Next Two Teeth

A few weeks ago Jackson starting waking up in the middle of the night and had trouble falling back asleep.  It didn't take me long to figure out that he teething again, this time on top.  Slowly, his top, left middle tooth came poking through and his top right middle tooth followed a few days later.  It took a few weeks for them to push through so I could really see them and get a good picture but here's his new smile:

Peek-A-Boo

One of Jackson's newest favorite things to do is play peek-a-boo.  He seems to like playing it when eating and when on his changing table, and will usually initiate the game.  It is pretty cute!

It is so fun now that Jackson is initiating play.  My baby is growing up!

Toy Sale of the Year

Joan introduced me to this yearly used toy sale at a local school in La Grange.  The community comes together and sells all their used toys for incredibly low prices.  Things go fast so we got there early Saturday and waiting until the door opened at 8:00.  Joan arrive a bit before me and got us a good spot in line.  The doors opened and it was on!  Things go fast so you have to know what you're looking for, grab, and keep going.  I grabbed a bunch of stuff and then after walking around for a while, Joan and I sat down and took a good look at what we had to decide what we really wanted.  Here's what I ended up with:

 Board books for $1 each, wooden puzzles (some sound) for $2 to $2.50 each, plastic animals for $.05, wooden tool box and tools for $4, mallet and pegs for $4, and a large set of train tracks for $4.

 Wooden play kitchen for $12.  It is perfect!  Just like new!

 Wooden rocking horse for $3.

Brand new carpet for $2.

I spent a total of $45 for everything!  It was amazing!  I wish they had this sale more than once a year.  I now have Jack's Christmas shopping done (I'm sure I'll get more later) and toys for the future!

After the sale, Joan and I went for breakfast and ended up spending 3 hours at the restaurant eating and chatting.  It was a great day!  Great deals and great fun with a great friend!

Would you like a treat?

So this is a staged photo.  It is of Jackson holding a dog treat.  I couldn't get a picture of the real thing so I did this.  Let me tell you what happened...

Jackson and I walk in the door with Willow after taking her on a walk.  I go through my usual after walk routine which is put Jackson on the floor, take off his coat, give Willow a treat, and take off my coat.  If you haven't been to our house, when you walk in the front door it is basically one giant room comprised of the kitchen, living room, and dining room.  So I put Jack down by the entrance and he immediately starts crawling towards Willow.  Typical.  After I give Willow her treat I turn around and hang up my coat.  I walk about 10 feet into the living room to get something and Jackson comes crawling over.  This whole process, from walking in the door until me being in the living room couldn't have taken more than 30 seconds.

So Jackson comes crawling over to me, I pick him up, we sit on the couch and I start nursing him.  I nurse him for a few seconds and he stops.  I look at him and it looks like he is chewing a little bit.  I stick a finger in his mouth and I pull out a chunk of dog treat.  Nice.  I continue nursing Jackson for about 15-20 minutes.  When he is finished I sit him up and it looks like he is chewing again!  I stick my finger in his mouth once more and pull out another, smaller piece of dog treat.  I then search his whole mouth for more but don't find any.  Did that really happen?  I don't really know what else to say about this situation!

First Sign

Two days ago I was giving Jackson lunch and he had finished everything on his tray.  I verbally asked him if he wanted more to eat and he did this:

It was so exciting!  It was amazing because I sign to Jackson pretty often but this day, when I asked him if he wanted more, I hadn't signed at all that day.  He's so smart!  I love my boy!

Christmas in August

This post is way too long overdue.  I always seem to have things to blog about but don't seem to have the time.  Many times I end up just not blogging about stuff because a few days go by and then there's something else to blog about.  This is one post I've wanted to do for a while and am not going to pass up.

Over the summer, sometime in July, I noticed that Jackson recently started to become more active.  After thinking about it, I realized that Jackson was growing out of his toys and there were a bunch of different types of toys I wanted to get so I could challenge him.  I made a list of toys that included stacking/nesting toys, cause/effect toys, sorting toys, toys that roll, and a few other things I can't remember now.  I went to a few stores and started looking around for toys.  Individually they weren't too expensive but with everything I wanted, it would cost quite a bit.  So, I did what I do best and started stressing about it.  I was feeling like I needed to get the toys in order to advance Jackson's development but couldn't really afford them.  I decided to talk to my best teacher friend, Joan about what was going on.  I expressed my feelings and Joan, being the sweet, amazing friend that she is, asked me what kinds of toys I was looking for.  I was hesitant to tell her because knowing Joan, she would do something silly like buy all the toys.  After much persistence and letting me know she would just keep an eye out for the toys if she passed by any garage sales, I told her what I wanted.  End of story.  I didn't really think much of it after that.  Joan made me feel a ton better, telling me that I am an amazing mom even if I don't have the toys I wanted for Jackson, and we continued on, texting each other a million times a day.

A week or so goes by and Jackson gets a package in the mail from Auntie Joan.  We open it up and find this:

  

It's a Sesame Street shape sorter.  Perfect!  It is so cute, exactly what I was thinking, and Jack loves it!  However it was very unexpected and unnecessary.

A week later or so we take our trip to North Carolina and when we get home there are 4 more packages waiting for Jackson.  We open them up and Auntie Joan has sent Jack 4 more new, perfect toys!  It was like Christmas in August!  This is what he got:

The classic shape sorter, stacking/nesting bowls that can be put together to make balls, a ball and mallet toy, and stacking/nesting cups that can also be used in the bath.  They have different animals on each cup and all have different holes at the bottom to let water out.

AMAZING!  This was exactly what I didn't want to happen but am SO grateful.  And Jackson truly loves all his gifts!  Now, 2 months later, Jackson still loves playing with all of the toys Auntie Joan got him.  They are among his favorites.  He is able to put the circles and squares in both shape sorters, loves knocking down the nesting cups and rolling them around, enjoys hitting the balls with the mallet (and hitting everything else he can with the mallet), and loves to watch the water fall out of the bath nesting cups.  We're still working on stacking the nesting toys, figuring out how to put the other shapes in the shape sorters, and matching the balls to the coordinated spots before hitting them with the mallet.  But we have plenty of time to keep working on these skills as Jackson's little self continues to grow and develop.  Thank you so much Auntie Joan for all of your love, support, and generosity!  We love you!

11 Months Old!

What?  He's 11 months old already?  Wasn't he just in my belly?  That's right, Jackson is 11 months old already.  Crazy!  Such a sweet 11 month old!

Jackson has changed so much over the last month.  I think he's made the most changes this past month.  He is doing so many things now!  Here is what I've observed:

-Jackson is crawling!  He is quite fast now.
-Jackson can pull himself up and does so often using the coffee table and my legs.

-Jack can walk a few step when assisted or when using his walker.

-Jack often blows raspberries and says "mama" and "dada"

-He can now clap!  J claps when we say "yay!", clap ourselves, or just ask him to clap.

-Jackson points to objects including pictures of mama and daddy.
-Jackson has begun to say "mama" and "dada" referring to us but not to get our attention yet.
-He gives us kisses when was ask for them (and when he feels like it).
-Jack greatly enjoys chasing Willow, especially since he's fast now!
-J puts his hand over his mouth and makes the "ahhh" sound.

-Jackson still dances (waves his arms in the air, bobs his head, swivels his hips) whenever he hears electronic baby music and has begun to dance to big people music
-When we start laughing Jackson will laugh too.
-Jackson will pick things up and hand them to us.
-Jack enjoys reading books and loves to be read to.  He is so attentive when we read books to him.  We recently learned however, that Jack does NOT like pop-up books.  Those are really scary.
-Jackson likes to drop balls on the hardwood floor to listen to them make noise.
-Jackson likes to play in Willow's water, with diapers and clean laundry, and attempts to go inside the refrigerator whenever it is open.

 

I can't wait to see what this boy does next!!