29

1 month = 2.
Can you believe it?

28

Lion! Lion! Lion!
RRRRRrooooaaaaRRRR!

How many times a day do we hear that?!

Jack has discovered the wonderful world of Disney. And for the first time since I can remember he's choosing something besides Elmo.

Lion! Lion! Lion! -- When we get home from school. Lion! Lion! Lion! When he's avoiding bedtime. And then yesterday when I pulled up to the video store (to return Lion King) he immediately shouted, LION! LION! and pumped his fist.

We have rented the frickin' Lion King, Lion King 1 1/2 and Lion King 2 too many times!!

Yesterday stood in the kids section for nearly a half an hour and he just kept going back to it. I tried to get him to want Robin Hood.
"Look Jackie," I said. "A fox! A bear! Isn't that so cool?"
Unimpressed, he handed it back to me.
Then I tried Lady and the Tramp.
"Look Jack,'' I pleaded. "A doggy! See the doggy?!"
"Ohhh! Doggy! Woof-Woof!" he said smiling.
(I added that to our pile.)
Then he spotted Curious George.
"Monkey! Monkey!"
(Grabbed it. I thought things were going better.)
"Lion?! Ma...ma... Lion?!"
I told him Lion was night-night. I know I know it's cruel but give a guy a break! I know every line, every stupid joke. Husband and I can sing every song. (Although, Jack HATES it when we sing. He moans and cries like we are torturing him. He doesn't like it when we repeat lines. He points and yells no at us. He's already embarrassed and unamused by us.)
So then I saw an American Tale. Remember that? Huge when I was a kid. I grabbed it. I figured he would like the music.
Then I grabbed some for me because Hubby is working late practically every night this week: Rumor Has It starring my Jennifer; Grey's Anatomy first season and Pride and Prejudice.
The two of us pile back into the car and drive away. A dinner discussion begins.
Honestly, I am ashamed to mention the only thing he will eat these days. He is being so STUBBORN about food. I starting listing options. Each received a flat no from him. Then a song came on he liked. We jammed out.
Finally home and settled, dinner cooking Jack turns to me and says, "Lion?!"

27

One biter down, one to go.

A boy in Jack's class was expelled for biting too many times. Where does that leave him as a teenager? We can only hope for the best for him.

The second biter has been moved out of Jack's class into the next "grade" with the thinking that if he tries to nibble on a 3 or 4 year old he'll get popped. I wish I could be there when that happens.

26

I don't have much to say. But I noticed it has been some time since I last wrote about the kid.

This past weekend Husband and I went up north for a wedding. Jack went to the D to spend some QT with Ga and Mom. (Oh, yeah, he's calling my mom Mom now.) They had him swimming and blowing bubbles. They took him to see Disney's CARS movie and went for a walk. He had a blast. He's already at the stage where he hates to leave his g-rents.

I can still remember how sad it was to leave Pennsylvania after a whirl-wind weekend with my grandparents. It took around 8 hours to get there and we'd try to cram an entire weekend of both my grandmother's food and visiting in less than 48 hours. I'd beg my parents to leave me there but it never happened. The ride back to Detroit was always a bear. Undoubtedly one of us would get car sick -- usually the little sister but sometimes big bro -- which made the rest of the car ride nasty.

It's crazy how kids just know their grandparents. I think Jack's third word was Ga -- and he may have been saying that before "Mama!"

Jack will be 2 in about a month. Can anyone believe that?! Of course he acts like he's about 12. He's such a ridiculous talker. His teacher told me the other day that he talks better than the 4 and 5 year olds. If she asks him a question, instead of saying yes or no, he tells her a story.

He's a real corker.

I'm off to another funeral tonight. My oldest friend lost her stepfather to cancer. It's pretty devastating really. I drive to Chicago tonight and then spend the day tomorrow. Send your love and good thoughts her way.

25

Q: How do you know you talk like a trucker?
A: When you're almost-2-year-old starts talking like a trucker.

How cute! A potty-mouthed (but not potty-trained) toddler.

Jack hears every thing that is said in front of him. He digests it, learns it and regurgitates it. Yesterday, he used a rated R word.

Remember how funny every one thought it was in Meet The Parents with the baby keeps swearing? Remember? So cute, people thought! So catchy.

Not so much. It's bad. Real bad.

Worse? He used it appropriately. Again and again. I immediately called the child expert in my pool of friends. Her response? "OMG! He's so smart! He notices every thing! I can't believe he used it correctly!"

Hmmm... not really helpful, right?

So we tried scolding him. We ignored him. We pretended he was saying different words. And maybe he is right? RIGHT?!

Husband and I have been trying to clean up our acts. But things happen. Stub a toe? @#$^@@! Break a glass? #%^&#$&!! Watch Sopranos on TV? Every other word. But now we realize we are destined to Bednobs and Broomsticks, PollyAnna and Lion King for the next 15 years or so.

No more can we watch our movies with him playing quietly in the other room or sitting on the couch cuddling. No more my little Jack.

And when he's 10 and he asks me why he can't watch a Rated R movie, I will remind him that it's just not a good idea. I will tell him we used to let him but he used these words in front of people who don't want to hear a blond haired beauty say dirty words.

And then he will hate me.

24

This morning I attended a funeral. As funerals go, it was actually very pleasant. There was a wide variety of visitors ranging from family to close friends to local celebrities and people who barely knew her. I was there because I had covered her daughter's murder trial when I was still a crime reporter. The trial was very long, very emotional and through that experience, I grew to really care about both her and her family.

The murder was especially brutal. Her daughter had been jogging in a nearby park when she was attacked from behind. The killer had left her for dead in a wooded area off the trail. It rained for several days before she was found washing away crucial evidence and keeping her murder a mystery for years and years.

As her mother, she made it her mission to find out who took her only daughter. She banged on doors and talked to everyone she could. She started a local support group for other parents of murdered children. The first time I talked to her, I honestly just needed a second source for a story about some other local murder. My heartless editor at the time had given me no background except that she was an advocate. I had no idea who she was, what she had done and on deadline that night I don't how much I cared. I had no idea she was the step-grandmother of a close friend from college. It wasn't until a year later when the police finally got a break in the case that I grew to totally understand all that she'd done.

Now that I am a mother, I think about what she and her family must of gone through the moment her daughter didn't come home in a totally different light. The fear, anger, sorrow. I really have to wonder how she kept going. And not only kept going, but made the decision to turn it into something good.

I don't know what I would do if someone murdered Jack. I think I would want to murder that person. I don't know if I'd become an advocate or just a shell of person. I don't know if I could get past the anger. I just don't know if I'd have the strength she had. She became the rock for so many other people.

I take comfort in knowing she's with her daughter. I can imagine what that reunion was like in my heart. The sense of relief and pure joy must have been amazing for them both. And though I am sad she has passed leaving behind her family here, I feel real excitement for her to be with her baby she's missed for so long.