Jack is making progress with his walking; not on his own yet, but he is CONSTANTLY using anything, and everything, as some sort of walking aid. He has two walkers that he races with around the house, steering with unbelievable efficiency. But, he has been known to utilize a shopping cart, a small folding chair, a doll stroller ... and even a laundry basket. I think that is safe to say that Jack is the happiest, when he is on the move.
Jack knows how to use this battery-operated four-wheeler, and cruises around the front yard on it any time that he gets a chance.
Just yesterday, he spied the girls' Jeep and immediately determined that he is ready to move up to something a little more advanced. I turned around and found him positioned inside, ready and rearing to go.
He is obviously WAY TO LITTLE to be able to drive it right now, so I asked Sam to take him for a spin around the front yard (with his seat belt on, of course). I'm not sure who loved it more -- her or him. Jack giggled and giggled.
In all seriousness now, his month has not been great for Jack in terms of teething. The girls both seemed to space out the timing of their molar cutting, but not Jack. His four molars have all come in at the same time, starting with the beginning of July and carrying on. He also cut his top side tooth. He is, in a single word, miserable. Lots of crying, lots of jamming his fingers in his mouth (until the fingers are raw) and lots of extra cuddles with Momma. Just this week, I discovered that one of the molars is causing his gums in the surrounding area to turn dark blue -- it is bruised that badly.
The molars are so painful for him that car rides are nearly impossible. Feeling cooped up in his car seat just seems to add to his frustration. {Steve barely rides with us in the car, but boldly announced this last weekend that he wasn't going in the car with him again unless he had ear plugs}. On one rare occasion, I did catch him distracted enough by the Sesame Street video in the van -- usually, he can care less.
On top of that, the teething constantly gives him a diaper rash. I feel as though I should own stock in the diaper cream company by now! That, and Tylenol ...
And when nothing will do as Jack screams in a temper tantrum on the kitchen floor, I just hand him anything that might entertain him. Even an empty bag of cheese. It's worth a quick smile.
There are a few words that Jack can say on his own. Those include: cheese, cat, block, hi, bye. He can "give you five," wave and give kisses. He can stack blocks like no other. And boy, is he vocal when he chooses to express himself. He yells at his sisters on a regular basis!
I am happy to report that I have finally retired his bibs (except during meals). No more drooling! It has taken forever to get to that point, it seems.
One of my goals for the next month is to transition Jack to sippee cups with hard plastic tops, as opposed to those with a silicon nipple-like top. He hasn't quite grasped the idea of the hard plastic ones yet and manages to make quite the mess when he becomes bored (tipping the silicon topped sippees upside down and dabbing them all over the floor or his high chair tray ... or worse, his car seat).
Jack mastered how to climb stairs this last month, so we had to move our bench (just inside the front door) in front of the stairs. It's not exactly fashionable, but it is relatively functional. The rest of us simply hike our leg over the top to climb up and down the stairs {what a work-out}, and Jack manages to stay on the first floor.
He did try to outsmart us by climbing under the bench, so I have to also stuff my loveseat pillows underneath. Again, quite the fashion statement when company comes over. For now, it suffices because there is no way to adequately secure a gate at the bottom of the stairs. I am currently working with him on the art of coming back down safely. Once I feel secure knowing that he can do that, I will move the bench back to its proper location.
Probably Jack's greatest accomplishment lately is that he will, on his own accord, randomly let go of whatever supporting object he is using and stand on his own -- unassisted. He makes sure that we are watching when he does it (either my clearing his throat or squealing). We all watch and he stands as long as he can (up to 20 seconds) and then drops down to his bottom. He is definitely close to learning how to walk now.
Here's to another month of growing and changing ... and soaking up our last weekday mornings at the beach.
In a few weeks, the girls will be in school and it will just be Jack and me together a few mornings a week. It will be our time to run errands and do a little extra one-on-one bonding. He's used to having his time with me split between the two girls so I think that it will be a welcomed change for him!
No comments:
Post a Comment