The "Fort"

Jackson has discovered a new, amazingly awesome "toy" that he's been obsessed with this week...the dog kennel.  We set up Bella's old dog crate last weekend for Scout to sleep in, and the minute Jackson spotted it in the corner of the garage, he made a beeline over and crawled inside.  He climbed in & out & in & out, wallowed around on the dingy dog bed and even closed the door once he was inside.  Bella decided to join him a time or two.  He has spent hours playing in that kennel, which we are referring to as his "fort" so DSS doesn't come get us.  I am also considering making a custom foam pad to fit inside to make it a little homier.

Bye-bye Baby Mullet

The title of my post is a bit misleading because Jackson's original mullet was cut off by Alisha back in August.  Since then, I have also (bravely) trimmed around his ears & shortened his bangs. 
However, Jackson's hair was starting to resemble a helmet from the back and needed a little professional help.  So we headed to Snip-Its.  Let me start by saying that whoever came up with the idea of giving out lollipops during haircuts obviously did not have any children.  It was an amazing short-term distraction, for like 30 seconds, which is about how long it took Jackson to a) drool stickiness all over his chin which incidentally became covered in teeny hair clippings giving him a beard and b) to get hairs stuck all over the pop and stick it back into his mouth.  Gross!

All in all, Jackson was a good boy for the duration of his haircut, and I stealthily observed the stylist's techniques because I plan to cut it myself next time. However, I do realize the risk-factor involved in parental haircuts so I didn't want to botch up before the holidays and Jackson be "that kid" in the holiday pictures!

Pre-haircut

Post-haircut.  Parted & gelled like a big boy.

Strangers at Storytime

I'll start by saying that I could kick myself for not taking a picture to accompany this post.  A picture is worth 1000 words!

Jackson & I met a few of our friends from playgroup at the library for Musical Jamboree on Monday morning.  We haven't been to the library for a scheduled activity in a while, so Jackson was totally soaking it up -- books, scarves, instruments & tons of kiddies to play with.  All the while, Jackson kept looking over at this older gentleman who was there with his young grandkids.  After a while,  Jackson toddled over to him and put his arms up, indicating he wanted to be picked up.  The man hesitated at first, then reached down and set him on his lap, where Jackson sat for 2 entire stories (all while my friends and I laughed hysterically from across the room).

This sounds really sketchy, but I finally realized what had happened.  Jackson saw the man's narrow face, white hair & silver glasses and thought that it was PopPaw.  Of course he wanted to sit in PopPaw's lap, he loves his PopPaw!  After the activities, I explained to the nice man why Jackson was so taken by him and Jackson once again tried to get "PopPaw" to pick him up.  I guess it's time to start teaching "stranger danger"!!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not make a habit of letting Jackson sit on stranger's laps.  We were in a enclosed environment surrounded by Moms and librarians.

Monkey costume for rent

Lately, Ben has been lovingly referring to me as "Arts & Crafts Mommy" whenever I'm doing anything remotely creative (i.e. gift wrapping, sewing, holiday decorating, etc).  Well, this Arts & Crafts Mommy went a bit overboard when it came to Jackson's Halloween costume.  Deadset on making him a custom monkey costume, I spent hours creating my pattern, scouting out the perfect brown plush fabric, then cutting, sewing, ripping out seams and re-sewing Jackson's monkey suit.  I was happy with how it turned out (other than the v-neck I had to add last minute since his head wouldn't fit through the neck-hole), and I had finished my first official Halloween costume with 2 weeks to spare.  Just in time to hit up the Greer Halloween Festival the week before Halloween.  Or so I thought.

Thanks to global warming, October 23rd was an unseasonable warm day, with highs in the low 80s, which incidentally is about 20-degrees too hot for my prized monkey suit with its 2 layers of plush & batting.  After debating whether or not Jackson would have a heat-stroke if he wore it, we opted for a last minute costume of rolled-up denim overalls, plaid shirt & bare feet -- Huck Finn.  (Bonus point for the overalls - they were Ben's when he was a tyke) 


Huck Finn

Overalls from Ben's toddlerhood. 
The straps were stitched so I couldn't easily loosen
them up to prevent Jackson's perma-wedgie.

Halloween weekend rolled around, and we got a few minutes of wear out of the monkey at our neighborhood supper club on Saturday night.  Like, 10 minutes.  On Sunday, Ben woke up with terrible allergies and was out of commission most the day.  Our plans of hitting up the carnival at Jackson's school went by the wayside.  We were going to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood, but only a few houses were even giving out candy...not to mention its no fun to take a 1-year old candy collecting by yourself!  So Jackson put on his costume and helped me hand out candy to the five (5) trick-or-treaters we had come by.  All in all, we got a good solid 30 cumulative minutes of wear out of the monkey costume -- I spent a good 6 hours making it.  That $20 one from Old Navy isn't looking so bad anymore.

I love this action shot.

 

He loved wearing it, I swear!

Random Resourcefulness

16-Month Update

I can hardly believe Jackson hit the 16-month mark last week!  The summer flew by and each day is such a blessing and adventure, it only gets better and better. 

Jackson's been keeping us on our toes...he's a little of what he's been up to

• He constantly reminds us that monkeys say "oo-oo-ooo" and lions say "roarrrr" by making these sounds and pointing out the specific animal whenever he sees it.
• Give lots of "kissies" to his stuffies, Bella and toys.  He touches his lips to the object, then makes a clicking sound with his tongue, but not at the same time. Presh!
• Jabbers like crazy, saying cracker, Dada, Bella, doggy, car, truck, Bebe, tree, ball, choo-choo, Jackson -- most of which sound right with the exception of "Jackson", which sounds more like "da-ton".
• Loves to dance and shakes his tail-feather anytime there's music.  Loves watching his "Jackson Movie" dvd that Bebe made for him from the weekend he spent with them.
• Points to his nose, eyes, ears, belly button, wee-wee-, mouth, fingers, toes & knees on command.  When asked where his belly button is, he touches his wee-wee.
• Loves to "feed the piggy" by putting coins in his piggy bank.  He's ambidexterous and uber fast!
• Walks around in crazy ways: on his tippy toes, backwards, with wide stance, twirls in circles/gets dizzy & falls down, etc.  Must have picked that up at playschool!
• Climbs on and off and on and off his rocking horse, all the time, nonstop.  He tries to get on the horse with his sippy in hand (which never works), gets frusterated b/c he dropped the sippy, gets down to get the sippy, then tries again (same method)...over and over...we keep telling him he can't drink and ride!
• Its only a matter of time until he slams his fingers in a door b/c he is consumed with shutting each and every door he passes through or opens up.
• Love love loves Bella and lays his head on her anytime he can sneak up on her.  He's very gentle when petting her and loves to chase her around the house.  He also tries to sneak her food, which is probably why she's so tolerant!
• Loves to look at pictures of friends & family and tell me who is in each one.  Especially loves talking to Bebe on Skype.
• Demands to feed himself with his spoon & fork and is getting much better but still quite a mess.

At his 15 month visit last month, J weighed in at 22lb 6 oz (28%) and was 32" tall (48%).
Here are a few pics of the past few months...

He's loves hanging out by the dog bowls & has been known
to munch on dog food occasionally

Giving Dad eskimo kisses during his first trip to Waffle House

Our mechanic, Jim Beam, loves Jackson and gave him
a tour of the shop during my last oil change =)

This outfit is one of Ben's from when he was a baby.  Little Porky barely fit in it!

Beep Beep!

Hanging out at the Greer October Fest

Fall for Greenville

Somebody loved the carousel.  (And yes, the outfits were planned!)

Cleveland Park

Hangin' out with Slade.  I LOVE this picture!!

Pre-dinner snack of chocolate pudding...I'm the coolest mom ever!

The Great Outdoors

Last weekend, we took Jackson on his first camping trip!  Ben and I love to camp but we haven't been in nearly 2 years.  We decided that J was finally old enough to have fun playing in the woods & getting dirty, so we headed to Lake Hartwell for a single-night test run at Oconee Campground.  Rather than rough it at a road-side, rustic site like we usually do, we opted for a campground that provided necessary amenities; there is a lot to be said for a picnic table, a bath-house, water spigot, lantern hook & groomed campsite.
I booked the last available site online on the Wednesday prior, so we were pleasantly surprised to find our campsite in a prime location, with plenty of shade & a gradual slope down to the lake (as opposed to the cliff-like drop-off of the neighboring sites).  Jackson absolutely loved climbing up and down the steps leading to the tent pad and was all about exploring anything & everything.  To simplify, we opted for a dinner of campfire hotdogs as opposed to the traditional steak dinner, and did a breakfast of oatmeal & cereal instead of bacon, eggs, grits & toast.  We spent Saturday afternoon setting up our tent (which we dubbed as the Taj Mahal), picking pinecones for a to-be-determined holiday craft projects, throwing rocks, snacking & playing outside.  Once the sun went down, it got a little chilly, so we piled on the layers to stay warm -- the fire was a bit too dangerous for a toddler, so we played on the other side of the campsite under the light of the lantern.  Around 8pm, Jackson started pointing the tent, indicating he was ready to go to sleep, so we tucked him into his pack and play and he didn't make a peep until 8am.  Despite the mid-40 temps, we woke up with cold fingers but were warm other than that.  We spent a relaxing Sunday morning around the campsite and loaded up and left just in time for Jackson to nap the whole way home.

We can't wait to go back next Spring and stay for the whole weekend!

Our campsite

Jackson & Daddy relaxing

 

Inside the back room of the Taj Mahal --
notice their is plenty of room for the queen size air mattress & the pack-n-play.

He loved going up and down the steps...
and loved how we let him drink Capri Suns & eat a little junk food.

This boy loves to accessorize with belts, bags, Daddy's bike helmet, etc.

 

Helping Daddy start the fire.



Lakeside dining.  What a wonderful family weekend!



Playing in the dark...had to sport the camo sweats - we are camping, after all!

Check out all the layers this little humpty-dumpty is wearing!

Snuggling with Mommy

This baby loves camping!

And he adores his Daddy!