Growing Up

A new year, and it seems like a new skill or word or expression every day. I feel like I can watch the wheels literally turning in his mind.

On New Year's Eve I took Jax to the Hanover parks and rec department, where they set up a squishy obstacle course and moonwalk, as well as leave a dozen balls lying around for kids to bean each other in the heads with. Luckily, Jax was psyched just to hold the basketball and walk around with it all day. It seems almost as cool as a truck.

I didn't think that Jax would be that into the moonwalk, and I was right, but he loved the soft gym mats to climb on, through, and fall off. There were older kids there and he wasn't intimidated at all. He just kept on doing his toddler monster thing.

 

The other, and extremely adorable, new side of Jax is the I-want-to-do-everything-Dad-does side. He follows JDubbs around like a puppy. In fact, during the day when Daddy is at work, Jax goes around the house carrying pictures of JDubbs, saying "Daddy!" Of course, I am in these pictures, too, but have I ever gotten a Mama out of him? Nope. Not once!

A good example is now that winter's here and we have confirmed how completely un-insulated our house is, JDubbs is hard at work re-insulating Em's room before we start to set up furniture, paint, etc. Of course, Jax wants to help Daddy set up his little sister's room! He held all of Daddy's tools and waited patiently until he needed them.


He was a bit bossy toward the end, telling JDubbs "Tape!" (or his close approximation) whenever Jax felt he needed more tape. It was so funny; he's a good foreman!

Watching Jax grow up is an ever-changing, ever-delightful part of our days. Yesterday he walked over to the TV, handed me a Baby Einstein video, and then started turning on and off the DVD player! I swear, we do not watch a lot of TV, and definitely not many movies! I get such a kick out of how observant he is, and how sweet and helpful. As I'm typing this, he just walked over and handed me some trash. What a good guy :)

And the biggest step of all--he is now officially living a bottle- and formula-free existence. It's all milk, all the time, and no bottle before bed. I put his bottles away today and couldn't believe how much he's grown. I didn't feel too bad, though; we'll be pulling them back out soon enough!