1.5 years.

Happy 1/5 years, Jackson (a couple weeks late, sorry). We celebrated with a [finally] needed haircut. His hair was getting pretty crazy. Jackson was a pretty good sport. We took a lot of breaks and Jackson mowed the deck in the interlude. Too bad we didn't get a picture of that.

Jack is obsessed with writing utensils. Crayons, Pens, Dry Erase Markers. Lids off of course. We are working on the concept of "Only writing on papers", and composing letters of gratitude to Mr Clean for the magic erasers. I've spent too much time asking that the lids be placed on the markes, and the orange marker on the "future engineer" shirt may've brought me to the edge. For now, no more markers. But I am thrilled to let Jackson sit in the chair and color for long periods of time. I don't mind wiping down the furniture afterward too much.

Jackson has developed a couple of new quirks. He now spends a lot of time checking his toes for lint. He plops down, peels off his socks, and carefully pulls each pair of toes apart. If there's lint, he grabs it, holds it at arms length, and scrunches his nose while he rubs his fingers together to get it off. I really need to get this on tape!

We're also taking a swimming class. The first 2 weeks, it was fun, but sort of seemed to be a waste of time. Well, not a waste of time, but not worth rushing out of work early and making Jason meet me there. We practice blowing bubbles, kicking and paddling, and jumping off the edge. Jackson mostly grips my hip with his knees and uses his toes to push down my suit bottom. He's a big fan of the squirty tub toys. When I put him on the edge to jump back in, he tries to run over to the water aerobic barbells instead. last weekend, we took a bath in our little used, but so fabulous jacuzzi tub. Jackson actually put his face under and blew some bubbles!! Monday, he was in peak performance, blowing bubbles, kicking, and gleefully jumping off the edge. He was also laughing very loudly the whole time! It was great. I'm sure the exhuberance was an artifact of being too tired due to the return of standard time, but I'll take it! Tonight, Jackson was less of a performer, but we still had fun. He did make an attempt at putting his whole face under when he saw the instructor go under and blow bubbles. After drinking in a bit of water, he wouldn't try again, but its a start.

We're taking the class with Beth and AJ. The boys are starting to play together, which is very exciting to see. Today, they tried to high five. I don't think they made contact, but it was too cute! There are giant legos in the lobby, and AJ hands them to Jack who is glad to take them. They follow each other around a little bridge, and share food. Apparently Beth does a much better job of packing lunch than I do, so mostly Jackson is stealing AJ's food. I'm getting better though.

We're imagining Jackson saying more words. He's a big fan of the onomatopoeia, especially animal noises. He likes to crow in echo to the rooster. He also says "ku ku" at the cuckoo clock and meow to the cat. In terms of real words--I hear alot of Dada, A-ee (Ally), Way-doh (Mabel). I heard "car" a couple of weeks ago (I'm not holding my breath to hear "taxi" anytime soon). And of course, he says "No" repeating as needed, and "Yeah". I love the "yeah", 'yes and no' one of those concepts that the books say takes a long time to get, so the vocabulary may be small, but the communcation isn't too bad. Plus it is ultra-ultra cute! He gives a little shoulder shrug when he says it.

Today we went to the pediatrician. Jackson weighed in at 26lb 12oz and 34 inches. For the shots, he gave the nurse his best "What you talkin' 'bout Willis" look, but no tears. Good Job!