Jack spent the night with Grandma Gloria Friday night. It does get easier to leave him – I didn't worry near as much this time as I have in the past, but I still miss him. He's such a ball of energy and when he's gone the house is very quiet. Joe and I had fun going to a party and Jack had fun with various activities.

This is his new sun hat:

















Here he is with Great Grandpa Joe admiring the flowers:
















And visiting Fry's Grocery Store with Grandpa Tom:
















(Those three pictures were uploaded with Blogger - I'm not sure how I feel about their new picture functionality just yet.)

We baby-proofed the house finally, which for us merely consists of putting those little plastic things in the outlets. I know there is a lot more that could be done - I can lock the toilets and cabinets, put padding on the coffee table, put plastic things on the doorknobs so he can't open them, and probably lots of other things I'm not considering. What is the reason for the toilet lock anyway? Is it to keep them from drowning or from smashing their fingers? I wasn't entirely sure.

It seems there is more to worry about with regards to the "rules". Apparently once he starts having friends and wants to go to other people's houses I have to be concerned about what they will do with him. One friend has informed me that I am not the norm when it comes to food. I guess I just assumed people would feed their kids organic and stay away from snacks and processed foods. Apparently that is not the case.

There has to be a way to find a group of people to hang around with who don't plunk their kids down in front of the TV with potato chips and a juice box. I'm certain there are families who live like we do, I guess the challenge is to find them. I'm not necessarily judgmental about it but I would prefer Jack to grow up with healthy habits. Hmmm.

And I guess on another note I need to define what my rules are going to be. Are they just about food and TV? Are there other things to consider? I guess obvious safety issues like seatbelts and having an adult by the pool. As he gets older I suppose the rules will change a great deal. A challenge to say the least.

And then if you do trade kids with someone for playdates and such, are you expected to discipline their children? From what I see of most children in public there is not a lot of disciplining going on in the world. It seems that kids run rampant all over the place paying no mind to their screeching mothers.

I hope I'm not a screeching mother. Ugh.

I took some pictures of Jack today after Joe got home from work. It's funny how I spend so much time with him but I can't really see how darned cute he is until someone else is playing with him.





As you can probably tell, one picture is with a flash and one is without. I have to appeal to my fan base, and unfortunately two of my most outspoken critics disagree about the need for a flash. So there you have it.