summer...waiting for the ice cream truck

remember those great memories of the ice cream truck rollin through your neighborhood and the anticipation of what you were going to get...along with the stress of wondering if you could get to your money in time?  i do!  and now jake will, too. the ice cream man rolls down our street daily (at some very strong urging of my husband who asked told him to make sure he comes down our street every day and go slow as he gets to our house).  so here's how it plays out.  1) jake hears the ice cream truck tune (that hasn't changed in my 40 years). 2) he screams " daddy, daddy, the ice cream truck" over and over until matt jumps up from whatever he's doing. 3) jake runs over to grab his ice cream money (loose change, that matt makes sure is filled up regularly, in a little bank that my dad gave him). 4)he runs to out the front door with matt behind him and up to the truck. "hi ice cream man", he says so loud our neighbors must think he's heading for a diabetic diagnosis. 5)jake and matt stand there for a good 3-5 minutes trying to pick what he's going to get, even though the choices haven't changed...ever. 6)he gets his ice cream, says thank you and "bye ice cream man, see you "y"ater."  it is so fun to watch...both of them actually.  these are the times i just fall more in love with my husband.

this is what we call "summer hair"

summer..."legoland"

well not really legoland but that's what jake kept calling this water park.  my friend ruth lives in a fancy community in ladera ranch and this water park for young kids is in their "backyard" and free to residents.  she had us over twice this summer and jake LOVED it.  it was the best of both of his favorite worlds...water and a playground.  he spent hours running around (more about the running later), dumping water on himself, pretending to swim and saying hi to any kid who would look his way.  he's the friendliest, most outgoing boy who gets so excited about life and i love that so much about him.  following rules...not so much.  the lifeguard kept telling him to stop running, as did mommy (from my lounge chair) but he kept on.  i guess (translation...i wasn't paying attention) he ran into another kid and they both fell down so she gave jake a time out.  he had to sit out of the water for 5 minutes.  torture for me him.  we were the brownest ones in the park so i was on the verge of being one of those "why did you only have my kid sit out?" moms but remembered what i tell my students at school..."just because you're the only one who got caught, doesn't mean you get off the hook when you still did something wrong."  

note to self, mom.

summer...adventure city

matt's sister theresa gave jake adventure city tickets for xmas last year and we finally took him...with month-old sophie in tow.

we were supposed to take him for his birthday (see february mom-meltdown) but now i'm glad we waited so he was older.  it really is an amusement park for little kids. besides the 95 degree heat, we jake had a blast.  here's the funny thing, most of the time he just wanted to run around the park to explore all of the different sights.  he did ride a few rides like the firetruck ride (many times), the train and the merry go round  but there were a bunch more he wasn't interested in (could have been the fact that one of the first rides matt took him on was the hot air balloon ride that went way too high and way too fast). he loved the arcade and the thomas the train area.  they had a petting zoo and jake's been to many and always loves being around the animals but for some reason he was scared this time and matt had to hold him.

not wanting to get off the ride

summer 2012

this has been the longest time i've ever had off.  since i had sophie early, my maternity leave, combined with summer vacation, gave me 3 1/2 months at home with the kids.  it was an amazing summer.  i loved being home (most of the time) and loved spending so much time with jake.  we were always out doing something and i think i eased the blow of bringing someone else into the picture. i had still have a bunch of mommy guilt feeling he was getting less attention and the less energetic mommy model but...

  he i loved waking up in the mornings with us just laying in bed watching tv. then it was usually time to pull out the double jogging stroller and head out for a run jog.  he loves being in the stroller and discovering what's around him.  our new game is "what do you see?"  i started it with him a few months ago and now he actually starts it by saying, "mommy, what do you see?" 

the next few posts will be all about summer 2012.