Silver Linings

It was nearly a perfect week here at the McRae household.  I won't dwell too much on the pitfalls, but I will mention them briefly:  I am still struggling to breathe and have an intense pain in my ribs when I move or cough.  Today I visited a medical walk-in centre and the doctor said to take paracetamol (Tylenol) with codeine.  So far, it has not helped with the pain, but I will give it a three-day trial as he said to do.  The other quite big pitfall was the person who was papering and painting our hallway and landing apparently has an alcohol problem.  This became apparent on Tuesday when we got home and saw dark blue paint all over our kitchen floor, carpets, wood trim, and doors.  We also saw crusty wallpaper paste splotches running up-and-down our stairway.  There were many other unforgivable mistakes made that day, but those were the most noticeable.  Lee and I immediately called the man, returned his supplies, and got our house keys back.  After getting over the shock of it all and wiping away tears of fury, we scheduled for a new decorator (a father of a friend of mine) to come and give us a quote for the work to be fixed and then completed correctly.

Looking at the bright side of things, though, we got Jackson's photographs back from his photo shoot and they are beautiful!  We are so pleased with the quality of the pictures and the photographer captured the many faces of Jackson in a very natural way.

Yesterday, I had my first lesson observation from my new bosses and it went very well.  Their feedback was really encouraging and they only had a few suggestions for improvements.  It was a relief to have it done and over, but I didn't get nervous at all.  I have a really great class this year and I knew I could count on them to behave.  I also compared the pressure of a 1-hour observation to everything we have been through recently and I really didn't see any point in getting worked up about it.  I am so glad that I did not spend any time worrying because it turned out great and that would have been such a waste of time and energy.

Today, Jackson and I danced together; we have danced together before, but this time, he stood on his own, held both of my hands, and we moved around in a circle to Elvis Presley's All Shook Up.  He really is growing up right before our eyes and he is turning into a little boy.  Yesterday, Jackson turned 13-months-old and we are noticing more than ever just how much he is becoming his own person with his opinions of what he wants to do and when he wants to do it.

Last week, over 100 of you came to read the blog and check-in on our ventures.  Thank you for reading and for caring!  It will be fun to share all of these entries with Jackson one day, too.

First Birthday photo shoot which took place on October 29th (featuring his favourite stuffed animal)

A photo collage of Jackson's best shots in his 'formal wear'

And now, in his casual wear, playing with blocks and doing some light reading

Our little artist

Happy 13 months, Jackson!

Developmental updates:  This week, Jackson started putting his triangle-, circle-, and square-shaped blocks in the correct holes in his toys.  He also really showed his love for music by conducting the congregation at church during every hymn, using two arms to wave to the beat.  Pretty impressive!  Jackson really likes hiding things inside of toys and boxes around the house, retrieving them, and then hiding them again.  For instance, he has a little toy that has a door where balls are kept and he will sit for a long time and play with that so he can keep putting the balls in and then take them out again.  He also likes playing guessing games with Lee such as the classic, "Guess which hand" where Lee will hide a toy in one hand and then Jackson will choose the one he thinks holds the toy.  He has a fairly high success rate so far.  For his birthday, he got two toys from his pal Ralph--one was a car and the other was a Mr. Potato Head.  He loves to hide things in the car and then push them around the living room and he likes taking Mr. Potato Head's accessories out of his 'bottom' compartment and putting them back again and again.  Jackson still has remnants of his virus left and is still coughing, but other than that, he had a pretty healthy week.  His teachers said that he makes them laugh all the time and that he always eats all of his meals and desserts.  He especially likes going outside at nursery and getting some fresh air.  This week, his orneriest moment was pulling his shoe off during a diaper change and throwing it--the shoe landed right in the toilet!  (This news made me laugh and didn't phase me at all compared to everything else that has happened in the past two months.)

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.