Winter Update

Jack is all about exploring his world right now. This ranges from spending time examining an object in his hands, to running around checking things out. He is very talkative & likes to try out his words on anyone who will listen, or practice them on his own while playing, falling asleep, or waking up. His default word is still "Dada". In fact Dada can be asked as a question, used as a cheerful greeting, or stated in a serious manner.

Jack is also very active. He pretty much runs everywhere he goes which has caused a new round of bruises all over his little body. He's a resilient little guy though, & seems to shake off injuries pretty quickly. Speaking of running, Jack loves being chased right now. If we won't chase him, he knows he can steal Lucy's ball to make her chase him. When that happens you can hear him giggling like a madman as he runs around the living room with his big red dog in pursuit.

When Jack does stop moving, he likes to sit by the front window and look around at the neighborhood, or read a book. He often brings us his big picture book of animals & insists we go through each picture several times. He will point at each picture and ask, "Dada?" unless it is a word he knows, in which case he will tell us the word.

At bedtime he loves reading his little Bible & has started pointing to Jesus on each page. After we read his books, Bible, & prayer book we always end by folding our hands & praying, "Jesus loves Jack" to which Jack responds: "MAAAAAAE MEN!" I love it. :)

At his last doctor's appointment we learned once again we have a tall, skinny boy (97th percentile in height & 30th in weight). We've gotten several comments lately from other parents about how tall he is & it's true. The boy can now reach table tops & door knobs. (Eek!)

Teeth 7&8 (third one in the front/bottom right, & his first molar - top left) have made an appearance, & we are sure 9&10 are just around the corner. His mouth has been bothering him a lot with these last ones, but he is still a happy guy overall. Speaking of teeth, he LOVES helping me brush his teeth before bed. Sometimes the hardest part of the bedtime routine is getting the toothbrush away from him!

Some other things I love about Jack right now:
-He says "Thank you" all the time.
-He loves giving kisses.
-He loves singing to his "Baby music" & we've realized he's learned several words from those songs (down, train sounds, ribbit, and probably others we haven't realized). For more on his latest words, check out the post below: Jacktionary 2.0.
-He will stop his playing to come sit with me, or give me hugs.
-His precious little laugh.

Being home these last two weeks has been a huge blessing. Jack is so much fun & the weather was perfect for outdoor activities. We went to the Arboretum, Zoo, Zoo again, and the park (several times), and he loved it all. I love how he is so much more observant & aware when we go places now. He was mesmerized by the zoo animals (especially the flamingos this last time), and he loves climbing the stairs & going down the big slides at the park.

I could probably keep adding to this post forever. Jack is growing & changing so quickly right now, & it is so much fun to watch him & be a part of his life. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the new year with my little guy (& his daddy too!)

Jacktionary 2.0

Jack had quite the word explosion over the last few weeks. I keep meaning to update the blog more often so I don't forget all this, but I'm too busy hanging out & having fun with my little guy!

Words:
Box- baah!
Highchair-hi dare
Rocky rocky - Raaaaaahee rah!
Amen! Maaaaae men (with much enthusiasm!)
Ball - bah(l)
Milk - mahlk
More - mo
Fish - ffffff
Bird- bahr!
Door- Doh
Car - cah (his favorite thing to identify at the moment)
Up- puh or uhpah
Down - dow
Done- duh
Bath - baah
Burp - ber
Poo poo - beew beew (He says this when I ask if he has a stinky diaper & it cracks me up!)
Cold - bur! (with a little shiver for effect)
Apple - abble

Names:
Grandma - bamah
Granddaddy - gran dada (His first 3 syllable word - he is very proud of himself when he says it.)
Grandpa -bapah
Paul - ppppbaull
Nancy - nah nah
Marc - mar
Lesa - lala
Billy - bee

Sound Effects:
Train sound- woo woo!
Roar - rahr!
Wind - ffffffff
Bark bark - bar bar
Ruff ruff - ruff ruff
Siren noise - woooooooo
Car & truck noises - brrrrrr
monkey noises - oo oo ah ah!

Jacktionary 1.0

Spending the Thanksgiving break with my little man made me realize how much talking he is doing lately. He is communicating more & more clearly, & it's exciting that he knows how to get his point across most of the time. In case you can't quite understand as well as Mama & Dada, here is the current "Jacktionary".
Words:
Thank you - hae ew
No- no no
Bye bye- bah bye
Night night- nigh nigh
Baby- bae-bee
Singing- la la la
Lucy- lushshshsh(+slobber)
Cow- moo
dog - Lushshshsh(+slobber), or dod
Names:
Uncle Matt- maah!
Aunt Amy- Mae Mae
Nate- nnnnae!
Daddy - Dada or daya
Jack Jack- Datdat, or daddad - we're still trying to distinguish this from dada, but it does sound a little different
Mommy - Mama or mah-mee
Nana - Nahnah
Other "words":
Didi - a new favorite we have no idea what it means...
Napple-abble - no clue, but apparently something very serious

Jack's Latest Hobby

I think he likes it.

The Patch 2010 & 2011

What a difference a year makes!

Fall Update

Jack. Is. Awesome. The End. I could leave it at that, but I've got some catching up to do, so here come the bullet points:

• Jack loves his schedule & sticks to it pretty closely every day. He's still taking 2 naps & he's a great sleeper at night. He eats pretty much whatever we eat now, which is cool too.
• Jack spends most of his time running around & playing with anything & everything. Some of his favorites are playing hide & seek in the curtains, pushing & pulling various toys, going down his slide, and spending quality time with his favorite toy/friend: Lucy. He loves sharing his food with Lucy, throwing her ball, chasing her & cuddling her.
• Jack can now answer the question. "What does the cow say?" He has the cutest little moo sound ever & he makes sure to pucker up his little lips while doing it. I love it. He also makes car sounds when he plays with cars & trucks.
• Latest words: shoes, Nate, grand-dada, night night.
• One of my favorite things Jack does now is giving hugs & kisses. When I ask him for a kiss, he either leans his forehead toward me so I can kiss it, or he comes at me with the drool in full force. He is also quite generous with his hugs & even tried to hug a random little girl who bumped into him in a store recently. It was pretty funny.
• Jack's favorite foods at the moment are mac & cheese, muffins, pasta, & goldfish. Yes, the boy has discovered carbs. He still eats his fruits & veggies, but not with as much gusto as the other items I just mentioned.
• Jack is very vocal & lets us know when he's happy, sad, excited, frustrated, etc. All his little noises are pretty funny, but hard to describe. I'll have to get more video of him for that.
• Jack wants to walk (or run) all the time. ALL the time. ALL THE TIME.
• Jack definitely knows the layout of the house & the church. He knows where each person's office is, where the nursery is, & where he's likely to find all his church friends during the week.
• Tooth #5 recently made its appearance, & we have a feeling #6 is on its way.
• Another fun development is Jack's enthusiastic participation in singing & doing the motions for The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He's attempted the spider part for a while, but now he does the rain, washing out, & sun. I tried to get it on video tonight, but missed it, so I'll have to keep trying.
• We've started letting Jack help brush his teeth & he thinks it's great fun to have control of his little toothbrush. He also likes to show off his shiny teeth with a giant smile when he's done.
• He still loves to dance & will sing "la la la" with songs. He also claps whenever any song ends - this includes the radio, commercials, church, in stores...

This list could go on forever! Jack is so much fun, & he is learning & growing so quickly. We are so blessed by our little guy every single day!

3 Ways to Drive a Car

Dear Jack

Precious Jackson William,

I cannot begin to express how much you have changed my life in the last year. You are an amazing gift & I love you with every fiber of my being. The best part of my day every day is when you hug me tight before I put you down for bed. You are such an amazing little boy. I call you Wild Man, Baby Boy, Sugar Bear, Silly Boy, Little Jack Man, Jack Jack... You've got a lot of names, & plenty of personality to go with them!

I love how you wrinkle up you nose & smile, showing off your new top teeth. I love how you laugh in delight when you think something is funny, or because other people are laughing, or for no apparent reason at all. I love watching you explore & learn as you play with your toys or crawl around the house. I love your sense of humor & your sense of rhythm. I love when you dance & when you sing. I love that you love music, your daddy, & your dog. I love that you can be my silly little wild man one minute & crawl into my arms to cuddle the next. God knew what he was doing when He created you, Precious One, & I praise Him that He chose me to be your Mommy. You are an indescribable gift & I love you more than you will ever know.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Love,

Mommy

Before & After

11 Months Old!

It's been pretty crazy lately, and Jack is changing so quickly, but here's a quick summary of the last month or so.

• a LOT of cruising & standing
• He cruises really fast around the couch & really wants to walk. He often gets frustrated when he falls.
• He took 2 steps on his own!!! :)
• I was trying to wash dirt off his legs when I realized it was really bruises on his little knees & shins! Poor little crawling man!
• Communication breakthrough! He asks for "more" (using baby sign language) unprompted pretty regularly & he will go find objects when you ask him to (puppy dog, bottle/milk)
• Makes his opinion known! Loudly.
• Is eating more & more real food! He finally got past the the gagging & eats crackers, chicken, potatoes, peas, carrots, apples, beans, cheese, corn, bread, muffins, etc.
• Feeds himself his bottle & now likes to attempt this while standing up - another balancing act in itself
• Met Sis & Julia & LOVED playing with them both
• Same words as before, but will sometimes get lucky when he repeats something we say to him (Julia, Irish)
• Favorite word at the moment: Lucy (pretty much any animal/picture of an animal = Lucy) Also says Lucy when he hears a dog bark
• Lucy is also his favorite playmate. He throws her ball & pets her, but has trouble being gentle when he gets excited. Lucy is super patient with him & has learned how to avoid him when she's not in the mood for his feisty games
• He LOVES to explore & follow me around the house. I love this! He's my little buddy!
• He's really into opening & closing doors
• 4 teeth
• 21 lbs.
• He will be one year old in less than a month! Eek! :)

My First Baseball Game

Howdy! Jack here, again. Mom said something about "laundry"...whatever that is, so I'm taking care of the blog today. So, during mission trip we got to meet up with my cousins & go to my first ever baseball game. I had so much fun! There was sooooo much to look at, and people were doing a lot of one of my favorite things: clapping. Naturally, I had to join them. Mommy kept taking pictures of Daddy & me. Some turned out kinda silly... and some were sweet (one of Mommy's words, not mine). I made it through the first 5 innings before I got too tired, but hey, it was waaaay past my bedtime, so I think I did pretty great! Speaking of tired, it's nap time. Later, Peeps! -Jack

Noodles

Jack was a part of our church's Vacation Bible School this year! He missed the end because he got a cold, but he had fun while he was there! Each night he brought home a little craft he "made" including a paper surf board with his little footprints on it. He also brought home an ornament with sand inside & stickers of the nativity scene on the outside. Our sweet children's director even specially made him a shirt since the official shirt didn't come in his size. It was so sweet & really warmed my heart that she went above & beyond to include little Jack. The whole experience reminded me how blessed we are to belong to a church who believes even the youngest ones can learn about Jesus' love. I didn't get a great picture of him, but here's one that shows off his cute shirt! (I had to hold on to him since he was standing on a chair!) Thanks again to Lesa & the whole children's council, our church family, & all Jack's sweet teachers & helpers!

Jack's First Mission Trip

Howdy! Jack here, reporting on my first mission trip. First of all, I have to say mission trips pretty much rock. I spent the week being adored by 80 people or so & I was pretty much the center of attention at all times. Notice the ring of teenage girls admiring my awesomeness. Other than that, I spent the week travelling to different worksites bringing plenty of smiles & popsicles to the workteams while Mom and Dad took pictures and videos. I saw the big kids do everything from building wheelchair ramps and a roof, to cleaning and painting houses. It was pretty impressive, but boy was it hot outside! Good thing I had my trusty carseat in the nice, cool car! When I wasn't out traveling around, I manned my command station back at the church, helped plan the worship stations, or spent time resting & playing at Etta's house. I loved Miss Etta, but I really loved the GIANT dog they have there named Gabe! I guess mom forgot to get a picture of him...but trust me, he's HUGE! Other than that, I got to go to my first baseball game (which I'm sure my mom will blog about soon), & I made my video debut. You can check the church's YouTube page for my amazing performances!

I guess that's it for now. I've gotta get back to my busy schedule of entertaining/terrorizing Lucy (my big red dog), exploring the living room, & emptying out all my toy boxes.

Later.

-Jack

10 months

This is late coming seeing as how he will soon be 11 months, but better late than never, I guess. This month has been crazy! Jack is learning and changing so fast, I can't even believe it!

• I just looked back at the 9 month post...at that point I said "No crawling yet." That almost makes me laugh now! He went from scooting, creeping, & rolling, to crawling, pulling up, standing, & cruising in the blink of an eye. His current focus is trying to stand with no hands. He also likes to stand (while holding on to the couch) & trying to lean down to pick up toys without falling.
• He loves playing and exploring, putting toys in buckets, pushing buttons, etc.
• We made him a book of pictures of family members so we can practice names & he loves it. He will sit & flip through it over & over with a big smile on his face. :)
• He loves clapping, cheering, sticking his tongue out, & playing peek-a-boo.
• Favorite song: Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Favorite Book: Barnyard Dance (by Sandra Boyton)
• Jack is very social & LOVES people. He smiles, babbles, & displays his cuteness to anyone who will pay attention.
• Jack is working on tooth number 4 at moment & it's been a rough week or so, as he's also been dealing with a cold. :(
• Baby signs he knows: more, all done, milk
• Favorite words: dada = daddy, dahd = dog, nana = nana, mama = mommy, dat = Jack
• Latest foods: pasta, corn, peas, chicken, potato, muffins, & bread
• Jack is super active all the time! He is so much fun & we're having a blast. :)

Faces