Jeff & Nike + 2: Helper Jack

We have a third set of hands around the house now! Jack is our own little helper. He's been getting that way for a while, but this weekend he wanted to do everything we were doing--brushing our teeth, raking leaves, mowing the lawn, switching laundry, and cleaning vegetables. It is so fun to watch him watch us and try to copy what we're doing and what we're saying. He's learning new words all the time. This week his new word is "pumpkin." He's kind of afraid of the pumpkin on our front porch, and now that squirrels have eaten the front of the pumpkin, he says, "pumpkin, uh-oh" when he walks by.

I think I may have mentioned this in the last post, but it is getting very hard to get pictures of Jack these days. He either runs toward the camera so he can see what I'm taking a picture of or purposefully ignores me when I try to get his attention. Most of my pictures are turning out like this:

Or like this, where we bribe him with some food:

Jack has also gotten very good at riding his tricycle. After a week at home with Grandma and lots of practice on the riding toys at day care, he seems to have gotten the hang of it. Jeff and I can't believe how much better he is even in the last few weeks.

Speaking of a week at home with Grandma . . . Jack had a whole week of being spoiled by both Grandmas (who switched off halfway through our trip) when Jeff and I took a vacation a couple of weeks ago. Jeff presented at a conference for the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists, and I got to tag along (click on the link to go to his abstract). The conference was at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (fancy, fancy!). We flew into Washington, D.C. and made a beautiful drive to the resort. The leaves were at the peak of changing colors. Then we had about 24 hours to spend in D.C. before flying home. We rented bikes and crammed in as much sight-seeing as possible. It would have been nice to have a bit more time, but we had a blast riding our bikes along the Mall, and we were antsy to get home and see Mr. Jack. Thank you Grandma Jane and Grandma Janet for taking such good care of our little man. It was a great trip for Jeff and I, and we are so glad we took the opportunity to get away!