Taster Sessions

In England, nurseries allow new children to have 'taster sessions' so they can acclimate to their future childcare situation.  Some nurseries have unlimited sessions available, but for Jackson's nursery, he had two assigned times to go which were Wednesday for an hour and today for two hours.  Both sessions seemed to go very well according to the teachers and they gave us a thorough report of his goings-on.

The first day, he began playing with Play-Doh at a table with four other children.  This is when I made my exit, and although he saw me through the window wave good-bye, he smiled and then continued playing with the blue, squishy new texture.  After I left, I waited in the car for an hour while it rained outside--how fitting.  The weather matched how I felt inside.  I managed to talk to a friend and read the car manual for child-lock safety settings and windscreen wiper options.  (Admittedly, I should have brought something to do since his nursery is in the middle of farmlands and I didn't think it would be worth it to travel anywhere when I would have to be back in an hour anyway.)  Before it started raining really hard, I had the windows rolled down and I could hear a squealing baby every 15 seconds or so.  I knew that it sounded like Jackson, but how could it be him when I was far away from the building in the parking lot and he was in the back room of the school?

It did indeed turn out to be Jackson.  When I went to get him from his classroom, I peeked in first and saw a group of toddlers listening to a story being read by one of the teachers, but I couldn't see Jackson.  So I crept into the room and found him--he was playing with the Fisher Price farm and animals while listening to the story.  He noticed that I came into the room and he crawled to be picked up.  His teacher told me that after the Play-Doh, he crawled in the sand, played with the baby doll in the role-play area, and tried to climb into the baby doll's bathtub!  She also said that he is "very vocal."  Thank you; I'll take that as a compliment.  Also, he fell and hit his cheek on the bookshelf, but when his teacher tried to hug him when he was crying, apparently he pushed her away, sniffled, and stopped crying.  Then he crawled toward a new toy.

On his second visit, he played outside and got his first set of clothes a bit muddy.  For lunch, he had a turkey dinner and trifle for dessert.  His teachers said that he ate the whole serving.  I wish I could have seen his reaction to trifle and how he was with the other children.

During both of his taster sessions, he didn't cry when Lee or I left him, so we were proud that he seems to be well-adjusted and proved to fit his 'sociable' title.

This is the hardest thing about nursery:  I want him to socialise with other babies and try new things, but the hard part is knowing that he will be making memories and I won't be there with him to see his reactions.  It's as if on Monday, he will start his own life with friends whose names I don't know.  He will be taking naps and waking up without his mom or dad in the room.  And he will be left in the care of teachers whom I hardly know.  It feels really unnatural to be dropping Jackson off at nursery, but I hope he knows--or one day he knows--that I'm going back to work to give him the best life possible and if I could be with him all of the time, I would.

Halfway through our shopping trip at Cheshire Oaks on Monday, Jackson crawled around the play area to use up some of his energy.  Then he posed like a model.

He rode his first coin-operated ride and loved it!  

Playing at his friend's house for an end-of-Summer party

Thank you, Ralph, for inviting me!  I had an awesome time in the bouncy castle!

Steadying himself one-handed with his walker.  This was just minutes before he took his first steps with his walker.

First day of nursery

Playing an original song

Developmental updates:  On Tuesday, Jackson took his first steps with his walker!  It happened in the exact spot where he crawled for the first time, so it must be a place of good luck in our house (near the dining room table).  He has a newfound love for the keyboard and has been tickling the ivories--white plastic keys--daily, mainly sticking to the higher octaves, but sometimes moving lower toward Middle C.  He even held a note out fermata style with his toe!  Jackson is coming up with new sounds every day and he talks non-stop.  When I rock him in the glider, he has made a consistent habit of reaching for the book in the side pocket, Sesame Street:  Cookie Soup and Other Good-Night Stories.  Sometimes I have to read it at five A.M. three times in a row.

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

Fight or Flight

The end of an era:  Jackson's last weekly playgroup was on Wednesday and he is officially on the road towards nursery.  He's a big boy now and I can tell that he's ready for this next step.  I'm not, though.  Can he please stay my little baby forever?  Please?

This week, Friday, was also our last trip of the Summer to see the ducks and feed them some breadcrumbs.  We took the walk back home slower than all of the other times and I savoured the moment, watching Jackson take everything in, observant of all of the people, plants, and animals around him.

The start of the trip home began with a brisk power walk, however, due to an incident at the pond.  A few weeks ago, I explained my fear of winged creatures.  Now, these are usually the only source of my worry when we go to the pond, but I have learned to suppress my fear as the weeks have gone by.  But yesterday, something arrived at the pond that we weren't expecting at all and I had to decide:  fight or flight?

Jackson and I had two pieces of bread left to shred and toss into the air like confetti for the ducks to fight over.  Up until this point, we had been having the most lovely trip to the pond--the weather was perfect, the temperature was just right, and it was silent and still except for the sound of splashing.

As I tore the first bits of bread off, I heard a distant galloping through the woods.  You see, surrounding the wooden walkway around the pond, there is a forest which at this time of year is built up with brush, trees, nettles, and ferns so that looking away from the pond, all we can see is a wall of green.  I looked behind us to see if I could catch a glimpse of what was coming, but I couldn't see anything but leaves.  I could tell from the pattern of thuds on the ground that it was a four-legged creature with a long stride making its way closer and closer towards the pond.  Then I heard really heavy panting and I figured that it was a dog, but this dog was on the hunt--for what, though?  And how big was this dog?  It could have been a rabid Rottweiler or a kind-hearted Collie.  Whatever it was, it was approaching fast and out of all the exits from the woods, it sounded like it was coming right for us!  I didn't want to run in case the dog saw it as a game to chase a lady with her helpless babe in his stroller around a pond, so I had to choose "fight"!

I positioned the back of the stroller towards the woods and covered Jackson with my arms and body like an umbrella.  Then the dog broke through the shrubbery, I screamed, it pounced on the walkway about an inch to the left of the stroller, and then with its next leap, it dove into the water into the sea of ducks.  The dog didn't even notice us.  At this point, I was covered in goosebumps and had gone cold as ice, the ducks had quacked their way out of sight, and the dog was half-way across the pond, panting and trying to catch a bite to eat.

As far as we know, all of the ducks escaped.  I finished tearing-up the bread and left it on the dry shore so the ducks could come back for it at a later time.  As we high-tailed it out of there, I was waiting to give this dog's owner a piece of my mind, but there was no one to be found.  Maybe he or she saw me coming and decided 'flight' was the best option.

Shopping for new nursery clothes at Tesco.  Jackson is now sitting in the big seat in the grocery cart instead of in the baby seat attachment.

Our last trip of the Summer to feed the ducks

Visiting The Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire

The ice cream themed adventure land

Jackson crawled all around the baby zone on his own and found the pot of gold (the ball pit) at the far end of the play area.

Developmental updates:  Jackson is pulling himself up with ease and sitting back down more gracefully than last week.  He is fascinated with toddler to preschool-aged children.  At the outdoor playgroup on Wednesday, Jackson watched a group of four-year-olds build a 'house' and play 'family' for about ten minutes.  Then they tried to include him in their game and he was ecstatic!  He crawled behind them, following them to their different dens.  After they moved on to another area, Jackson made a new friend named Ziggy who is a few months younger than him.  They both tried to steal each other's pacifier out of the other's mouth, but their lips were too strong for their opponents' grasp.  On Friday, he sang for the first time along with the Adele song When We Were Young.  (Side note:  Along with Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On and this song, the first time Jackson heard them, he became very emotional and cried.)  Changing Jackson's diaper has become very difficult because he acts like it is the worst thing in the world and screams until he has his new diaper on.  Also, in between the old diaper and the new one, he manages to twist into crawling mode and scurries off across the room.  This is very risky for us all--and the carpets.  So far though, no accidents.

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

Busy Boy

Another week has flown by this Summer with Jackson.  Our world has opened up since I got my license, though, so I feel like we are both getting a lot more out of life by trying new things with the time we have left together before work and nursery start.  Jackson definitely has a love of being outdoors and seeing people as much as he can because every time we come back into the house, he cries immediately and wants to go back outside.  He truly does thrive when he is around the public and it will be exciting to see how he does at nursery as he grows up and makes friends of his own.

Aside from the regular activities of Little Treasures and Outdoor Activities on Monday and Wednesday, we had the opportunity to meet up with two of my friends and their children on Tuesday in Preston.  We all met at Brockholes Nature Reserve and after a long walk around the lake there, the four boys played at the park.  It was a really hot, sunny day so I am happy that we got to spend it outside and with good friends.

On Thursday, we travelled to the Crosby Marina on the train with other parents and children from the children's centre.  The activity of the day was 'crabbing' which involved long butterfly nets with pebbles and raw bacon in them as bait for the crabs.  Jackson and I watched the crabbing for awhile, but then he wanted to crawl around on the grass, go on a walk, eat snacks, and play at the playground.  Unfortunately, the older children didn't have any luck catching crabs.  Luckily, Jackson was entertained with other things anyway, so he didn't seem too heartbroken to not catch sight of a crab.

Friday we met up with our friends Vicky and Thomas at a new place in Southport called "Momma's House."  It is a cafe with a mini-main street themed play area for children to play who are 3.5 feet tall and shorter.  I was really impressed with the layout and offerings of baby-appropriate toys available and I will definitely be taking Jackson back again.  Besides finding a new hangout, I enjoyed catching up with a very good friend so much!  It was refreshing to have a conversation while the babies played independently in a safe, penned-in area without any big kids running around causing worry for the moms.

And finally, to end our very busy week, we all travelled to Sheffield today to meet Jackson's new cousin named Amelia!  He softly patted her head and looked at her a few times, but mostly he just played with toys with his other cousin, Connor.  It was really nice to hold a brand-new, cuddly baby again and we are happy to have a new addition to our extended family.

Crawling through the tunnel at the Baby Olympics

Drumming on the balance boards

Standing and grabbing everything off of the coffee table

Trying out all of the toys at "Momma's House"

Developmental updates:  Jackson loves the movie Muppets Most Wanted.  We bought him the soundtrack this week so he can listen to the songs in the car for long journeys.  (And we like singing along, too.)  He has started bouncing and 'dancing' in his own way when he hears music.  Jackson has developed a surprised face.  Initially, it looks like he is going to yawn, but he just sits with his mouth gaping open and his eyes wide.  Jackson tried a few new foods this week and loves them (of course):  blackberries, beef stroganoff, and Cheerios.  He is still following his growth percentiles, but it seems he is able to wear his clothes longer before he grows out of them because his growth has slowed down a bit.  He has almost grown out of all of his 9-12 month clothes, but he is wearing his outfits more than once which was the average for a long time.  On Wednesday, both of his bottom front teeth came through!  I started brushing his teeth that day and he loves the feeling of the toothbrush on his gums and seems to like the minty taste of the toothpaste.  Jackson has always been a smiling, welcoming baby, but this week, Lee and I have noticed it more than ever.  We both said many times this week how thankful and lucky we are to have our little Jackson in our lives.

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