Easter 2011

We had a great day-Big breakfast at home, church, easter basket, nap, wagon ride, and Justin took his last final for grad school! Here are a few pictures:

Growing up

Check out some of the changes that we've made over the last few months:

We converted his crib to a toddler bed, although I didn't feel that the guards that came with the crib were big enough. Instead, we bought a crib rail that is a little longer and he has done great with it. He can get in and out of his bed with ease now.



We put away his highchair and bought a booster seat, which he loves. He crawls up into it anytime he is hungry.



We bought his first potty! It looks great, huh? That's because it has never been used. As a matter of fact, he won't even sit on it yet. I think this sends us a clear message that he's not close to being ready for potty training. The good news is that he will tell us when he has gone "poo". He does a special little dance to let us know.



He got his first decent boo boo the other day while playing outside. He stepped up on our porch step and his foot slipped. He cried for a few seconds and then was fine. It wasn't until I checked his legs until I saw the blood. Thankfully it wasn't much! I think he was much more bothered by the band aid than by the cut itself. It is almost all healed now.


He loves to sit in his big boy rocking chair

He is already reading on a 1st grade level!

Nah, not really, but he is a champ at pointing out things in his books! :)

We finally hung the painting that we had made in Hawaii. I really love it!


And one more-just because he is SO ADORABLE!!

Impromptu trip to the dentist

Today we took a quick trip to the dentist. We were just there about 2 months ago for Jackson's first cleaning and had a great visit. Jackson got a wonderful report on his teeth, which was a relief since I still nurse him to sleep at night. About a week ago I thought I noticed his front tooth looked a little "streaky". It looked like maybe a whitish looking streak but it was hard to tell. Then I started kinda obsessing over it. I already brush his teeth 3 times a day, but I kept trying to see the tooth in different lighting to see what it might be. I googled "tooth decay" and it didnt look like that at all, so I put a call into the dentist yesterday to see what he thought. They wanted us to bring him in so they could take a look.

Jackson was seen today by Justin's pediatric denist, which was great. He was a really nice guy. He got a good look under the lights and said it was definitely NOT tooth decay or enamel issues. He said most likely the tooth wasn't perfect white before and that I was just noticing a little discoloration (normal) for the first time. He said that it looked like there might be a very tiny bit of non cavity causing bacteria on the tooth which is what I might be seeing, but that it would resolve on it's own in a few weeks. He sees it daily on toddlers this age. He told me I could brush a little harder, but that it may not get it off. I was glad to hear that it will go away all on its own. He said there are absolutely no signs or concerns of decay or cavity. Jackson's little teeth looked great! He did remind me of the importance of brushing at night without nursing to sleep afterwards, which I totally need to bite the bullet and do. We are getting closer and closer every day to cutting out the bedtime feeding. This is going to sound a bit crazy, but this afternoon and evening I was looking at his teeth and I can barely see any discoloration at all. It looks pretty much all white to me now. Go figure. I was just so thankful to hear from the dentist that his teeth are still in tip top shape!

20 Months

Eating frozen yogurt with Daddy.. He loves his tricycle

Smelling Daddy's coffee

Annoyed at Mommy for taking so many dang pictures!

We are creeping closer and closer to the twos! Another month has flown by. At 20 months:

-We think he may be getting his last (2nd) molars soon. He has been drooling a bunch and sticking his fingers in his mouth. I haven't seen them poking through yet, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them soon.

-Little man has been a handful the last week or so! I am not sure if maybe it is the teeth getting ready to pop through or if it is just a phase, but he has definitely been throwing more fits and testing us more often. He has started walking right out of time out with a smile on his face. We keep putting him back over and over until he finally gives up and whines the whole time. He also begs to go outside for a wagon ride and the second that we start heading home after the ride is over, he cries and throws a fit the whole time. I am quite sure the neighbors are wondering what we did with our sweet happy baby. The ultimate in fun, though, was last week when I picked him up from mothers morning out program. I guess he got mad that I was taking him home from his fun because as soon as I picked him up he smacked me as hard as he could right across the face....while the teachers were looking on! Talk about embarassing! I grabbed his hands and told him "no" and he kept trying to do it again. I think he was embarassed because his teachers were like "JACKSON what is this? You have never done this before" His teachers were shocked and said he has still never once had a fit with them and is extremely well behaved. I know he was overtired and ready for a nap, but I still couldnt believe my baby boy did that. He was over it as soon as we got in the car and was smiling by the time we got home. I guess he just saves the good stuff for mommy :/

-The sickies have made their way through our house the past few weeks. In our household, it's extremely predictable how it goes: Jackson gets a mild version, then mommy gets an even milder version, then daddy gets it last but usually gets a much more severe version. On one hand, it's good because we all get it one at a time. On the other hand, it sucks because it lingers as it hits us one at a time. We did take Jackson to the dr. for a lingering cough and he checked out fine. We did get him a decongestant, but no antibiotic was needed.

Despite sickness and toddler fits, we have had lots of wonderful things happening too!

-Jackson continues to amaze us every day with all that he is soaking up and learning. One of his favorite things to do is to curl up with one of us and read books. There are usually about 6 or 7 out at a time and we read them over and over to him. He loves to count to ten and do ABC's with us. He has begun picking out his nighttime stories. He will point to the ones that he wants to read each night. He has really gotten good at communicating with us what he wants/needs.

-He still LOVES music. His new favorite artist is Sting. He requests "Ting" at least twice a day. He loves to dance, spin around, stomp his feet, clap, and shake his head to the music. Sometimes he gets embarassed when he sees us watching and he will get a shy smile and stop dancing, so I try to watch without him knowing.

-Speaking of embarrassed, you know how babies this age usually hide when they have to poo? Not Jackson. Nope, he likes to do it right in front of you and then do a dance right afterward. Justin taught him how to do it and he thinks it is what you do when you take a poo now. True story, the other night in the mall he was having a blast running slightly ahead of us and then all of the sudden he stopped and squatted right in the middle of everyone and did his business right then and there. His whole face turned red. and then as soon as he was done, he started running agian. People stopped to look and Justin was like "what can I say, he has no shame" haha!

-He is slowly eating more and more. He is currently loving mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, scrambled eggs, bacon, and strawberries. I got him some earths best organic frozen mac n cheese for the nights when we are eating something that he wont eat. I heated it up the other day and he wanted nothing to do with it. The noodles were fun shaped noodles and not macaroni so he was skeptical. I tried bribing him by offering him a couple of spoonfuls of chocolate frozen yogurt (his FAVORITE) and so he finally ate several bites of the oddly shaped macaroni. Then the gagging started and I knew it was all over. Right about then he vomited right there at the kitchen table. Ahh gotta love it. I ended fixing him a whole new dinner (ham and cheese sandwich) and he ate it all up. Just another day in paradise ;)

-Although we do greatly limit his TV watching, his new fav show is Special Agent Oso on Disney. Also, he loves to curl up with Justin and watch "Top Gear", the BBC version. He will point to the TV and say "car" over and over. You know Justin loves this. Most of the time we have music playing instead of TV, but we do put the TV on for a bit in the morning and while I am cooking dinner.

-He is in LOVE with the story of our vacation to Hawaii. He asks us to tell him all about Hawaii several times throughout the day and he likes to interject all of the words he knows and what we did/saw. Sometimes he wakes up and the first thing he says is Hawaii. He's borderline obsessed. I don't know if he even remembers the trip, but he does love the story. If he is upset, it is the one thing that calms him down.

-He still loves all things daddy. He is still very affectionate with both of us, but he lights up whenever Justin walks in the room and he is constantly seeking Justin's approval. It is the sweetest thing. Me and Jackson still have our snuggle time in the evenings right before bed, though. Also, he loves playing "picnic" with me where we set up all of his stuffed animals and have lunch with his play food. Although we are starting to experience these "fun" little nasty fits (they are few and far between), Jackson is still our sweet and wonderful child. We couldn't ask for a more perfect little boy!