Our Little Picasso

Title: Untitled Drawing #1

Artist: Jackson Medeiros

Medium: MagnaDoodle

Price: NS

Jackson's Latest Feat

Jackson's latest feat is taking off his own diaper. I decided not to include a photo for this post.
:-)

Jackson and Mason

This is a picture of Jackson with one of the boys we've hung out with at Manor Pool this summer:

I think years from now it will be cute to show Jackson and his friends pictures of themselves playing together as babies. It will also be interesting to see who he is still friends with years from now.

Out With the Old, In With the New

After several years of longing for a new truck (silver, 4 door, short bed), Matt's wish finally came true! We donated his old, non-smog-test-passing truck to The Salvation Army; traded in our sports car; and got Matt his truck.

The sportscar had originally been for me, but wasn't practical for me once we had Jackson. So Matt has been driving it for the last year and a half, bless his soul, filled to the brim with blueprints and construction samples. For the line of work he's in, a truck is the way to go.

OLD:

NEW:

Jackson likes the new truck too!

Mommy Is Chopped Liver Today

As usual, I was awakened by Jackson before the crack of dawn this morning. As usual, I got him up, fed him, changed his diaper, and got him ready for the day. Yet, when it was time for Daddy to go to work, Jackson cried and carried on like he was losing his best friend. Then, as usual, I took care of Jackson all day, then fed him, changed him into his pajamas, and put him to bed.

For some reason, he woke up at 11:30 PM, which is UNusual these days. I got out of bed, fed him and changed him, cuddled him, then tried to put him back to bed, where he cried and carried on. Then I gave him some baby Motrin, thinking that maybe his teeth hurt, and tried to put him back to bed, where he cried and carried on again. 

Finally, Matt asked (from bed) if I wanted to just bring him into our bed. Since I'd tried everything else I could think of, I took him up on the offer and put Jackson in our bed . . . where he immediately shifted himself so his head was tucked comfortably under Matt's chin, and his feet were digging into my side, and he fell right to sleep.

Great. So NOW it's after 12:30 AM, and Matt and Jackson are blissfully snoozing away, and I'm wide awake and killing time on the computer until I get sleepy again!

However, I'm consoling myself with the fact that when Jackson grows up and wins a Pulitzer and/or Nobel Peace Prize (or Grammy, Oscar, or Emmy--I'm not picky!) the first person he'll thank is his mother. :-)

Judi and Jackson Go Biking

Here in TreeHuggerVille (aka Davis), A LOT of people use bicycles as a mode of transportation. It's no big deal to see tandem bikes or large groups of adult/kids biking around town together--they are EVERYWHERE. All the roads have a bike lane and there are lots of greenbelt/bike trails here. In fact, when we moved to Davis, some friends told us that we had to have bikes and a dog in order to live here (I haven't checked the laws, but there are enough bikes and dogs around that it might be true).

Now that Jackson is a year old, he's old enough to ride in a bike trailer (which all of the "in" parents have here). We took our first test ride to the gym, with me on my bike and him in the bike trailer that his grammy (my mom) bought for us. The trailer even has a compartment behind the seat where I can fit two large bags of groceries.

He enjoyed riding in the trailer, especially over bumpy parts of the road, except when his helmet slid down over his eyes. I guess I need to do a few more adjustments on his helmet, and then it should be smooth sailing!

Jackson's First Visit to the Dentist

Jackson was obviously terrified when the dentist tried to look in his mouth. He sobbed so hard he could hardly breath. We had to wait for over an hour for him to calm down and . . . oh wait, that was ME when I was a kid!

Jackson's first dentist appointment was AWESOME! I wish there were dentist offices around like his when I was younger! We waited to see the dentist in the "game room", where there were two full-size video game machines, lots of toys, and a children's movie playing.

We saw the dentist, Dr. Mandelaris, in a big room, where there were about 10 exam chairs lined up in a row. Several of them had kids laying in them happily getting their teeth worked on, while they wore sunglasses and headphones, and watched a movie that played on tvs in the ceiling above each chair. The entire rest of the ceiling was filled with model airplanes. Jackson smiled and had a great time while we were there. When we left, they sent two new toothbrushes,

a rubber fish, and photos with us.

His teeth look great, and Dr. Mandelaris said not to worry about Jackson chewing on EVERYTHING. He doesn't need to go back until all of his baby teeth are in, at 2 1/2 - 3 years old. I wonder if they'd mind if we just went there to play? :-)

California State Fair

Today, Jackson, my mom, and I went to the California State Fair. I was so happy to see the funny-looking rabbits and chickens, whose absence had dampened my joy at the Solano County Fair.

 
Jackson had a great time looking at all the people and sights. He happily chilled out in his stroller with his feet up on the tray, and a bottle in his mouth the majority of the time. It was in the high 90s today, so Jackson drank several bottles, and every once in a while I sprayed us all down with my fan/mister--a MUST at outdoor events here in the summer.

 

We (okay, I) ate lots of fattening fair food, walked our legs off, and had a great time.

Mommy's Little Helper, Continued . . .

Here's Jackson "helping" Gram E push the cart at Costco:

And here is a progression of photos in which Jackson "helps" me make dinner:

 We had to stop for tickles and giggles before we could finish making dinner.