jed and mommy out on the town

Jed and I got to run errands by ourselves on Saturday. It has been a while since we have done anything just he and I outside of the house. We enjoy Hank's afternoon nap each day as a time to work on school work, read, snuggle and watch a movie of Jed's choosing, but going out and about together is a different thing entirely. I had the BEST time with Jed! He is as excellent a date as his daddy.

First we went to the library. We returned the books and then Jed wanted to do a "big puzzle." He really means a hard puzzle, one with lots of pieces. When Hank comes with us on our library trips, we usually only have time to pick out a puzzle to bring home, and we generally stick to the 24-piece variety. But this time we did one of the 100-piece puzzles. Jed did SO good. He loves puzzles and is so quick at finding where the pieces belong. We had a little bit of a heartbreak with the puzzle, since the piece containing Mr. PotatoHead's ear and part of Buzz Lightyear's foot was missing. But Jed learned the importance of always making sure every puzzle piece makes it back into the box! After we finished with our puzzle, we picked out some books for the upcoming week and then headed to the grocery store.

 

When we go to the store, Jed generally likes to ride in the carts with the cars on the front so he can drive. I asked him if he wanted to ride in the red car cart or the blue one on Saturday and he surprised me by saying he wanted to walk. I told him that was fine as long as he kept one hand on the cart and we headed inside. There was a lady selling hot dogs for donations to the local catholic school and Jed decided he needed a hot dog. He helped put on his own mustard and ketchup and put a dollar in the donation bin and was SO proud of himself. He nibbled on his hot dog while trying to convince me to buy a pineapple and some radishes--not normally on our list. We did buy 5 radishes and Jed is anxious to try them. He dropped his hot dog while in the produce section and when I suggested he throw it away because it was dirty, he told me "It is not dirty! I am eating it!" The poor hot dog got dropped a couple more times while we were working our way through the store, and each time my suggestion to throw it away was met with scorn.

 

After we got done at Neiman's, we went to WalMart for just a few things. Again, Jed wanted to walk, not ride in the cart, and while I was looking at something in the cosmetic section, he spied the stuffed bunnies in the Easter section. We had to pick out a pink bunny to carry around with us for the rest of our walk through the store. Our search in the sporting goods for tennis balls (for the dryer) brought us close to the fish, and we spend a good 15 minutes scaring the fish by showing them the bunny. Jed was thoroughly disgusted by a dead guppy floating around in one of the tanks. In the produce section, he decided that we needed to buy some strawberries for breakfast the next day--a request I was happy to comply with, since the spring prices for strawberries have started already.

Dave texted to tell me that he had eaten all the leftovers and if I wanted lunch, I was going to have to come up with it on my own, so Jed and I decided to go to the Subway inside WalMart. Jed is not a fan of lunch meat sandwiches, but I figured with his hot dog from earlier, plus the apples and crackers in my purse, he would be fine. He stood in line with me, warily watching the burly guy behind us, while I told her what I wanted on my sandwich. When I was paying for the food, he announced loudly to the checker "This is my mom, and that guy (pointing) is NOT my dad!" I was pretty embarrassed, but the burly guy was even more so. He made it a point to sit several tables away from us while we ate our lunch. Jed also decided he needed soda to drink, and wasn't thrilled when I pointed out his choices. He told me "I want the red one instead. It's yummy." The "red" one turned out to be Coke. :) We had such a good time talking about the pictures on the walls, how much Jed liked the pink bunny, and lots of other things.  

I am so proud of all the progress Jed is making! He loves to learn and enjoys school, although he wishes I could stay with him every day (I have been able to volunteer twice in his classroom and he loves that, although he is not a fan of sharing me with the other kids). He is getting very good with scissors. He recognizes every letter of the alphabet, upper- and lower-case and knows the sounds that several of them make (his favorite is B says buh). He is a great brother to Hank, especially when he thinks that Dave and I aren't watching. He is doing so much better about feeding himself at every meal. His current favorite movie is Dumbo. Best of all, Jed is SUCH a talker. Occasionally I have had to tell him "We just need to be quiet and not talk for a few minutes." I try so hard to say that very rarely, because every sentence that comes from that boy is precious to me. I love my Jedder so much!