the crossley clan

I’m definitely not keen on showing my faults to the world.  I wouldn’t normally share this side of me in this forum, but my gratefulness and proudness of my son is so overwhelming that I need to share.

My Jack-Jack has become my best teacher. 

Lately, I’ve been feeling… out of sorts.  Surprises (some good, but mostly not-so-good) have been popping up everywhere I turn.  And I lose my pleasing personality sometimes, if you know what I mean. 

[Enter Jack]  “Mommy - don’t be bad, mommy.”

[Cue my heart breaking]  “Okay, baby.  I won’t be bad. Thank you, my lovey.”

Those big, gorgeous brown eyes are watching my every move.  And can tell that I’m losing my temper faster than I can regain control.

Pete sometimes gets the brunt of my frustration and this morning was an example of that. 

[Enter Jack] “Mommy – don’t yell at daddy.”

[Cue my heart breaking – again. Add in a gulp this time] “Okay, baby.  I won’t yell at daddy.”

Are these the type of things about me that I want my toddler to learn?

No.  Absolutely no.

And I forgot to say thank you.  Duh, Keri.

So, here’s my thank you to you, Jack.  In front of everyone I know and even some I don’t know:

Thank you, my beautiful son.  I’ll do better, I promise!

I am so proud of you.

My very first blog post was about Jack’s one hit wonders.  Well, now he’s teamed up with Tommy and they’ve come out with one more:

Falling asleep on the floor without any effort on my part!

That’s never happened before!

Nor do I expect that it will happen again.  Especially since we’ve given all of Jack’s binkies to the Binky Fairy.  :-)

Of course I’m a little late posting this but Jack turned 3 years old on March 18th!

The stats:

Weight: 27 lbs
Height: 35 3/4 inches
Binky: not any more!
Diapers: yes, they are still around
Favorite color: orange
Favorite show: Curious George
Favorite toy: any type of car
Favorite comfort item: a yard of dress lining fabric in white
Favorite candy: chocolate (always said in a whisper – I wish I could record it cuz it is soooo cute)

Some of our favorite things: how he says I love you.  How he gently touches and kisses Tommy.  How he says thank you or no thank you or your welcome – even for other people who have forgotten their manners.  How he wants to cuddle with mommy and only mommy sometimes.  How he jumps up and down when he gets excited as though he just can’t control it.  How he picks up on some of our phrases: that’s cool, dude and how awesome, etc.

Jack is becoming so independent!  He wants to dress himself, brush his own teeth, pour his own drinks, cut his own food, put in the movie by himself, turn on the Wii by himself, take pictures with my camera even though he has his own… you name it, he wants to do it by himself. 

Taking a trip through memory lane, we find it incredible that we’ve been parents for three whole years.  I know, that sounds pathetic to most.  But it seems like yesterday that we were looking at this:

or this:

or even this:

But look how old he is looking now-a-days!

Anyway, we digress…

We celebrated his birthday practically all month long and it was so fun to see that so many people love our little gus as much as we do.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped make his 3rd birthday so memorable!!

Tommy has a crush on Melina, our neighbor.  They are two weeks apart and a world apart when it comes to their size.  Melina is a petite 9 lbs, while Tommy tips the scale at hardy 18 lbs.  It’s like Beauty and the Beast! And they can’t get enough of each other:

Tommy reaches for her every time he sees her  - and succeeded this time. :-)

I love how they play with each other during “tummy time” – these cuties are too much fun!