Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2012!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to stay local since we'll be back in WI for Christmas.  We had a lovely time relaxing and visiting friends. 
On Thanksgiving, we went to Jackie and Jim's house (Amanda's future sister and brother-in-law) to celebrate.  We had a great group of 23 people, amazing food, a Packer win, and a topple by Jackson out of his booster seat onto his forehead (he was shaken, but fine).  The highlight for mommy was holding Jackie and Jim's new baby Connor, and the (positive) highlight for Jackson was doing Ring around the Rosie with two little girls at least 15 times. 

On Friday, Daddy worked so Mommy and Jackson met Daddy for lunch and then we went to the Children's Museum. 

On Saturday, we headed an hour and a half away to Newtown, PA for an overnight with the Paschs.  It was an unseasonably mild day in the 60s so we spent lots of time outside.  Jackson loved riding in the car with Wyatt at the pedal. 



A mish mash

As usual, I'm really behind in posts and this time don't have a fabulous reason.  So, here I present you with a mish mash of Jackson over the past month or so. 

Climbing at the DE Children's Museum

Doing some business in daddy's new office

Jackson and Joe playing in the leaves.

Watching Sesame Street for the first time

Like son, like daddy

Grocery shopping at Trader Joes' this weekend

Encountering mannequins for the first time

A very stoic Pop Goes the Weasel

Fall walk

In mid-November, we took a nice autumn walk through Brandywine Park so wanted to share a few photos.  More photos here.

21 month update (and a haircut)

21 months - pre-haircut

Weight: 33 lbs

Length: 34.25 inches (ok, technically when mommy measured me it was 33.75 inches, but 3 months ago the dr said I was 34.25 inches)

My Likes: Hiting the balloon with my soft bat, going up and down the stairs alone, taking a bath, going into the fridge to find "cheez" or "melk", going "ouside", my "yaya (iPad)", Buzz, Elmo, sitting on mommy or daddy's lap while they are at the computer, Skpe with grandparents (I cry when the call is over), having mommy read me books, telling mommy and dady to "walk" and then pulling them to the ground, tackling daddy with a football,

Why do you think it's time for a haircut?

My Dislikes:  I hate having my diaper changed (some things never change).  At the same time, I'm very reluctant to sit on the potty even if it means I could wear "undies."  I still get mad when mommy tells me no and I've started biting again.  I also don't like having my food cut into small pieces - I'll take it whole, thankyouverymuch.  Getting my haircut. 

Post-hair cut.  Mommy didn't have the heart to go short.

My Words: Lots of words, but haven't yet put two words together.  I'm finally saying mama a lot and dada has become daddy!  I like to point out the window and say "outside."  Mama and daddy like to make me say Buzz, fish, poon (spoon or fork) because of how I enunciate.  And I've just started to say "no" as well.

Trips: Mommy and daddy have been doing all the traveling lately!  If I'm lucky, I get to Target.

Looking forward to in the next few months: Whirlwind trip to WI for Christmas and New Years.  Mommy also told me that I'll be in the Bahamas in April with mommy & daddy and Grandma and Grandpa Porter so I'm trying to get my belly ready for the beach.

First soccer lesson

Last weekend we wrapped up swim lessons and this weekend we started soccer lessons! Well, "lessons" may be a bit too structured, but it was at the indoor soccer arena and was for kids ages 18-35 months. Jackson loved it (and so did daddy!)

First, he started just kicking balls around the field.  He's not too bad given how much he plays with balls and balloons at home. 

Then we set up cups so they had a target to aim at.  He LOVED kicking the cups down. 

There were non-soccer ball games in the middle, including throwing nerf frisbees into the goals, running ladders and rolling the giant soccer ball around.

The session ends with what else?  Bubble time!  Jackson has finally gotten the hang of blowing his own bubbles.

 This was one tuckered out little boy!  More pictures here!

 

Jackson's crib

I've always meant to post pictures of what Jackson's room looks like (and maybe I already have and just don't remember?), but here is a tour of Jackson's crib.  It's a mis-mash of sports, transportation, books and retro colors.

New baseball decals compliments of Grandma Honey

Boozer has his own jersey!

Planes, wagons, scooters & trikes!

Nightstand painted by Grandma Porter

Halloween fun

Halloween this year was over the course of 2 days and 3 different events.  On the Friday before Halloween, my office threw a Halloween party so Jackson and daddy came up to Philly and went trick-or-treating around the office. 

This year Jackson was Bamm Bamm (to match his personality and hair) and his great costume was made by Grandma Honey, complete with a soft club.

After the trick-or-treating, we went to hang out in the lounge on my floor and Jackson attempted to scale City Hall.

On Saturday, we carved a pumpkin and named him "Silly Billy."

On Halloween, daddy went to Jackson's Halloween party at school. 

 

Then, Jackson changed into his Superman costume and the boys went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with some of our neighbors.

More pictures can be found here!

Jackson & Colin

Jackson and his buddy Colin show off their silly side on the horse at daycare.  Note that Jackson is wearing a sweatshirt that daddy wore when he was around Jack's age!

Fall weekend

It was a very busy week with mommy in NYC and Daddy in Orlando (thankfully not at the same time), but it was all worth it to get to the cool, crisp fall weekend that we had planned.

On Saturday morning, we went down to the riverfront for our first Alzheimer's Walk.  It was a great way to raise money and get some exercise.  We carried our purple flower in rememberance of Great Grandpa Amundson who passed away over 15 years ago from that terrible disease.

In the evening, Miss Jenny came to babysit Jackson so we could meet up with some friends to have dinner and watch the Badger game.  It was certainly a less then optimal outcome however!

Nick and Kristen came down from NYC and were staying with us, so on Sunday we took a grand walking tour of Wilmington and then went to the playground.  4.5 hours later we were back home and ready to watch the beginning of the Packer game before they had to head back home.

Next weekend will be Halloween so will have to carve our pumpkin soon!

Jackson's golden locks

Down the big slide all by himself

Loving the "wee"

Nick, daddy, Booser and Kristen

Batter up!

Anyone need some mulch?

Swinging with daddy

Joe and Jackson

Jackson has his first best friend - Joe!  Joe is the 6 year old neighbor and Jackson cannot get enough of him.  They love to play ball together (well, I actually think Joe likes to play with Adam and Jack likes to get in the way).  When we pull into the driveway, Jackson points at his house and says "Joe."  When Jackson is eating dinner, he points to the picture on the fridge and says "Joe."  And here they play a duet on the piano at brunch one morning.  Joe is such a good buddy to Jackson and has the patience of a saint!

Student of the week

Look who is Student of the Week for his "sharing and kindness!"  Of course all the kids will have this honor, but Jackson was the first!  Notes from school recently have him coming out of his shell more and more and holding hands and dancing with McKenzie. 



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pouts & Potty

Jackson got his first "big boy" potty seat this week and we put him on it on Saturday to see what he thought.  I purposely bought the one that goes in the toilet thinking it would be much easier to clean up for us, and that he would like being up there where mommy and daddy sit when he busts into the bathroom. He also loves to point to his "willy" (Daddy's word) when I'm chaning his diaper and say "pensssss" (Mommy's word), so he's definitely aware of it.  However, he was less than thrilled about being on the big boy potty, so it was back to amazon.com to find him a froggy floor potty.  To be continued......

Eggcelent

Last Fridy I took Jackson to the allergist for an "egg challenge" to see if he was still allergic to egg whites.  You take a piece of french toast and they cut it into 9 pieces which they give to him over the period of 2 hours to see if there is any reaction.  He was a great boy during the visit, playing with the toys in the waiting room and then sitting and watching Toy Story 3 on the iPad.  At one point, he got really tired, laid down on the floor with his dee-dee and started snoring.  5 minutes later, he stood straight up and started to play again.  The best part was that he did not have an allergic reaction and is now in the clear to eat egg whites.  The next morning I gave him scrambled eggs, which he promptly spit out.  So much for a different source of protein!

Honey & G-Pop to the rescue!

What do you do when both mommy and daddy have to travel overnight for work at the same time?  You call grandparents!  This time it was Honey and G-Pop to the rescue so mommy could go to Dallas and daddy could go to Miami in mid-Sept.

They flew in on a Saturday and we drove down to the beach and spent two nights in Rehoboth.  We had lots of fun on the beach and boardwalk and eating crazy ice cream flavors like Mt. Dew.

Then it was back to Wilmington and off to work.  When the next weekend rolled around, we took a trip to the orchard - the same one we took Auntie Andra to last year.  Jack fed the goats and went on a hay ride for the first time.

There are always more pictures here!