18 Months

This post has been a long time coming. I keep attempting to sit down and record all the wonderful things Jack does but with his new found mobility, this has become quite impossible. He's such a delight! I can't help but "baby talk" to him. Texas has also worn off on me because Chase had to kindly ask me to stop calling him "Buba." Although Jack is normally referred to as Jack, every night when I snuggle him before bed, the baby talk comes spilling out. He's "oooshies", "jiaooshies", and "booshies", and "ooooshiboooshis." Chase can't tell if I've lost my mind of if I'm just completely obsessed with my little man. Probably both!

I love putting Jack to sleep. I ask him for a snuggle and he nuzzles his head to my chest. We play a little game where I say a sound and he copies me. Then I say two sounds, and he copies me. He's never been one for a long routine and usually reaches for his crib after a couple of minutes. Depending on the day (and how much energy I have), I love to rock him in my chair while he snuggles up to me. Is there any greater feeling in the world than a baby hugging you?

Jack had his first day of nursery and it didn't go as I had planned. I knew he would be easy going and just play with the toys but that Sunday morning he seemed a little sick so we weren't going to drop him off. However, they needed me to play the piano in Primary and Chase had to teach the third hour so to nursery he went. I didn't even get to take him. Sarah Clowrad from the primary dropped him off while I played the piano. I managed to get a picture of him right after and he seemed like he had fun. I'm just sad I didn't get to witness it myself. I did take him the next Sunday and got all chocked up after I left him with the leaders. Probably best that Sarah dropped him off the week before. I'm a little too attached. However, I won't lie that it's VERY nice to sit in Sunday School and Relief Society with out him. I can actually listen to what's being said! It's dreamy.

I remember when Jess had Tommi and was worried that he wasn't talking as much as Lizzy did. We decided it was because boys develop slower than girls to which I am now reassuring myself with Jack. I think Sadie knew 100 words by 18 months. She could say "alligator" for heaven's sake! Jack is working on his animal sounds and knows a hand full of words that just about melt me when they come from his mouth. I think his first word was "uh oh", but it could have also been "dada" (something that really vexes me),"gah" (ball) or "dis" for "this." Knocking his chest was pretty much every animal sound for a while but he has now learned to say the sounds of an elephant, monkey, fish, duck, puppy, horse, lamb, snake, lion, tiger, bear, ad piggy. He loves his little pig puppet. Some of his new words are "mama" which he says in such an adorable little tone that I can't help smiling from ear to ear. He can say "sadie" which comes out sounding more like "didi." He can say "Mimi, cookie, wawa(water), nana(banana), kitty, ck(truck), moon, star, "gigu" (thank you)and probably more but I'm tired of thinking of them:-) He's getting really good at just saying words we say after we ask him to say them.
He's also getting into books. One of my favorite things he'll do is grab a book and scoot back into my lap to sit down. If I am standing he'll sit on my feet. He just wants to be near. This whole wanting to be bear mom is cute but I can't leave a room with out him bursting into tears. Depending on the day he will often just play in the toy room with the train table for a while. Sadie and he have gotten a lot better at playing together which makes my life a whole lot easier, but most of the time, I need to sit in the room with them as referee. Although pretty mellow, he can be pretty feisty too, especially when Sadie swipes something from him.

Jack learned to hit from Sadie and will hit her if she gets too close to him. Sadie's new thing is to teach him "not to hit" by ignoring him rather than lashing back but that doesn't always work. Damage has been done:-) He loves to slam doors and run away from me when I'm trying to dress him. I still think it's cute when I see his little diaper clad body standing against the wall opposite me. It's so fun running away from Mom!

Lately he's also become quite attached to his monkey blanket which he calls "bahh" because that's what Sadie calls her lamb blanket. He used to be a binky guy and preferred it all day but recently got a cold and wanted nothing to do with it because he couldn't breath through his nose. Hopefully this will stick and we can officially be done with the pacifier before the age of 2 unlike Sadie who had it pried away at 3 1/2!

I should probably mention that Jack is a marathon sleeper. He takes a three to four hour nap and sleeps in until 9 or 10 in the morning. When he wakes up he just hangs out in his crib. He's so quiet some mornings that I don't know he's awake. It makes me feel bad when I go in there to get him and see him sitting in his crib. Sometimes I wonder how long he's been awake. I'm not complaining about having such an amazing sleeper but after one morning when he woke up at noon (he was a little sick with a cold), I had to keep going in there to see if he was still breathing.

One thing I've noticed about Jack is his easy going little personality and his understanding of the world around him. I rarely ever hear him cry in the car. Rather I've got the four year old whining while he just looks at the window with an inquisitive look on his face. He loves seeing the world around him. He also LOVES water, whether it be a lake, river or just the bath tub. He could play with water while throwing rocks, sticks and dirt all day long. Anytime we see a lake, he points out the window and yells "wawa!!" He's also been quite taken with everyone's Christmas lights on their houses. Boy do they decorate in Texas! There are lights everywhere and if there's time before bedtime, we hop in the car and drive around the neighborhoods to look at them. It's rare to find a home completely dark around here. Jack especially loves the inflatable penguins.


Jack loves to wrestle with his Dad. After dinner we will crawl around like horses and wrestle in the living room. Jack loves being chased by Sadie and will laugh so hard that we hear him snort. Sadie will turn on music, get all dressed up and dance around the room. Jack follows along as he turns around and stops his feet right along side her. It's really fun watching them dance together. Chase also loves to tickle Jack while he's changing his diaper. I always hear shouts of laughter and snorts coming from his room when Dad's in there.
Lately it's been very challenging to get Jack to eat. I mentioned before that he got a really bad cold and didn't really want to eat anything. As a mother I feel like such a failure when I can't get my kids to eat. When he didn't even want a cookie we knew something was very wrong. I think this was the first time Jack has been really sick. I was very close to taking him to the doctor but realized that with no fever, there's really nothing they can do for him. I still worry because that's what I do best. I just hate seeing him sick with a red chafed nose, and droopy eyes. SO sad.

Before we could get Jack to eat pretty much anything as long as he was playing with something. Now, he gives each bite an evil eye, and shakes his head. Another new word...."No" which he says with kind of a French accent. Sometimes I will hold up four different options for him like cheese, yogurt, fruit, whatever and he always shakes his head with a discreet little "no." It's my new challenge these days, to get food into Jack whatever way I can:-) The bathtub is usually the best distraction. He'll pretty much eat anything in there. Like I said, water is a good thing with Jack. He can also be found in the pantry pointing to cookies, or crackers whose appeal far surpass the yogurt, cheese and oatmeal. I try to keep the pantry closed because if he sees something he can't have, he won't eat anything else.

Jack is also a very obedient little boy. Usually a Christmas tree and an 18 month old don't mix, but Jack is very good at backing away when we tell him not to touch something. He'll stop at the sidewalk when I tell him not to run in the street and he'll usually give something to me if I ask him to hand over what he shouldn't be playing with. It's nice to have a kid who actually listens to me. Hopefully we can carry this on into the toddler years.

He's got great motor skills. Lately he's become very fast at walking. He'll be running in no time. He climbs everything from chairs, to ladders, and boulders outside. When he's hungry I often times find he's climbed up into his high chair. If we had stairs he would probably be able to climb down at this point. He's learned that going head first isn't the best idea anymore. He'll climb the stairs at the playground and go down the big slide over and over again all by himself. He loves to wander all over the place (as long as he knows I'm close by) collecting acorns, rocks, dirt, grass, and discovering the bugs below the earth. He's such a happy little guy and such a joy to have in our home. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have such a wonderful son. I love my little boy to pieces!!