A Look at Your Life - One Year and One Week

Dear Jackson,
You are loving being one year old. You and I have started Gymboree classes together and it is the highlight of your week to climb around and play there. Last time, several of the other moms saw your big smile and said you seemed to be enjoying yourself. Indeed! You are such a courageous little boy. You are not afraid to climb anything. Our last lesson was on rocking and balancing and you loved it. Since then I can tell that your confidence in trying things out at home has really increased. This has added an extra challenge for you parents because you are taking risks that are fine at Gymboree, but not so fine on our mean hard floors. For example, you eagerly climb your new red chair and the blue rocking chair Aunt Bo gave you when you were born. Neither one is very stable underneath your climbing moves, but it doesn't phase you. You just smile and laugh.

Today you pushed your highchair across the dining room. Your daddy and I looked on in amazement. Forget about the push toys! You also like to push your piano and your toy bin. For your birthday you got a plastic pink piggy bank with big coins. Those coins are your most prized possession. There's no telling how many of them Beckham has secretly eaten.

Speaking of Beckham, he is spending more time outside lately. I think it's because you are so fascinated with climbing him. He loves you, but he just needs a little breather each day. But if he's inside he is never far from you. When I rock you before bed each night he still lays right there on the floor next to us. You are his best friend when you drop food off the side of the high chair. But it turns out he doesn't like veggies that much either.

In the last week or two you realized how fun it is to wave bye-bye to your daddy. Yesterday at the Black Eyed Pea (which at 8 weeks was the first restaurant we ever left mid-meal because of your crying) you waved at someone across the room without any prompting. You are such a friendly boy! Since you officially despise all baby food, Mommy has to order food for you off the kids menu. Yesterday I got you meatloaf and carrots. I felt so bad ordering you meatloaf because I myself would never eat it. But I knew you would like it based on how much you enjoy meatballs. And I was right. But still, it felt so wrong! The good news is that your meal came with banana pudding and we all enjoyed eating it with you.

One of the funniest things you do is take all the blankets in your room and scatter them around. Then you dive face first into them like a little dolphin. It makes mommy laugh so hard. But the other day there was a thin blanket in the living room floor and you dove face first into it, only to smash your sweet little nose into the floor. It was so sad! I held you for a long time after that and we smacked that bad floor and told it how much trouble it was in.

Little Mister, you are the apple of your daddy's eye. He loves to throw you over his shoulder and march around the house singing. You are getting big enough to have adventures with him. You have a new green wagon and your daddy is constantly thinking of reasons why he should take you in it. You have so much to look forward to doing with your dad. In the blink of an eye he will be taking you camping and coaching your t-ball team. He is unspeakably proud that you are his son. Every day we marvel at how special you are. We did not deserve to be given such a priceless gift. We love you so much!
-Mommy