Halloween

It wasn't Jack's first Halloween, but it was the first one where he sort of knew what was going on. It really doesn't matter whether or not he got it, though, because he just looked so darn cute in that lion suit. Before last night when we put the suit on him, he wouldn't keep the headpiece on for more than a few seconds. He must have been so distracted by evertything going on last night that he forgot about the hat...he never took it off. We started out by going downstairs to visit his friend Sabi, and then we went to a few houses on our street. He did really well, but he didn't get the hang of "trick or treat". He would say "bye" when he got the candy, and he kept trying to eat the candy through the wrappers...not that he could have any of it, anyway. After we finished visiting houses, we hung out in our front yard with Sabi, Yarka and Brent and passed out candy to the trick or treaters. Jackson had a great time.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect "Puh" - Jackson's way of saying pumpkin. He enjoyed playing drums on the giant ones, and throwing the little ones. Last year, we took Jack to the same pumkin patch, and took the best photo we've ever taken of him. Needless to say, it's much more difficult to get a toddler to sit still on a pumpkin long enough for a pretty photo. He did however take a liking to the lion pinata - and tried to destroy it. As you can see from the video below...Happy Halloween!

Vacation

We just came back from our fall vacation visiting all the grandparents and family in VA and TX. We arrived in VA on Saturday and surprised Mimi at her 60th birthday party. She was shocked to see me walk into the party! We stayed there for a few days hanging out with aunt Kim, my friends Aiden and Carter, and met my great aunt Winnie (Mimi's sister) for the first time. We went to the beach, the VA children's museum and learned how to say "fishy" from Mimi and Papa's goldfish pond. From there, Dad and I went to TX to visit Nana and Grandpa (Mom had to head back to LA to shoot). I met the biggest horse in the world, dug through Nana's cabinets and met my new first cousin on the Riepe side, Audrey. I had a great time playing outside in both places. I've never seen so many trees!

A week with Mimi and Papa

It's been quite some time since we've posted a blog. Mom has been very busy, which in turn makes Dad very busy. So, no one has been available to tell you about all the awesome things I've been up to. Last week Mimi and Papa came in from Virginia to help take care of me while Mom was working. We did so much fun stuff everyday. Disneyland was amazing! So much to see and play with, I even went on most of the rides andwasn't scared at all! We also went to the beach, to the Automotive museum, the Getty, danced to a band in Culver City and had plenty of walks and playtime. I even learned the difference between hot and cold from Mimi, which I'm saying everyday now. I had a blast! I miss you Mimi and Papa!

trying on new things...

Jackson has been jumping leaps and bounds with his vocabulary lately. He seems to repeat everything we say - which is good and bad....No, no, no, no, no is his favorite new word. Which he does while shaking his fingers at us. It does give us the heads up when he's into something he's not supposed to be, as he says no, no whenever he does something we've told him before not to touch. He's is own little tattle tale. Other current favorite words are more, banana, all done (pronounced dall duhn) and night-night. Just a few days ago, he was eating some banana in his high chair and I had my back turned to him, he says "Mama, More!" his first almost sentence!

He also just babbles non-stop, even if it makes no sense to him or us. He LOVES hearing his voice, as loud as possible!

He also has started trying on items we wear - glasses, hats, headbands, etc. Attached are some photos of his exploration.

San Diego trip

For Memorial Day Weekend, we drove down to San Diego and took Jack to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. He loved 'em both.

At Sea World, he played in a huge sand box with other kids, some of whom did not appreciate his enthusiasm to play with their toys. Next, he played in the open area for kids, with water jets shooting from one station to another, a big ropes course (which he was too little to play on...boo), and tunnels of various sizes. He loves tunnels, but he doesn't crawl all the way through. He gets about halfway and then just hangs out until other kids come along. We have to coax him to crawl out. We then began our tour of the rest of the park and saw lots of great stuff: gigantic Clydesdale horses (at the Budweiser pavilion), a polar bear, a beluga whale, seals going crazy during a feeding, sea lions, a walrus, otters, a Sesame Street movie and much, much more. Jack really seemed to like the seals.

On Sunday, we went to the zoo with our friends Michael, Krista and Jack's buddy, Tristan. We started out petting the goats and then spent the day seeing just about every animal under the sun. Elephants, giraffes, gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, birds, bears...you get the idea. Jack was taking a nap when we saw the orangutans, but I think he would have loved watching them climb around. Later in the day, all he wanted to do was to climb some stairs leading up to a monkey exhibit. We all had a great time, and the weather couldn't have been better.

After a day at the zoo, we were hungry, so we headed over to Old Town and ate at a Mexican restaurant on the main square. Dinner was good, and the kids did well. On the way to the car, however, we had a minor mishap. Stacey was carrying Jackson against her chest and playing around, when she realized that Jack had had an accident (a very large accident) that had left the bounds of his diaper and spread out all down the front of her jacket and all over him. After we stopped laughing, we figured out a way to get back to Libby's apartment without ruining the car seat. After a good bath, Jack was all good once again. Overall, it was a great weekend.

First Birthday party #2

Here are some pics from Jackson's first birthday party back at home in LA. We had a cowboy theme party complete with cowboy hat's, bandanas and even a bale of hay! Our dog Gracie stood in as the pony for the event. Jackson had lots of friends over to play on his new miniature swing set and enjoy BBQ and cowboy cake. Jackson was quite the little host and entertained everyone of course, here are some photos of the day. Tomorrow we'll fill you in on the weekend in San Diego...

kissing and laughing!

Jackson has acquired quite a sense of humor. He loves to laugh and try to make us laugh by chasing us or doing something he knows is clever. He has also learned to love kissing, and knows to pucker up when we say bye-bye to Daddy in the morning. Here are some pics that show his sheer joy at kissing and cuddling and one showing us his peek a boo skills!

Surf's Up!

Since LA is going through a heatwave, we decided to take Jackson on his first beach day. He loved the sand and the water, completely fearless except when a small wave threw him on his back. I think our little romeo enjoyed all the pretty women the most though, we had to stop him from approaching a sunbathing blonde beauty several feet from us a couple of times. We haven't posted pics from his birthday party in LA yet - our camera has been acting up. We'll post those next. Enjoy the photos and video!

Saturday

Jack had his second swim class this morning. At first he was a little apprehensive like he was last time. After just a couple of minutes, though, he got into it. We used the little foam boards, and he hung onto the front end with both hands like an old pro while we 'boogied' all over the pool. Then we bounced up and down and splashed. Then I turned him over onto his back, and we swam backwards, which he really seemed to like. Finally, we went under the water for the very first time! I can't say that he liked it, but he didn't seem to mind it at least. Overall, we had a great time.

He hadn't taken a nap this morning before we left, so on the way home he crashed in the car. Then once we got home and got him into some dry clothes, he sacked out for almost two hours! Mom must be relieved -and a little jealous- since he wouldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes all day for the past three days.

Since he woke up, he's eaten almost an entire banana, some yogurt, some whole milk and some water/juice. Now we're just playing chase and peekaboo, and he is trying to scratch our new dining room chairs...gotta go.

Birthday Party Number 1

Since we were in Virginia so close to Jackson's birthday Mimi decided to throw an early 1st birthday party for him. He had several friends here, his own cake, raked in a bunch of loot and tried potato salad for the first time which he loved. He's also been sleeping until 7:30 every morning since we've been here. I'm assuming it's the time change, but it's been great for mom! He's picked up a few new words while in VA - Mimi, stinky feet, no, no, no, no and uh oh.

Here are some picks from the trip and the party.

On vacation

Stacey and Jack have been in Virginia for the past week visiting Mimi, Papa and Aunt Kim. Sounds like they're having fun. Daddy misses them, though, and can't wait to see them on Monday.

Jack swims...sort of.

Saturday morning was Jack's first 'swimming lesson.' He didn't really swim, though. I just held on to him and kind of glided him around the pool. He wasn't too crazy about it at first and whined pretty much the whole time. However, by the end I think he was about to stop hating it. He did like the part where I had him sit on the edge of the pool and then lifted him up as I swam backwards, like he'd just jumped into the pool. Big smiles. And when we were drying off, he kept wanting to walk back over to the water, so maybe all was not lost. No swimming this weekend or next, since Stacey and Jack will be in VA, but in 3 weeks we'll try it again.

JACK WALKS!

Sleep? No way.

Jack decided that 11pm was a good time to wake up last night. For the next hour, he tried to convince Stacey and I that he'd had enough sleep and that it was time to get up and play. Despite his very vocal protest, we let him 'cry it out'. He fell back asleep around midnight but woke up again at 5:15am. Neither of us could endure more crying, so I brought him into the bed with us, and after a bottle he fell back to sleep until almost 7. Sweet. It's 9:45am, and he has been asleep for about 20 mintues, after crying for about 25 minutes. He must think he's missing something when he is supposed to to taking a nap. Hopefully, he'll sleep for at least an hour, so he's not grumpy all day.