Big Saturday

Jack had his first Kindermusik class today. He's in a class with four other babies--a 10 month old little girl, 6 month old twins and a mystery baby who wasn't there today. He was definitely interested in the class but he didn't really embrace it as he had at the trial class. He was so serious the whole time. Maybe it was because he's older now and takes longer to warm up to strange situations, maybe it was because the room was about 100 degrees, maybe it was because they relocated us to a room that wasn't very cozy, or maybe it was that the 10 month old little girl scared the onesie off him! She was an adorable little VERY friendly baby who immediately tried to engage Jack. Jack isn't used to other kids since he is with adults all the time and he usually is the initiator once he warms up to the idea. From the second we walked through the door, this little girl was trying to make a new friend. And her forwardness was a little intimidating for Jack. I think that later in life, Jack will appreciate a girl who knows what she wants and is confident, but at just under one year, it was a little much.

In addition to waving, grunting at him, and taking his toys, she crawled right up to him and tried to kiss him. She missed and wound up kissing his chest but it was enough to send him wide eyed crawling into my arms. It wasn't until the very end of class that he decided he wanted to chat with her a bit. Maybe he was just playing hard to get. Hopefully he'll relax a little more at next week's session.

After some breakfast and a nap, we headed to Grandma's to celebrate her birthday with the family. And Jack had to deal with another girl who was very forward--his cousin, Sierra. Sierra is 3 and is at that bossy, non-sharing stage. And the worst part was that she didn't want to share JACK'S toys. Her parents didn't bring any toys to play with so she immediately wanted Jack's. But she wouldn't let him play with any of his own toys. Or she would tell him how she wanted him to play with them. "Don't touch that!" "You can't have it!" Jack sat there looking at her as she ripped his blocks out of his hands and stole his radio away. When she finally threw his favorite ball to him, he decided that he had no interest in throwing it back, as he usually does. He took it all like a champ even though he was shocked it was happening and growing more and more tired by the minute, due to the goofy schedule today, and then he just broke. After she took something away, he just looked up at me and started to cry. It was like, "Mommy, I'm sick and tired of all these girls telling me what to do." And though I hugged him tight and consoled him, I thought, "Sweetie, you better get used to it!"

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk

Jack still thinks that it way more efficient to crawl from place to place. But he does like to stand and cruise along the furniture. He also occassionally enjoys walking between Paul and I. We just figure, when he's ready, he'll start walking more. And we also know that he seems to do things in a matter of a day's time. One day it seems like it will be awhile before he masters a task and the next, he's a pro. Yesterday, I had been gone all day and got home at 7:30 pm, just before bed time. Jack was excited to see me and we were having a lot of fun playing. Maybe it was because he was craving Mommy attention or maybe it was because he wanted to cheer me up because I had missed him all day or maybe it was just because he wanted to see if he could do it. But he let go of the coffee table and marched a good 10 steps across the room into my arms.

He's also trying to talk more and imitating a lot. He can imitate: Mommy (Mom-Mom), Daddy (Da-da-da-da-da), Nonny (Na-na), Banana (a-na-na), Grandma (Grrrr), Book (Buh) and Ball (buh). But it is hard to tell if he has a first word. I think that the first one is actually "book" because he will pull his books out of his shelf and begin saying "buh" on his own. I usually have to ask him to say the others. I thought I would be more brokenhearted if he didn't say "Mommy" first but "book" is a pretty good substitute. I realize that "book" doesn't feed him or comfort him when he's crying or give him baths and sing to him. But we do read a lot together and I love that he loves books!

When I Grow Up

So we have determined that when Jack gets older, he is going to either be a musician, an engineer, or a restaurant critic.

The reasons Jack will be a musician: he loves music of all kinds. He dances to any music that he hears. Most of his favorite toys involve playing some sort of music. He loves his radio and his music box that hangs in his crib. He pushes the music box on and off and it helps him to fall asleep. When he watches T.V., which isn't that often, he only is attentive if there is a song playing (i.e. Wonder Pets, Dora the Explorer and the Jeopardy Final Jeopardy music).

The reasons that he will not be a musician: None that we can find yet.

The reasons Jack will be an engineer: He is constantly playing with his toys and is very serious about learning how things work. He tries to roll everything! His favorite toys are ones that can be rolled around, like balls and trucks. He also tries to roll things that don't roll. He loves to investigate things and isn't as smiley as usual when he is really into figuring out how things work. He stacks blocks and other objects as well.

The reasons Jack will NOT be an engineer (or at least a very good one): As soon as he or someone else builds a block tower, he immediately knocks it over.

The reasons Jack will be a restaurant critic: Jack loves to go to restaurants. He likes flirting with the waitresses, waving at people, watching the other kids and, above all, EATING. He loves to try new foods. On Friday, we took him out and he had his first pizza. Though it was a small pizza and we didn't give him the crust, since it was too hard, he ate the entire middle! And while he was eating it, he didn't want anything to do with any other foods or people! He also enjoys drinking water out of new things (cups, straws, Mommy's cup). After he finished his meal on Friday, he was standing on my lap and peering over the booth to the couple behind us. When the waitress brought them their food, he watched and let out a huge "MMMMMMMMM!"

The reasons Jack will not be a restaurant critic: He has not been terribly good about eating his vegetables as of late!

Baby Steps

So just when I think that Jack is NEVER going to do something (crawl, walk, talk, etc.) after trying a new task over the course of a long period of time, one day I come home and he just does something new. He now repeats the words you tell him to (for the most part and it is a limited list). He can do "Mama", "Dada", "JoJo" (his stuffed monkey), "NaNa" (Nonny), and "Buh" (which is both ball and book). I think that ball is actually his first word because he looks at it and says it. We have to ask him to say Mommy or Daddy.

He also used to stand up when you asked him to. He'd look around, be amazed that no one was holding him and then laugh and fall into your arms. Last week, he decided he didn't want to stand up when we wanted him to. This kid definitely knows what he wants when he wants it! Now, when we ask him to stand up, he bends his knees so that we can't make him. Of course, I saw this as a set back in his efforts to walk. Well, I got home from work on Monday and he was a wild man. He was grabbing his ball and throwing it around from his knees, laughing and then chasing it and doing it again. Eventually he pulled himself up on the coffee table and stood for awhile. All of a sudden, he pivoted around and moved a little away from the table so he was touching the table with one hand but mostly standing on his own. Then he got this look on his face like, "hmm. I think I am going to try to walk now." He let go of the table and stood on his own for a few seconds. Then he took one step forward before falling to his knees. He did it once more and I was so excited! Grandma said he took TWO steps on Tuesday but when I got home, he decided that he didn't want to show me.

I am guessing that since he is now getting more brave, it will be just a matter of time. Then I'll be chasing the little man everywhere!!!

Jack's First Christmas

Jack did NOT care for Wiley's annoying monkey toy. It makes me want to cry too!

Whoa! Sensory overload! So many presents!

Jack LOVES to read. Current favorites are the Llama Llama books

Christmas is always a fun time of year. I love being with my family. I love getting all cozy, eating a huge meal and opening presents. But this year, Christmas was even better because we got to see it through Jack's eyes.

When school let out the Friday before Christmas, I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I had two weeks off with my boys and we were going to Florida to celebrate Christmas with my family. Nervous because we were going to Florida--by CAR! After much deliberation, we decided that two parents, one grandpa, one baby, all of our stuff and gifts both to bring down and to bring back, would be a little much for a plane. We were too nervous to try to juggle all of that. Yet driving added another element. Sure we drove down to Florida in the summer. But at that point, Jack was 4 months old and slept 80 percent of the time. I was scared that our now mostly awake nearly 11 month old, who loves to play CONSTANTLY, would not be too happy about being strapped into a car for 15+ hours.

But Jack was a champ. He didn't cry except for when he was trying to fall asleep. Since he could flip over to his tummy, he has not slept one night on his back. Trying to relearn how to fall asleep on your back, and strapped into a confining carseat, no less is a much different story. He didn't nap too much but was easily entertained by books, toys and, thankfully, the DVD player we borrowed from a co-worker that strapped on the back of the headrest! He didn't seem to find it annoying at all that he kept watching the same episodes of The Wonder Pets. And he did learn that he LOVES Cracker Barrell! He can eat off of the children's menu now and he thinks that's pretty cool. We did have FOUR stops at the Cracker Barrell, since it was the only restaurant where we could sit down and have a meal (a must for both infants and grandpas!). Not only did he love his food, but he was quite the charmer, waving at people to get their attention and then grinning his huge grin at them. We had numerous people stop and talk to him or tell us what a good boy he was. I, of course, hated that!

When we arrived in Florida, the disruption of routine finally got to Jack. For the first two days of the trip, not only was he not acting himself but he was acting the most unlike himself that I had ever seen. You couldn't drag a smile out of him. He snapped out of it in time for Christmas Eve and was happy the rest of the time. He did pretty well for sleeping in hotels, sleeping in a crib and room that were unfamiliar, meeting all sorts of new people, etc. He did a great job at opening his gifts (and there were a LOT of them!) and loved playing with his new toys.

He also used the break to truly fine tune his clapping skills, as he seemed to like to celebrate everything: getting a new toy, eating a Cheerio, etc. He also fine tuned his sign language. Just before we left, he finally grasped "More" and began using it to really communicate. However, now that clapping is so much fun, the two signs have kind of merged together and I am not sure if he is proud, happy or hungry.

The kid is just a joy and it's so fun to be able to take my little buddy everywhere. Each day, he seems to learn and understand more. He has a good sized list of words that he understands. He babbles a lot and, I think he is close to pairing "dada" with Paul and "mommom" with me but he isn't quite there yet. We just enrolled in a class called "Kindermusik", a kids' music class. Jack loves music and I thought that it would be interesting for him, a good way to socialize him with other kids and potentially a good way for me to meet other moms. Not to mention a fun thing to do together. We went for a free trial class and I was curious to see how he would react. Being with his grandma all day, he hasn't had much exposure to other kids. He also has been going through a shy phase and I didn't know how it would all go. We got there early and he started playing with the instruments right away. Then a little girl walked in. He crawled right up to her and then promptly smacked her in the face. He'll have to work on his flirting skills but he was definitely really interested in the other kids. In fact, he started to throw a mini tantrum when I pulled him away from one of the other kids. I look forward to future sessions and seeing him learn and meet new people and have new experiences.

Every day with Jack is a wonderful adventure and though 2009 was a rough year for so many people, it was the best year of my life. I look forward to every new adventure with him. Up next: his first birthday! How time flies!