Ten Months Old

Jax,
It seems appropriate that in the month you enter double digits, you also seem to leave your baby stage behind. We see so much of your personality developing and are starting to get a glimpse of the boy you are becoming.  It is a lot of fun.  You seem to be a mixture of both of us.  Like your father, you aren't very patient and get very frustrated with yourself if you can't seem to do what you are wanting to do.  We see you working to master a new skill and try to let you figure most things out for yourself.  The look of pure joy you have after accomplishing what you wanted is priceless.  Like your mother, you are a bit dramatic.  We joke that there isn't much middle ground with you as you are either really happy (which is the case most of the time) or really upset.  If you are told "no" you have been known to stick your bottom lip out and make it VERY clear you do not agree.  You also LOVE an audience (another trait we believe you got from your mother).  You are happy to play by yourself as long as one of us is in the room watching you, but get upset quickly if we dare to leave for a second.  You also get the biggest smiles when strangers come up to talk to you while we are out in public.  You giggle, flirt, and put on quite the show.

This last month brought your first words as well.  While you have babbled constantly for a few months, this month you started to make the connection from some words to objects.  Your first word happened when you reached out for your mother and said "mama."  That was an amazing moment.  You still wave "bye bye" all the time though we don't think you have any connection with waving bye bye and the actual meaning.  Then again, since no one ever leaves after you wave, you might not get that one for a little while!  You are repeating words and sounds back constantly.  After spending 4 days with your Madre and Papa Bear while we went on a trip, you were saying "Pa Pa" pretty often.  We are wondering if all Papa Bear did while we were gone is practice this.

Your favorite word right now though is ball.  That is because you are obsessed with balls.  You play with them in your Gymboree classes and we have some at home.  You push them and crawl after them saying "ball ball ball."  You love playing catch as well and are even good and bouncing the ball to us while we play.

We finally found the food that got you to start eating solids:  bread.  Yes, you love carbs.  You will eat any bread we put in front of you and when you finally got accustomed to chewing and eating food we were able to start sneaking in some fruits, veggies and even a little meat with your bread.  Meals are becoming a lot of fun.

You cruise all over the place these days and stand with very little support.  We are afraid that it will not be long before we are chasing you all over the house.  We aren't ready, but hopefully will be when the time comes.

While we love all the new developments you are having, we also love the little moments that make us realize that we still have our little baby in our arms.   You curl up in our arms for bottles the same way you have done since the beginning.  After your last bottle you also snuggle in tight for a few moments as we rock and sing before you go to bed.  This is one of our favorite times with you.   

We love you so much sweetie and will continue to cherish each moment with you.

Love, Mommy and Daddy
    

It is getting harder and harder to get Jax to stay still for his monthly pictures.  

These photos were a few I got while Jax was crawling, standing, or turning around. 

Little Cupid

Today is Valentine's Day and I wanted to show off my little cupid.  

I must say I am a pretty lucky lady to have such handsome men in my life. :)

Since our first Valentine's day together, it has actually been our tradition to stay in on v-day and go out another night to celebrate.  This started because on our first v-day together Jasper had an intramural basketball game and I (being the coolest girlfriend ever) suggested he go ahead and play and we go out another night.  That night we just got chinese food after his game and watched a movie and we have continued the tradition ever since. This year, Jasper and I went out for dinner when we were in Phoenix so tonight was spent hanging out at the house with a sleeping baby.   A perfect way to spend v-day, in the house with the ones you love.  I hope everyone has had a wonderful day.  

Doing the Wave

This video is 1 1/2 weeks old but I was having a hard time uploading videos.  We have been working with Jax on waving "Bye Bye" for awhile now.  He loves to watch us do it, but wasn't doing it himself.  Then he started waving himself, but not at any particular thing or when we would say "wave bye bye."  Instead he would just start waving for awhile, at the dogs, at the toys, at his food, etc.  Well as we were playing the other night we asked him to wave bye bye and he did it! 

I am not sure what I liked more, Jax's wave and "bye bye" or Jasper's reaction.  I was so excited I accidentally hit the stop button so the video cuts off abruptly.  He doesn't know what bye bye means yet so we aren't counting it as a word, but still lots and lots of fun. :)

Five Little Monkeys

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

While this song seems like a cautionary tale for kids, in our case I think it should be directed more at parents, specifically me.  Yesterday Jax and I were playing on my bed, a normal activity for us to do later in the day.  We sit together and play, sing songs, etc.  Well while we were on the bed I turned to grab my cell that was behind me on the pillow.  Somehow in that split second Jax was able to go from the middle of the bed to the end and fall off!  I still have no idea how he moved that fast.  Of course I lunged for him, but he was already on the ground.  He screamed and I cried.  He seemed to be more scared than hurt and after walking around the house for a few minutes with me holing him and rocking him he appeared to be recovering and much better.  I wish I could say the same for me.  I was a complete mess.  I had called Jasper while Jax was still upset and crying.  He told me to call the pediatrician to see if we needed to be worried about anything or have him examined.  Jasper also came home immediately while I called the doctor.  The doctor said that since he was acting fine that he probably was and that unless he started acting different or lethargic, everything was ok.  By the time Jasper got home (maybe 10 minutes after my call) Jax was back to playing with toys while I was still trying to regain my composure.  I felt such a mix of emotions:  guilty that I didn't keep him from falling, worried that something was wrong, thankful that he seemed to be fine and completely over it.

I know things are going to happen and no matter how careful you are your kids will take a fall.  It is just a hard lesson for this mom to learn.  Luckily, Jax was looking like this soon after and I knew everything was ok.        

 

From now on though,  all playtime is strictly on the floor.

Getting Blown Away

Jax has a new fascination:  the air vent.  There is one on the floor in his playroom and he loves to crawl over and play on it.  I love watching his face when the air blows up.  He seems so startled (which honestly isn't that had to do, the kid startles REALLY easily) and his hair starts flying all over the place like this:

Who needs lots of expensive toys, just turn the air on!

Team Spirit

I think Jax is going to be very confused as he grows up.  He has so many outfits for different teams that I don't think he will know who to cheer for! 

The other day here was this ensemble:  a Louisville outfit with Kentucky socks.  I am pretty sure we are setting him up for a major identity crisis down the road. 

Of course you can't forget the St. X Tigers!

Then there is the Yankee apparel Jax is known to wear. 

At least we can say we gave him lots of options!

Teething Bites

Jax has been doing a lot of this lately.

He bites everything and I mean EVERYTHING:  teethers, toys, clothes, books, ME, you name it.  I can't say that I blame the little guy, he has had two teeth on the bottom for some time and then decided to get FOUR on top at the same time!  It has made for some restlessness at nap and bed time, but I think they have finally all broke through.  Hopefully we can all get some relief for a little while before the next round starts.

On a side note, I really don't know what to do when he bites me (which is becoming more and more frequent).  I give a little high pitched yelp to let him know it hurts and that seems to result in him making a sad face and sometimes crying.  I think it startles him. I also try saying no and redirecting him, but I don't think that registers with him at all.  I don't really know if there is anything else that would work better or if I should just continue doing what I am doing and wait for this to pass, so I am welcoming and suggestions. :)    

Gymboree Time!!

Now that Jax is so active I REALLY wanted to get him involved in some fun activities outside of the house.  This serves several purposes:  1)  gives Jax an outlet for his endless amount of energy 2) helps him develop his motor skills 3) gives him a chance for lots of interaction with kids his age and 4) gives me a chance for lots of interaction with kids my own age!  :) 

We decided on Gymboree and found a class time that worked with Jax's naps.  It is actually a class for 10-16 month kids.  There aren't many 6-10 month kids enrolled right now and since Jax is crawling and pulling up and is close to the cut off age, the instructor thought that he would do fine in the older class.  Well last week was our first week and Jax LOVED it.  I thought he might stick to me like he does in most new situations, but as soon as I put him down he took off after a ball on the floor and didn't look back.  He really loved everything, the songs, the obstacles to climb, the games, the bubbles, Gymbo the clown, you name it.  Really the only thing he didn't like was the parachute game.  They have all the kids sit in the middle while the parents hold the edges of the parachute and walk around in a circle turning the kids around.  He hated that and immediately screamed.  So this time we skipped that activity and had a tear free visit. :)

After class today we stayed for some open gym time where you have access to the entire area to play as you like.  We were there with another mom who has an eleven month old girl and a nanny with a boy who was one.  We got to talk about the kids, hobbies, reality tv quality tv programs, you name it.  It was just what Jax and I both needed.  I did notice that we need to work with Jax some on how he interacts with other kids.  He was constantly pulling on the other kids' hair.  Not good, so I guess we need to try to stop that though I have no idea how.   I was hesitant to enroll in these classes (they are not cheap!) but I am so happy we did, it was a great way to spend the afternoon.  The fact that my kid sleeps forever after a class is just an added bonus. :)

I grabbed the camera during open gym time to take some shots for Jasper to see.  Here are my favorites.

     

A Day At The Zoo

I will never understand the weather.  I just don't get how it can be freezing one week and in the high 50s to low 60s the next.  Just because I don't understand it, doesn't mean I don't love it though.  This week is WARM!  Therefore I, like many other moms apparently, decided to take advantage of these unexpected January warm days to head to the zoo!  I had planned on just going with Jax, but the night before our trip our cousin Genny texted that she had the same idea.  So we made a group outing of it with Genny and her two kids. 

It was so much fun to be at the zoo, and being with a big kid is very different.  

First we had to keep up with him. 

There were some animals that he was very excited about.  

He would point them out to us and we would all stop to check them out.  

We would then try to point other animals out to Jack,

and he would give us this look of "I am sooo not interested in this animal."  

Seeing how he measured up to a gorilla.  Looks like he still has some growing to do!  

What was Jax doing during the zoo trip?  

He was mostly just happy to hang out in his stroller and people watch.  He did stay awake the entire time (a first) which is more than I can say for his cousin Kaitlyn who slept the entire time.  I really have already forgotten how much newborns sleep.  :) 

We did stop to take a break at the playground which was packed because of the warm weather.  

Days like these are the best.