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Showing posts from December, 2008

Who?

Animal impersonations to add to the list: Owl Santa

Tiny Hellos

Jackson has learned his first joke. It began on the way to the airport to pick up Sylvie. In the dark, from the back seat I hear: "mama?" so quietly.... Then... "Mama?" "Ma-Ma!" "MAMA!" I turn around in my seat... "Yes, Jack?" "hi." he grins back, so very pleased with himself. Of course, we also find this very funny and laugh as his tiny hellos are just adorable and so cheeky. He repeats the joke with Eric as well. He repeats it all the way to the airport and on the way back. He repeats it on the two hour drive to Fort Smith. And even now, every morning before school.... "Ma-Ma?" "MAMA!" "Yes, Jack?" "hi," he says turning his head to the side. So tiny and soft and just out of the side of his smile. Like a child's first well-worn knock-knock joke, he has practiced it, tested it, perfected it, and he thinks it is funny every time. Even after hours, no, days of repetition he still finds...

Yes, Mam

I think in almost every family the first grandchild dictates the Official Naming of the Grandparents. On Jackson's paternal side the naming was dictated by now 4-year-old Davis - and thus Nonnie and Papaw were born. On my side, Jackson is still working on it. My mother considered Gram for her name and my father requested Granddaddy. You can put in a request, but sometimes the DJ just doesn't want to play your song. Upon each visit with my parents, we faithfully use the labels Gram and Granddaddy. I am also loyal to their requests when reviewing photos with Jackson. "That's you and Gram," I say. "There's your Granddaddy," I point out. During our most recent trip - for Christmas - the Official Naming of the Grandparents' opening ceremonies began. Like any child, Jackson has his verbal moments where he suddenly has agreed to do all his tricks and perform for the crowd. (Fortunately, these moments are bountiful with our little lion.) While the window...

Bonk

This morning before school Jackson and I read a very detailed animal book from Aunty Debry. It has tiny flaps that he very much enjoys pulling back to discover various creatures. He can now tell you what a squirrel says as well as an armadillo. Let's just say the squirrel is rather cute....the armadillo...not so much.

Roll Call

Every day, multiple times a day Jackson takes roll. His attendance list mostly consists of Mama and Dada. Sometimes he includes himself. But it is most important to check in on the key players and their current locales. He does this when we are playing, snuggling, bathing, talking on the phone, etc. Our conversations typically run like this: Dada? He's at work. Mama? I'm right here with you. Dada? He's still at work. Mama? She's with Jackson. Dada? He's at work. He'll be right back. Mama? She's right here. Dawg!

Parent-Speak

Actual sentences Eric and I now say to each other on a regular basis: What did you do with the bwvah-bwvah? How many poops today? Did you A&D his face? Daddy, we need some M-I-L-K. (Insert eithor of our names here)! Help! I need help! There's poop! he's touching the poop!

Always and Nevers

Yesterday, when I arrived at Jackson's school for his first parent-teacher conference, I was early and Jackson spotted me in the hallway. Well, once you've been spotted there's no going back so I joined him on the floor while I waited for the apt. As the new grown-up in the room, I was smothered with babies. Jackson sat in my lap and all the children rushed forward with comments, gestures, smiles, toys and silliness. Sweet Bella, Jackson's almost twin, came forward to sit on Jackson's lap (while he was sitting in mine). Blond -haired Dane brought a toy truck that did entertaining things. Tiny Sawyer brought us a Sesame Street piano that no longer worked. But that didn't matter as all the children pressed the various keys and knobs and levers while I held it out. What surprised me the most, was my ability to understand them. Jackson has schooled me in toddler speak, so when each little face would grunt out a syllable I knew exactly what they were trying to commun...

Double the Words

While they are not quite ready for dissecting, they are definitely declarative statements. Jackson has begun to string his words together. The latest to be knitted are " nack na-na " and "mama night-night." Both involve a lot of directional finger pointing, a facial expression that seems to say "are you people getting this?" and are equally adorable.

Cute Things #332 and #217

#332: After a long day of school and playing with mom and dad, Jackson will take his bath, get in his pjs and ask for the large cushion on the big red chair. He will point to it and say "night-night." So I will put it down on the floor for him and he will put his head on the pillow and take a little rest. Sometimes he will put his whole little self on it to rest. Sometimes I will rest my head on it too and he'll put his face next to mine to quietly rest and cuddle. It's probably one of my most favorite things to do. I hope to cuddle him extensivley until he squirms away from me and into teenageness. It's so much harder to keep boys cuddly. I feel like I'm investing in his cuddle-future. #217: When there is something very dangerous for Jackson not to touch, we will point to it and say "no-no." For example, we point to the Christmas tree, say how pretty it is and fragile and that the lights are so colorful but also "HOT!" So every now and the...

60

My father turns 60 this week. A milestone. He decided to spend it with us in Tulsa. He and mom drove into town for the weekend and we celebrated with struedel, singing, candles that wouldn't blow out and an ORU/ULAR basketball game. It was also that perfect beginning-of-the-holidays time when down come the boxes of Christmas decorations and out come the twinkling lights and oh...here come the hideous yard decorations across the street. But this year.... ...we have a tiny little man in the house that looooves all hideous holiday deocrations. We took Jax across the street to see the giant snowman, huge snowglobe and Snoopy in a bi-plane. Also included in the hodge-podge display was a spiral Christmas tree and two moving, white, lit reindeer - to which Jackson "moo-ed" at this morning on the way to school. I guess one might confuse them with cows. We also did some Christmas shopping and our kitchen turned into a cookie-making factory with mom sprinkling, filling and baking ...

A Man of More Words

Adding to the list: Turkey The Girls Snack (only he says it: nack) Lilly Coat Moon Vac (for vacuum) room-room (broom) Can you tell he has a thing for cleaning?

Wild Thing

Last week, when picking up Jackson from school his teacher asked me if he had a book with animals. I wanted to laugh outloud. Are you kidding? He brings me one of his many animal books to read on a regular basis. We've got wild animals, barnyard animals, flamingos, frogs - he loves them all. She seemed relieved to know he was adequately supplied with pages of animals. "He loves animals," she said. "He does the sounds for animals all the time." That's my boy. You need a cow sound? done. A monkey? taken care of. A fish? did it last week. A lizard? he's on it. An elephant? he's got it wrapped up. Horse? Sheep? Lion? Snake? Bunny? no need to go to the zoo. You can hear it all in Jackson's room.

Stirred Up

Jackson has always been a fan of food. Almost all food. In fact, the only thing he didn't eat was baby-food-peas. So it goes hand-in-hand that he also loves to cook. Who would think that stirring could move someone so much? I was cooking a stew and while the vegetables and broth were heating up, I let him hold the large spon and stir the pot. He was so thrilled he paused to look at me with such astonishment mid-stir. After a good stir or two, he was ready to taste and let mama taste, too. Next, we moved on to making a dip. I have a tiny blender and once everything was set up (during which Jackson was intently observing) I let him press the button to make it work. He was ecstatic. He also relished every minute of putting chopped beets and potatoes into the pot. He is a very good helper and during the prep work he asissted with getting out pots and pans and cookie sheets. The best part was when he paused to turn his head toward me with a big smile as if to say, "Are you seeing t...

Birthday Wishes

A few weeks ago we headed home to my parents to celebrate my birthday. To top it all off my best friend flew in and was able to spend time with us, Jackson, the girls (who JAckson now officially calls "The Grrls" and new baby Ian. Jackson fell in love with the dog bed, blowing bubbles in water glasses and playing with Debbie. All while taking sterioids for a slight wheeze and drops for an ear infection. He is a trooper. My mother made the most incredible meal ever. With butternut squash, asparagus, and an incredible salad with homemade dressing. Debbie and I got a bit competitive over the squash. But we're still friends. It was so nice to have everyone around and for Debbie to see Jack now that he is becoming more of himself. She hadn't seen him since he was 8 weeks old. I hope someday we can all live close by for Sunday dinners.