And Relax!

It's time for the half-termly break across England for teachers and students once again!  So cue the 'teacher cold' for those of us who have made it through a five-week stretch without getting sick.  It seems to be the way it is around the world any time that you finally get a break from work, your body settles into a nice sore throat, stomach ache, coughing fit, runny nose routine.  It wouldn't be half-term without one!  Either way, for me at least, it hasn't reached chest infection level like this past October, so I should still be able to get a good chunk of work done and even work ahead for the next stretch of lessons.

We have a lot of fun things planned for this week and we will be taking lots of pictures, but believe it or not, I didn't take any this week.  It's the first week that happened, and I do feel bad about it.  I'll make up for it with our trips in the next few days so next week's entry should be full of more adorable photos of our little Jackson.

Developmental updates:  This week, Jackson added a sheep's 'baa baa baa' to his repertoire and seemed to perfect his monkey sound with actions.  He also has a dinosaur sound which he accompanies with a 'scary' face.  Jackson's nods and shakes of the head are getting more accurate and he understands if he is saying 'yes' or 'no' to an option.  He started covering his mouth and becoming wide-eyed when he is surprised by something.  Another new action is when he doesn't know what to do, he holds his hands out to the side with his palms facing upwards.  (This little boy just keeps getting cuter and cuter each day!)  Tonight, Jackson tried to help with his diaper change by taking the little wrapped package to the kitchen and throwing it in the sink!  Lee then showed him that we have actually been taking it to the trashcan all these months.

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

Sing a Song

As Jackson is now learning words and building his vocabulary and singing skills, I think more and more about the music on our car journeys--especially since we are in the car two hours per day.  I also want him to be surrounded by as many different types of music as possible to help him learn rhythm and beat.  We have resorted to CDs recently because the radio over here just isn't cutting it.

One reason is there is not enough variety in the stations.  There are two soft rock stations, five pop stations, and two classical stations.  This would usually be all right for a car ride, but there are only about ten songs that get played on the pop stations--and I only like two of them.  The soft rock stations are fine most of the time, but I like to know the words to songs so I can sing along and if it's an obscure, old hit, then all is lost.  And in my opinion, classical is always wonderful because who can fault music played perfectly with no offensive lyrics?  The only problem is sometimes I just need to sing and I struggle to do that with Mozart.

And the other problem with the radio over here is too much talking!  The classical stations don't do this, but every other station has DJs who talk entirely too much about their own lives.  I enjoy hearing the news on the hour, every hour, and I can tolerate ads since they are necessary; but that's about it.

For a while now, Jackson and I have listened to Disney songs on the way to nursery in the mornings and then in the evenings, I choose the songs because Jackson usually sleeps on the way home.  The only CDs I had to choose from until today were Shania Twain's greatest hits and Adele's latest album.  Jackson and I made a trip to Southport today to pick-up a few things and to have a play date with our old pals, Thora and Ralph, and while we were there, we invested in a new collection of good driving tunes.  Our compilation includes Billy Joel, Bruno Mars, Joss Stone, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, and the perfection that is The Carpenters.  This should be a nice, fresh mix to last us a few months.  Of course, there will still be a sprinkling of Disney songs and the radio every now and then--I don't want to lose touch with what's hip and happening, after all.

And if you are reading this and wondering why I don't have a 'playlist' or 'mp3s' or a device that connects to the sound system in our car, well I'm not that hip.

Making faces before bedtime

Jackson's latest facial expression

Jackson 'told' me what he wanted to do this morning by pointing at the keyboard and saying something in his created language

The one moment where Jackson was still for a picture during his two-hour Play Town visit

Developmental updates:  Jackson turned 16 months old today!  Two of his molars have started growing through this week and have been causing him some discomfort.  They're two top molars, symmetrical from one another and they are quite pointy; Jackson is having trouble soothing himself with teething toys so he tends to chew on his spoons.  We've also used some Calpol (Tylenol) and lots of love and cuddles to help Jackson this week.  Four times this week, he fell asleep while I was holding him, so he must know when he needs extra TLC to get through the tough times.  At the mention of the word 'hat,' Jackson touches his head.  He knows what 'shoes' mean as well and when I said we were going to go 'outside' today, Jackson even went and fetched my shoes one-at-a-time--so he even has inference skills!  His climbing skills have really advanced and I noticed this at Play Town today when he scaled a padded, lumpy ladder to get to the top of the climbing frame quite quickly.  I struggled to keep up with him!  (They must be working on upper-body strength at nursery.)

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

How to Keep a Clean House

Since I became a full-time teacher and especially since I returned to work after maternity leave, my housekeeping responsibilities have fallen by the wayside. I have found it really hard to get everything done for my class and the necessities for Jackson week-by-week, let alone the cleaning.  It's not as though we own too many possessions--we have what we need to get by and everything has its place.  What has been happening though, is the laundry gets piled up and the toys don't always get put away every day.  And in most English houses, there aren't any closets to store away anything to keep it out of the way, so all of our belongings are out in the open.  Then there's also the neglected nooks and crannies of dusting and the bathroom with all of its hidden cracks and crevices that get overlooked when work and family requirements must take priority.

But now, I know what it takes.  I have finally figured out the secret to keeping our house clean in one easy step!  Here is the secret:

Invite friends over to visit!

We've had a dry spell of visitors since Christmas until today so now the house is in ship-shape again.  When someone is coming over, then the housework has to get done and there is nothing that can prevent it from happening.  In fact, Lee was on Jackson duty this morning while I took care of the house and then when Jackson took his morning nap, Lee helped do the bathroom and dishes.  In the end, we got everything done in a couple of hours and the house looks great again.

Is our house perfect?  No--there are still a few of those nooks and crannies that need attention.  But, I think in a week, two hours is a good chunk of time to devote to cleaning.

I do have two ways to make the day easier before your friend's arrival:  The first is to order food in for lunch or dinner and don't try to clean and cook at the same time.  Just choose one of those and do it really well.  Secondly, for any of those odds and ends that do not get taken care of before a visitor arrives, may I suggest having a designated drawer in the kitchen, affectionately known as the 'junk drawer,' where all coupons and batteries can be tucked away until another day.

Dancing while watching The Voice UK

Being a little love and hugging his baby

Reading us his bedtime story

Honing his drawing skills

Saying, "Yeah!" while playing with the musical buttons on his walker

(You may have noticed the pink spoon was close by in most of these photos.  Jackson is still keeping a spoon and bowl with him to mix, mix, mix whenever he can.  Also, he's predominately using his left hand to mix and feed himself.)

Developmental updates:  It has been a very talkative week for our little baby boy.  He had full 'conversations' today with us and my friend that came to visit.  The words were mainly 'goygoygoy' in different pitches, but he said them with such concentration and conviction that it was impossible to just dismiss it as nonsensical babble.  Jackson is confidently feeding himself with a spoon very neatly.  He ate a bowl of pasta and a bowl of mashed potatoes this week, finishing the entire servings, and not dropping any of it on the floor.  We were very proud of his accomplishment.  Jackson also taught himself how to slide down the stairs on his stomach.  He used to try to walk down the stairs like us so this method is much safer for the time being.  And finally, Jackson has mastered the lion roar and responds consistently when we ask him, "What sound does a lion make?"  Now, we're going to be working on other animal sounds.

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