Jack - Eye Update!

We saw the eye doctor again yesterday for yet another post-op appointment and all is well. His eye is still turning a little...it turns in a little when he has his glasses off and turns out a little when he has his glasses on!! Sigh! However, it's not that big a deal - it's WAY better than it was before and it's not unusual at all for there to be some 'residual turn' as the surgery cannot possibly be exact (they basically 'tweak' it a bit and see how things go then do more surgery if necessary). And I really stress 'a little' it's almost not noticeable unless you are looking directly in his eyes and even then only sometimes!

So she gave us a new prescription for Jack's glasses that should help a bit...unfortunately it's not an exact science so they kind of have to try 'a bit of this' and a 'bit of that' if you know what I mean. Anyway - good news is we don't have to go back until February unless the new prescription makes his eyes go all wonky in which case we'll just be going back to get a different prescription. But in general she was very pleased with how the surgery went and thinks things are going well:)

Just to answer a couple questions we keep getting...yes he will continue to wear glasses probably at least until the end of elementary school. This helps to keep his eye muscles relaxed so the eye don't start to turn in again - I guess the theory is that by the end of elementary school his muscles are mature enough that it's not likely to regress. However - given his genetic make up (both mom and dad wear glasses) I'm sure he'll continue to wear glasses beyond that but more for his vision and not the lazy eye. Also - yes, he will probably need surgery again. When we don't know. It's not unusual for kids to have surgery again around the age of 7 or so and then again when they are teenagers. Also - it's quite possible he'll have surgery on his eye in the next year or so if the turn starts to show up a little more...the doctor said that quite often they have two surgeries close together to get things fixed.

Videos

Doing some running in the house...I think his 'form' needs some work;)




Jessica and Benson - she is just a bit over 3 months old here.



Jack helping make his lunch...macaroni and cheese (or as he says 'macanoni').



And finally...my favorite video in a long time...the biology of the digestive system courtesy of Jack Caldwell. The video gets a little goofy at the end but I let the camera keep going because I wanted to see what he would do (sometimes that's how I get the best stuff...in this case it was kind of irrelevant!).

When Jack stays home this is what we do...

Jack is in part time daycare right now so he's generally home every other day. I was putting Jessica down for a nap and came downstairs to find Jack sitting in his CAT truck watching the Cars movie.


After a visit to the park where I try get him to run around and burn off as much energy as possible (I make him walk there and back and he goes on all the slides by himself a million times...he quite enjoys it!) we usually do a little craft of some sort. Sometimes it's just coloring but I have a little craft bin for him with playdough and paper and glue and feathers and pom-pom's (so cute to hear him say 'ponpon') and stuff to put together. But we also have paint and generally that's the thing he wants to do...so here are some pics of him painting.
After crafts we have lunch, then nap (preceeded by a round of "no nap mommy", 'yes nap Jack', "no nap"...etc.). The he gets up and plays for a while or I sometimes put a movie on while I get dinner ready...anyway - thank goodness he's a good kid - I don't know how I'm manage if he was trouble!

Jessica is 3 Months Old!

Jessica turned 3 months old last weekend...finally! Whew...that might sound bad but seriously - the first 3 months is toughest in my opinion and I can feel that we're getting into the swing of things now. Her naps still leave something to be desired but we're working on that. But she's sleeping well at night and truthfully - she's a good little baby! I decided to take out a bunch of the next size clothes and see if they fit (the 6mos clothing)...most stuff is starting to fit her and I realized she has many many dresses! I'm quite practical when it comes to dressing her - onesies or tshirts, shorts and pants...easy for mom to get her dressed and change diapers and stuff! But I've decided she needs to start wearing all her clothes so dresses are becoming a regular item of choice...and I'm trying to remember to take pictures of her in the dresses because seriously - dresses really make her look like a little girl!

Here is Jessica 2 days after her 3 month 'birthday'. I just realized she's wearing the same shirt as on her 2 month b-day photos...oops.
One of her little dresses. She always grabs the dresses and pulls at them...Ian said this looks like she's showing off that her little underwear match the dress "look mom - they match!".
Another little dress...
Close up of the 'sweet' dress and 'sweet' girl.
Benson - always very protective.

Here are some good pictures of our smiley baby!!



These are some of the events at the Canada Day Celebration.

In a bulldozer...

On a fire truck with his friends (Shelley and Ava)...
Talking to a policeman...Jack was very interested in his 'brown' gloves...the policeman was talking to him but he just kept pointing to the gloves and saying "brown?"!
And this was how Jessica spent Canada Day at the park while Jack explored the activities!

Jack knows the Bumbo is for Jessica but he thought it would be funny to sit in it (I know the picture of his face is weird but it was the only shot I could get of him in the Bumbo).
Haha...both watching TV (bad parents!!).
Trying to get both kids in bed at the same time can be tough when I'm on my own...I'm trying to find a few options that can keep Jack busy while I get Jessica down. Here is Jack curled up on the couch watching his 'Cars' movie (his current fave!) and if you look closely you'll see he's even holding a Cars book from Auntie Erin and Uncle Alex! He didn't actually stay here very long - maybe 15 minutes but it helped!

And this is where I found Jack another time when I left him watching his movie for a few minutes while I put Jessica down. What a nut!

A bunch of videos...

Here is a video of the kids at the Canada Day celebration...one of the mom's (Amanda) is playing ring around the rosy with the kids...I think it's hysterical how she 'makes' the kids fall down at the end:0



Here is a video of Jack after the Canada Day celebration...he was VERY tired!



Jack is starting to learn counting! He is often a reluctant performer for the camera! One this day we learned 'seven'...so he is very focused on that:)



Here is more counting...



Jack asked to hold Jessica...he is very gentle with her!



I just love how Jessica is staring at him in this video like "Are you kidding me???"

Status Update - Playdough Train...

I asked Jack to tell 'Daddy' about the playdough train this morning here is how the conversation went down:

Mom: "Jack, did we play with playdough yesterday?"
Jack: "Yup"
Mom: "Do you remember what you asked mommy to make for you?"
Jack: "Train...train no good"
Ian: (laughing)
Mom: "Oh, was the train no good?"
Jack: "Yup. Daddy do it."

Oh and one more 'funny' thing I forgot to mention yesterday...Jack got a toy helicopter with a Batman figure in it from Baba last time she came out to visit. I was telling Jack that the name of the toy figure is "Batman" and a little while after I told him that I asked him what the name of the toy was...he said "Bat guy". (Note: for a while Jack was referring to all men as 'daddies' and all women as 'mommies' so I started telling him that it was actually a 'guy' or a 'girl'...maybe in hindsight I should have said 'man' or 'woman'...apparently Bat'man' is not in his vocabulary).

More Talking With Jack...

I have some more recent pic's of the two kids which I'll upload by middle of next week...and some cute video of Jack counting...stay tuned...

But...I had Jack home today - first day of his 'part time daycare' situation. The day went well. We went to the park, played with playdough, had lunch, had 3 hour naps (the kids did...I make cards - yeah stamping!!), and had a good time. But...here are some things that I was told by Jack today (all in one day!):

- "Mommy make train"...said when playing with playdough. So I made a sad attempt to make a bad train and clearly it was bad because Jack looked at it and said "Daddy do it". Sigh...

- At the park Jack was in the swing and I was pushing him (what else are you supposed to do?) and Jack said "Mommy, no push"...when I kept pushing him a little bit he said "Mommy, hands in pockets"...hmmm...I guess I've been told.

- Before nap time Jack kept saying "no nap, no nap" but he was being funny and laughing at himself (he was saying it in a funny voice and he was 'foolin'' as we call it). He then started to get a bit more serious and in the end he still had a nap much to his dismay. After I went in and woke him up (after 3 hours) I went to feed Jessica in her room...Jack came in about 5 minutes later and looked at me and said (in all seriousness) "no nap". Hmmm...at least he's persistent!

- We phoned my mom today (Grandma) and I had her on speaker phone so Jack could talk...Grandma said 'hi' and I said "say hi Jack" and he said "hi Grandma Cho-o-bee"...haha...I love that he says their last name (by the way - we taught him our last name and he now thinks that my name is "mommy cal-well", Ian is "daddy cal-well" and Jessica is sometimes "baby cal-well"...haha!).

- I started saying to Jack "I love you lots" and he repeats it...then I say "I love you more" and he repeats it...then I say "I love you to the sky" and he repeats it. Today in the car I started by saying "I love you lots" and he said to me "I love you lots to the sky"...haha - I think he 'won' that one:)

Hope you had one or two good laughs!!