13 Months Old!

Last Sunday my little J man turned 13 months old.  It seems like we just had his 1 year party!  Sunday was a pretty busy day for us, running around and doing errands, so I didn't get a great picture of Jack playing or doing any thing super cute.  I did get a cute picture of him falling asleep while daddy was holding him.

I saw a lot of changes in Jackson from 10 to 12 months but I haven't noticed that much within the last month.  Here is what I have noticed:

• Jackson has supersonic hearing and notices every airplane that passes over our house.  When he hears them he points up.  If he happens to not hear an airplane and we ask him if he hears one, he will point up.
• He will repeat "bath" when we ask him if he wants to take one, but only if it is truly bath time.  We have tried to get him to say it at other times but he will only repeat when it is after dinner and actually time for his bath.  He's smarter than we give him credit for!  
• Rubs his ears when he is tired and falling asleep.
• Signs "more" for anything he wants more of (food, toys, reading a book) and if he needs help.  We are working on the "help" sign.  He also uses "all done" but very sparingly.
• Jackson loves to feed himself with a fork.  
• He loves to eat meat but it takes him forever to chew it.  He is also really good at keeping the meat in his mouth while he drinks.
• Jack loves to drink water out of an open cup.  It gets everywhere but he still loves it!
• When Jackson doesn't want any more to eat he will stiff arm the food but if we hold his hands down, he opens his mouth to eat it.  
• Jackson has 6 teeth now.  He has his bottom and top central incisors, top left lateral incisor, and top right first molar.  His mouth is looking kinda crazy right now.  

• He likes to play peek-a-boo but no longer puts his hands over his eyes.  They are now just on the side of his face.  He can see better that way.  
• Jack likes to crawl over to me and put his head in my lap to signal that he wants me to hold him upside down.
• He pulls up on everything and walks around the house holding onto things.
• J likes to open the cabinet with the tupperware and spices in it and pull everything out.  I don't really mind because he always ends up putting everything back in the cabinet, even if it is very messy. 
• Jackson likes to throw food on the floor from his high chair, especially when Willow is around.
• He likes to turn on our cell phones to look at the screen and the picture of himself.
• Jack loves to look at pictures of himself and look at himself in the mirror.  He always smiles and laughs.
• Jackson points to photos of Arnold and I hanging up in the house and says "ma" and "dad".
• He is very chatty, saying a combination of vowel-consonant blends.
• Jackson doesn't like to wear hats but will keep them on if he's distracted.  
• He loves to wear his mittens.  He laughs and claps his hands when I put them on him.
• Jackson will clap when we say "yay!" or ask him to clap.
• When he wakes up in the middle of night he usually goes back down better when daddy comes into his room.
• Jack likes to throw balls on the hardwood floor to hear the sound they make.
• He has also begun rolling a ball or car back and forth if we sit across from him.
• Jackson still loves to read books but not very much when it right before bed.  He would rather throw himself on our bed and roll around.  
• He can stand by himself unsupported for a few seconds.  
• He will throw a mini tantrum when he can't have something he wants or we take something that he wants away from him.
• Jackson is generally a very happy boy who is smiley and playful!

Here are Jackson's current favorite toys:

Fly & Learn Airplane, Sesame Street shape sorter, ball tower, orange truck, Sesame Street touch phone, Sit to Stand Learning Walker, and Farm Mash-up. 

Almost all of his favorites have buttons that will turn a sound on when they are pushed.  He loves anything that has buttons and makes noise.  He can put the circle in the shape sorter by himself and pull Oscar the Grouch up so the shapes fall out.  He also loves putting the balls at the top of the ball tower.  

Here are his favorite books: 

And here is his favorite page in each of his favorite books:

Such a silly boy!  I love him though!  He makes me so very, very happy!  All 13 months of him!

My Little Reader

Jackson has always loved reading.  When he was in my belly Arnold would read to him and from the time he was born, we would have always read before bed, among other times throughout the day, and he was always so attentive.  When he was about 6 months old and was beginning to manipulate things, he started reading books by himself.  We got these awesome books called Indestructibles, that are tear proof, water proof, pretty much anything baby proof picture books.  Jackson would open these books up, and just study the pictures.  He would look at them for a minute or so and then turn the page.  Then, when he figured out how to point, he would point to pictures in the books.

(Don't mind the hair.  We were going through a phase...)

After a few months of the Indestructibles, Jackson started to become more interested in board books.  He quickly learned how to turn the pages and learned "Can you turn the page?" when we asked him.  When Jack started crawling he would pick up a book, crawl over with it, and hand it to us to read.  When he starting signing "more" he would sign "more" after a book was read to him so we would read it again.  He could sit there while we read the same book again and again and again.

Right now Jackson has a few particular books he really enjoys, including the Skippyjon Jones board books, a set of books called "Boats!", "Helicopters!" and "Trucks!", "Good Night Chicago", "Hugs and Kisses", and any book by Sandra Boynton.  And within each of those books, he has a favorite page.  So now he hands us a book, we try to quickly read the text in each page before he turns it, and then when he gets to his favorite page, he would stop, look at the page intently and point to the pictures he likes.  It is very funny and really interesting.

Yesterday I was reading to Jackson and I decided to see what he would do if I started reading his book upside down.  While the book was upside down, I read the title, opened to the first page, and read that, and then Jackson took the book out of my hands, turned it right side up, and gave it back to me to continue reading.  I did this a few other times, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and he turned to book right side up each time.  He as probably thinking "Mom!  What are you doing?  This isn't right!  Don't you know how to read?  Let me show you how."  We took a video of it that night:

Before I know it he's going to be reading to me!

I finally figured it out!

Probably a little over a month ago, Arnold was getting Jackson ready for bed one night and Arnold made a grunting noise.  Jackson then made a similar noise, made two fists, and put them in front of his face.  We thought this was so funny!  We had never seen him do this before and we didn't know where it came from.  At first we thought he was showing us his muscles.  (You know how little kids do that and it is so cute!)  But we had never done that with him before.  Then I was thinking maybe Jackson learned this from watching Arnold laying on the floor on his back with his arms above him fixing our furnace.  He makes all kinds of noises when he's working on things.  Then I thought maybe he learned it from watching Arnold lift heavy things.  Jackson would continue to make this noise and put up his fists every once in a while and I still wasn't sure where it came from, but I thought the furnace thing was my best bet.  So I stopped thinking about it and we just laughed and played every time Jackson would do this.

Today, I was in the kitchen, Jackson was playing on the floor near the kitchen, and Arnold was standing in the living room watching the bears game and all of the sudden I heard a loud, deep "YES!!!" come from Arnold.  I looked up at him and saw his fists clenched and up near his face.  Ah ha!  I got it!  THIS is what Jackson was doing and this is where he got it from!  Arnold did it a few more times during the game, without noticing, and each time, Jackson would do the same.  I got a great photo of the two of them watching the game right after the game winning field goal:

Aren't they cute?!

A Word? Maybe?

Tonight we were finishing up dinner and Arnold asked Jackson if he wanted to take a bath.  We do bath time after dinner every night and I'm not sure we ask him if he wants to take one, but we do at least mention that he is getting a bath every night.  Tonight when Arnold asked him, this was what happened:

Pretty awesome!  It was so exciting!  He's not really using any verbal language yet but he did imitate the word pretty well.  He'll be talking before I know it!

Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween!

The didn't exactly turn out like I had planned.  The weather was pretty bad.  It was rainy and cold all day.  We had plans to go to the Aler's and meet up with David to do some trick or treating in their neighborhood but that didn't work out due to conflicting nap and dinner time schedules.  I heard on the radio that the local malls were doing trick or treating so we decided to stop by on our way home.

 

 We got a few cute pictures but that was about it.  The mall was PACKED and almost all of the stores had signs out that said they were out of candy.  So we walked around the mall for about 10 minutes and then continued home.  By the time we got home it was past Jack's dinner time and he was pretty crabby but of course it had stopped raining.  Willow needed to go for a walk so we decided to take Jackson and go to at least a few houses.  Our street is comprised of mostly condo buildings so there weren't a lot of houses to go to but we rang two doorbells.  One opened and we got some candy!  Although it was very brief we did get to trick or treat!

We came back inside and Jack went through his loot.

M&Ms!  He had no clue what they were but they made a nice noise when he shook them so he held onto them for the rest of the night.  It was pretty cute!  And he loves his bucket!  He held that all day long and he still likes putting stuff in it and taking stuff out.

Halloween wasn't exactly what I had planned or expected but it was still fun and our little dinosaur was just as cute as ever!

Happy 1st Birthday Jackson!

What??  Is he really one already?  I feel like we were just in the hospital with him after being born.

 I remember then thinking how far away his first birthday was and now it's here.  I can't believe it.  It has been such an incredible year!  On October 24, 2012 I become a mom and began experiencing a joy and love I could have never imagined.  It is so amazing.  I love waking up every day with my baby, and watching him play, learn, change, and grow.  I really try to enjoy and appreciate every moment with him.  I want to remember everything.

Jackson has grown so much over the past month!  He now weights 19 pounds, 15 ounces and is 29 3/4 inches long.  He's a big boy!  This is what Jackson is doing now:

• He's crawling all over the place
• Jack pulls himself up on things easily and holds on to walk around
• He has started standing unassisted for a few seconds at a time
• Jackson easily walks around using his walker and can walk when on of his hands is held
• J is using the signs "more" and "all done" not only for food, but when he plays too
• Jackson likes to kiss his toys and stuffed animals
• Jackson gives us open mouth kisses when we ask for kisses
• When we laugh Jackson starts laughing
• Jack LOVES books!  He reads them by himself and will constantly hand us books to read to him
• J loves any toy that plays music when he pushes buttons
• Whenever we wash our hands, Jackson mimics us, washing his hands
• Jackson understand and responds appropriately to "Turn the page.", "Can I have some?", "Can I have a kiss?" and "Come here"
• J likes to feed us 
• He likes throwing food and toys on the ground to watch them fall and listen to their sound
• Jackson loves trying to climb into the refrigerator
• Jack likes to open and close draws and doors
• Jackson has begun throwing very short tantrums when something is taken away for him.  He starts crying, will throw his pacifier, and sometimes will pull off his socks and throw them.
• When Jackson is already upset and we try to give him a toy he will take it and throw it
• Jackson points to things he notices and has begun to follow where we point to
• When he sleeps Jack constantly moves around from one end of the crib to the other, turn from his back to his side to his stomach
• As soon as he is put in the bath, Jack pushes everything on the side of the tub off
• J started waving and very infrequently says what sounds like "hi" 
• Jack says "mama" and "dada" when he sees our pictures
• Jackson will make two fists, put his arms up by his face, and say "arrrrrrr!" kinda like he's making muscles.  (I think he learned this from watching Arnold work on the furnace, laying on his back with his hands up by his face moaning and groaning while he works.  It's really funny.)
• Jack LOVES looking at himself in the mirror and at pictures of himself

I love how much Jackson is doing now!  It is so much fun!  I love learning and seeing his little personality.  

On to the birthday day:

On Jackson's birthday, he decided to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to let us know that it was his birthday and that he was ready to party!  It's too bad mommy and daddy weren't ready to party yet.  After "laying" in bed with us for a few hours (laying = constantly sitting up, laying down, rolling up, and flailing about), I decided to get up with him.  We played for a little bit, ate our regular breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt, played a little more, and then took our first morning nap.  After nap time it was time to celebrate!  Jackson, Arnold, and I headed out to Wagner Farm to see some animals.  We ended up in Glenview around lunch time so we decided to try out Dickey's Barbecue Pit for lunch before hitting the farm.

It was pretty good.  Jackson seemed to enjoy it as well.  He has brisket, mac and cheese, and green beans.  He mostly just has brisket though.  Then he had his first ice cream cone and loved every bit of it!

After our bellies were full we stopped in a cute toy store, just to look, and then headed over to the farm.  It was a cold, windy day so we had to bundle up.

We walked around and saw the horses, chickens, and cows.  We were able to get close to the horses but Jack wasn't really comfortable with being so close.

After the farm, we headed back home and got ready for Jack's family birthday party.  We had dinner and opened presents.

Jack loved ripping the card envelope and wrapping paper.  For his birthday he got two books: Touch and Feel Happy Birthday and Birthday Monsters.  Next it was time for the cake!

It was quite the experience that elicited a range of emotions and thoughts:

This is fun!

Nope, I was wrong.  Not fun.  I can't get this stuff off!  Get it off!

Hmmm, mama and daddy seem to like it...

Maybe I'll play Peek-A-Boo.

What??  Are you laughing at me?

This is kinda funny.  But now I have a hunk of cake stuck on my hand...

Can someone help me get this off?

Maybe I'll just try eating it. 

That's pretty good!  And it's my birthday!

After birthday cake fun we took a much needed bath, read his new books, and then went to bed.  What a fun first birthday!  I love my baby!