47 Weeks

This has been our last week of DaDa’s training! We are so excited to finally be a normal family again! Today we are traveling to Georgia  to see DaDa. My little man has flown so many times already in his short little life! What an adventurer.

Jackson has gotten over his fear of bananas and his fear of Tigger! He bravely ventured toward Tigger to touch him timidly. After doing this about 5 times he pushed Tigger onto the floor. After that, he wasn’t so scared of him anymore. He still isn’t a huge fan of Tigger, but he doesn’t crawl away quickly when he sees him. He likes Bananas now, but I think that was more a dislike before because he had just woken up and bananas were a new, squishy sensation.

Baby took one step towards Momma when Aunt Sharon had been holding his arms. She let go for a second while he reached for me and he took a step! I don’t think we can count it for a real step since there was barely enough time that he wasn’t holding on to something for anyone to notice, but he’s getting so much closer to real steps!

Jack is quite the little talker. He babbles all the time, but he says some words too. They aren’t well defined words, but I can understand them all the same. Such a little mother! His first word was definitely “Mum mum” which is now a more distinct “Mama”. That was followed by “Na Na Na” which means “No”. He consistently says that when he doesn’t want something. He now says “ah da” for “all done” and has said “Hi” and “bye bye”. He rarely says words on command, but he will say them on his own correctly. His first fun word was “bub bub” for “bubble”. Grammy would blow bubblegum bubbles while Jack was sitting on her lap and he would jump and get so excited. He would try to smack them with his hands and when Grammy held his hands he would lean forward and bite the bubble to pop it. He loved the bubble game. His second fun word was “kaboom!” During bathtime he likes to stand up now. I don’t want to encourage this so I plop him back down on his bottom and say, “Kaboom!” each time. He repeated it! So adorable! DaDa really likes that one since his MOS is Field Artillery.

Jack learned to turn his pushing walker when he can’t go any further in the direction he is headed. He can also pull it back towards him to rearrange it if he needs. I am so impressed with his stability! It is nice to be able to set him down so he can lean against my legs when I need both my hands. He loves being a big boy! I can’t believe he’s so close to walking! It will be a whole new adventure, but I am so excited!

Jack has begun transitioning from baby toys to toddler toys. He doesn’t play with the same toys he used to always pick out of his toy chest. His light saber is rarely grabbed and his crinkle giraffe is never chewed on anymore. While I am so glad he is growing and maturing, it makes me sad to put those toys away. Some we will put away for his siblings someday, others will go in my Jack memory box with his first outfit and booties and stuff.

Jack has begun taking just one nap a day. On the one hand, this changes our schedule a lot. On the other, it’s nice because it is generally a 2 hour nap! That seems like such a long time. I don’t quite know what to do with myself. We have the entire morning free because he doesn’t go down until around 2-3. This will be so nice for when we move and Momma wants to go exploring in the mornings or schedule play dates. I really hope we find some good friends for both Jack and I at Fort Sill.

Jack has been such a great little helper while Momma’s been packing up. I cleared out the basement area so he could crawl around the entire family room (it’s really a mancave but my Dad doesn’t like that term) as he pleases. He would play with toys and then crawl around the entire room while Momma packed up bins and clothes and all the other things Momma has accrued while we’ve been in Michigan. Of course, he wanted to come help Momma pack, so he took out some skirts and sweaters Momma had neatly folded and put away. The things we do as mothers: I gave him his own stack of non-folded sweaters to throw around as he pleased to keep him away from my nice clothes! It did occupy him so I call it a success.

Jack is teething something fierce. He is drooling more than with any of his other teeth. I can see little bumps where his top two side teeth are working their way through. He has an amber necklace now and he hasn’t been too fussy, so I think it’s actually working! Yup, I was a skeptic but I am so thankful I got it now! The only reason I say his teething is fierce is because of the drool. He seems content enough and drool doesn’t bother me. I also bought some of the Nuby soothers, the kind that have mesh tops and you put ice cubes or fruit in them, when he had his flu bug. I have been giving him ice cubes and he loves to suck/chew on those. I gave it a good chew to make sure it wasn’t too cold and it was just right! I love modern babywares! I will definitely be taking this on our trip to see DaDa for the plane rides.

Jack is able to play catch now! We sit in front of each other with our legs spread apart. I roll the ball into his legs and he giggles as he picks it up. He gives me his signature stink eye and then throws it in the air to me! He has a pretty good aim, but every once in awhile one of the balls goes behind him because he lets go of it too soon. I am so impressed with his motor skills! I have been playing ball like this for awhile with him so he has been slowly catching on to how to throw properly.

Jack does so well with table foods! I haven’t found a food he flat out doesn’t like yet. In the past two weeks he’s tried French fries, Sweet potato fries, Frosty, and lots of different kinds of veggies. He loves to chew on carrot sticks and celery sticks. If you take away the celery, oh boy, be ready! Unfortunately, Jack does not like his toys/food taken away before he is ready. I usually cut off the tip that he’s bitten into and give it back to him. Jack also loves Eggos! We have Eggos many a morning for breakfast. 

We are finishing up getting ready for our plane ride later today! We're heading down to Atlanta and then driving down to Columbus. We get to see DaDa tomorrow! So excited!