One Year of Jackson Thomas

Alright, I realize that it's actually May, and that he's already thirteen months...but let's just pretend this was posted in April, as I intended, to honor Jack's first year of life! :) Jack is now one year old…I cannot believe he’s not a little baby anymore. Everyone said it would go fast, and it sure did. Every day he amazes me with his little personality and the smart things he figures out. Last night Eric and I just laid in bed cracking up at some of the things Jack had done that day…I mean, we had tears running down our cheeks and my asthma got worked up—that’s how hard we were laughing!

So I wanted to share a few things about Jack as a one-year-old…I hope you enjoy getting to know him!

Jack is a full-fledged toddler. He started walking around 10 months, and now he’s a pro; he’s even started running in the past few weeks, which he loves to do. He especially loves to run away from us. It makes him seem like such a “big boy” to have him toddling around my feet.

He still only says, “Uh-oh,” “Da-da” and “Ma-ma.” I’m sure that one of these days we’ll figure out that he actually is saying other words, but that’s it for now. There were a few week weeks when he said “all done” but seems to have moved on (or back?). But he babbles all the time and “talks” to us in a very conversational tone, which is really sweet. I especially love watching him talk to other children; he loves to babble away at his friend Ben (the little boy I watch) and whenever Ben smiles at Jack, he always cracks up. So sweet.

He’s a good “helper.” Whenever we’re doing anything with him, from dressing him to feeding him or just playing with him, we say, “Can you help Mommy/Daddy?” and he LOVES to help. Sometimes I say, “Where’s your blankie? Can you bring it to Mommy?” and he looks around the room, runs straight to his blue blankie, picks it up, and comes running back gleefully, awaiting his big hug and enthusiastic “Thank you, Jack!” He loves to “help” me with the dishes; although it’s usually more work for me, as he likes to take the dishes out of the dishwasher. But he loves to help me shut the door to the dishwasher. He also tries to push the buttons on the microwave, and the other day he tried to pull open the door. (Yeah, I think we’re going to have to put it up higher, lest he try to cook a toy.)

When we dress him, he likes to help pull up his pants, or when we go to put a shirt over his head, he leans forward and pushed his head through the opening. So different from the lumpy little body of an infant! And when it’s time for a bath, and we take off all his clothes, he proceeds to attempt to pull off his own diaper.

As good a helper as he is, he also enjoys opening drawers and pulling things out, like the plastic bags in the kitchen or the clothes in his dresser. He also likes to play with the toilet paper roll and the Kleenex; he rips it into tiny pieces and then eats it. That’s right. How gross is that??

Another not-helpful thing he does is going through my newly folded laundry baskets and flinging clothes all over. He works it so fast, one hand after the other. His new thing is to throw everything over and behind his head. It’s so funny—especially when he does it and then cringes as he waits for it to hit the ground, or maybe hit him on the rear end. Simeon (friend downstairs) does the same thing, so maybe it’s a one-year-old thing?

There are also routine things that we do with him and I love seeing his anticipation of them. For example, when it’s time to eat and I put him in his high chair, I then usually put his bib on. As soon as he sees the bib, he lifts his little chin in expectation of the bib. And after eating, when he sees me coming with the washrag, he turns his head away and closes his eyes, as he HATES getting his face washed!! He can be perfectly happy and then the washrag episode sends him into fits of tears. Goodness.

Jack is into the tantrum phase. Sometimes it’s about something he wants that we say “no” to, and other times it’s seemingly over nothing. Today my mom was over, and we were sitting on the couch drinking ice water. Jack was drinking from my cup, and then he reached in and took out one of my ice cubes. He walked all over the living room, holding it and sucking on it. At one point it slipped out of his hand and landed on the floor. He screamed and stiffened his whole body, flexing everything down to his little fingers, face turning red, and then he calmly reached down and picked up the ice cube and was on his way again. It’s funny to watch his temperament change so quickly, and it’s also interesting to see him learning new emotions.

Along with the tantrum phase, we’re entering the odd stage where he’s getting into everything and being a little naughty, but doesn’t understand what “no” means. He just laughs and says “Na-na-na-na-na-na.” We’re trying to be sparing with our “no’s”, because otherwise I find myself saying no all day long. We save it for things like going into the street, touching the oven or microwave, and trying to go down the stairs. But it’s hard, because sometimes he doesn’t listen (can I really expect him to, at this age?) and continues to do it.

Today, for example, he was standing at the gate at the top of our entryway stairs, and he was rocking and rocking the gate. He’s done this so much that the gate has actually come out of the wall, so it’s quite precarious at the moment. So today when he was doing it, I was so afraid he would fall down and I kept saying, “JACK! No, NO!” and taking him away from the gate. I’ve read that it helps to take them away from the situation and distract them with something else. I think my son is an exception, because every toy I gave him he would shake his head with a big smile and say, “na-na-na” and then RUN back to the gate. When he saw me coming he would squeal in delight and take off down the hallway, running awkwardly and bumping into the wall. I went back into the kitchen, and a minute later I heard him shaking the gate again. I came around the corner and he was standing there, with a huge grin on his face, waiting for me, and again, just squealed and laughed and took off running. I felt like the worst mother—I actually started to laugh myself.

So now it’s become a game. What did I do wrong? What do I do now? (I’m open to suggestions!)

One of my favorite new things that Jack does is hiding. He started doing this back when he was crawling; he’d be crawling down the hallway and I’d crawl after him saying, “I’m gonna get ya!” and he’d giggle and crawl as fast as he could all the way into his dark room. He’d just crawl as far as possible—usually up to the edge of his crib—and then he’d just stop, head pressed against whatever object stopped him, and he’d sit there on all fours waiting for me. Other times he crawls until he hits a wall, and then puts his face into the carpet, still on all fours, and just sits there. It’s the ostrich effect: if I can’t see you, you can’t see me! Cracks me up—especially when, as he’s crouched there waiting for me, he lets out a little squeal of anticipated delight.

Also, sometimes when I enter a room and find him, whether or not he’s doing something naughty or innocent, I gasp as if I caught him doing something…and he’s SO funny: he starts and flails around, and immediately drops whatever he’s doing, and walks or runs as fast as he can in the opposite direction of me, trying to hide. SO funny to watch.

He loves buttons. Buttons on phones, remotes, toys, computers, microwave, dishwashers, stereos--anything with a button, he wants to push it. He very carefully pushes buttons with one finger instead of his whole hand. He has a few toys that play songs, and he sits there with great concentration as he pushes the different buttons. Also, the older brothers (twins, age 10) of the boy I watch taught Jack how to turn the TV on and off in their playroom. So now he loves to stand there and turn it on and off, on and off…drives me crazy! Especially when I’m watching something, or Ben is watching cartoons…but even so, it’s terribly annoying to hear the TV going on and off. But he loves it.

He also loves anything that has a lid. He will sit there forever and put lids on and off. He plays with my empty Coke bottles and their lids, or a toy box and its lid, or an empty carton of his veggie wheels, or his cracker container. It’s so amazing…I think I’m mostly amazed at how long it keeps him busy! This morning he got so frustrated because he could get the lid ON his object but couldn’t get it off. So he would play with it, trying different angles until he got it on, and then he would whimper and carry it over to me. As soon as I took it off and handed it back, he would get this huge smile on his face and sit down delightedly, and start trying to get the lid on all over again. What patience!

He waves and blows kisses now. I think that I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth mentioning again, because it’s so darn cute. He sticks the palm of his hand to his mouth and makes a big smacking noise. Last week in church I brought him into the service for communion (if you bring your children up with you an elder prays for them—almost everyone brings their kids in and it’s so nice to have all the children join the service! And I like having someone pray over Jack.). I was sitting near the back, so we had to patiently sit and wait our turn. Unfortunately, my parents were sitting a few rows behind us, and when Jack saw them, he started waving enthusiastically and saying, “Hiiiiiiiiii!” And then blowing kisses with big smacking sounds. Of course my parents loved it, and I suppose a good majority of the people sitting around them enjoyed the free kisses, too. But I doubt the communion time was very worshipful for any of them.

We love being parents, and as hard as some days are, we are thankful for the gift of Jack’s life. He teaches us so much about what it means to be a child of God; I'm in awe of this picture that God has given us, that we might better understand Him as our parent.

I’ve posted a bunch of pictures from Jack's first year; enjoy taking a look back with us over twelve wonderful months.