Bananas!

Jackson started saying bananas last weekend. Before he said the full words he could say nanas though. I love hearing him say it - it is the cutest word ever! Sometimes he says bananas and other times it comes out "nananas." Watch the little video below and you can hear him say it each way:

The boy loves his bananas and we love our little monkey! 

Our Little Talker

Boy has Jackson really taken off verbally this month. He has several words and maybe even two-word phrases that you can make out clearly, and other times he just babbles nonstop about something...he just has so much to say! I love that he is able to say new words almost every day. You can really tell that he understands a lot too. I'm guessing he says about 25 words right now but the list is constantly growing! Here is a list of his current vocabulary:

Dada, mama, hi, buh-bye, bubbles, baby, ball, basketball, football, bananas, bite, milk, car, cat, kitty, dog (gog), duck, pig, turkey, cheese, poo-poo, Ky-ky (Kylie), Cor-Cor (Corey), Gigi (his great-grandma), Bampa (grandpa), something that resembles graham cracker, pumpkin, meow, moo, baa, and he can snort like a pig! He also points to one of us our pictures and says something that sounds like "that's mama" or "there's dada!"

It is so much fun to watch him learn and take in new words. He can follow some simple commands and tries to repeat so much right now. Of course, he still does not understand no, or chooses not to listen to us. We try not to overuse "no," but he loves to open the trash can and sometimes pull stuff out and he NEVER listens when we tell him to stop. He will look at us and shake his head no but keep on what he is doing. So frustrating! Other than that, he is a pretty good boy!

He remains a sweet, happy, caring, curious little guy. He's still climbing and getting into everything. He loves to be outside and to run around like a big boy. Jackson seems to be a little tender-hearted and gets upset when other kids get upset. He is also unsure of other kids touching him. We continue to go to Gymboree classes weekly and try to go as often as we can to play in their gym or get together with friends for play dates. He loves his mama dearly and still climbs on me several times a day to give hugs. We are practicing giving kisses - he will kiss his toys some, has kissed Max once, and every once and a while gives me one. :) Love it! He continues to sleep great at night and for most naps. Food has been a bit of a struggle this past month - some days he doesn't eat much at all and other days he eats well. He is much pickier about what he eats though. We miss our boy who ate anything and everything! Jackson greatly enjoyed the fall time with all of the pumpkins. I'm looking forward to the holidays and seeing his reaction to all of the decorations.

We love this boy more every day and cannot believe it has been 3 months since we celebrated his first birthday. His personality gets more fun every day and we truly just have the best time with him. Thanks for all of the joy that you bring to our lives little man!

Jackson and I went to our friend Merrick's 4th birthday party - it was held at Monkey Jo's, one of the bounce house places. All he cared about was climbing on this Bob the Builder ride and running around. He did not want to be on the bounce houses at all! 

A cold day at the park but still loved being outside! 

Playing with daddy at the park. 

Jackson loves to use his basketball goal as a chair and then pulls this toy up to him so he doesn't have to stand! haha

Judging from this picture, you'd think Max actually liked the boy. Nope, still hates him. 

Our cool little man in his shades! 

Found these two best buddies playing in the play room before bed a couple of nights ago. The dog loves his boy. :) 

Thanks for reading - love to all! 

Halloween

Our little man dressed up as a police officer for Halloween. I didn't think he would enjoy a big costume, and considering he wouldn't even wear his police hat, I'm glad we went with a simple costume. He got to dress up a couple of times. The first time we joined the Lake Norman Mommies play group at the tot lot in Davidson for a play date and snacks - all the kiddos wore their costumes. He ran around and played in the sandbox. It was pretty day to be outside!

The only shot I could get before he ripped his hat off. Isn't he cute though? The tot lot was great - it is a park designed for toddler aged children. It has a big sandbox and tons of ride on/push toys for the kids to move about in a safe environment. 

And here is the little officer digging in the sand. He had a fun time!

On Halloween we went over to our friends house, the Rigneys, and joined them and some other friends for tick or treating. Since Jackson had know idea what was happening, we just pushed him in the stroller and he watched the bigger kids run around. He still received a couple of pieces of candy and some gold fish. Mommy enjoyed the candy! :)

Our crew: Lauren and Elliott, me and Jackson, Tracy and Merrick, and Ashley with Luke and Emma. 

Jackson out trick or treating! He was happy just to hold his pumpkin. :) 

Fall fun

I'm a bit behind on this, but we took Jackson to his first pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. Grandma brought him his first pumpkin about a month ago, and ever since the boy has been obsessed with pumpkins! He loves to point out pumpkins on our walks and he notices pumpkin decor everywhere we go. So we took a family trip back to the farm that we picked apples to get some pumpkins. Our friends the Weeks joined us with their two kids, Christian and Peyton. It was a gorgeous fall day and we had a great time. We took a hayride out to the petting zoo area and looked at the animals for a while. Jackson loved this as much or more than last time! We then got back on the wagon to go pick our pumpkins. We got two which Jackson approved of. Then we let the kiddos run around for a bit before heading home. He loved seeing the pumpkins on our porch and even helped daddy carve one for Halloween. Since Jackson also loves cats, we decided on a kitty pumpkin. He was thrilled with the outcome! Here are a few pics from the farm and pumpkin carving:

Jackson was in pumpkin heaven with this giant pile of pumpkins!

Petting the animals - he has no fear.

A couple family pics :)

Precious boy and his pumpkin.

Daddy and Jackson working hard on the pumpkin.

The finished product! Meow! It's so cute how he knows that it is both a pumpkin and a cat. He will look out the door and "pukin! meow meow!"

We also took Jackson to the state fair for the first time a couple weekends ago. We were in chapel hill for a football game and made it to the fair in Raleigh on the last day. We walked around and ate while he took a nap in his stroller. When he awoke, we showed him the giant pumpkins and all of the animals. He loved both! We then got some ice cream and let him run a bit before heading back home.

Checking out the award winning giant pumpkins!

A little ride on daddy's shoulders to check out the cows, goats, and pigs! 

Up next, Halloween!