Sunday, October 31, 2010

Random Pics from Before Halloween

Here are some random pics from Friday night. We tried the outfit on just to see if Jackson would wear it.

Trick or Treating Time

So, this is the costume we bought for Jackson. He refused to put the hat or beard on and the outfit didn't mean much without those pieces. Friday afternoon we went on a hunt for a new costume. We came up empty handed at store after store. Going to a Party City the Friday before Halloween is insane by the way. Most costumes seems to be for newborns or ages 3+. Finally, I remembered a winter outfit I bought in an after winter sale last year.

So instead, Jackson was a bear. I think he liked the glow necklaces from Uncle Stephen more than the costume.
For a short while, Jackson had a little bear nose. As soon as he saw it, he started crying. So, the nose didn't last.
Jackson picked up trick or treating very quickly. He learned how to knock on doors and got very confused that we weren't going inside the houses. At each house we'd tell him to him to go to the door. He's go to the car door first. Then, he'd go to the garage door. Finally he'd make it to the front door.
We went to one house where nobody answered. Jackson was so disappointed. Look at that face.
Grandma came to watch Jackson trick or treat for the first time.
Jackson finally found a car door that he was allowed to open. He loves playing in Uncle Stephen's car!
All in all, Jackson had a lot of fun. I think he figured it out and will be very confused when we don't go trick or treating again tomorrow.

Pumpkin Carving

Jackson played catch with Schuley before the carving.
Then, he swept the yard with the broom while clutching the sippy cup. Look at that belly!
We finally got him to sit with the pumpkin, but he still wouldn't let go of that broom.
Finally, he's into the carving!
Yummy! Pumpkin.
Smurf Pumpkin before nightfall
Smurf Pumpkin at night

Pumpkin Patch

We headed out looking for a pumpkin patch on Saturday morning. Next year we have vowed not to wait until the last minute and to find a better pumpkin patch! Jackson still had fun running around trying to pick up all the huge pumpkins.
Horrible family photo...
I think this was Jackson's favorite part of the pumpkin patch...

Bathroom Reading


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Water Fairy

Today's weird moment was driving up to the house and finding that someone turned our sprinkler on. If I had to guess, I'd say it had been on about 20 minutes. I wonder who our water fairy is.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

How do you feel today?

I forgot that I shouldn't turn the camera for a video. Oh well. You can tilt your head.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Last Sno-cones of "Summer"


Today was a nice day. I was actually on-campus all day. The internet was down, which meant I got a lot done. Although I know having email makes us more productive in a sense, not having it made me crazy productive today!

Then, we got home at a decent time and made pork chops on the grill, zucchini on the grill, and rice. Then, we headed out for our last sno-cones of the "summer" since the place near us closes this week. Since it's still 90+ degrees, I think they could have held on longer. Rob spent a long time pitching his idea of converting it to a place that sells smores and hot chocolate, but the owner wasn't interested...

This is the first time we've given Jackson a sno-cone in his own cup. He actually did a great job feeding himself, but of course, his clothes are now sprayed with stain stuff because who doesn't spill some blue sno-cone while eating it?

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Bedtime Stories

Okay. Last post for the night. Just can't resist. I told Jackson it was time to brush his teeth with Dada and then Mama would read him his stories. He went into the other room and picked up a book that he's had us read to him about 15 times today and walked out. Assuming he was going to find Dada, I went in the other room to do something and found Dada. We went to find Jackson and this is what we found. Not only did he pick out his books for the night, but he was up in the chair rocking himself and looking at one of the books. When I told him it was time to brush his teeth and then I'd read him the books he held the book to his chest and pointed to the chair to show me where to sit.

After this picture, his fake smile emerged. After Rob stopped taking pictures he said "more" and pointed to the camera. Apparently we have a camera hog with a fake smile.

Jackson's New Toddler Bed




Helping Daddy with his Homework

This is part of why it takes longer to grade papers and clean with Jackson. Do you like Jackson's outfit? He decided he didn't want to wear pants and thought that if he wore shoes, he'd get to go outside. (It worked.)

Pirate Cat

If you ever want to make Jackson's day, send him a card. He is obsessed with cards and post cards. He carries them around the house, he sits down with his milk and stares at the card and he rolls around on the floor with the card. The latest card he received was a Halloween card from Felicia. Felicia, as you can tell, he loved it. Thanks.



Fake Cheese

I never tell children to say, "cheese" in pictures. It causes fake smiles... Despite avoiding the magical word "cheese" Jackson has developed a fake smile. When he sees a camera he gives us THIS smile... Will we ever get a real smile again??


Saturday, October 23, 2010

Annyong and Daddy

Yesterday Rob got to feel Annyong move for the first time! It's crazy how quickly I forgot what it feels like to have a baby moving around and jabbing you. He seems to get really active been 9 and 10 pm. Hopefully that doesn't mean we'll have one morning kid and one night owl!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Jackson Will Have a Little....

Dear Annyong,

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. You were not shy. Right away you showed the whole world that you are a little boy. We are so excited! Mommy is now completely outnumbered and Jackson will have a little brother to join forces with while playing/causing trouble.


We love you Annyong! Now we just have to go back to the drawing board for names. It took us forever to come up with Jackson...



Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Sunday, October 10, 2010

BFFFB

It's not often Jackson gets to hang out with his pre-ordained Best Friend Forever from Birth, but it seems ridiculous that it doesn't happen more often. Our friends Scott and Ashley's son Thomas is about four months younger than Jackson, but we're finally getting to the point where that isn't too important. I went over to watch the Texans get annihilated on Scott's humongous TV, and Thomas and Jackson immediately hit it off. Thomas wasn't too thrilled about me until I pulled the camera out.



They snacked, they shared, they played with Thomas's awesome toys, and they talked to the dog. Thomas enjoyed putting blocks in his mouth and banging them with other blocks.



They played nicely until a play laptop got involved. Then Thomas pushed Jackson and tears began - their first fight.



Afterwards, Jackson and I met up with Mommy at Willie's Texas Roadhouse. Two firsts happened there - we bought Jackson his own meal and it was the first time we let him just play in a sandbox instead of eating. He loves sandboxes but please do not buy us one.

D is for Everything

As we've discussed before, Jackson likes doors and saying "door." It was his gateway word to book (which still sounds like "dook") and car ("dar") and Dad. What's funny is that this love has interacted with his love for Wheel of Fortune. Now, whenever Wheel of Fortune is on, not only is Jackson mesmerized, he also randomly yells out suggestions for the players. His suggestion is always "D!" I took this video to capture this but Jackson of course did not perform on cue. (Of course, he did it right before the video was shot.) Instead of seeing this, you can just watch how much he loves the Wheel and then how he suddenly loses his balance.



Speaking of D, we said a D-word ourselves this week when Jackson discovered he can now open doors. We knew it was inevitable, but now we have to apply those plastic childproof things to every doorknob. D'oh.

Stunt Puppy

We were shopping at Claire's the other night (on our date because that's how we roll) and we found this little $3 stuffed dog. We showed it to Jackson Friday, but he apparently was waiting until Saturday to fall in love.



Now Jackson loves dragging his dog along with him everywhere. We named him Tiptoe because Jackson loves whispering "tip toe" as he walks around, thanks to the We're Going on a Bear Hunt book. Today we went to Essence House Cafe for breakfast while Mommy works, and he fed Tiptoe some of his toast.



Jackson's puppy is apparently subject to the rules of our house. Whenever Ruffles or Schuley try to eat Jackson's discarded food from his chair or from the table, we tell them to get down. Jackson here attempts to feed Tiptoe then chastises him by repeating "down" incessantly. Or maybe he's saying dog, or dawn, or d'oh. You be the judge.



I figured this would be a good time to show him how to treat puppies gently, but he still needs some practice.

Cheese and Fashion

Jackson is now seventeen months, and he's so busy running around becoming his own person that we are trying to keep up with him, which makes it difficult to keep up with the blog. But now's a quiet moment with him asleep, so here's a little glimpse of Jackson as he is this weekend. He decided to dress himself yesterday morning. He already had on a lovely pajama bottom and orange shirt (from Friday) ensemble thanks to Daddy, but he decided to complement the outfit with his new Adidas Jacket and a swim diaper hat.


Once the camera came out, we saw how he has learned to smile. There were pictures at school this week, so I imagine there was some training there. His natural smile began morphing to this -



Then this -


Jackson usually hates hats, but lately he's been bringing me mine a lot, so this diaper on the head may actually be indicative of our son finally embracing hats. Today he tried to stretch a sock over his head.



Check out the back of his awesome Adidas jacket and be envious. We love Once Upon A Child (but we hate the website's music and apologize for linking to it).