Family Fun

Last Friday, Corey and I took the day off work to spend exta time with Jackson.  We kicked off the day by heading into Seattle and making a pit stop at his old daycare.  While we enjoyed seeing his old teachers and catching up, J decided to cry and fuss if we got him too near his teachers - not sure if he just didn't remember them, or if he thought we were going to leave him, but super sad nonetheless since we know he loved them.  Hopefully none of them took it too personally.

 

Then we headed over to the Seattle Center to catch the fountains and music that J used to love so much when his teachers took the kiddos there in the past. 

 

And finally, we hit up the Children's Museum.  We'd never been but had heard great things about it and were excited to check it out.  Jackson had so much fun crawling through the log and whale tunnels, playing in the water and checking all the fun toys and rooms out.  Such a great place.

  

We dropped Corey back at home so he could enjoy a weekend to himself, and J and I made our way to Yakima to see my family (but not before following this deer out of our neighborhood!).  We hadn't been since April so it was great to be back and to enjoy some hot, dry heat. 

 

We stopped at my dad's work on our way into town and J was caused quite the scene upon arrival.  I looked up at one point and there were about 15 women gathered around. Apparently he has a way with the ladies already.  Perhaps it was his shy, serious looks, or maybe it was the fact that he was having a ball digging through my purse, pulling everything out and putting it all back repeatedly.  Eventually we made it past the lobby and my dad hooked him up with some fun toys in his office.  J was in heaven.

 

While in town, we were able to see my grandma a few times, including once for dinner at her place.  As you can see, Jackson hated dessert.

 

 

With temperatures in the upper 90's, what better way to cool down than playing with a hose?  I think my dad had almost as much fun as J, and he loved having a partner in crime to explore the yard with.

 

Jackson can sometimes be shy around my parents, not wanting to give them hugs or kisses, but he couldn't get enought of my mom this time around.  He even wanted her to read him her Reader's Digest, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was sharing a room with the little guy.  I got to watch him sleep for a few moments before crawling into bed myself, which is something I never get to do for fear of waking him up, and he was oh so cute in his quiet, peaceful state. And the best part was in the mornings, I would hear rustling and then a little head would pop up over the side of his Pack 'n Play, with a big smile.

 

And you can't consider a weekend fun-filled unless you're completely worn out on the drive home.

 

Our Helper

Something was up with J over the weekend - he came down with a 101 degree temperature, and though he didn't really act extra fussy or sick, he was extra sleepy and didn't eat much.  (Today his bottom gums seem really swollen and you can feel something under the skin, so I think he's getting a molar on each side.)  But anyway, he still had a fever on Monday a.m. so we had to keep him home from daycare.  We both worked from home so we could tag team, allowing us each to get as much work done as possible.

Later in the afternoon, I wrapped up work for the time being and was playing with Jackson.  All of a sudden, Jackson got up, ran over to where we keep our shoes, grabbed my shoes and delivered them to me, grabbed Corey's shoes and delivered them, and then ran over and pointed at where we keep the mail key --- even though we weren't on our normal "getting home from daycare schedule" where he hands me my shoes and we grab the keys after we get home, he realized it was the afternoon and that it was time to check the mail.  It was so cute; we both couldn't help but quickly put our shoes on and head outside.

And here are a few other recent stories that I just have to share:

As I think I've mentioned, Jackson's favorite book is 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus'.  There's a part in the book where the pigeon says 'uh oh' after the bus driver returns from being away.  I was reading him the book a few days ago and right as I got to that page, before I could even get the 'uh oh' out of my own mouth, I hear a little voice say 'UH OH!'  He has officially read the book so many times that he knows the EXACT second to say the magic word (which happens to be one of his favorite words...in hindsight, perhaps it's because of the book).

Any time he seems to be on the verge of a tantrum when he doesn't want to do something we need him to (put the book away, put the ball back, etc), we've learned a few ways to help avoid a full blown freak out.  One way is asking Jackson to "help" do whatever it is we want him to do (i.e. "can you help put the ball back?", or "can you help me put the book back on the shelf?")  As silly as it sounds, we then say, "okay let's say goodbye to the ball" or "tell the book bye bye".  For some reason, involving him in helping us and then saying bye to whatever it is we want him to put away/stop doing typically solves the issue.  Pretty silly, but it seems to work.

He and I were playing in his room and I literally left for no more than 10 seconds to get something from the bathroom.  When I came back, he wasn't in the spot on his floor that I'd left him in.  I quickly scanned his room and found him sitting in his glider (the right way, with his back up against the back of the chair) flipping through a book.  He glanced up at me, grinned, and went right back to his book.  It was adorable.

In other news, Jackson and I headed to Yakima this past weekend - I'll post pics and a recap soon, so stay tuned!

And, after making you read all that, I better leave you with a recent photo of the munchkin.

Splish, splash



Hot weather means J's been able to get a few good uses out of his pool.  And he doesn't even seem to care that the water is freezing.  All that matters is that he has toys he can throw in the pool and then throw out of the pool.

J's First Ride



We tried to find a toy Jackson could use outside that we could push him around the neighborhood in, but after trying this out in the house initially, I'm not sure it'll make it out there.  He loves this thing...almost daily, right when we get home, he runs to it with his sippy cup and snack in hand, and sits in there while enjoying his treats.  He hasn't figured out how to move forward on his own...just backwards.  But he does love getting in, shutting the door, getting out, shutting the door and repeating this cycle over and over. 

Inside or out, this was definitely money well spent.

No, no!

Jackson came home from daycare with a new trick yesterday and it's hilarious!  We don't do this, so this must be what they do at daycare when the kiddos are doing something naughty.

Busy Bees

It's been over two weeks since my last blog post - I'm horrible! 

The truth is, we've been having all kinds of fun this summer, and have been enjoying this fabulous weather and I haven't been on my computer much outside of work.

During my blogging hiatus, we've been to the park numerous times (Ebright Creek and Pine Lake), to the Issaquah and Sammamish Farmers' Markets, played in the pool, enjoyed BBQs with friends, gone on family runs...pretty much anything that get us outside in the sun.  Corey and I also celebrated our anniversary with a FABULOUS dinner at John Howie and have also spent a ton of time being lazy and relaxing in the sun during Jackson's afternoon marathon nap sessions.  We're loving life! 

Here are a few photos to tide you over until I post a few recent videos later this week.

 Enjoying the new handbag daddy bought mommy at the Nordy's sale. 

 We've got quite the helper on our hands - he loves to help us do anything, including grocery shop.  Here he is, checking out some corn on the cob for the first time.

Drinking and driving in his new car...I guess we have some things to teach him before he gets to be of (alcoholic) drinking age.

Cooling off with a dip in the pool. 

From his expression, you wouldn't know that he absolutely LOVES to read.  But trust me...he does.  Many tantrums have been thrown when we don't immediately drop whatever we're doing at a given moment to read the book he's brought to us.  

Playground fun. 

Dinner at John Howie to celebrate our 4th anniversary - delicious!