Valentine's Day

Jackson loves balloons. Every time we go to the grocery store he frantically points at all the shiny balloons at the check out line. It was a no-brainer what to get him for Valentine's Day!  It was much harder to get a picture of him with the balloon, though! I chased both of them around the house and finally captured him during breakfast. 

 Sometimes just knowing it is Valentine's Day makes you so exhausted two hours after getting up that you must lay down on the living room floor and rest.  

 This day is the day to tell everyone how much you love them, by using mom's iPhone and Siri to voice dial loved ones.  

 My (littlest) Valentine

Best Friends

I keep mentioning my friends Mary and Val because I am so grateful that I am walking through motherhood with them. God put them in my life at just the right moment to be such an encouragement and now we are starting to see that our kids are becoming friends as well. We have "silent J" as we now call him, so he just waves and grins when he sees his buds. They call him Jackson! :) It's precious.

We also babysit for each other back and forth when we have appointments or other things to attend to. Here are some pictures from our recent playdate/babysitting afternoon.  

Sofi enjoying the rocker

it's hard to get many pictures of Ellie because she moves too fast!

These two are little balls of energy!

Best friends

Haha, I know! Isn't that so funny?! 

Love

Sharing a snack

And lest we forget J's true best bud, Lincoln. Jackson's new favorite skill is opening the door (once I turn the handle) to let Lincoln in and closing it behind him. He has even figured out how to move out of the way so he doesn't get knocked over!  

When you are 15 months, it's time to go to your first cheer competition

When Jackson turned one, I got out of the habit of wrestling him into the chair to take his monthly picture. I thought we could set a goal to do some every 3 months for this coming year, so here are his 15 month shots! Next lesson to teach Jackson...how to look at the camera

My cousins Hana and Libby have lived in VA Beach for the past few years but we have had so much trouble finding time to get together. They just had a cheer competition at the TED across the street from our house in Norfolk, and of course we were there to 'cheer' them on. Jackson LOVED looking at  all the glitter, big hair and bows. He seemed to enjoy bouncing to the music and stared at the stage for each performance. Don't get any ideas about flirting with cheerleaders...you are way too young, too young :)

 The girls are SO talented and it was great to finally see them cheer in person. They can throw double back tuck roundoff spring flip things like no one else! 

Hana (left) and Libby between routines

J's new favorite things

Mom commented that there have not been many good (or many at all) pictures of little J man recently. Part of it is because he loves our phones and I try to stay detached from it as much as possible (it's the easiest camera to grab, however). Part of it is because he moves too fast and we can't get pictures that aren't blurry. Here are some shots from the last few weeks of Jackson doing what he loves:

Lounging in PJs all day, eating cheerios on the couch (although this has to stop as we begin to encourage him to eat in the kitchen only)

Assume a deep squat position to play with dinosaurs

Stay naked after a bath and read books on the floor. He grabbed some Berenstein bears and I thought we were finally going to read some new books, but alas, it was very temporary. We're back to "Spot's First Christmas", "Dr. Seuss A-Z" and "Brown Bear Brown Bear". He is definitely a reader and it makes me so excited to exchange many kids books at the library each week. 

 Story time with dad. He really loves when dad reads Dr. Seuss A-Z and likes to see if dad can keep up with the fast page turning!

 Playtime with Lincoln

Trucks, Cars and Airplanes. 

Reading, in every room of the house, all the time. Some new ones we love: Dancing Feet; Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime; 10 Fat Turkeys; Tumble Bumble.  

 Lizzy Kay Sabin, his new favorite friend. They play together in church nursery and have frequent play dates at our houses. She pats his head, gives him hugs and he shares snacks and pushes her in the wagon. What a gentleman. We hope that Jackson will choose to date such kind girls when he gets older.  

Bathtime! Bring on the splashing! J loves trying the grab the water from the faucet and playing with his boat bath toys.  

With all the happiness also comes one of Jackson's new favorite things, throwing tantrums. We have had to do time out several times so far and are talking through other disciplinary actions that will be part of our household.  He is a pretty easygoing child but he really tends to fall apart at meal times, all of them, every day. A little bit of thrashing and crying in the pack n play never hurt any child, so that is where he might spend a considerable amount of time in the coming months. Stay tuned

The Serious Side of Jackson

From day one, our little guy has been very serious. He's quite the thinker and has started to master twisting lids, building bigger towers with larger things and using Siri on our phones to text and call various people (sorry!)  We love watching him study objects and see how they work. 

I love how he works with such intensity (and the exact same body positioning) when he plays with ducks in the bath and when he devours frozen berries and oatmeal. 

Who shall I root for? 49ers or Ravens?

And finally, he has started to understand the concept of the phone and like all things in life, he takes his phone calls very seriously!  He doesn't want to miss a word!