Crawling and Such

On August 27th, 3 days after Jackson turned 10 months, he started crawling!  

His motivator was a green Starbucks straw.  He had been trying for so long to get somewhere, rocking and moving back and forth from his knees to his bottom, and at 10 months and 3 days, he got it!  

It only took him a couple of weeks to get really good at crawling.  Now his is really fast.  He loves to crawl over to Willow's bowl and play in it, is fascinated by an open refrigerator, and of course wants to get into any cabinet I have open.  

About 2 weeks after he started crawling Jack began pulling himself up, and now that is his favorite thing to do.  He loves to pull himself up on the coffee table and my legs when I'm in the kitchen cooking.  My good friend Pam recommended a walker she had for her daughter that she loved.  We picked that up and Jackson loves it too!  He loves pushing the buttons on the front and now can pull himself up on it and take a few steps with it.  This video was taken a few days ago and you can see how much better his crawling has gotten in just a couple of weeks.  

Before I know it he's going to be up and running around the house.  I don't think I'm ready for that yet!

Be Careful of Your Surroundings

Yesterday we put Jackson in this super cute outfit for the first time.

I love it!  I bought the shirt on clearance at a baby boutique when Jack was in my belly, bought the jeans, which are Calvin Klein, at Goodwill for $1.99, and the socks at Target.  He looked so stinking cute so I asked Arnold to take a picture of Jackson.  He took several because it is hard to get a good one now that he is crawling around and pulling himself up.  After our little photo session and Jackson was in bed, I decided to take a look at the photos.  I turn on the camera and this is what I see:

If you don't see anything wrong with this picture, take a look at the TV in the background.  Nice.  Usually Arnold takes really great pictures.  This isn't one of them.  It is funny though.

Big Move to the Big Tub

After July's incident with taking baths in the kitchen sink (click here), we decided to move the party to the real tub.  The big boy tub.  It was quite the experience.  When we first put Jackson in the tub he didn't really know what to think.  He just sat there for a few seconds.

 But then I think he came to a realization: so much more room!  More room to splash, more room to move, more room for more toys, and new things to grab.

When we first put him in the tub we didn't have a mat on the bottom of the tub so he was slipping and sliding quite a bit.  For the following few bath nights we put his baby tub in the bathtub and sat him in that which was alright, but he kept trying to climb out of it or would drop toys out of it and then try to get them.  I picked up a tub mat a few days later and we were back in business!  Jackson loves baths even more now!  We have played with all kinds of toys and Jackson is still trying to grab ahold of that water that runs out of the faucet.  He likes to crawl back and forth across the tub, grab anything that is sitting on the sides of the tub, pull himself up on the side of the tub, and of course, splash.  A few days ago we introduced Jack to bubble bath which was a great hit.  

There's always lots to do, so much to explore and learn, when you're 10 months old, even if you're just supposed to be getting clean!

The Beach 2013

During the first week of August we took our annual Berkley family trip to North Carolina.  This year we went to Ocean Isle, NC, and it was our (Bynum's) first trip as a family.  It started off with a very early fight and Jackson's first plane ride!  Jackson was great!  He started the trip by reading over the flight safety information. 

Once that was taken care of we were off and flying high!  Jackson was very good on both of the flights, busily playing and then falling asleep as the planes landed. 

Once we arrived at the beach the real fun began!  This year our house had a pool as well as being on the beach so there was twice as much to do!  We started off with some pool time playing with water toys.

The next day we moved to the beach for some sand discovery, 

and then Jackson and Arnold decided to take a swim in the ocean.  

They both seemed to enjoy the water but they didn't stay long because the water was rough.  We tried the ocean a few more times but Jackson wasn't a big fan, more because of the lifejacket than anything else. 

Oh the many emotions lifejackets bring forth!

We decided to celebrate all of the kid's birthday's, and thanks to granddad, Jackson was prepared for the fun!

Many of the bigger kids went crab hunting one night which brought Haylie back with a dead baby shark, and Cash with a few crabs.  Very exciting!

There were many more days of fun in the sun with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

(Unfortunately, I did not get many pictures of anyone but Jackson.  I didn't realize this until we were home.  I need to work on that for next year!)

Overall, we had a great trip at the beach and loved spending so much time with all of our family!

We spent our plane rides home dreaming about next year's beach trip!

10 Months Old!

On August 24th, Jackson turned 10 months old!  He's in double digits!  He has been very busy.  He is so so so close to crawling.  He gets on his knees, rocks back and forth, and straightens his legs so he is in downward facing dog.  He is very busy with his many toys.

He loves to bang toys together, throw balls and watch them roll, drop things from up high, and push buttons to hear sounds.  Here are some other new things I've noticed:

• Jackson talks all the time, now saying dada and yaya.
• He is eating many solid foods including lunch meat, cheese, yogurt all kinds of fruits and veggies, crackers, goldfish, and raisins.
• Jackson is very good at drinking water from his sippy cup.
• Jack has begun to spit his baby food when it is fed to him, because it's fun, not because he dislikes it.
• He picks everything up with a pincer grasp.
• He tends to use his left hand the majority of the time.
• Jackson gets very excited when mommy and daddy come home from work, smiling, putting his hands in the hair, and laughing.
• J gives us kisses when we ask for them.
• Jackson loves the ABC song and any other song we sing to him.  It is always a sure fire way to calm him down.
• When in his bouncer, Jack will push the music buttons, put his hands in the hair, and dance.
• Jackson loves to push buttons on his musical toys and dance to those, but will not dance to any other music.
• He enjoys playing with straws.
• Jack easily rolls over from his tummy to his back and back to his tummy, and can sit up.  Often times we will find him sitting up in his crib.
• Jackson gets very excited when going up or down the stairs, especially when there is a familiar face in front of or behind him.  
• Jackson still loves Willow and tries to get his hands on her as often as possible.
• Jack often splashes very vigorously in the bath, both with hands and legs.  
• He rubs his eyes with closed fists when he's tired.  

Jack is such a big boy now and is growing so fast!  Before I know it he will be one!  I love you Jackson!

What's To Come...

Obviously it has been way too long since I have posted anything.  Things have been a little crazy around here from our trip to the beach, Arnold having back surgery, me starting a new job, and lots of other little things.  I have some major catch up blogging to do.  Here's what is to come:

Beach 2013
The Bathtub
Christmas in August
Jackson turning 10 Months
Crawling
Spaghetti Night
Mashed Potatoes

New posts should be up soon.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures for good measure.

That's my boy!