Happy Halloween!

Jackson needed a new raincoat and rainboots, so this year he got fireman-themed gear and got all dressed up for Halloween. It was far more successful than last year, which was comprised of about 15 minutes of costume time and a lot of tears. (Toddlers don't really like having their arms strapped onto big dragonfly wings.) This year Jackson was very excited about getting dressed up and even more excited to be allowed to eat M&Ms and Crunch bars. But even better than candy was the steady stream of people coming to the door (we got 200+ kids). Jackson loves visitors. Over the monitor after we'd put him to bed he kept saying in this pathetic little voice, "I want my people." How did this social little creature come from two introverts?

Baby tomatoes

Jackson has discovered cherry tomatoes. I grew too many this year - didn't have the heart to pinch off the weaker starts, and as a result we probably have 20 tomato plants. They're starting to get ripe and Jackson has been enjoying picking the "baby" tomatoes and eating them. That's my boy! He even likes the green ones. I'll raise a veggie-loving hippie yet... Pictures to come.

Camping with a toddler

Well, it was an adventure, to say the least! On July 3rd we arrived at Trillium Lake - about an hour east of Portland - and settled in. Jackson was thrilled to be surrounded by so many trees, plants, rocks, and bugs. Click here for pictures from the whole weekend. Our plan of having him sleep in the play yard changed when we realized he could vault himself out of the play yard with little effort. Just imagine tiny little fists banging at the tent walls and shrieks of joy as he used the inflatable mattress as a trampoline. Nap time was nonexistent, except for a brief hour of exhaustion when he fell asleep in an inflatable boat. Overall, though, the weekend was fantastic. Jackson voluntarily went into the lake up to his neck and even dipped his head under water. We went rowing, we caught salamanders, saw a bald eagle, watched osprey looking for fish, and enjoyed plenty of s'mores. And when we got home we slept. Now that we've recovered it's time to plan the next trip.

Our little old man

No pictures yet, just a story. Lately Jackson has been saying phrases that make him sound, well, old. He's been saying "Be careful!" and "Watch out!" for quite a while now, not surprising considering that he's been walking/running since 11 months and those are two phrases we use pretty often with him. But lately it's gone farther. Music on the car radio? "Too loud!" Windows rolled down as we drive? "Too windy!" Hot Italian sausage? "Too hot!" (To be fair, it was pretty spicy.) As he was griping about the wind in the car yesterday, we decided to teach him a new phrase. We are now the proud parents of toddler who can say, "Get off my lawn!" I can't wait to try that one out on the neighborhood kids.

Memorial Day Weekend

Jackson turned two on May 21st! He went to his 2-year checkup with the doctor and he is doing really well. He's tall for his age and she was impressed by how well he's talking. Yay, Jackson! We celebrated Memorial Day weekend and Jackson's birthday with a visit from Gram and Bebo. We went to Little Gym, the farmer's market, and the zoo. We even rode the zoo train. Jackson practically exploded with excitement ("Oh, train! Oh, ride train! Animals!"), but by the end of the ride he was falling asleep on Bebo's lap.

Gram and Bebo went home on Sunday, and on Monday we went out to Cannon Beach. It was a perfect day - warm sunshine, blue skies, and just enough of a breeze for kites. Jackson fell into a puddle almost immediately, but seemed unfazed by being soaked and covered in sand. All in all, a great weekend.

Gardening (or "Don't pull up the baby plants!")

Again, here's a placeholder post while we get ourselves organized and upload all the pictures from the last couple of months. Jackson is coming up on his second birthday here in just a couple weeks (5/21). It's hard to believe that he's not a baby anymore. He's been counting, saying the ABCs (or A-D in any case) and using multi-word sentences ("Jackson rip book, oh no!"). He's enjoying his new daycare and talks a lot about all his buddies there. At home we've been gardening a lot (see picture of Jackson helping plant squash seeds) and getting ready for summer. The yard is looking good. Little Gym has been fun - Jackson is close to being able to do a somersault on his own and loves swinging from the parallel bars and bouncing on the air track. We've also noticed he's getting a lot pushier about sharing (or not), so we're learning how to deal with fierce independence and stubbornness in a toddler. It's a challenge. More pictures to come, hopefully soon.

Flash Backs, part 3 (Jan)

If you haven't figured out the pattern, I am giving three months of "updates" in one day. I finally got the pictures linked from the website to blog, with just enough words in between the links so that you can see them. Jan was less of a blur. For Christmas and my birthday we got OMSI and Zoo memberships. So for the last four weeks we have gone to at least one per weekend. It has been busy. But any thing that can keep a two year old (20 months) attention for 3 hours is not to be taken lightly. So here they are: Jan 3rd, A late "Christmas" trip to Seattle; Jan 11th, one of many trips to OMSI; Jan 17th, Bebo visits, little Gym and the Zoo, Jackson almost exploded with excitement; Jan 25th, Jackson reading his book (not a staged picture he really got up there on his own.) and figuring out soup; Jan 31st, hiking around Trillium Lake ( find the missing mountain); and Jan 31st through Feb 1st (the tubs were a key part of the weekend). FYI Mary and I had the most relaxing weekend ever. I will get one of these tubs one day, oh yes mark my words.

Flash Backs, part 2 (Dec)

Continuing with the theme: Dec 2nd, Jackson and us around the house; Dec 6th, OMSI and home; Dec 7th, Christmas tree set up with the boy; Dec 14th, we got some snow ; Dec 16th, Playing around the house; Dec 21st, did I mention we go some snow? This time with animals; Dec 21st, Jackson around the house; Dec 24th, A boy and his fire truck; and Dec 27th, another big visit with family. After all those years in Maine and Mass. we should not complain too much about snow. But for this area it was a lot. It forced us to stay home for Christmas. We did get to go later ( see next flash back) but it sure was a crazy two weeks.

Flash Backs, part 1 (Nov)

So we have been taking pictures. It has just been busy, it is not as easy to get them all downloaded and posted. There were lots of things going on. So many in fact I just don't remember all of them. So I will just list the pictures a show them here: Nov 18th, Jackson and us around the house ; Nov 22nd, my parents came out for Thanksgiving (I asked them in July, gotta plan a head) so we went out to the coast; Nov 23rd, we had brunch with the family; Nov 23rd, hung around home; Nov 27th, the "meal" and family we had lots over for the big day, it was nice to be the hub for others; and Nov 28th, big family gathering down in Salem. It is so good to see family, I was glad that my parents were able to make it out to see Jackson.

Fish! Fish!

Jason normally does the blog posts, but he's at the park with the dogs and Jackson is down for a nap, so I figured I should take a shot at it. Yesterday we took advantage of our new zoo membership (thank you, Auntie Miooch!) and went to the Oregon Zoo. Jackson's favorite display, by far, was the fish in the area about animals of the Pacific Northwest. He was thrilled to be at eye level with massive salmon and he shrieked and danced around with the kind of energy and joy that only toddlers seem to have. We also saw eagles, bears (he thought they were dogs), wolves, elk, beavers, tigers, monkeys, penguins, and mountain goats. Jackson said "nigh-night" at most of the displays since most of the animals seemed to be napping when we were there. It was getting late and cold by that point so we decided to save the Africa safari section for another trip. 

All in all, a busy and exciting day. I'm sure Jason will come back and edit this so you can see links to the rest of the

 pictures. For now, here they are: