Mr. Independent

I've been pretty busy these days.  I'm not sure if you realize it or not, but I'm almost 16 months old and doing pretty much everything by myself.  Let me fill you in on everything I am taking care of now:

-Home repairs

-Cleaning

-Personal hygiene

(teeth brushing and deodorant application) 

(hair combing)

(nail clipping)

-Helping myself to snacks

-Helping myself to some TV

(Mom put this "don't touch"sign on the TV but I still figured out how to turn it on using the remote.  Doesn't she know how old I am now??)

-Setting the table for dinner

-Caring for the young

-Caring for the old

(clipping daddy's toenails)

-Watching over stuffed animals so they don't get scared at night

It's a lot to care of but someone's got to do it!  Especially since mommy doesn't always do it right!

A Weekend of Friends

We had a very busy weekend visiting lots of friends.  We started off Saturday morning going to baby gym class and playing with friends Zara, Eric, Ryan, and the other Jackson.  After gym class Jack had lunch and a nap, and then it was off to New Lenox to visit Dillion in his new house.  They played on the rug for a few minutes and then we all went into the kitchen for a snack.  Dillion isn't quite walking yet so he was in his walker.

Jackson and Dillon stayed by each other most of the time, each drinking from their sippy cups and then trying to trade them.  Jack also tried giving Dillion some of his chips, which he wasn't quite ready for.

After a snack we heading back in the living room and the boys played more on the rug.

They kind of just played next to each other but they did pass a few toys back and forth.  They played until bedtime and then we headed home.

On Sunday morning we headed over the Billy and Rachel's house to meet Clare, who just arrived a couple of weeks ago.  Jackson walked over to her and was interested in her for a few seconds, and then decided to play with some toys and eat some pretzels.  He did try to share his pretzels with Clare but that didn't work out too well either.  Jack gave her a couple of kisses though!

After visiting Clare, lunch, and a nap, we headed over to David's house.  Jackson greeted David with a few kisses,

they played a bit, ate their respective snacks, and then played some more.  David showed Jackson his toys and Jackson showed David how he can pick his nose.

They spent a lot of time looking at each other but a did a nice job sharing toys.

It was a great weekend and we had lots of fun seeing everyone!  It was a very busy weekend but Jackson did great with all the traveling and it was really nice spending quality play time with our best friends!

Things That Happen When It's Too Quiet

Jackson is 15 months now and he's pretty busy.  He's always walking around, talking, playing with toys, picking things up, putting them down, picking them up again, and generally, just very busy.  Needless to say, it's usually not too quiet around my house anymore.  When it is quiet, usually something fishy is going on.  These are the things I find Jackson doing when it's too quiet:

-Brushes Willow with my toothbrush
-Picks out used tissue from the garbage and tries to eat it
-Pulls out all of the tupperwear from the cabinet

-Willow vomits and Jackson picks it up and tries to feed it back to her, which she gladly takes
-Unrolls the entire toilet paper roll

-Picks out used q-tips from the garbage and tries to clean his ears
-Uses the broom to brush his hair
-Eats tangerine with the peel on

-Drinks Willow's water
-Puts Willow's bones in his mouth
-Pulls out all of his snacks from the cabinet
-Reaches into the grocery bag and pulls out and eats a chocolate cookie while I'm driving

That's my boy!  He's a sneaky guy!

First Play in the Snow

At the beginning of January, after our second big snow but before the polar vortexes we decided to take Jackson out to play in the snow for the first time.

We got him all geared up with the boots, snow pants, hat, coat, and mittens (which took about 220 minutes), and went outside.

When we first got outside Jackson seemed to be indifferent about the snow.  Arnold put him in the snow and he was amused for a few minutes.

Arnold tried to show him how to make a snowball and then gave him some snow to eat.

Jack also made a baby snow angel.

While we were outside Jackson fussed quite a bit, but I think it was because he didn't like the boots.  We put him down but he refused to stand or walk with the boots on.  We ended up staying outside for no longer than 10 minutes because Jackson didn't really seem to enjoy it, and we haven't tried taking him out again since.  It's been way too cold but maybe we'll try again soon.  Hopefully he'll enjoy it more next time!