papa he returned to playing with no problems…In Arlin’s defense it was a room full of those small jumping balls and there was a tree in the corner of the room that you were supposed to shoot balls into different pockets for points. With Arlin being a short guy and all, when he threw the ball it never even came close to the tree…just close enough to hit the girl standing in front of him….oops.

Arlin Jack scored some new triangle crayons and a sketch pad from Target.

We sat together coloring and Arlin barked orders; “Shark, Mama…draw a Shark!” “Snake, Truck, Star, Dragon…..”

I think he’s going through a growth spurt lately, longer naps (when he’ll take them) and his pants aren’t so tight around the belly…

In between his raisins he’s reading to me “Arlin” “Mama” & “Papa”…he’s able to identify his own name when written…we’re still working the spelling of it.

Arlin also scored a huge box of clothes from Mimi (I think we’re set for summer, geez Mom, thank you)…he’s pretty excited to pick out his own shirt in the mornings, they each have something different on them, I’d say the race car shirt is his favorite as he’s tried to wear it three days in a row!

The Captain’s going through a hat phase lately, he wants to wear one everywhere we go.

I’m lucky I guess…Arlin’s humored with inexpensive toys. He was exceptionally good for me the other day while running errands and being in the car for quite a while, I rewarded him with the choice of two toys one was $5 dollars and the other was $3…He totally took his time and sized up the inventory…a single spinner light thingy? OR a 55 piece army men set???

Pack of army men it was. “I want dis one Mama, dis one! Massser Sarge, ooo, ooo,ooo yes sir!” It’s so funny he does this Arseno Hall impression as he salutes military style.

We laid on the floor and lined em’ up and Arlin explained to Mama that Master Sarge’s were “Good Guys”

such a character!

Who needs Papa! Ha. Just kidding…but he finally showed me how to upload them from you tube, but I still have no clue how to make them all fancies in i-movie…anyways, look at the lower lip action!!! Video was taken in January- about a week before we moved out.

My all time favorite book from when I was little (my Mom somehow knew to save it) it’s now Arlin’s favorite book. He LOVES to find Goldbug on each page…and for being 2years old he sometimes amazes me….he can often find Goldbug before I can!

I’m debating whether to order these online or set off to search Seattle book stores (cause there are a-LOT of them) and try and find these additional Richard Scarry’s publications.

this one above is a must…

And randomly this morning I turned on the local Seattle kids station and they have a cartoon based on Richard Scarry’s books! Crazy eh? These books were published in the early 70′s, my mom thinks they might have been my brothers books first. If you haven’t heard of them you should check em’ out, they are so detailed they keep the kiddies coming back.

standing  only five feet away, I literally have no clue how he got up in his high chair this fast.

“Mama’s kitty!”

“Arlin, what are you doing up there?!”

giving kisses to kitty…

“Uh, oh”

Were hanging in there. Today was day-5 of house arrest. We took an early morning field trip to get Mama Starbucks after she suffered a massive caffeine withdrawal headache in the wee hours of the morning (at least that’s the conclusion we came to) Geez, it felt SO good to breathe in the cool fresh air on the way to the car, way too cooped up in the house.

We also left again this afternoon to go to the doctors office to catch up on a round of shots, including the flu vaccine *whew* Arlin does not have H1N1…just an upper respiratory infection that nurses say we’re through the worst part of, if everything goes well, Arlin should be back in school Monday.

Arlin was a total champ for the shots. He always amazes me, he’s such a trooper! I brought along some “cookies” (fig newtons) for the car ride home, he was so happy and totally distracted from his boo-boos.

Cabin fever. still sick, snotty nose, and a yucky cough. Day three of staying home…

package came this morning! Arlin Jack scored an old classic Radio Flyer Trike from Grandpa Tom…woo hoo!

I asked him if he was taking a pit stop to fix his seat… tool in hand, he’s ready to fix something.

or watch a little more of his FAVORITE movie. I’m amused he’ll actually sit or stand and pay attention to anything as long as he will with this movie. I kinda get why parents use DVD’s….not that this will become a regular thing, but hey when snows falling outside and the kiddo’s sick, it’s about all we can do not to drive each other crazy.

not sure what this face is all about.

first the cowboy boots…then he had to have his hat….

he puts the boots on himself. uh and the hat too.

nice look you got goin’ on there buddy…

cooped up. it’s not fun.

modeling his new outfit…(he put his own hands in his pockets, swear) Papa Loves! this outfit…

watch out G-Q.

then Mama had to come along and interrupt the fashion debut… she was too impatient to get a shot of the Moo-seY tee she made the Capt. it’s So cute to hear him say Moo-Sey.

game over.

Rockin’ his new pajamas from Pamaw…even his new Moo-seY slippers…these things are awesome and came in perfect timing for the freezing weather we’ve been having!

his new favorite cereal, Annie’s Honey Bunnies…tastes pretty sugary to Mama.

It snowed Saturday. Can you believe it…it’s not suppose to snow till Halloween. It was a cold weekend. And the Captain had a really runny nose so we stayed home Saturday and watched movies. Chad’s sick too. Sunday we went down to Castle Rock outlets to get the kids some winter clothes…Children’s Place- you can’t beat there prices!

Arlin’s make shift get away car…I drew in the details with a sharpie marker while the Captain gave it some sweet pencil finishing touches.

the license plate reads: Colorado: CAPTAIN

check out the RIMS!!

and the windshield wipers…of course Mama made it a JEEP!

while Arlin held onto the faux steering wheel we went V-room- vRoom! as fast as we could around the dining room table till the bottom of the box fell out.

this is what happens when you take a corner to hot (fast) thank gosh for stuffed animal co-pilots, they offer plenty of padding for spills like this!

GO.Go.GO!!! Arlin says!