the latest on JACK.

guess it's been a while since i gave an adequate update on the little jackal and i'm pretty sure it's due, because this kid is growing and changing every day. seriously. (do you care about this? do you care about ANYTHING i blog anymore? i never get comments and it's bumming me out. come on stalkers, say hello!)

so, here's a list of jack's current faves, in no particular order.

[mom and jack on our sunday walk in the crazy-thick forest behind our house. i kept expecting an ewok or sasquatch to pop out. washington topography is the coolest.]

[jack and grammie at ONT]

a. CLIMBING

the stairs have been a fave for a while. he used to only climb the three stairs in our complex hallway, the five stairs to the stage at church, and the concrete stairs at a nearby park (jack highly prefers crawling on concrete vs. grass, what a silly boy) but when we stayed with my parents he went bananas for stairs. we spent time evvvvery day going up and down their stairs and now he's a pro. he's also started climbing on other stuff -- i catch him trying to heave himself up onto the ottoman or the couch once in a while. i'm terrified of what's to come.

b. WALKING

which leads us to walking. no, he is not walking on his own yet, thank you for asking. but he loooves to walk, holding on to us with one or both hands. one day last week we went for a "nature walk" (i.e. i let him guide us without a predetermined purpose, rather than letting him "guide" us as i led him to the mailbox or the dumpster. multi tasking at it's finest, people.) and he walked all over, checking out rocks and dirt and trees. it was a blast. tonight we practiced letting him walk unassisted between me and b, and he rocked it, so i'm pretty sure real walking is right around the corner.

[jack with aunt rachie at the family reunion]

[playing with emmy at church in california -- long distance bffs]

c. MAKING FRIENDS

jack is my best friend-making tool. because of him, i have an automatic in with the other moms at church, the library, the park, etc. and i am happy to exploit that.

however, today at church he was a holy terror (ZERO naps today, that's a first) and despite his frequent freak-outs i was able to meet some lovely potential friends -- so hooray for that! (hopefully they don't think i'm a crazy horrible mother after watching me laugh helplessly at his tantrums, because that's really the only reaction i'm capable of.)

(side note: i haven't paid attention in church for one single moment in more than two months and i'm pretty sure it's not getting better for another five. i used to abhor the nursery because i'm a germophobe but seriously -- after days like today -- i say bring on the germs. puke/runny nose/etc has GOT to be better than trying to wrangle a sweaty screaming writhing feral cat parading as my baby for three hours each week.)

d. NOT EATING

he still has a great adventuresome appetite -- he'll try anything i give him, at least for a few bites -- but getting the kid to finish a meal is a major chore. he hasn't gone down in weight percentile but he's not really going up either, so i'm trying to fatten him up. sometimes i resort to letting him watch mickey mouse clubhouse or yo gabba gabba during a meal because i can shovel more food in while he's distracted. it's a work in progress.

e. TALKING

jack has a couple "words" that could kind of count as talking -- boy words like truck and go and bear and wow -- but mostly he communicates through grunts. he makes the funniest excited noises when he sees something he wants, it makes me laugh every time. he has also starting singing, humming little notes while we drive in the car or while he plays with toys. guess he's taking after his daddy. [more proof of this: jack already wears 18 - 24 mo. shoes.]

he'll also wave on demand, and squint his eyes at you if you do it to him. mimicking is my new favorite pasttime; we can go back and forth with various facial expressions for hours.

f. ENTERTAINMENT

jack loves his toys [a wooden train set from ikea and ANY ball or remote are always faves] but the first thing he usually goes for is a book. he loves books. loves pulling them off the shelves, turning their pages, pointing out pictures with me, listening to us read to him, yanking on the pages. there's really no other way i'd have it -- i LOVE books too and i'm happy to see him fascinated by them already. i hope he develops a love for reading and continues that through his whole life.

also, if you hand him a pen, he automatically starts "writing" with it on any surface. this is a big reminder that i need to keep caps on pens at all times. i've also started letting him watch a little TV each day. he grabs a remote and points it at the TV and pushes buttons -- so observant. he loves hearing ANY music and will usually dance to it, so i pick shows with good tunes. or sometimes i pull up 80s music videos and we watch those instead. gotta make sure he knows the classics, am i right?

life with jack is pretty wild these days -- i'm equal parts thrilled + overwhelmed to see his little [oh-so-strong-willed and passionate] personality come through more and more all the time. i love spending my days with that crazy monkey.