Vocab update...

Jackson has started started using adjectives with nouns, a first for him. Last night when he touched his hair after his bath he said "wet hair".

He has started to sing a lot lately his favorite songs being, Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Itsy Bitsy Spider. He gets a few words with every line.

Jackson's Twinkle Twinkle:
"Ink kel Ink kel ittel aaaaar
Ooow eeeyee da ta doa aaah
Up aaaaovvv dattaa daaa ddaa da doo
Ink kel Ink kel ittel aaaaar"

We are working daily on saying please and thank you, he does great when reminded.
"Tank tu" and "Peeessse"

He's starting to understand that hitting makes us sad, and when we say we are sad, then Jackson feels sad too.

I can't believe how fast he grows and learns, my tiny baby has become a little guy before my eyes.

A week in photos...

It seems I don't have time to write much anymore. With summer winding down, trying to get all of my "to do list" itmes checked off, illness and the start of school my spare time is down to a bare minimum these days. So you will be seeing many more of these kinds of posts, hope you don't mind.

I set Jackson up with some butterscotch pudding to fingerpaint with, he had a blast
A new book for Jackson, I entered a drawing when I bought this book from an Usborne Books Rep and I won! 2 more books coming our way.
Helping dad bring the recycle down to the street

Bloodwork

Jackson's bloodwork came back all normal. We'll make an appointment next with the dermatologist.

No more monkeys...

When Jackson is asked what a doctor says, his reply is something like "No more monkeys" while he shakes his finger up and down, it's mighty cute. However today he wanted nothing to do with his doctor or his doctor's nurse! He started to cry the minute we got to the hallway. Poor kid thought he was going to have to get shots again, and no matter how many times we said no shots, the crying never stopped.

We took Jackson in to see the doctor today because he's been having some strange things happening with is fingernails. His nails have been breaking and peeling up in places where they shouldn't, and then the other day I noticed that his toenails on his two big toes were peeling up from the nail bed at the cuticle. Ron and I decided that this was something worth having checked out, so he made an appointment.

The doctor isn't sure what it is exactly, but he has seen it before. It could have been some serious disease of which I can't remember or even if I could, couldn't spell or pronounce, but it would involve massivley swollen lymphnodes and some other very obvious symptoms, so that was easily ruled out.

There are a few other things that this could be, most of which are not serious, but we're following the process that the doctor has recommended. First of which was checking his blood for his potassium, magnesium and phosphorus levels. So after all those promises of no needles, we ended up at the lab giving blood (oops!) The next step is to head to a dermatologist at Bandana Square to see that she agrees with our doctors orders. I admit, I'm a little worried, but the doctor was clear that it wasn't anything to worry about. I will follow up as soon as I know anything.

The Next Fire Chief...

We took Jackson to Heritage Days on Sunday afternoon. We missed the parade, but Jackson didn't seem to mind. He loved the taste of my orange float and he ate all the corn coating off my corn dog, leaving me with just the dog. But I think the highlight of the adventure was the trip through the fire trucks.

Going on a fire call

The chiefs in the command center

Me and Grandpa in Bumpa's Truck

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: going for a hike, new books, fire trucks, breaking sticks, family, chipmunks, puppies, playing in cars, frybread, bike rides, canoe rides, daddy's toothbrush, camping and zippers

Dislikes: not being able to play in cars, potato salad, cucumbers, not getting a long enough naps and new molars

Camping in Kathio State Park

Our camping trip in photos:

A fun time at the playground

The boy's first canoe trip

Posing for a photo in front of the canoe


This deer and her mama came to visit our camp site


We joined the festivities at the Mille Lacs Band Grand Entry

Here is everyone waiting to see all the glorious native american dress

Yes, we climbed this with Jackson on Ron's back!

Here we are at the top

A boy and his mama...

I've been doing sonme scrapbooking lately and in doing so realized that I don't have a lot of pictures of me and Jackson together, so I asked Ron to take a couple this weekend. We ended up with this precious shot:


I don't know how Ron and I produced such an adorable son, but we'll take him. He makes us proud each and every day. Even those days that he is a little rascal, which has been quite a few lately. We must be entering the terrible twos stage a touch early... this boy is keeping us on our toes while he tests the limits.

Let's go on a hike...

Jackson's newest word is "hike". Today after work I picked up my latest Craigslist find, a Kelty child carrier. In anticipation of a hike this weekend, I started asking around about a child carrier. A brief search of Craigslist turned up this child carrier, for only $30. He seemed to enjoy hanging out in it while I made dinner, and continued to say "hike"... we'll see how he does walking through wilderness.

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: baby bunnies, pulling weeds, black olives, swim lessons, playing with friends, lawn mower tractor rides, The Ting Tings, Elmo videos, macaroni and soy cheese, chocolate soy milk, climbing up the step ladder

Dislikes: Chucky Cheese's Rat, sharing his toys, being told no, getting out of the bath, the monster truck ride at Chucky Cheese

A bike trailer warning...

We had a bit of a scare at our house yesterday afternoon, but thankfully everyone is okay. We took Jackson out for a bike ride around the lake near our house. On one side of the lake, the trail is downhill and twisty, making it easy to hit speeds of 20+ mph. On one of the corners the bike trailer made its way off of the path a bit and upon re-entry, the trailer came up off the ground and rolled. It was incredibly scary to see, and could have produced serious injury if not for all the precautions we have taken.

We did a lot of research while shopping for the perfect bike trailer, and wanted the safest and most comfortable trailer for Jackson to ride in. We found the safest trailer on the market, and thanks to my dad's financial assistance we were able to afford it, The Trek Go Bug.

The roll cage on the Go Bug, saved Jackson's head from reaching the trail, though his helmet did make contact with the ground and rubbed a hole through the screen. The rest of the trailer that made contact with the trail is damaged, scratched and the fabric torn. Jackson did end up with a little scrape where his elbow made just a bit of contact.

While the event itself was incredibly scary, and caused us to spend the remainder of the day indoors getting through the emotions of such an event, everyone is safe. I wanted share this post with everyone, to encourage the use of helmet, even in a bike trailer. Accidents can happen, on the road and on a secluded bike trail. Jackson escaped serious injury because he was wearing his helmet properly!

This shows a bit of the damage to the trailer
And here is what he ended up with

The big cheese around town...

My mom scored us free Saints tickets a while back and we were lucky enough to have our friends Libby and Cory join for another summer evening with The Saints. The four of us have managed to have some rather crazy (read: slightly over served) times at Midway Stadim together. One year we road a bus from Bierstubes all over the Twin Cities to the stadium, provided with what else? Free beer the ENTIRE evening. Well, I am not one to let a good bargain go to waste and neither are my friends(this is another story, for another day, a day that shouldn't be recorded forever on the Internets).

So anyhow, it was fitting that the four of us should head off on another Saints adventure together. This night was a little more tame, as we've all gotten older and well, let's face it: lamer. But we did manage throw in a little excitment. Libby and I (Libby's idea) signed the boys up at Fan Services to do a cottage cheese toss! Poor Ron and Cory wanted none to do with this escapade but reluctantly participated. How was I supposed to know that the loser would have the entire 10 ft container of cottage cheese dumped over his head?? Poor Ron.

The weekend in photos...

We went to Como Zoo with my friend Jamie and her son Bodhi (inside butterfly garden)

Went on the Choo Choo Train in Como Town

We went to Canterbury Park to see the horse races (Learn more about this adventure over at ThriftyMama

Jackson rode on the horse even

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: new books, Elmo, horses racing fast, telephones, playing hide and seek, the butterfly garden at Como Zoo, treats, veggie cheeseburgers, radios, stereo cords, metal tongs, Grandpa Joel's tractor (I almost forgot that one)

Dislikes: being strapped in his stroller, going to sleep at night, being hungry, rain, petting puppies, staying in the bathroom with his toothbrush, being quiet in the library

Updates

Swim Lessons: Even as the son of the Head of the Program, Jackson does not want to do as told. This week was a little better, he participated in 3 out of the 5 tasks he was asked to do. I don't think he's ready to move on to the next level, and we'll be doing round two of Parent/Child.

Potty Training: Jackson is doing great going poopy on the potty. He does every morning, and if he has to go again during the day he will usually tell us. However we haven't worked on only peeing in the toilet, that will be our next step. For now, we are just happy to rarely have to change a poopy diaper!

Words: His vocabulary is expanding by the second, he knows lots of words and can point to them in books. He knows his animals pretty well, and is great at animal sounds. Right now we are working on colors. Grandpa Joel taught him "red" early on, and now EVERYTHING is red.

Sara: I have signed up to take another online course at Century for the Fall Semester. I'm taking Macroeconomics, I didn't have much to choose from, because I signed up so late, but I am looking forward to taking another class and learning.

Ron: It's Ron's busy time of year at work, swim lessons and beaches are in full swing. He's latest project at home has been to clean up the easement in the back of our yard. After years of overgrowth, it has been quite the task... Jackson thinks it's his new play area.

Repeat after me...

This morning while we were getting in a little play time before Ron had to jet off to work, Jackson surprised us again. I don't remember what it was exactly that prompted Ron to end a statement with "Oh My God" but he did. And like father, like son, so did Jackson: "ohmy ahd" or something close to that. I guess it's time to really start watching the words coming out of my mouth, because he's picking up on it, even when I think he's not listening.