For dinner tonight I made a chicken salad with lemon and olive oil dressing. We cut up the lemon and made the dressing, and then realized we hadn't ever given Jackson lemon so we decided to give it a go. We got the camera ready and gave him a slice, expecting some funny faces. This is what we got:
He loved it! He sucked on it, pulled the pulp out, and ate everything he could. Arnold tried the lemon, thinking maybe it wasn't that sour, but it apparently was. When Jackson finished that slice, he asked for another and finished that one. So I guess we found another fruit he likes to eat!
For the past few days Jackson has had a diaper rash that we couldn't get to go away. I did some research and found that one of the best ways to clear up a diaper rash is to clean the bum with water and then let it air dry for a few minutes before putting a diaper back on. So I did this. I knew this was risky but I there's nothing I can't clean up right? I started Friday night. I let J run around without anything on the bottom and luckily, there were no accidents. Saturday morning he woke up and his bum looked much better. So we continued doing this throughout the day every time we changed his diaper. In the morning he peed on the floor a few times, which wasn't a big deal. We were out for much of the day but when we got home, around 4:00, I let him run free for a bit again. This time didn't go so well. I took off his diaper and then we went into the living room and were playing with a few toys on the carpet. I smelled something not so nice and I checked Jack's bum but didn't see anything. I figured he just had some gas. Jackson then walked into his playpen area and was standing on a puzzle and pulling books out of a basket. Arnold walked into the room and also commented that it smelled like poop. We looked around the room and didn't see anything, and I knew he hadn't pooped because I was playing with him the entire time he had his diaper off. Well, while we were searching the room, we go into the playpen to get Jackson and what do we find? Poop on his wooden puzzle that he had knelt in, rolled off onto another puzzle, and fragments that had somehow gotten smashed onto the covers of about 8 books. Awesome. Needless to say we immediately put him in the bath and collected all of this poop toys. After a couple of hours, Jackson was bathed and his toys were disinfected. I collect all the towels and walk back into our bathroom to put them in the hamper and what do I find? More poop on the floor in our bedroom. This was what I had initially smelled when we came into the living room. After I had first taken Jackson's diaper off of him, I went into my bathroom to wash my hands and then went into the living room to play. Jackson follows me all over the house, and he did this time too, with just enough time to poop on the floor as I left the bedroom and he trailed behind.
I didn't take any pictures of this situation, because it would have been way too gross, but here is a picture of the perpetrator getting clean in the bath.
He's still cute as ever! In case you were wondering, we continued risking it and let him roam free again today. Luckily no more poop accidents and more importantly, the diaper rash is just about gone!
It's official! He's off and running! Well, not exactly running, but moving quickly. On Sunday, December 1, 2013, while we were hanging out and playing in the living room, Jackson decided to take his first steps. He took a few steps and then slowly sat down. He didn't do much more walking that day and we weren't able to catch it on video but after a few days of walk with support (holding our hands), he walked again by himself. It wasn't really until December 6th that Jackson felt confident enough to walk around by himself. Here is a video of him on December 15th.
When this was taken he was still crawling more than he was walking but now, he is pretty much walking everywhere! He can stand up by pushing up from the ground now and every once in a while, will really get moving quickly. It is very exciting but we are even busier now then ever! So much more to explore and get into!
This afternoon Jackson was playing in the living room and we had the Bears pre-game on. A Honda commercial with Michael Bolton singing came on and Jackson stood up and started dancing. He is just starting to gain better balance when standing so he doesn't dance much on his feet. When he started dancing to the commercial it was pretty funny. He has only done this a couple other times to random songs. We decided to YouTube the commercial to see if Jack would start dancing again and he did...again and again and again. Every time we played the commercial and Michael Bolton started singing, Jackson started dancing. We tried a few other songs but they didn't get the same reaction. It must be Michael Bolton that he really likes. Nice choice kid.
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!
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:
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:
