Too-ha! **updated with more words!

Sorry it has been a while since we wrote last. Life has been BUSY! This is the Summer of Weddings. Most of you kow that 4 of my girlfriends are getting married this year and I am a bridesmaid in 3 of those weddings, and am doing a reading in the forth. So between Wedding Showers, Bachelorette Parties and the weddings in general my mind has been everywhere! One of the most exciting things coming up for us is that one of the weddings we are going to is in Scotland! Yep, that's right, that little place located in the United Kingdom! My girlfriend Marisa whom I met when I was working in Boston moved out there, fell in love and the rest is history. She asked that if we could swing the trip she would love for me to be in her wedding. How could I say no?! What an amazing opportunity!

We are so very excited- but nervous at the same time. This will be by far the longest I have ever been away from Jackson. We've done a few overnights, but that is it. This trip will keep us away for a whole week. While we are gone he will be staying with my parents, so I know he will be in excellent hands. But I still worry. Of course these past few weeks he has decided to become incredibly clingy with me. He can't stand it if I even leave the room for a moment. This makes dropping him off at my sisters while I work a challenge; even going out as a family to parties it takes him a while before he realizes I'm not going to leave him. I just hope that us leaving him for so long won't hurt him too badly. I have to make myself remain positive or I will drive myself crazy and not want to go. But we have already bought our plane tickets; reserved our hotel room and I even have my bridesmaid dress- no backing out now! But it will be good for Scott and I. With our opposite work schedules and me being so busy with all this wedding stuff our time together has been limited. We see each other for a quick kiss hello and a kiss goodnight (usually when one of us has already been sleeping!) and that is about it. The trip will be a lovely time to catch up on us.


Aside from wedding stuff we have been having so much fun with little man. He grows more and more every single day! Jackson has really been moving along on the development train. He can climb up on the couch and chair and get down all by himself and he us sooooo super fast going up the stairs. This second part freaks me out a bit since he doesn't know how to get down quite yet. I have to remember to leave the door to the attic closed or he is running up them! His talking is also coming much more quickly. Just the other day he said two new words in the same day! He has a few favorites, but so far these are his words:
Mom Mom
Dada
Papa
Ma Ma (Mimi)
Bon Bon (Auntie Bonnie)
Anna
Pop (Pop- sometimes he calls Don Papa too, but it is pretty close!)
Ball (definately Jackson's favorite word or thing!)
Mah (More)
shoe
cheese
sta (star)
Isss (Memphis, our cat)
Ra Ra (Ringo, our other cat)

Baba (bottle and pacifier- uses these two a lot. Knows the difference between the two. Just so happens to use the same word for both)

This/ Look at This/ What's This (uses these three a lot. Each distinctively sound different. Seems to know the difference)

Buffalo (Grammy and Pop brought him a stuffed buffalo home from their trip to South Dakota and he learned the word right away)

itty (kitty- although he hasn't said this one in a while)** He just said it tonight! That's what I get for saying he doesn't say things... he has to proove me wrong!

Yes (this is one of this newest words. When you ask him if he wants something he says "Yes Yes Yes!")

Too Ha (toothbrush. This is one of his other new words. Yes we know this seems like a strange word to learn. But him and Sophie are obsessed with toothbrushes and brushing their teeth. I guess there are worse things!)

Buh Ball (football)

Tada!

Ah-oh! (He says this when something falls, or he drops something, etc.)

WaWa (water, another of his new words)

So that is 26 words so far and he is only 15 months old. I think that is pretty darn good! Although I am thinking there are more words, but for some reason they are escaping me! I will add them if I think of more. I think one of the coolest things is that he can now ask me for things with using words. He doesn’t have to just point and have me try and guess what he wants. He is also starting to mimic the sounds of animals, which is super cute. He does the kitty Meow and also an elephant (with arm motions for the trunk and everything. I love it! It seems like everyday there is something else new going on or coming out of his mouth- just amazing.

Well, if I don’t get a chance to write before we leave, I promise to give a full report of our trip and also Jackson’s first vacation away from mommy and daddy!

Our Little Nature Boy

I was chatting with a girlfriend the other day and she was telling me about this game that she plays with her kids. It is "The Sign's Of Spring" game. It is quite simple really, all you do is whenever you see something that has to do with Spring, you point it out and then when they go home they either write about it or draw a picture of it in their Spring Journal. They keep these every year and look back at the end of the season and see how the children’s observations have grown. Plus it is a neat way to keep a "farmer's almanac" in a sense. They can see if they saw their first robin around the same time or if the daffodils popped their heads out a week early this year. I think that is such a great idea and I look forward to playing this game with Jackson, as he gets bigger.

Spring has definitely come our way for we are getting more and more nice days. On Monday it actually reached 60 degrees! Whoopee!!! Finally what I have been waiting for- a chance to play outside! So after a really nice visit with GiGi in the nursing home Jackson and I ran around outside and explored. The grass was still sopping wet so we had to stay on the driveway. But this was fine with both of us! It was just so much fun running around, collecting rocks and Jackson just LOVED watching the leaves blow around in the wind! It was so much fun watching Jackson's eyes light up and all of the new things he was discovering. Lately he has become attached to a stuffed bunny we have named Hop. Hop has been going many places with us, and today was no exception. I took a bunch of pictures of our playtime outside and you will see our little friend in many of them. Jackson and Hop are cute little buddies.

Yesterday it was a bit chilly, but with the sun shining so bright it looked like a beautiful day. We were both feeling a little bit of cabin fever, so I bundled Jackson up, took our trusty new red pail and went outside to explore some more. The grass was drier this time so we were actually able to walk around in the yard a bit to look for leaves. Jackson had so much fun collecting treasures! He found our pathway that leads from the driveway to our patio and discovered all of the wonderful tiny stones that fit perfectly in his little hands. We played over here for the longest time. Grammy and Pop, that red pail you got Jackson for Easter is so perfect for collecting treasures- it can hold so much! Plus it is perfect to then dump out and start all over again with! So thank you very much, we both love it!

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about one of the best parts of the day. Jackson discovered a worm. Yep, a big, fat, juicy worm. It was finding it's way back to the grass and Jackson was soooo interested in him. He reached out his little finger and very gently gave it a touch. Ewwwwww!!! Jackson jumped back and gave a bit of a shudder. Not at all what he expected that weird looking thing to feel like! But he had to go back and examine him some more. We must have watched this worm for a good 5 minutes- that is a long time in toddler time! Then it was off to collect more rocks and leaves. It is going to be so much fun watching Jackson experience all these new things in nature. I can't wait until I get him a pair of Wellingtons so we can walk down to the creek and look for frogs. Now that will be a site!