Category: Jay’s Blog

Right before we came to Turkey, Ben’s Dad came to visit and help the ‘Love Kiev’ team that came from our home church in Canada. He brought Jay a little model of a Concord plane and explained the concept of ‘super sonic.’ Well, Jay has decided that everything that goes fast is ‘Super Sonic’ and I think that is a great description of our little Jay! He is Super Sonic! He even decided that he wanted to swim without any arm floaties and wasn’t at all afraid of having his head go under water! He is our brave, super Sonic Jay!

This week was Jay’s potty party! What a celebration it was – eating and drinking, salty snacks and sweet treats and every yummy drink you can think of. Oh baby!

Well, he’s done extremely well. What a great little guy growing up way too fast!

He makes us so proud every day. Being a great big brother to Kaiser when Mom has her hands full. Learning things from Cassers, playing imaginary games with her and racing around the trampoline, pushing each other on the bikes and digging in the mud with her (I think they were making cakes together). Who could ask for more? Not us! We love you Jay!

An exciting Easter surprise came in the mail: an activity book, chocolates, and a sticker album from Nanna and Grandpa! But the best part of all for Jay was the singing card! He wouldn’t stop pressing that button! Finally for bed we had to hide them away, only of course to be found the next morning! So much fun! Thanks Nanna and Grandpa!

The middle child, there are all sorts of books written about being one, but I’ve never been one, so it is interesting raising Jay. Now that Cassie is off at school it is tempting to be able to get a whole bunch of things done during the mornings while Kai is sleeping, but I’m resisting that temptation. 3 times a week I get the special privilege of playing with just Jay. We do puzzles, baking, trains, cars and reading books together. He is really fun and a very helpful little man. I really enjoy his personality. Next big job for him…potty training!

Skyping with Grandma!

For many, sitting down and having a little chat with Grandma is no big deal. But our kids do most of that over skype, so it was quite impressive when Jay stopped flicking the light switches and running down the hallway long enough to put on the headphones and have a little conversation with Grandma! Not bad for this active little guy.

Jay loves to talk. It is so great because he has lots of interesting ideas and he is starting to reason really well. If we ask him “Jay, why do you keep banging the truck against the table?”  a few weeks ago he would just answer, “Because I am.” Now he says, “Because I like the way it sounds.” It helps when we also use reason to explain why we say no to certain things. However, now we need to keep working on helping him understand how others feel. Another big challenge for parents. “Please don’t hit Cassie in the head, how do you think that makes her feel?” Ah…. siblings!!

Yup, Jay is entering the why stage. It only started about two days ago but yesterday he really got on a kick. The interrogation began when I went to change his bum.

“Why Daddy?”
“Because when we eat we put food in your body, so we excrete what we don’t use, the waste.”
“Why?”
“Well we have to eat because we need energy to live.”
“Why?”
…

When it finally did end, I was in the fetal position crying “mommy” repeatedly while he laughed at me. Ok, it didn’t happen quite that way, but there I was, changing my sons diaper while describing the meaning and purpose of life.

“Inukshuk Mommy, that’s a big inukshuk.”

A little context for you? About four days ago we built some inukshuk by the front gate of our house. They are small things, around the kids knees in size. But we had a lot of fun making them together. And of course, we used flat stones that balance together and they are piled up…

So what made him remember the inukshuk today? We were walking through a cemetery today and he noticed one monument that was like stacked stones piled up. It reminded him of the inukshuk we had made, a really really big inukshuk.

Anyone who knows Ben knows that he is the typical younger brother. He loves to bug people, tease them, and drive them a little crazy (especially if they have a good sense of humour). Well, Jay is just like his daddy. He loves to bug Cassie already. It causes many little squabbles, but underneath it all Cassie loves Jay’s attention!

He also loves being like his daddy as he kicks the soccer ball around and wears a big boy tie! Thanks cousin Noah for the tie!

I’m Lovin’ It! It’s true that those words usually refer to McDonald’s (which I can recognize from a long distance), but this time they refer to the joyride that Uncle Mike provided. Unbelievably, they took apart a little bike, packed it in a suitcase and flew all the way to Ukraine with it. So on day 3 I was pretty surprised to find my bum sitting on this little BMX, whippin’ around the YWAM property by the careful hands of Uncle Mike. Thanks uncle Mike!

We love this little man. So cute, playful, happy, tagging along with his big sister, sharing, running, watching Daddy, he’s amazing! He’s also mischevious.

Well, maybe too curious is a better way to describe him. He loves playing with water. In the bath, he drives his cars through it, then fills the cups and then dumps the cups outside the bath. Outside, he finds the pails with water and splashes with them. He helps Daddy wash the car.

But the one thing he just can’t get over is his drinking cup or water bottle. No matter how many times we’ve told him, smacked his hand, taken away his cup, he still does it. Does what? Intentionally pours out his water. Onto his lap, his sister, his plate, the floor, you name it! Ahhh! But after all is said and done, what’s a little spilled milk water?

“It’s my favorite!” Considering everything is his favourite, he doesn’t quite get the concept, but it sure is cute how he emphasizes the word favourite like nothing else will ever compare, until he finds the next toy, or type of food!

Jay asked his first full question today. Ben was lying on the couch today and Jay asked him, “Are you reading the bible Daddy?” Totally grammatically correct! :) It was so cute. I love how he talks, even the mistakes he makes are cute. My precious children!

Mater and Lightening the Queen (spelling purposely wrong). These are Jay’s favorite heroes. “Watch the cars movie” is a line that we hear all day long, but it is so sweet how he loves cars and trains and airplanes. He has a special ‘Trucks’ drawer for all of his vehicles and it is open all day long. In our new house we have a rule that all the toys stay in the bedroom, this is probably the best thing we have done in all of our parenting days :) So thankfully all of these little cars and trucks that we would constantly slip on are now contained into one room.

Jay has discovered high heels. Yes, one day he might regret this is recorded in his blog, but for now it is so cute! He gets out Mommy’s shoes, or Cassie’s shoes and says ‘Hiheels’ (all one word of course), and then he stomps around the apartment! We move into a house in a week today, and we are sure our neighbours below our apartment will say, “Finally!”