Pitch Perfect

I love to sing--any day, any time, any style.  And when I sing along with Whitney, Mariah, Celine, or any of the greats, I don't hear much of a difference.  I can even imitate Shakira, Cher, and Britney pretty closely.

I mean, I think I can.  In sixth grade, some mean girls told me that I couldn't sing, but I thought they were just jealous.  Later on though, when my mom and sister had mentioned that singing wasn't my forte, I did begin to think that I might have some issues hitting the right notes.  But I thought since their voices were so good, maybe I just wasn't up to their level.  So, for years I ignored their warnings and have kept going--after all, I was good enough for the church choir and a local summer theatre production of The Sound of Music as a postulant.  I have fun when I sing and it puts me in a good mood.

But apparently, the feeling isn't mutual for any bystanders (namely, Jackson).  Until a few weeks ago, Jackson would listen to my renditions of nursery rhymes and the 90's power ballads in the car with what I thought was quiet admiration of his mother's song.  Apparently, he was holding in his contempt until he found his voice.  I cannot get through two bars of Row, Row, Row Your Boat without Jackson emphatically putting his hand up and saying, "Don't!" or "No!"  Sometimes he will request a song (usually Baa, Baa Black Sheep), but I fail to deliver even on a special request.

Last week, Adele's Hello came on the radio and I couldn't resist.  I sang quietly during the first verse, but it wasn't quiet enough; Jackson heard me.  He started his usual protest but I kept on singing, telling him that I was not going to stop.  Jackson's disapproval grew though, and by the chorus, he was crying, screaming, and wildly throwing his arms and legs around.  I decided to stop then.

So I thought my singing days were officially over since they were causing so much distress for my child.  But then, earlier this week, I slowly tested the waters with some nursery rhymes and since I wasn't getting any backlash, I went through my entire catalogue of children's songs.  With each new song, I added a bit of enthusiasm because I didn't know when I would have this chance again.  By the time we got to Yankee Doodle, it sounded like this:

Maybe things will turn around when Jackson can join in and he can drown out my sound.  Or, as soon as he can sing, I think listening to his renditions of old favourites will make me so incredibly happy that I will gladly just keep quiet and enjoy my son's mini-concerts.

Jackson's favourite thing to see at the 97th Annual Ainsdale Show was the model railway in one of the tents.  He watched the trains for a long time and loved how fast they went.  There were a few of the model railway's club members' old train carriages for sale so we bought one to lure Jackson to another area of the fair.  It was only £1!  The man also gave us some old track for it to go on.  Before we left for the day, we went back to buy two more cars.

On the tea cup ride.  The sign said, "Parents do not spin the tea cups."  I thought this was a strange rule and would make for an uneventful ride.  Nevertheless, I followed the rules.

Once the ride started, I realised that the sign was posted for the parents who were standing by and not for ones riding with their children.  If you notice the man in the background from the previous picture, then you will see the phantom spinner.  When any tea cup passed him that wasn't spinning enough for his liking, he grabbed on to the edge and whipped the cup around so fast that it even made me dizzy so I can imagine that Jackson was the same.  It was so odd because we never exchanged any words, but he felt he needed to enhance our carnival ride experience.

Action Man Jackson driving Daddy with great concentration.  Lee was worried that Jackson would try to climb out during the ride, so he wanted to ride along just to be safe.

Developmental updates:  Jackson added some new words and phrases to his vocabulary this week and we are working on using them in context.  He can now say 'grandma,' 'grandpa,' 'dow' for cow, 'duck,' 'bear,' and funnily, 'Oh rats.'  Jackson is doing much better with transitions and his temper tantrums are getting fewer and farther between.  We got a lot of compliments from random people at the Ainsdale Show today about how cute Jackson is.  I can only attribute this to his combination of good behaviour and adorable face, of course, because we never get any compliments when he is crying or throwing a fit.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.

Report Cards

Four times a year in elementary school, my parents would receive a card with a paragraph update accompanied by boxes filled in with a subtraction sign, a check mark (tick), or a star.  These three symbols either represented the effort a student was giving or the achievement level.  As I got older, the teachers began giving out A's, B's, C's, and so on.  This served as the Ohio-style of reporting to parents the progress their child was making--although, I imagine that the other states have the same system.  Combined with one or two parent-teacher conferences, the parents seemed sufficiently updated on how their child was doing in school.

In my school, our 'reports' were due this week to be proofread by the head teacher.  Parents in England only receive one report in summation of the entire year's progress and throughout the year, they meet twice for conferences with the teacher.  Before this year, each student received a two-paged typed report with a paragraph for each subject.  This used to take me about 24 hours to finish.  Thankfully, with some changes to the regime, every child has a one-page report with only five paragraphs to summarise their progress in reading, writing, mathematics, 'other subjects,' and general comments (my favourite one because you get to talk about the student's classroom behaviour).  We don't use a check mark or star, but rather a ranking system made-up of letters and numbers showing where the students are in comparison with age-related expectations.

This is still time consuming, but not nearly as much as it used to be.  Also, I have thought of a way to make it easier next year (and maximise my family time):  I can complete the general comments section before the end of the year.  If a child is a 'good listener' or 'kind to others' at the beginning of the year, he is usually the same ten months later.  And if the student is the opposite to that, it is rare that he can completely change his ways.  I have had a couple of breakthroughs this year, but I can't perform miracles.

Getting dizzy at the park

Jackson insists on climbing stairs upright and using the railing

Swinging away while watching the dogs at the park

Carefully guiding his trains along the track saying, "Choo choo!"

Developmental updates:  Jackson has officially grown out of his 12-18 month tops and pajamas, but he still fits into the pants (trousers in the UK).  We took a look around and realised that he's also outgrown his rattles, soft books, Little Tikes garden centre, ball pit, and some other 'baby' toys.  Yesterday, we packed-up a whole tub of clothes and wrapped-up and labelled his toys for the attic.  There is suddenly a lot more floor space for Jackson to run and ride his pirate ship and push his trucks and cars around.  There is also more space to play chase which excites him to no end.  This week, Jackson has developed a cough and lost his appetite a bit.  He seems to be in high spirits other than that, so we aren't too worried.  We'll see how he develops over the next week.  There weren't any new words this week, but he is saying 'car' every time we see one while driving or walking.  He is doubling his effort by saying 'car car.'  We're not sure why he started doing this, but he will probably retire to just the one 'car' eventually.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.

Gulliver's World

Yesterday we travelled to Gulliver's World in Warrington as an early Father's Day celebration.  The weather forecast said that we would have clear skies and warm temperatures so we headed out at about 9:30 and made it there in less than 45 minutes.  It was really easy to drive there and the closer we got to Warrington, the view became very leafy with thick forestry.

The day did not disappoint weather-wise because it was extremely hot without a cloud in the sky.  If Jackson was old enough, then we probably would have ridden the water rides all day.  We definitely over-dressed for the day, but luckily we were wearing layers because t-shirts and tank-tops were on the cards.  When it was time for Jackson to take a nap in his stroller, we just let him wear his bodysuit (baby grow).  Gulliver's World seems to be a well-established theme park so the grounds were mainly covered in shade except for the parts in the African-themed area where there seems to be expansion going on.

We were really fortunate that we decided to go during Father's Day weekend because Lee got in for free.  Also, because Jackson is shorter than 90 cm, his admission was free!  We were expecting the price of tickets for adults to be about £30 or so, but for adults the cost is only £18.95.  That seems really inexpensive to me for a six-and-a-half hour day at an amusement park.  The prices for food were reasonable, as well.  All-in-all, we spent the same amount that we would have if we went out to eat at Pizza Express.  (It's always a good feeling when we overestimate our budget for the day!)

There were about ten different rides and attractions for Jackson's height and his favourite ones were the dinosaur carousel, the vintage cars, and the planes.  By the end of the day, he got used to the pattern of riding a ride and then exiting without getting upset.  For the plane ride, as soon as he exited, I ran him back to the entrance gate so that he could ride again right away.  There was an area devoted to dinosaurs and they had some that seemed to be made to scale based on skeletons I have seen in museums.  Jackson thought they were real and loved to spot them through the bushes and trees.  He built-up his patience throughout the day and seemed to understand what waiting in line meant after the first few rides.

Our travel tips for the day if travelling to a theme park:  take the stroller even if your toddler can walk, but also take the harness and reins for mobility.  With the stroller, take one bag (preferably an insulated picnic-style bag) to hold the snacks, drinks, a few diapers, a pack of wipes, and the diaper cream.  Then, have one person carry the money, cards, and keys in their pocket or a small handbag so that when you go on a ride all together and leave the stroller by the ride operator, there are no valuables left there for you to worry about.

Waving and saying 'bye-bye'

Jackson loved choosing his own animal

Riding a raft through an Aztec river

View of the scene upon entering

Racing in the Grand Prix

A very proud looking pilot

P.S.  Happy Father's Day to my dad back in Ohio!  I hope that you have a great day and we will see you very soon.

Developmental updates:  Jackson had a huge outburst of new vocabulary this week!  His diction is very clear and we were taken aback when yesterday, on our outing, we heard five new words alone.  Here is a list of his new words and phrases:  bubble, please, hot, see you later, good boy, blue ball, dinosaur, zebra (the UK pronunciation), and sweaty.  Jackson has started pretending to be asleep with his own version of snoring included!  He also thinks if he just makes this noise, but doesn't close his eyes, he is still 'sleeping.'  Jackson is also experimenting with moving in new ways which include walking backwards and walking with his eyes closed.  Thankfully, he has stopped crying when he gets in and out of car (about 90% success rate with this one; it's not completely resolved, yet).  If he has a diaper that needs changed, then he will also get his changing mat on his own and present us with it and a clean diaper.

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.