Little Jack's Corner

Sunday, September 25

A Busy Boy

Jack loves to play... especially "ou-side". I thought I'd share some fun times Jack had playing during his 16th month.

September 1st

Jack enjoying a stroll one cool evening.

September 5th

Jack playing at the playground in the Parks Mall.

This was one of the first times he walked all over the place by himself.

September 8th

I bought Jack this slide at a consignment sale for $10. This video was taken the day he got it. He is playing on it during part of his nighttime routine...watch the first half of Dora and then take a bath.

September 17th

I also got this car for $10 at the sale.

It plays an up beat tune when you press the horn. Of course he loves that part!

Figuring it out, how it all works and how many ways he can crawl around in it.

September 17

Loves to step up, step down, step up, step down...and repeat

Thinking about it...

Going for it

Ta-da!

love it!

Mowing the patio

Figuring things out

Uh-oh

Big boy!

A makeshift jungle gym

He made it to the top!

September 19

Answering the question "Where's the ball?"

Mimi got him this jeep at a garage sale...it probably will never work but he had fun sitting in it.

September 23

Jack climbing up the stairs to his real jungle gym. Notice him rubbing his belly. That is him saying "please"

Monday, September 5

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.

Tuesday, August 23

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.