hear hear

I should have posted this seven weeks ago. Better late than never.

one year ago in march

He still does this pose to this day, in exactly the same way and with the same expression.

going up

The climb everything phase has been more tiring for us than for him.

be perched

Jalen really likes climbing on top of his toys nowadays. He drinks water out of a straw cup but still prefers his milk from the bottle. The bunny that he got as a gift in the back is the only stuffed animal that he ever showed any love for.

chowtime

Jalen was super excited that broccoli and veggie nuggets were on the menu tonight.

big belly

Jalen's belly is no joke!

ironman

Here, Jalen reminds me of a little bodybuilder being washed down by his mom. Sometimes he prefers to hold his own washcloth.

after dark

I always feel a little bad when we stay out too late and Jalen is just drained and barely hanging on. We try to keep him up because sometimes the whole act of transferring him as he's sleeping can be really disrupting.

the swings

I noticed that a lot of the seats on swings nowadays are made of soft rubber but in my day they were mostly metal. Remember how everyone used to stand on the swings to swing? Do you remember the daring kids that would swing as high as they could and jump off at the apex of their highest swing? I guess no one ever taught them not to jump out of a window because that would be the equivalent. Then there were the really stupid kids that would not only jump off but would also use the kinetic energy from the swing and launch themselves through the air (hopefully far enough and high enough) to latch onto the fence that encompassed the swing area from everything else. Yes, I was undoubtedly a stupid kid and I shared a love of spiderman with some of them. I look at Jalen now and I pray that he grows up smart.

zippidy doo dah

What would kids do without playgrounds? Jalen isn't even old enough to play with anything there yet and still he loves it. He would be perfectly happy just running in circles. It doesn't even matter that it's cloudy, cold, windy and he's alone. I mean, just look at him. Can you hear the music in his head? "...my, oh my, what a wonderful day..."