The Houston Zoo with Gracielita

A few weeks ago, we went and played at the zoo with one of Jackson's little friends. They are adorable together!

Bye Bye "Ms. Ita"

Today Jackson had to say bye to his favorite teacher Ms. Lalita ("Ms. Ita"). I have never seen Jackson so sad.  When Ms. Ita explained that she wouldn't be there tomorrow Jackson said, "I will stay home tomorrow." It was hard to watch. He cried. 

On the way home Jackson randomly said, "It's okay to cry." We said it depends on why. It's not okay to cry if you want to go outside and we said it was time to bed. Then we tried to explain times when it would be okay to cry. He busts out crying. We told him he couldn't just cry, but he had to also talk and tell us why he was crying. He said, "I am crying because I want my teacher back."

I have a feeling it's going to be a while before he's back to himself again. He doesn't adjust to new people at school well and Ms. Lalita will be hard to replace. He's been in her class for most of his life that he can remember.

As I type this post, I can hear him in the bathroom with his Daddy talking about it. Oh goodness. It breaks my heart.

Busted

Jackson never really tried to climb out of things. He still sleeps with a baby gate on his bedroom door. He has never tried to get past it. Ben, is the opposite. Anywhere you put him, he will try to get out of it. We call his baby fence the Ben Pen. It was around the Christmas tree most recently, but we started fixing it so it's around the Christmas tree and keeps him out of the kitchen. He doesn't want any part of it. He literally will climb partially up the fence... we're in trouble.

Benjamin Parker - 10 Months

(pics to come...seriously...)

Baby Ben. You are becoming less and less of a baby every day. You can now stand on your own for short spurts. You have a tooth. You love playing with "big boy" toys way more than you want to play with your own toys.

You are still the baby of two extremes. You are either sooo happy (usually) or sooooo mad. You are already silly like your brother. You all just laugh at each other. It's very cute. Speaking of Jackson, he loves you more and more every day. Although he did kick you in the face today, he also gave you tons of hugs and kisses and brought you lots of toys. We have come to the realization that you are being raised by your 2 year old brother as much as us...maybe more.

You are our monkey climber. You can actually partially climb up the baby gate. You just had to get to that gold glittery ball ornament... You love being outside. You loving swinging. You also love playing silly little games with Mommy. You like to stand on her lap. She counts one, two, three (you bounce on your own each time) and then on three "jumps" you up. You LOVE it and really anticipate it each time.

You are more and more of a little person each day. We love you!