In His Own Words

Jack is currently learning his letters, but he can’t read and write yet. So, we have to imagine what he would say if he were to weigh in on his own blog. Here is what I think he would want you to know, because these are the things he has told me:

I am a good boy. Santa Claus is going to come to my house, and he is going to see my handsome haircut. He is going to bring toys for me and for my mom and for my dad. He will eat the cookies that I am going to make with my mommy.

Santa is going to bring me a shovel (truck) and a bulldozer and a firetruck. I went to see Santa and I was the first boy. I was not scared.

“He knows when you are sleeping. He knows if you’ve been bad or for goodness sake. OH. You better not shout, you better not cry. Santa Claus is coming to town.” That’s what I can sing.

Santa Claus is going to come, and then we are going to go to Arizona. Then Grandma and PeePa are coming to my house. Peepa means Grandpa.

Last night I went poop on the potty all-by-my-self. The Potty Police are not coming to get me. I am going to the big kid class with my friend Jaden. My Daddy is going to tell Santa that I went poop on the potty. I went poop on the potty at the restaurant too. I will tell Miss Janet.

I am a good boy. And I am in charge. Sometimes my mom and my dad say that they are in charge, and then I say that we are sharing. Because I am in charge.

HURT ME and I'll kill you

Jack got a haircut on Sunday. He has only had one previous official haircut. Pam cut Jack's hair for over two years...and did a good job. We decided he was getting too big to have mommy cut his hair. And, Pam was too worn out from trying to get him to hold still.

We went to the "Super Cuts" or what ever the name is by our house in Woodbury Town Center. Last time Jack had Linda cut his hair and she did a good job. We wanted to wait for Linda but she was real busy. So, we went with the Russian Lady...No, I do not remember her name. Jack was tense. He began to cry. Both Pam and I hugged him and told him to be TOUGH.

Then the magic happened. Jack got his tough guy HULK look on his face. See the photo above. He stared at the Russian Lady and gritted though the process. Near the end she got out the electric trimmer. I was sure he would blow up. But NO, he looked even tougher, like a young John Wayne, and never blinked.

Later at home, talking with Mommy, Jack said, "if she hurt me I would kill her" about the Russian Lady. I had to laugh. The Russian was really tough and Jack was putting on his best Hulk face. Hard to say who would have won this one.

Putting the Pieces Together

Jack is getting very good at working puzzles. His favorite is a map of the US. He generally works it the same way every time. He starts with California, natually, and works his way up the West Coast. Then he moves across the Northern border, and fills in the Mountain States after that. Texas usually comes next, and then he backs into the Desert Southwest. From there he moves to the Southeast, putting Florida in its place, followed by Tennessee and North Carolina, for some reason. It was at this point the other day, that he put Virginia in Kentucky’s spot, above Tennessee.

I was watching his progress. I said: “Jack, I think that one goes over here,” pointing to Virginia’s spot on the map.

“No,” he said, reaching for another piece on the carpet. “Kentucky goes there!” He put Kentucky in Virginia’s spot.

At this point you may be thinking that he’s not really that good at puzzles after all. But if you know Jack you will understand that he was playing a joke on me. What was truly amazing was that he looked for, found, and called Kentucky by its name. He is 3. Even I don’t know what the state of Kentucky looks like. And he knew where both of them went the whole time.

Pretty smart. Now if he could just get Number 2 in the potty every day….

SICK DAZE

It started last Sunday afternoon. Jack was lazy and tired. By Sunday night he was running a temperature. Monday, he talked like he was a cartoon character.

All week Jack has been sick. Last evening we took him to Urgent Care at Kaiser. I love Kaiser for Health Care. They are proactive in preventative care. My guess is they have discovered that it is cheaper to treat you before you get sick. Regardless, once you are sick they do a good job. Jack was worried.

Jack's experience with the "Doctor" has been limited to checkups where they always give him injections. He hates shots. So, when we said we were taking him to the "Doctor" he got sad. He said to me, "I don't want a shot." I promised him we would not get any shots.

We got to the Urgent Care Center about 5:30 PM and waited until about 7:00 before we saw the Doctor. Once I met him I know why it was taking sooo long. Our Doctor was Chatty Cathy. He talked and talked and talked about every detail. Ya, I know, I have been to the Doctor before. I worked hard at being nice. He explained Jack's blood pressure and oxygen saturation. I got it 15 years ago when they did it to me. But I remained nice. Then he looked into Jack's throat. YIKES.

One reason why we decided to bring Jack to Urgent Care was his tonsils. They were like grapefruits in his throat. The Doctor freaked when he saw them and said. "We are going to have to give him an injection." I said....uh no we aren't. Pam looked at me and said maybe we should if it will clear this up. I said, NO. I promised Jack no shots. Jack watched this play out. The Doctor back up a little and said, "Well, we could treat it with oral medication, but it would take longer." I said that will be fine. Then he kept at it. He would not let up on the shot.

I resisted my urge to slap him. Shut the fuck up. NO SHOTS...what don't you get? I was quiet and he kept on jabbering. Again I said, "I promised Jack he would not get a shot." The Doctor said, "Well I don't want to interfere in a family pact." ha ha ha. I let it go.

After, another five minutes that seemed like an hour, we went to the Pharmacy. Boy are those people slow. Then Home. Jack is on oral "penicillin" or some other new name for it. We generally call it Bubble Gum medicine.

Ho Ho Ho

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are getting ready for Christmas. Nobody is more excited then Jack. This is really his first Christmas where he understands what is going to happen.

Jack has his catalogs out, showing me the things he wants Santa to bring. We plan on a visit to Santa this weekend and Jack is getting prepared. One of his favorites is the PLAN CITY toy catalog that came with his PLAN CITY toys from Grandma Becky last year. Jack has picked out four or five sets of new PLAN CITY toys that he will tell Santa to bring. He also has the Target Toy Catalog out and he has several ideas.

In the photo above, Jack is telling Santa the toys he wants from his PLAN City Catalog. Santa seems to like the toys too.

Tough Guys

Jack has a cold. Even so, he was a tough guy walking around the LA Auto Show over the weekend. “I want to play trouble,” he said when he hit the show floor. He went from car to car, looking for open driver doors. If someone were sitting in a car he wanted to try, he would stand too close and stare at them until they moved out of his way. If he saw another kid heading for an open minivan door, he would hustle to beat them to it. See what I mean? Tough.

That night, however, he spent the entire night coughing and kicking. Then, around 3 AM, it came: “Mommy, my ear hurts.” We spend Sunday laying around, trying to get him to rest. He was bored. We went out to look at tile.

After Jack’s nap, his ear was still hurting, and we made the decision to take him to Urgent Care. He does not like going to the doctor, and he was not sufficiently prepped for this trip. We had not been reading the doctor book, and this was a doctor’s office we had never been to. We checked in and were almost immediately called by the nurse. Jack was quietly apprehensive at first, but when we left Daddy in the Waiting Room and went in, he started to cry. He was trying to be brave, but it was just too much.

So, after the nurse poked him for a few minutes, we got Daddy and waited for the doctor in the treatment room. Although he would not sit on the chair with the paper on it, he waited quietly on Mommy’s lap for nearly ½ hour. He went potty 3 times, and when we came back from the bathroom the third time, the doctor was in the room.

The doctor was actually a PA named Pedro Pena. He and Jack looked each other in the eye, and began to talk. Mr. Pena asked him a few questions. Jack made the decision that he could trust him, and agreed to sit on the chair with the paper – on Mommy’s lap. The exam went great. There was no terrified screaming, as we have had in the past. Mr. Pena did a wonderful job, and Jack even cracked a smile at the end.

See what I mean? Tough. But now comes 10 days of the Bubble Gum Medicine….

His name is William Jack May

We call him Jack. His real name is William Jack May. He is named William J May after my father. Dad never got to meet Jack, but they share the same blue eyes and bad attitude. Dad was a tough guy and Jack thinks he is too. Dad is Buried at Jefferson Barracks Memorial Cemetary in St. Louis County. I took Jack to visit so I could introduce Jack to Dad.

The name Jack is for my Mother's only brother, Jack King. He was named for his father, my grandfather, Jack King from Ireland. I met my uncle Jack briefly in 1960. My Mom loved him, even with his faults. Jack was not a tough guy. He was drafted into the Army during WW II and was discharged dishonorably. Jack was too scared to fight. The Army called him a coward. Ashamed, he ran away to Chicago and lived the life of a street person. Both my Mom and my Aunt used to mail Jack money, to a Post Office Box in Chicago. Jack drank to face each day and his life was hopeless. My mother cried every time she talked about Jack. She said he was sweet and wonderful but not tough enough to deal with the life he was dealt.

So, this is the beginning of the story. Jack May comes from a background of immigrant poor people who settled in Belleville Illinois. They came there for the work, in the foundries and stove factories at the end of the 19th century. Jack King and his wife Anna Flutie, from Ireland. Thomas May and his wife Nora Leiner from Ireland and Germany. These are Jacks paternal Great grandparents.

Pam is Jack's mother. His maternal Great Grandmother, Billie Boone is still alive. She can trace her family back to Daniel Boone and the frontier settling of Illinois and Kentucky. Jack's other maternal Great grandparents were the Olroyds. Old English.