13 Month Update

Another month has flown by! Man, what a super fun age this is!! There are new surprises every day with Jackson showing us things that he has learned. At 13 months

-This kid is a climber! He is perfectly happy climbing anything and everything. In the past, he had a really hard time getting down from stairs, ottoman, couches, toys, etc. Going up was a peice of cake! He is now learning more and more how to get back down and to go feet first. He has learned to use the stair railing to get back down. It is really neat to see him master a new way to do things. He is also becoming a pro at walking backwards. He loves to push his big cars all the way across the room and hit the wall, only to go all the way back pulling the car while walking backwards.

-He is really blossoming with his words. Out of nowhere, he will say something new. His newest word is "no"! He is really cute the way he says it though-He will say "na na na NO!!" His favorite words to say right now are Mama, Dada, No, Wawa (water), Doh (window), Mote (remote), book, and ball. I got some cute video to post where he says a few, but I couldnt get him to say mama on the video, which is his favorite word-go figure!

-He has become much more open to new foods all of the sudden, which is great. He is still eating baby food with each meal, but we are adding more and more table foods every day. Some new "table foods" that he is eating: turkey, ham, pancakes, biscuits, macaroni and cheese, carrots, peas, green beans, cereal bars, rice krispy bars (earths best ones for babies), buttered toast, small pieces of tater tots, and I am sure there is more that I am forgetting. As for whole milk, it has been a slow process to get him to take it. We give him whole milk with his breakfast in the morning, but he will only drink a little bit. He is still getting breast milk and water the rest of the day. My sister in law suggesting warming the whole cows milk up to get him to take it, which is the only way my nieces would take it. I am going to try it if he doesnt start drinking more of the cows milk.

-SLEEP HAS GOTTEN MUCH BETTER! Man it feels good to say that. Out of nowhere he started sleeping in much longer spurts and is now only waking 1-2 times per night. I was starting to doubt that this would ever happen! He had been getting up 3-4 times a night for what seemed like forever there for awhile. So now this means that I feel like a new woman from getting some good long stretches of sleep. God I hope this isnt a fluke! He's been going strong and sleeping great for about 3 weeks now. He got a small cold early last week and was up EVERY single hour for 2 nights straight, and I thought "well it was nice while it lasted..." but as soon as he could breathe clearly again, he went back to his great sleeping. I really hope this trend continues

-He continues to show us his strong will every day. When he is unhappy about something, he will stomp around in a circle in protest. Justin and I try so hard not to laugh, but it is really funny! Once he sets his sights on something, he will find any way he can to get his paws on it. One of our favorite things is what he does when he wants Justin's sunglasses. Sometimes Justin will set them on his shirt collar while he is holding Jackson because if not, Jackson will pull them right off your face. Anyway, Jackson will lean in real lovingly and rest his head against Justin. Justin will think it is the sweetest thing, but then he will feel Jackson's sticky little fingers gently pulling the sunglasses off of his shirt. He's so sneaky! :)

-The stranger anxiety has all but diminished. He is a really social little guy now and will wave and smile to almost anybody. Sometimes he gets shy if someone is making over him and he will smile and lean his head against us. He especially loves little old ladies and pretty waitresses. He is also playing mostly with the "big boys" at Mothers Morning out. His teacher says he really is good at sharing. He does have a little girl that follows him around there. She is 2 and loves babies. She is always waiting for him at the gate when we drop him off. He will be moving to the big boy room soon!

-He loves to give us kisses. The best is when they are unprovoked. We will just be sitting there and he will lean in and plant a big kiss on one of us. He loves playing the "belly button" game with Justin in the mornings. Jackson will go hunting for Justin's belly button and then will stick his finger in it and make Justin laugh. Jackson gets such a kick out of this and will lean in and give Justin kisses over and over again. Another one of Jackson's favorite games is to "fake" sneeze. We will both say "BLESS YOU" really loud and Jackson laughs every time. He thinks he has really pulled one over on us.

I know we are biased, but we are constantly floored by how stinkin cute Jackson is. We love spending every day with him just watching and interacting with him and seeing what new things he is going to do. There is no doubt that he has both of us wrapped around his little fingers!