1 Year Old Swim Lessons

Jack took swim lessons this summer with Emler swim school.  He loves water so I thought this would be good for him.  He enjoyed his classes most of the time.  He had about 7 classes, once a week at 6pm.  Not the best time and towards the end of summer when we started transitioning to 1 nap a day, you could tell.  He was tired.

We did the same thing at each lesson.  Getting in their boats and kicking to get the balls.

We also sat on the "magic carpet" which Jack LOVED.  This was his favorite.  They have a huge Styrofoam square that the kids can sit on and crawl on so that they get used to the buoyancy of water.

Some of the other things we did were sing some songs.  One of them was "the babies in the pool go up and down"

And "the babies in the pool go kick, kick, kick"

Near the end of each lesson that kids get to slide down the slide and go underwater.  Jack loves to slide so he usually likes it.  But as the lessons went on, he swam underwater for longer periods of time.  And I don't think he was too thrilled about going under water again in this video.  Oh and the other thing I need to mention is that Jack always had his mouth open when going underwater.  I guess one day he'll learn that you have to close your mouth when you go underwater.

Right before it's time to go each baby gets to sit on the "magic carpet" while everyone else in the class sings "bye bye Jack".  Then they "jump" off the mat and swim.  Yes, that is Jack "crying" that you can hear but he does so well...you can see him kicking when he "jumps" off the mat.

I think one of the main things Jack took away from this was learning to sing the song "bye, bye, baby".  We replaced the kids name with baby and started to sing it a lot.  Then Jack started to sing it.  Here is a video of Jack singing.

Uncle Danny's Wedding

So my baby brother got married on August 21st in Portland, Oregon.  After our crazy flight with Jack to Santa Fe, we decided to buy Jack a seat on the plane and strap him into his own car seat.  This worked much better.  There were some stressful times but all in all it worked.  

I don't know what he is looking at, but we did try and play a dvd for him on the way up...but he didn't want any of that.  On the way home was a different story.  He was so tired that he sucked his thumb and watched probably an hour of Dora the Explorer.

 

 Ben, Jack and I arrived on Thursday afternoon so that we could get adjusted to the time difference and be able to relax before everyone else arrived.  We also were able to go on a walk around Portland the morning of the wedding.  So we took Jack to see the capitol building.

 

In front of the capitol

One of the nights there, Jack kept waking up in his crib.  This is quite unusual for him.  So after the second time I just picked him up and put him between me and Ben in our bed.  First time we had ever done this.  But he slept great the rest of the night.  I on the other hand was worried the whole time, afraid he was going to get squished.

Waiting in the hotel room...excited I guess.

 

Signing the guest book

Standing in the shade right before the wedding began.  This was actually very humorous to me.  The wedding day was Portlands hottest day of the year.  And the wedding guests were facing the sun.  So, everyone on the groom's side was standing away from their seats in the shade.  I thought it was funny because we are the ones used to the heat. But as someone said, yes we are used to the heat but we also know when NOT to sit in it and sweat to death.  The wedding planner had to tell everyone to sit down so they could start the wedding.

My brother, so handsome!!

It was a sweet ceremony!

Mother son, father daughter dancing

 I sadly took Ben to the airport Sunday morning...not wanting him to leave.  I was stressing over having to take care of Jack by myself in a town I knew nothing about...except for the airport.  I think I was at the Portland airport about 50 times that whole trip.

But Jack, my mom and I had a great time.  Sunday afternoon we went to Jacquelynn's parents house (my brothers new in-laws) for an afternoon brunch.  Then that night we met up with my friend Jesse from high school who lives in Portland.

The next day the three of us went boating with Danny, Jacquelynn and her parents.  It was Jack's first boat trip.  Jacquelynn taught Jack how to say boat.  He enjoyed it and loved walking around and exploring it.

Jack with Mimi

Boat captain

Jack riding in this shopping cart car thing.

We had a good time but I was so thankful to finally be home!

End of Summer Fun... 15 Months

Just a cute picture I wanted to include

Swimming at our neighborhood pool with Mama and Mimi.  Jack is the short one with the blue shirt on.

Cute outfit...sitting in his chair...he's learning to "sit on your bottom"

Stacking his blocks

Jack's first ride on the carousel.  This was right after he ate Chick fil A, his favorite!

blurry, but also a cute picture.

Jack's Favorite Words

First words:

Dada - he said this for months before he said...

Mama

Backpack - this was his first real word other than mama and dada

Baby- he loves his baby, it's his glow worm
Bye-Bye

Words he says with Excitement (very loud):

Lion

Amen- every time we finish a prayer at a meal or after his bedtime prayer, we will say "amen" and then Jack yells it

Olivia - Ben likes to sing the theme song to the show and Jack likes to shout her name

Other words in no particular order:

Duck

ball

all done

down

Bath

Buzz - for his Buzz Lightyear car

Animal - this is probably one word that only I know he is saying

Outside

slide

play
juice

puppy - sounds like Papa

Abby - this is his cousin Abby, the first name he learned to say
Please 


He also likes to say "OOMPAH!" and raise his fist in the air.  But we don't know what this means...he learned it in Sunday School one day and has been saying it ever since.