Jackson at 14 months

If you do anything today, please watch this 40 second video of Jackson's sweet laugh. Then, continue reading about our "buddy" at 14 months old!



Yes, I am shamefully behind on this post, but better late than never! On Nov. 23, Jackson turned 14 months old! (That was also his Granddaddy's birthday!) His biggest accomplishment this past month has been WALKING! After thinking he would do this much earlier, he has officially become a walker. Unfortunately, I can't quite say exactly when this happened. He's been taking steps for a couple of months now, but every day he would take more and more. So I'm not quite sure when the transition from mostly-crawling to mostly-walking happened, but regardless, it happened!

He's also gotten more communicative. He now signs "more", "eat", "please", "all done", and has signed "fish" and "thank you" a couple of times! He still babbles a lot, too, and will often have a "conversation" with us in his own language!

He will point to his nose, head, and hair when we ask him. That's all he knows for now.

He's starting to want to do some "big boy" things, like put his shoes on. When he can't quite get them on himself, he's very cooperative to lift his foot up for me to put it on. He will also lift his legs so that we can put his pants on too! He also sat on the potty for the first time a couple of weeks ago, just for fun. He thought it was funny! (And so did Kathryn!)

He's also started "helping" me with chores. If he sees a rag, he will wipe something (usually the floor). Sound like somebody else? :) He also helps me put the dishes away from the dishwasher by handing me the silverware, one piece at a time. He thinks he's really big stuff when he gets to do that. He also helped me with laundry the other day by putting the wet clothes into the dryer. Remind you of somebody? He will go crazy if he sees a phone laying around, and picks it up and says "hi" and "yeah" as he holds it up to his ear.

He is really funny when he shakes his head, sometimes to say no, sometimes just to be silly. He does have quite the strong opinion about things, though, and certainly lets us know when he's not happy about something. He screams a lot, and we are trying to figure out how to teach him not to do that. Any ideas? :)

He has done really well with obeying when we say "no touch". It's taken a lot of training recently, but he's done especially well with our Christmas tree. I was dreading putting it up this year because of trying to keep him from messing with it, but he will walk over to it, put his hand out, then say "no!" and pull it back really quickly, sometimes while shaking his head. He also babbles some other things when he does it, maybe baby muttering about how uncool it is that we won't let him touch it!

He's gotten even more loving towards people recently as well. He gives hugs all the time, putting his little arms around your neck and squeezing so hard! He especially loves to hug his big sister! It's also neat to see his understanding and heart, as he is quick to hug when he knows he's done something to hurt Kathryn. He will give her a hug then rub her arm or head as if to ask forgiveness. I pray that he continues to have a heart of repentance and compassion as he grows.

Finally, he is starting to understand a lot more of what we say, too. The other day I told him it was time to eat, so to go to his high chair. He walked right over to his chair, and waited for me there to put him in it. Also, yesterday I told him to go get some books to read, and he walked over to the bookshelf to pick some out. He's started to really enjoy reading books, and will often sit down and flip through one on his own. (The touch and feel ones are his favorite.) He's also really enjoyed trying to do puzzles, as well as rolling cars along the floor. He loves to throw balls, wrestle, and get into the utensil drawer in the kitchen, banging them all over the floor, walls, cabinets, trash can, etc. Sounds like a boy, huh? :)