The Youngest Youngs: Jack is ONE!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack has been such a blessing, and I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by! Our little guy is definitely babbling away. He says two words with meaning "Mama" and "Dada." If we ask Jack where the dogs are "Where is Shiner? Where is Ranger?" he looks at the correct dog. He also knows Addie very well. He LOVES his sister. He laughs at her faces and follows her into any room in the house. Addison is a great big sister to him too, it's been awesome to watch them start to interact. Addison sometimes tries to touch or hold Jack's hand in the car. Jack loves to play with Addison in her room and crawl in and out of her pink castle! Jack is very close to walking now. He has taken a couple of steps on his own. He can stand alone for several seconds before he gets frustrated and sits back down to crawl after a toy or Ranger.

Jack was suppose to have his one year well check today, but the doctor found that Jack had another double ear infection and turned the visit into a "sick visit." He weighed in at 27.7 pounds and 31.5 inches long! We are going back for Jack's well check in about a week. Poor guy! We never really know when he has infections because he is usually such a happy guy. He was waking up fussing once at night the last couple of nights, but not running a fever. He is again on antibiotics and also ibuprofen tonight, so hopefully he starts feeling better very soon. He finally is sleeping through the night very well. He started sleeping through the night at around 9 months. We had to let him cry a couple of nights, but he got the idea and is sleeping like a champ (unless he has a double ear infection). Jack is OFF of bottles!!! .... Well mostly. He has a bottle at night, but none during the day and Paul and I are extremely excited about that. He is now only drinking milk and eats like a toddler. I think his favorite food is pizza because he probably ate an entire piece at his birthday party. Jack also loves bananas, grapes, french fries, pasta, and any kind of bread... my kind of guy.

Jack loves to cuddle and be held, and will actually go to almost anyone... as long as he can't see me. He is very interested in toys and inspecting anything he can find. However, he is not very interested in Baby Signing Time. When Addie was his age I had those songs memorized!! Jack rarely will sit through an episode of Baby Signing Time, and would rather be getting into any drawer or cabinet he can find. We have been signing to Jack and he knows "All Done," "Milk," and "More" ... I think. At least it seems like he does. The only sign that I've seen him do is "All Done." We will keep trying to get him interested in the signing. Addison has forgotten a lot of her signs, although will still sign colors, hot, cold, please, thank you, and uses her hands while talking a lot. I very much believe that Baby Signing Time and her interest in it facilitated her speaking earlier and having a big vocabulary. I think Jack is much more action and inspection kind of baby. He is much more interested in his toys and practicing his fine motor skills.

I cut Jack's hair... yep... the baby mullet was just too much for me to handle. Here are some before and after pictures.