Haircut

I decided we should get Mason's pictures professionally done again since he is the big one and one half. Convincing Jake that this would be a good idea was a little more difficult than I expected. If you'll recall we had a ridiculous time trying to get him to stay still for his one year pictures and Jake wasn't looking forward to the workout. I had a great coupon for Kiddie Kandids so we took a little trip to the mall. I had never been to this particular Kiddie Kandids and let me just say it sure does help to have a photographer who at least pretends to like kids. She had Mason laughing so hard that we actually had to wait for him to calm down a bit to get a picture because he would throw his head back and laugh so hard he just looked crazy.

One problem I had was his hair, I can't believe how fast it grows and that I now have to budget 2 boys' haircuts every month. I would love to just buzz it, but all stylists I have consulted with say that might not be such a good idea. Plus he's a little scared of clippers and I try to minimize things that traumatize him. So right after we got these pictures taken I got him an appointment for a haircut. I called Jake and said "Mason has a haircut at 6:30 tonight". Jake says "Uh, no, he won't be able to get his hair cut this evening". I say "Why?" Jake says "Well, because he climbed on top of his changing table and got the Vaseline". It should be known that the Vaseline jar was of the industrial Costco size and he managed to get more than half of it out and onto his body, his hair, his changing table, the carpet, his clothes...

When Jake found him in his bedroom he stood in the doorway stunned at what he was looking at, never saying a word. Mason immediately started crying and handed the Vaseline to Jake. He's a very sensitive boy. I'm pretty sure he would have a complete breakdown if we ever raised our voices at him.

I googled "Vaseline in baby hair" and saw that baking soda and dish soap were the preferred methods of removal. Back into the bath he went (Jake had already given him 2) where Jake made a nice baking soda paste on his head. No dice. At this point I came home and had to take him to get his hair cut. I tried to rationalize that it didn't look that bad but secretly he looked like John Travolta in Grease. The stylist said "Oh did you just wash his hair?" Uh no, it's actually dry with a whole lot of Vaseline in it. She said we should have used dish soap. I will file that tip away for next time. Anyway, she cut most of it out and now he looks like a clean cut little boy, albeit a naughty one.

Such A Clever Boy

Hello everyone, Jake here. I have noticed that Mason is growing up so fast that it takes several videos to show it all. He is speaking more these days. He said to me today, "stinky" and then promptly pointed to his bum. He was very... VERY correct. It was the first time he had ever said "stinky" but he used it correctly when he did choose to say it. That is how most every word goes. It feels like he is listening to get the meaning of a word before he try's to say it out loud.

This seems backwards to me. It seems logical to say the word when you hear it over and over; this lets you get comfortable sounding it out before you try to use it. This just isn't Mason's style.

He is very contemplative. He is thinking all the time. When he sees new people he will look them up and down and not make a sound, just looks them up and down. Then he usually decides to go do something else or play with this new person. I think it might be weird to be on the receiving end of that kind of scrutiny. Once, at a restaurant, he did it to the waitress. It looks exactly like some creepy guy leering at a pretty girl. It was funny.

We will tell him to do stuff and he will pause and just look at you. Then, off he goes to do what you told him. I would say he successfully completes tasks given to him 60% of the time. Well, unless you tell him to throw something away, then it is 100% successful. Conversely, if you ask him to pick up the flashlight and bring it to you, it is 0% successful. I think he just does not want to go get it. He can be stubborn that one.

He is clever to the point of shocking me. He is now showing problem solving skills that are awesome to behold. I don't know if this is normal for 18 month old babies but I think it is pretty advanced stuff. Watch the video and judge for yourself. He gets into things that I would have thought impossible before I witnessed it first hand.

We have to take extra precautions with the treadmill now. You'll see why.

Happy 1.5 Bobo!

You can click on the picture to make it bigger. I would also like to add that his word list is not all inclusive but we had to cut a few out to fit on the page. Jake and I collaborated on this little digital scrapbook page and I must say that he is definitely the more artistic of the two of us. I just kept saying "Symmetry Symmetry Symmetry!" Anyway, I think it will perfectly memorialize Mason at 18 months. Enjoy!

Halloween... 2nd Post!

Hello everyone. This is Jake. I am posting the video of Mason's Halloween. Great stuff.

Halloween

It's no secret that I am no lover of Halloween. I don't even like the word, ever since I was knocked out of my second grade spelling bee for not capitalizing it. But I digress...

Having Mason makes every holiday exponentially better. Especially since he is ridiculously cute and very communicative. He was actually excited to get in his little turtle costume this year. In fact, he's still wearing the little feet because I can't get him to take them off. We weren't sure how the whole trick or treating thing would go so we decided to just take him to a few of the neighbor's houses and see. The first house we went to he just ran right up to the door and knocked on it while saying "knock knock". The dad came out and put a huge bowl of candy in front of Mason and told him to take a piece. While hesitant at first, he took a sucker and put it in his pumpkin. He then wandered around their porch for a good 5 minutes before we got him to go to another house. The next house gave him several pieces of candy so as soon as he got out on to the sidewalk he took it all out and handed it to me. Such a good boy. We went to one more house and called it a night.

We came home and handed out candy to the trick or treaters, which Mason loved. He would put a sucker into their little bags and then shout unintelligible baby speak at them as they walked away. One time a big kid in a scary mask came and Mason tried to shut the door while I was giving him candy. When he couldn't get the door shut he ran to the kitchen and shouted "No No!" while pointing at the door.

Last weekend Mason and Jake carved the pumpkin, which basically consisted of Jake carving the pumpkin and Mason eating the guts. It was both disgusting and heart warming.

I had to go to New Mexico for work a couple of weeks ago and all three of Mason's babysitters happened to be unavailable so we put him in a day care center for the day. I was worried that he wouldn't be good/miss us terribly/think we abandoned him. We had already visited the center once before we took him there because I couldn't just drop him off at a place I had never seen. Anyway, his teacher called me that morning to tell me that Mason is a very cute and well behaved little boy and he is having a lot of fun. I called after lunch to see how he was doing and he was taking his second (what?!) nap of the day and had just finished arts and crafts. When I got home that evening he gave me my very first (of many, I'm sure) art project, which was a pumpkin plate he had finger painted and colored. What did I do? I cried, naturally, and then I told Jake "I don't care what I said before, I am keeping every single thing he ever makes me!" I really don't think my heart could be any more full of love for that little boy.