The Baby Diet

Jackson's meals are getting closer to adult meals, but his are much healthier and chopped into tinier bites.  Since Jackson is moving around more and I have to chase him around so he doesn't get hurt, I have less time to eat snacks or even full meals.  So I have started what may become the next big trend:  The Baby Diet.

Jackson eats a variety of foods and if I only stuck to copying his meals, then I might have baby soft skin and his level of energy.  So technically, I am only on The Baby Diet when I feed him his meals and these are some of the ingredients:  drops of steamed broccoli tops, slivers of kiwi, bites of mango, and rejected, cold porridge.  Basically, this new diet is all of the leftovers that Jackson is too full to eat or has mushed in his hand and finds unworthy of eating.

These small snacks don't fill me up and sometimes my stomach urges me to carb-overload.  For instance, yesterday I grabbed a hotdog bun (finger roll) and dipped it into a pot of mashed potatoes and ate it like an ice cream cone.

Other than that, most of the time I stick to eating the same fruits and vegetables as Jackson.  We eat different mains and meats, but he is slowly getting closer to eating the same menu as us.  The reason we can't eat the same foods yet is because baby's salt and sugar intake need to be monitored very closely and too much of these is extremely unhealthy for them.  (They shouldn't have more than 0.8 grams of salt or 13 grams of sugar per day.)  For this reason, I haven't bought any baby food from the grocery store yet.  When I go back to work, things may change, but I'm going to try to continue making Jackson's meals from scratch for as long as I can.

The trickle-down effect for us is paying off as we're eating a lot more fruits and vegetables than we used to do.  Also, Jackson has continued to grow healthily and stay on the 91st percentile in height and weight so this method is working for him--which is the most important reason to continue serving fresh foods and cooking at home.

Looking grown-up and proud after his check-up with the health visitor

Climbing at his new playgroup called Outdoor Activities

Month-to-month photo shoots are not as easy as they used to be

Happy 10 Months, Jackson!

Splashing in his water table

Pictures from our walk through the village (our church's garden)

Developmental updates:  Jackson now weighs 23 pounds 9 ounces.  He can climb the stairs and made it to the fourth step by himself before stopping.  Luckily, we lowered his crib bed to the lowest setting last week because one day this week I walked in to find him standing up, chewing on the crib railing.  Jackson cannot be contained unless he's strapped in something or penned in with something that has high sides.  He can now crawl out of his ball pit and in and out of his garden centre easily.  We used to be able to entertain Jackson with any activity of our choosing and he would happily focus on that for about 20 minutes or so.  Now it's hard to find anything that will engage his attention for more than five minutes.  Jackson can pull himself up to stand and he is slowly realising that not everything around the house is a suitable pull-up device.  He's taken a tumble or two in the past week, but thankfully there hasn't been anything serious.  There is definitely no resting now that he is crawling, though.  That is unless he takes a nap.  Speaking of which, his naps have reduced in quantity but have become much longer than they used to be.  He had his 9-12 month check-up with the health visitor this week and she noticed that he has a 'good sense of humour' and is very friendly towards new people.  Jackson also showed-off his waving and talking skills while she was at our house and those didn't get overlooked either.  Yesterday he tried sausage for the first time and it went down very well so he had more today for lunch.

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

Back to Work

This was the first week of Summer vacation for the children in England.  While the parks and beaches were full of families enjoying time together, teachers (and some of their children) were in school decorating their classrooms and preparing lessons for September.  This week and the last week of August were the only opportunities for me to go into the school so I got to practise my driving skills and see what it will be like to take Jackson with me in the car for the 45-minute journey to Preston every day.

I used to have a set of keys to the school so it was very easy for me to go in and stay until my job was done.  Due to a break-in and fear that one of the teachers would be in the school by herself, thus encountering a burglar, all of the teachers had to hand-in their keys.  Now we are bound to the hours that the site supervisor is present which, for this week, was from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M.  I set-up Jackson's toys and travel cot (playpen) in my classroom and he turned into the school mascot by the end of the week.  The restricted hours and watching Jackson proved to be quite the challenge, but with the help of my incredibly generous friend Karen and her daughter who came in two days this week, my classroom is miraculously ready for the students' arrival on September 6th.

At home for the next few weeks, I will be planning lessons and preparing work for my class for the first days of school.  I am returning to a much different school than I left last year:  a new head teacher, a new deputy head teacher, five new class teachers, and many of my friends who will not be there because they have moved on to new schools or careers.  With all of the changes, I am really looking forward to going back to work though because I get to teach the age group that I prefer (year 3) and I get to work with a teaching assistant who is my friend and someone I really respect.  There is a lot to learn over the Summer because of new policies in place and planning formats, but I am ready for the challenge and to get back into the routine of work.

The first thing he does now in his rocking chair is turn himself around and rock backwards

Crawling around the yard and pulling off leaves (and pulling the grass out of the ground)

Rocking and enjoying the view out of our back yard

Developmental updates:  Jackson is crawling very quickly now and he weaves in and out of chairs, behind the sofa, and under the table.  He also shut the door on me twice this week.  Once, he shut me out of his room and then sat on the floor, blocking me from opening it up.  When he heard my voice, then he kept leaning on the door trying to get to me, but I was afraid of pushing the door and hurting his head, so it took awhile for us to meet again.  Jackson tried raspberries this week and really loves squishing them in his mouth.  He is escaping his diaper changes since he can move away on his own now.  Usually we have to pin him down or distract him with a song or video because he screams in protest mid-diaper change and kicks and pushes us away.  Jackson is dictating his day when he's at home because he can crawl to his toy box to choose a toy or to his blanket to rest for a nap.  His new bedtime routine combines all of the following:  blanket, Sleep Sheep, mobile, lullaby CD, and pacifier.  When all of these things are in place, then Jackson falls asleep in less than a minute.

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

Crawling and Driving to New Heights

Today we had to take my mom and sister to the airport as our two week vacation together came to an end.  It was very sad to leave them and even Jackson seemed to look around the house for them when we came home.  He really loves his grandma and aunt and I am so happy that they finally got to meet in person.  We did so many activities and packed the two weeks full of Jackson-centred trips so it really felt like we got to spend at least a month together.

Sunday was a very special day for all of us because Jackson had his baptism at church.  He behaved perfectly and when the preacher was talking to him face-to-face, Jackson was looking right into his eyes and it looked like he was listening to every word.  After his Christening was over, we put him into his stroller and then he took a nap for the remainder of the church service.  He's such a good boy!

We have had a particular hot week in England which has made it uncomfortable in the house, but provided for our last week with my family to be spent doing outside activities.  On Monday, we got to go to Jackson's great-grandpa's house in Chester.  His great-aunt Jane and great-uncle Rick planned a huge dinner with a Christening cake to celebrate Jackson's baptism while we visited.  We were so surprised and humbled by all of the effort they put into this surprise.  It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time visiting with the two families together.

Tuesday was a great day because I passed my U.K. driving test!  This will save me an hour and a half every day since I will no longer be a slave to the public transportation system.  Also, I will now be able to take Jackson to nursery on my way to work which would definitely not have been a possibility if I was still bound to the buses.  It was a great relief and I owe a lot of the credit to my truly amazing driving instructor, Niki.  If anyone is interested in learning how to drive in the Southport area, then I would highly recommend her to be your teacher.  (Here is her website:  http://www.nikisom.co.uk/)  It was the hottest day of the year on Tuesday, so we got the paddling pool out for Jackson and enjoyed the outdoors by eating at MadHatter's Tea Pot and Nando's.  Our friend Paul also got to meet the family because he joined us at MadHatter's.  We ate outside at both restaurants so it felt like we were vacationing in Italy.  It was so sunny that we got tans.  One of us (me) got tan on the right side, but not the left, since I was half-covered by an awning.  Oh well; I'll take it!

My mom celebrated her birthday with us on Wednesday--that's two years in a row that I got to be with my mom on her birthday!  We took her to a 'proper' afternoon tea at the Westminster Tea Rooms and then to Jade Gardens for dinner.  Since it was another perfectly sunny day, we walked up and down Lord Street and shopped for some traditional English trinkets for my mom to take back to Ohio--like a teapot, of course.

Believe it or not, in the past two weeks we hadn't been to Liverpool yet!  We live so close to it, but it's not the easiest place to take a baby if you stay around the city centre.  When we go with Jackson, we can basically only push him around in his stroller and let him sit while we eat out at restaurants or shop.  So we decided that us girls would go later in the day and Jackson and Lee could have time together at home.  We ate at Viva Brazil (my favourite restaurant) and went on a Shiverpool Tour which was a ghost walk mixed with some historical facts about the city.  The tour kept getting a bit scarier with every new spot and by the end, I can honestly say that I have never been more afraid in my life.

Friday was my first day of work officially.  I was so happy to get back home to see Jackson at the end of the day and it was strange to not know what he had been up to all day.  On September 5th, when school starts and Jackson begins his nursery experience, we will sort of start our own lives.  I will get written summaries of Jackson's day, but I won't get to witness every second of his life anymore.  When he starts to talk, I will look forward to hearing about his day on the ride home from Hutton to Ainsdale.

For the rest of the Summer, I have a lot of work ahead of me to prepare for the new school year; however, I will cherish the moments I have left at home with Jackson.  Now that I can drive, we should be able to do more varied activities than we have so far this year.  I am so thankful that my mom and sister got to visit us and for all of the help they provided for Jackson.  Their visit brought a lot of laughs and happiness to Jackson, too.  We're looking forward to our visit to Ohio next Summer when we get to see them again and when Jackson will get to meet the rest of his American family.

Jackson's Christening Day

Our dapper little boy

"I'll have the mashed potatoes."

Jackson still loves the water and likes to splash his face right in it

Since he can stand on his own while holding onto something (and he loves water so much), we bought him a water table

Developmental updates:  On Thursday, Jackson crawled for the first time at about 6:55 A.M.  (He must have woken up that day with his goal in mind.)  He loves his new skill and likes to crawl to us so he can greet us when we enter a room.  Jackson is also crawling to get into things he hasn't been able to get before, as well.  He hasn't dealt with the heat very well this week and he has started a shrill shriek when he's uncomfortable.  Jackson's hair is getting thicker and longer so he may be needing a trim soon.

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