I have noticed a new pattern in our daily lives that involves Desmond and his curious nature of exploring around the house. You see, now that he is pretty much running from place to place he likes to get into EVERYTHING. And as Jackie put it the other day, her mom has EVERYTHING. We try to let him wander and explore as much as we can unsupervised around the house. We are always aware of where he is, we will hear him rummaging through a box or a cabinet of some kind. Or there will be complete silence, and we know he up to no good at all.

I have a theory I like to call  The Big Bang Theory”. It is for those times when you hear him playing and then you hear a big crash, and then you wait a few seconds, 1…..2…..3….and there starts the crying, we go running and of course he has fallen and hurt himself, and needs someone to fix it and make it all better. We have learned to listen to the “cry”, some cries he gets over very quickly, and you can usually leave him be. He will get up and move on, usually just mad. It’s the big ones you gotta check on, and its pretty obvious when those cries are heard.

Swim lessons are into their 2nd week now, I got to go see him swim yesterday. I was so impressed with how well he is doing, sure he still cries and puts up a little bit of a fight, but I think that has more to do with the strangers dunking him in the pool. I would be pretty irritated myself! He knows to swim to the steps, and he is good at floating on his back. The other night he stood up  in the bathtub and fell backwards completely submerging himself under the water, of course your first reaction is to panic, and expect him to be very upset, but he was completely unfazed by it. Going under water is a fear he seems to understand and control.

His words are getting more and more, he can say banana, pupu (the dog), dog, woof, quack. He is very much into the dogs, he likes to lay on them and pat them. He also likes to grab their food and eat it. Scooter tried to get Desmond’s teething biscuit out of his hand the other night, and had a pretty good hold of his finger too. Desmond let out a hollar! The following night Desmond stole her dog biscuit and ate it, he thought it was delecious, and that was after he had two plates of spahgetti! Ok thats all I am posting now, will save the rest for a post next week.

I watch a lot of TV. I also love certain characters on my TV shows. In a lot of ways I try to find a little of myself  in each one of them. Lets start with LOST. On that show there is a character by the name of Jack Shepherd. He is the level headed fearless leader of a group of survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island. He is the one person everyone looks toward in times of struggle and desperation. Jack is the guy you want to have on your side. He is the guy you know you can trust to give you the right advice when you need it most. Jack Shepherd is all man, but sensitive to everyone’s needs.

Another show I watch religiously is 24. One this show there is a character named Jack Bauer. Now Jack Bauer is a different breed of man, he is the guy who keeps his feelings bottled up inside to protect the ones around him. He always puts himself in harms way to protect the ones he loves (although he would never admit he loves anyone, to protect them of course). Jack Bauer can be a little scary, but he has to be to get the job done. He has saved the world countless times over and over again, and has asked for nothing in return. Jack Bauer is completely selfless, undeniably brave, and without question completely fearless.

This brings me to the Jack you might not know. We know him as Uncle Jack. You will not find him on any TV show or lost on an island, or saving the world from nuclear bombs. You will however find that when you get to know him, you instantly begin to love him. He is my wife’s Uncle, the older brother of her Dad. The one thing I love the most about Uncle Jack is how hard of a time he gives his younger brother. You see I love to give Jackie’s Dad a hard time, its what I do best. It breaks the awkward father-in-law/son-in-law dynamic that plagues those relationships. It is our way of bonding and building a friendship. Uncle Jack however gives his brother a harder time then I could ever dream of. I love to watch him interact with his brother. Uncle Jack is my mentor when it comes to giving my father-in-law a hard time. I am a total amateur compared to him. I want to be just like Uncle Jack, and give his brother a hard time on that level.

Uncle Jack is fighting a battle that is very real.  It is a battle with cancer that is of the worst kind. It is a reality and hard emotional pill for all of us close to him to swallow. Jackie, Desmond and I went for a visit to see him over in Alabama this weekend. Seeing him and talking to him as we watched Desmond playing on the floor in his living room you could see why Jack was named Jack. He has everything those other Jack’s have but he also has so much more. He has the look of calm, the spirit of peacefulness and the love and comfort in his eyes that he is going to be OK, and we all should know that.  The warmth in his hug and handshake as we left to come home felt good deep down inside my heart.

So you may not know Jack, but Uncle Jack needs your prayers, he needs your love. So I ask you just close your eyes right now, think of him, send him your strength and prayer, give him just a moment of your time, and God will do the rest. If you don’t know Jack, just take a moment to know him now.

In the previous few posts the big exciting news has been “Desmond is walking! Yay Desmond, look at him go!” As exciting as that is, and as much fun as it is to see him scramble all over the place! It has however made my life some what difficult!! You see, I have also mentioned that I am a little bit OCD. Its true, and I am realizing it more and more as Desmond gets older. He turns my house upside down! He leaves a trail of destruction behind him! He has FOUR toy boxes, not to mention a toy piano, a learning center thingy, a truck, and a giant balloon, AND THAT’S JUST IN THE LIVING ROOM!! You would think this would keep him occupied and busy, but nooooo. After unloading all the toy boxes he then likes to wander over to the closet where he visits with his friend the “Vacuum Cleaner” they are bestest buds, he will carry on a conversation about how much the vacuum sucks, and what not. Then he wanders down the hall to the bathroom. Here he likes to make a mad dash for the plunger or trash can or bottle of shampoo. We chase him down screaming, No, no no no no no no no! His response? “No no no no no no no!” Next stop is the bedroom! Once he tackles the baby monitor and has rendered it completly useless by unplugging it and hiding all the pieces in various locations around the room, like under the bed or in the closet. He then makes his way to go get my baseball bat from my side of the bed, he tries to pick it up for a good couple of swings, usually upside his own head.

The other day a battery from one of the remotes was missing, it has a very small battery, panic kicks in, because he was playing with it last, so did he eat it? He eats everything! He did not, but for a moment we sure thought he did. My TV remote goes missing all the time, it usually ends up in a toy box, the kitchen or under the sofa. This weekend I found my remotes in the dog cage. Why didn’t I look there first? Silly me. When I come home I never know what I am going to find. Like my computer mouse hanging and dangling from my desk like it just killed itself. My keyboard also suffering the same fate.  Or my famous blue crocs hanging out in the dogs feeding bowl, the water bowl dumped out and left to dry.  Life has never been so exhausting, or exciting.