10.23.08 - Sick Boy

Jackson is sick for the second time this month already. He's definitely got a full-blown cold this time. Runny nose, sneezing, coughing - the works. He barely slept last night and was up at the crack of dawn this morning. He was sick about two weeks ago with what I assume was a sore throat. He was really raspy and whiny and had a low fever, but no other symptoms. We're going to be in for a crazy cold and flu season I think! We refused his flu shot this year though, because he had such a reaction to it last year. Hopefully we won't regret that decision. We colored today to try to distract him from his misery a little. He really liked it! I had tried a few times with him before, but I don't think he really "got" it, until today. He colored up quite the masterpiece. We'll definitely be doing that more often. Of course, mommy is a little biased in thinking art is better than sports or music, being an artist myself (well, formerly anyway). I'm going to try to make my own non-toxic finger paints for him soon and let him go to town on that. Last week, we went to the pumpkin patch and Jackson got to pick some pumpkins straight from the vine. Great Country Farms in Bluemont is such a fantastic place for kids. He is still a little young for all of their activities, but I definitely think we'll be taking him there a lot when he's a little older. We also went on a nature walk and played in the park in Berryville last week. Jackson enjoyed running down the leaf-covered trail and picking up leaves and pinecones. We tried to steer clear of the dog poop. Chet Hobart Park is by far the best park in the area, in my opinion. Jackson had a blast on their playground, which I believe is brand new for this year. He loved the slides and the swings! I'm bummed we didn't discover it before it got cooler, but we'll surely be playing there a lot next spring and summer I think.

10.06.08 - Vacation report & lots of Growing

Well, obviously we're back from our first family vacation. Things did not go as well as expected. We must have picked a terrible week to go because a tropical nor'easter hit Nags Head and we had terrible weather for most of the week we were there. I've never experience such strong winds before. Lots of rain too. We were lucky because a lot of the houses near us lost their steps down to the beach, but ours were fine. Jackson got a big ouchie when he ran into the glass coffee table at the house. I about passed out because I thought he got a concussion or something. It was bad - the bruising and the crying. He seemed like he was back to normal before too long though, so that eased my worries. We decided to try to get out one day and take a mini-road trip down to Hatteras to see the lighthouse. Once we got to Rodanthe, the road was completely flooded. It was bad, but still drivable, so we went through, not thinking twice about getting back later on. We had a nice trip to the lighthouse and great weather finally, but on our way back to our house, we found out the road was closed and not expected to open up until 10:00 that evening. Ugh. Mommy didn't take this news too well because we didn't have any of Jackson's essentials with us because we had only planned to be gone a couple of hours and back in time for dinner. We found a place to eat and drove back several hours later to check on the road. We then were told the road was closed for the night and to try again in the morning. Panic alert!! Now what are we supposed to do? I'm a nervous wreck, Jackson is already asleep for the night in his car seat, and we have nowhere to go. We found a shady motel down in Hatteras to spend the night. I seriously would have rather slept in the car, but I was the odd one out and was forced to stay in this horrible motel with spiders all over our room, ick! Jackson "slept" in the bed with me overnight since the crib they gave us was disgusting. We hardly slept though. About 5:00 the next morning, we hear that the road is finally open, so we make a mad dash back to the beach house while we have a chance. We got stuck on some sand in the road, but after a few tries, we made it out and were back to the beach house. We finally got some awesome weather that day (Friday) and spent a great afternoon out on the beach. Jackson loved the water. He wasn't too fond of walking in the sand, but he did enjoy eating it, silly boy. The next day was also lovely, although quite hot. We enjoyed some more time on the beach and also got in a round of mini golf on a pirate ship course, which was fun. Jackson liked watching the golf balls. So, now we're home and never happier to be here. I'm not sure when we'll try a vacation again after that experience, but we'll see. Jackson is growing and learning each day. He knows his animal sounds for cow, horse, monkey, dog, kitty cat, piggy, duck, and we're working on turkey for Thanksgiving :). He is constantly on the phone (toy phone) now. He is quite popular. He loves reading, especially his animal books so he can make his animal noises while he reads. His current vocabulary, besides his animal sounds, includes: ball, wall, bath, bib, mama, dada, papa (for Grandpapa), Nan-Nan, Bop-Bop (for Pop-Pop), uh-oh, car, no, knee, and probably more I'm not thinking of at the moment. He can point to his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, elbow, knee, and belly. He is obsessed with his favorite stuffed animals and takes them to bed each night - Bard the dragon, monkey, Nappy the dog, and his new turtle he got at the beach. When he wakes up now, he doesn't want to get out of his crib...he just wants to sit there and play with his animals.