Ease On Down The Road

Well, it's official! Jackson has been "out" longer than he was "in".

Things carried on as normal... swimming lessons, teaching, playing...
We did have two new arrivals, though. Tooth number three (the other front bottom tooth) came through on Thursday morning after several really long and sleepless nights. Tooth number four (the other front top tooth) came through shortly after on Saturday morning after several nights of sleeping through. Go figure! I can't seem to figure out this tooth thing... In any case, there are officially four teeth! Hopefully we will have a break before the whole teething/long sleepless nights thing starts again.

Jackson turned 9 months old on Wednesday. I can't believe he is 75% of the way through his first year! It has gone SO quickly.


We had a BBQ at the Keats house Saturday. Julian and Jackson took a dip in Julian's Wiggles pool. They had tons of fun playing with balls, floats, and splashing themselves (and their mother, ahem).


Jackson has been enjoying playing in his room now that it is more conducive to...uh...playing. And crawling... which he now does like a pro... over things, under things, around things, in, out... PHEW!


New foods this week: apple custard, applesauce mixed with vanilla, and zucchini. We have nearly run out of all of our American snack foods. Luckily, Bapa has put some in the mail :) We love Bapa!

Short and sweet... that's what we are this week. Back to the toy box!

Summertime

Happy Week 38! Tomorrow Jackson will have officially been out as long as he was in. I can't believe it has gone so fast!!!


This week Jackson has continued with his crawling... to the point where he is SO fast and goes about anywhere! He is exhausting! He is so proud of his new found mobility. He is so curious and isn't really interested in HIS toys anymore. He wants to play with all the things he isn't supposed to be into... power chords, Daddy's papers, Mommy's music...
My winning moment came on Thursday this week when I left Jackson happily playing with his toys in front of the TV to go outside and help Jon check my oil. Not but 3 minutes later when I came back to check on him, he was chewing on a cockroach bait. Nice. Luckily, it was old and inactive. But no Mother Of The Year awards for me. So I started the long and arduous task of picking up all dangerous items from the floor, vacuuming this smelly old carpet, and attaching safety devices to all the outlets. Here we go... life will never be the same!
My baby DOES have good taste though. One afternoon, he was playing in my happy room and I was working. We were listening to Jennie DeVoe and here goes Jackson crawling right in front of the stereo and that's where he sat for a good couple songs just dancing away!



This week Jackson started pulling up. On EVERYTHING! You've got to keep your eye on the little stinker!
"Hmmmmm... I wonder what's up here"


He knows he is not supposed to be in my music stuff. But I caught him. He looks caught.


Let's see.... this week we went to swimming lessons. It wasn't particularly worth mentioning as Jackson is cutting his third tooth and wasn't quite his normal happy fishy self.

We had another visit from sister Jessica and brother Jonathan.




Since we have made a decision to downsize, we have been selling a lot of our stuff. We have been able to put all of Jackson's stuff in his room and he loves crawling around in there.
In our Family Room we have a corner with all of his books. He loves to sit down and read them!


Not that anyone would be particularly interested in this next subject (more so intended "for the record"...), here is Jackson's typical day.
Wake up - 7:30ish
Breastfeed
Play
Breakfast - 9:30 (consists of rice cereal and millet plus applesauce... sometimes bananas, sometimes papayas, sometimes yogurt)
Morning Nap - 10:00 to 11:30 (I nurse him down)
Run errands/clean house/play
Lunch - 12:30 (consists of fruit, cracker, macaroni, or eggs)
Play
Afternoon Nap - 2:30 to 4:30 (I nurse him down)
Afternoon Snack (wheat puffs) while watching one episode of Yo Gabba Gabba
Play
Breastfeed - 6:00
Dinner - Between 7 - 7:30 (consists of vegetables, chicken, etc...)
Play
Bath - 8:30
Boob, Bed - 9:00

Here is our Afternoon Snack while watching Yo Gabba Gabba:


I might mention that Jackson has started dancing. It is incredibly cute. He has got this arm thing going on that I hope to get video of as well as bouncing his head (he looks like Myles when he does that...hmmm). He has also been singing with my students... well, the good ones :) Jackson still enjoys playing the piano.


There has been lots of new food this week: I made Jackson chicken, lentil and apples (it's REALLY tasty); zucchini; and mangos, pomegranate and bananas (see picture below).

We have ruled out the gluten sensitivity. He does well with the wheat in his wheat puffs and macaroni. So it must just be the oatmeal. I'll try to reintroduce it when he's one.

With exception to the sleeplessness that has occured a couple of nights due to cutting his third tooth, Jackson has been doing well sleeping in his crib by himself. I think he wakes up and plays then goes back to sleep. One morning, we snuck in to check on him and this is what he looked like:

He must've gotten tired playing and just fell over!

Every day is something new with Jackson now. He is getting so independent! I can't believe my baby will be 9 months old in 3 days! Hope everyone has a good week! I know we will!

Do The Puppet Master

Week 37 has been a HUGE week!


Jackson's second tooth popped through Monday morning. It was a top one right above his bottom tooth.

And the BIGGEST news is that on Tuesday, Jackson started to crawl! Forward! He'll make the journey for a wheat puff or a remote control.

And just lately he has figured out where we keep his toys (in his toy box, duh) and will make his way over to get some out. So now we have a mobile baby. He can roll over, sit up by himself, and crawl. Kind of sounds like a dog, huh? But much cuter :)

On Saturday, we headed to Muswellbrook to visit with David's dad and stepmom. We picked up Jessica on the way! It was a big day for Jackson - getting to meet his sister and his granddad and Marie! We had a fantastic visit. Granddad was absolutely charmed by Jackson - he didn't want to let him go!


Here are three generations of Bennett men. I like to call them 2 and a half men. Hehe!


And Jackson with Granddad and Marie.


Jackson LOVED his sister. They studied each other for a while...and then became fast friends playing and smiling and doing weird head motions that I can only assume is a weird sibling thing.


Lucky for us, Jon was also around this week (though he wasn't able to go to Muswellbrook with us). He stopped by on Tuesday for a visit (and to borrow my car). Sensing Jon is the alpha male, Jackson could only check him out... didn't quite know what to think of Jon. But I think it had something to do with similar hair-dos...


Jackson spent a lot of the week playing with his new toys from Christmas (and watching his new favorite video, Yo Gabba Gabba - we have dance parties... my favorite is Do The Puppet Master with Elijah Wood- good times). We even invited Julian and his mom and dad over to have a play. I managed to catch this sequence of events on camera...
This toy (courtesy of Aunt Holly) has balls in it. Jackson knows that if he presses down on the balls they go into the lower part of the toy. He has pressed and knows those balls are in there.


He tried to reach into the toy to get the balls out. Usually this isn't to much of an issue as they roll out, but Jackson has tilted the toy back to where the balls won't roll out.


He manages to get 2 of the 3 balls out, but isn't able to reach the 3rd. Certain it is still in there, he lifts up the toy peers into it... where is that ball??

Hysterical!!

We started swim lessons again with Miss Paula on Thursdays. He missed her so much! Smiles, kisses and hugs straight away. We may or may not continue with GymbaROO this term. I have been looking into an Early Childhood Music Program at the Conservatorium. Jackson loves to play the piano and sing along. What kind of mother (or musician) would I be if I didn't encourage that??

It has been quite hot and humid here this week. YUCK! To keep cool, we have been eating popsicles. And it was only fair for Jackson to have a lick, too!


New foods this week: I don't think I gave him anything new... he hasn't figured out how to use the sippy cup yet (only chewing on it) and he'll drink out of a cup, but I got tired of having to assist him. So I put water in a bottle with a fast flow nipple and a handle and he drinks 4oz of water a day now by himself! Think I'll start him on beans next week...

From our house to yours, have a wonderful week 38! 2 more weeks and he will have been out the same amount of time he was in! It goes FAAAAST! To those in Australia, stay cool. To those in the USA, stay warm. Hopefully one day we can meet in the middle, eh...