I never got a chance to announce our plans for Jackson's first birthday...We will be having a "One Year in a Flash" party, with a special surprise at the party. No worries it will be in the invite!! I know I posted a bunch of parties a while back but I wasn't really all that into any of them for his age. I got to thinking about something more simple and when I stumbled across a photo themed birthday party online, I couldn't get enough!! I have, after all, taken somewhere in the thousands of photos of this child since the day he was born.
Without further ado...My 10 month old...
Jackson is just as busy as ever, this kiddo never slows down. He had a rough month. Actually I should say we as a family had a rough month. Our sweet little Julie went a bit nuts when Jackson crawled around a corner and startled her. She reacted with a swift bite that left minimal damage but nonetheless was painful and dangerous. It was extremely traumatic and our family is still trying to recover and adapt to never having the two of them together. We attempted to re-home Julie but have been unsuccessful thus far and currently are working with a trainer at "Beyond the Dog" to help her with her anxiety. It is a very sad ordeal, and if any of you have experienced this with a pet you love I truly feel for you. This has been like loosing a member of our family.
Jackson is still on the same eating and sleeping routines. He is a very flexible little boy. On daycare days he doesn't mind getting up at the crack of dawn, but when Mommy is home he knows to sleep in until 8 so Mommy can function. He eats 3 meals a day with a little 4oz. sippee at each meal and then takes two other 6oz bottles throughout the day and at bedtime. He still naps like a champ at home but just can't seem to sleep anywhere else.
I was looking back at photos when I was doing my New Year's post and realized that my chubby bunny is no longer chubby. He has really slimmed down and has the waist size of a 6 month old. He wears mostly 9 to 12 month tops and occasionally 9 month bottoms but sometimes I still find myself reaching for 6 month bottoms. This makes finding a matching outfit difficult. He weighed in at 20 lbs at his nine month check-up this last month.
Gone are the days of baby food. He won't even think about eating a spoonful of that stuff. In fact he wants nothing to do with things that others must feed to him. If he can't do it himself he will swat it off the spoon and turn his head in disapproval. If he even sees me put one thing in my mouth he crawls over as fast as he can to see if he can have a little. You would think I starve the kid but honestly there are nights I think he would eat more than I do.
Jack went through a little drama spell with his paci this month and I thought it would be the end of it but I think he caught on that I was not going to give in on this one. He was waiting until I left his room at naptime or bedtime and then throwing his paci at the wall. He would pause and wait just long enough before he would start to scream. Such a little stinker. The first couple of days I went in and helped him find it but then I got smart and stopped that bad habit. Shortly after I think he realized that he still wanted the paci so maybe he should stop throwing it.
Jackson is learning so fast and it is blowing my mind. He is now signing "more" at almost every meal and we have progressed to "please" and "all done." He has become much more vocal this month. "Mama" and "Dada" is much clearer and he is using them all the time when he wants each of us. He has also picked up to meanings to lots of words. He knows and says "baba" and "love"(hugs) as well as knows "you do it". I started teaching him love when he would hug or snuggle me but I suppose I should probably teach him the appropriate word. It is just so cute!! When he sees something he thinks is interesting he says "Oooooo"
He has taken more interest in his toys and how they work as well as books. He likes to turn pages and he will actually start to babble when he turns a page as if he were reading. Like a boy, he still seems to be so destructive with his toys, always banging them together or putting them in his mouth. He has started to learn how they are supposed to be used. He especially likes to put a ball in his basketball hoop, bang on drums (surprise, surprise), and open and close his laptop toy to start and stop the music. If these things bore him he is ALWAYS up for ripping pages out of Mommy's books, taking clothes out of drawers, or pulling things off shelves.
I honestly was terrified that Jack would be an early walker because of how early he crawled. I got so worried I told everyone to please not teach him such things. He took his first steps this month and as with all of his other milestones I was so very proud!! The past few days he has gotten brave enough to take off on his own. Occasionally he falls flat on his face and other times he makes it where he wants to go and he is so excited. I am not sure I will keep up when he begins to walk everywhere.
Jack's personality is shining through these days. He is sweet and loving but also loves to laugh and have a good time. He giggles over the littlest things; like if we go and hide and he finds us he can't stop cracking up. He loves a good tickle sessions and if I say "I'm gonna get you" he takes off crawling with a giggle.
Well that was an incredibly long post about our little Jack Man but there are so many stories to tell. I want him to read these things someday and laugh at how silly our life was when he was a baby and how much of our life is centered around him. Our everyday is surrounded by the time we spend with him. Even when he goes to bed at night Jess and I sit and talk about all the cute, funny things he does, or how smart he is. He is our whole life right now and I can just feel the baby in him slipping away.
