Father's Day weekend!

Jake's new chair!



Father's Day weekend:

Daddy & Jakey reading one of Jake's faves

riding the train with Daddy

look Dada, a balloon!

race cars already?!

playground fun

Jake loved watching the helicopter!

modeling his new hair cut!

Jake's first masterpiece for Daddy's office!

like father, like son!

 Our not-so-little man turned 21 months old yesterday! Only 3 more months until we stop counting months! Where has the time gone? I'm sorry if I sound repetitive. I just can't believe how fast this year has flown by. I thought Jake's first year went by fast, but that is nothing compared to this one!

Joe had a great Father's Day weekend with lots of Jake and Daddy bonding time. Saturday was jam packed with activities! Jakey had his second swim lesson which went much better than his first. He was a little clingy and scared at the very beginning, but soon he was laughing and splashing and having fun! We went straight from swim lessons to "Touch-A-Truck" which is a free local event where kids can tour/touch/take pictures on a variety of trucks, police cars, boats, etc. We had a picnic lunch at the park where the event was located, and then spent the next hour or so letting Jake decide where he wanted to go! Jakey loved seeing all of the trucks, but his favorite parts were riding on the train with his Daddy, and watching the rescue helicopter take off! He also had to check out the playground for a few minutes as well :)

After Jake's nap, we were filled with dread for our next activity: Jake's hair cut. It had to be done because his hair was getting way too long and too Bieber-ish for my liking, and we needed it cut before our trip because of the high temps and humidity we are about to experience. So we reluctantly headed over to see Miss Lynda (who cut Jake's hair last time and has the patience of a Saint!) This time, thanks to a suggestion from my friend Mignonne, we came prepared with a portable DVD player and a Dora episode about hair cuts! Jakey LOVES Dora (he calls it "Deeda") and we were hoping that this just might work. In the past, other cartoons on a salon TV hadn't worked. Well thank God for Dora, because she really pulled through when we needed her! Jakey cried for the first few minutes but once he got into watching the DVD, the hair cut went great!!! We just moved the DVD player wherever Lynda wanted Jake to look, and it worked like a charm! She had to cut around me though because Jake was on my lap, but she did an incredible job. My parents even came to watch Jake get his hair cut, and of course he was on good behavior this time! After his hair cut he went straight to the basket of toys they keep at the salon. Hopefully, he will start to become familiar with the salon and Lynda, and the rest of his hair cuts will be smooth sailing!

On Father's Day, I made a yummy breakfast for us (Jake couldn't get enough of the turkey bacon and the fresh pineapple!) and Jake gave Joe an adorable finger painting for his office. Jake did such a great job on his first piece of art, don't you think? It was a challenge getting Jake to create this masterpiece though because he hates when his hands are sticky or messy! He hated the paint on his hands, but he loves water so I was able to get him to paint by getting him to play in the water to wash the paint off! Joe wanted to relax around the house on Father's Day, so we did just that. We had a nice visit from Joe's Godmother and one of her daughters, and then I spent the rest of the day making dinner (Joe's favorites of course!) for us, my parents and my Nana. We gave my Dad ("Pa Pa" to Jake) a shirt that Jakey picked out (I may have narrowed down the options first) and he loved it! So far Jake is great at gift giving!

We are looking forward to our trip to Cincinnati (in only 2 days!!!) to visit my good friend Kelly and her family. However, we are not looking forward to traveling on a plane for 4+ hours with a squirmy toddler who doesn't like to sit still! Did I mention that Jake will be sitting on our laps because we didn't buy him his own seat? We are expecting the worst, and hoping for the best. We do have lots of ammo though: tons of snacks, a DVD player with several DVDs, crayons and a coloring book, a magnadoodle, brand new toys that I wrapped so that he gets to unwrap new presents throughout the flight, some of his favorite books, and our peace de resistance: candy! The fact that his hair cut went so well (due to the DVD) and the fact that he was able to sit through two entire movies in the theater in the last couple weeks (our town offers free second run family friendly movies in the Summer!) gives us hope that we can distract him with food and DVDs! Wish us luck!