Master Chef

I was so exhausted this evening that while Jaden was playing I actually fell asleep for a few minutes on the couch.  When I woke up, this is what I found:

I have no idea how he got his bowl down from the table without tipping it over, but that's Jaden for you.  We call him Mr. Grabsy Handsy because he can reach farther and faster than you ever thought possible.  But, I did have an extremely happy baby!  It only took about 10 wipes to clean all up, which is a small price to pay for that smile!

When "No" Means "Yes"

Jaden has been really slow in the speech department and doesn't have many words that he actually says.  One of those words is "No".  He has yet to figure out how to say 'yes' so he just uses 'no' instead.  For example:

Mickey: Say, you wanna come inside my clubhouse?
Jaden: No
Mickey: Well, alright!

Mom: Do you want a banana cookie?
Jaden: No (and then he opens his mouth for the cookie)

Mom: Ready to go for a walk?
Jaden: No!  (while smiling and laughing and dragging me to the door)

We have figured out that when he really means 'no', he will shake his head as he says it.  Crazy kid!

Check That One Off The Bucket List!!!

While my mom, Alex, and Robbie were here, Alex and I both discovered that we both had the life-long dream to go parasailing.  My mom generously decided to foot the bill and so we all (Jake, me, Alex and Robbie) booked our flight time and off we went!

Alex and Robbie decided to go first so that Robbie wouldn't chicken out.

They were both a little nervous as they started to climb high into the sky.

But once they came back down they were all smiles!

They had such a great time, so it was now time for Jake and I to go up:

We all had a great time but I learned some things in case there is a next time:

1. You get a choice to fly at 400ft, 600ft, or 800ft.  For some twisted reason I thought that if I picked 800 feet, that meant that I would be 800 feet up in the air.  Nope.  It just means they will let out 800 feet of rope.  I felt like I could have gone up higher (we went for the 600ft option) and still been fine.
2. I would have moved my harness farther back.  The strip of fabric that goes under your legs and acts as a seat of sorts was way too far forward towards my knees, making me scrunch up and move awkwardly in the air.  
3. Chill out.  I wasn't scared (which surprised me since I'm not a heights person) but I was so preoccupied with my harness position and how I kept banging into Jake that I really didn't take the time to just appreciate where I was and the view I could see.
4. Get more professional staff.  We were with two young guys who were more preoccupied with flirting with some of the other guests than they were with those flying in the air.

All in all, it was awesome and if I have some reason to splurge again, I would do it all over in a heartbeat, but on a calmer seas day - my stomach didn't handle the rolling waves too well.  Thanks mom!

Happy 4th!

Having a baby who doesn't stay up very late and who definitely doesn't stay up late enough for fireworks, we decided to light a few fireworks on our own in the middle of the day.  Our other reason for this was that Jaden doesn't deal well with unexpected things (like playing in fountains that randomly shoot off water - he got really upset when some water unexpectedly shot up and drenched his hair).  So we decided to just do little fireworks that wouldn't scare him too much.

Daddy lit the fuses:

While Mommy and Baby waited anxiously:

Surprisingly, Jaden handled it all really well!  We didn't have too many fireworks, and mostly cheap flowers at that, but it was fun all the same!

Happy 4th of July from the cutie with the messy face!