Jackson went from zero teeth, to a whole bunch coming in at one time. I feel so bad for him! I can't imagine how much his mouth must hurt. When he lets me actually look in his mouth, I count four teeth up top and four on the bottom. Jackson is a complete slobber monster, to the point of where it just rolls out of his mouth. While he doesn't like us looking in his mouth, he loves to explore and feel his new teeth. He seems pretty fascinated by them. He has cut his top lip twice with his new sharp, pearly whites. Guess that's something that he has to figure out.
With his new teeth he has decided to start biting. Oh no! His favorite thing to bite? Why, my foot of course! His top "vampire" tooth is so sharp! That sucker hurts when he really bites down. He also tricks me every so often by making me think that he's going to give me a kiss and instead bite my chin.
Jackson has found a love for cellphones, tablets, remotes, and computer keyboards... Like father,
like son! He will pick up the remote and start hitting buttons and look a the TV to see what he's done. It's the cutest thing ever! When he gets a hold of one of our phones, he makes a waving motion on the screen until it comes on and then just hits or does the waving motion some more with the screen on. He has accidentally called two people already! I've downloaded several of the Fisher Price apps on the tablet and he loves them. He really enjoys the ones that sing to him. As far as the keyboard, he loves to "type." He will sit in Matt's lap and "type" away and laugh while doing so. It's so sweet!
Jackson seems to be very sensitive when it comes to loud sounds and certain noises. For example, he has a real big issue with the sound that my Cricut machine makes. I don't know if it hurts his ears or if he's scared of it, but it definitely bothers him. He also has a hard time with certain music if it's too loud. He will actually start whining, if not crying until it's turned down. He is scared of our Neato vacuum and really gets upset when it starts coming his way. Poor guy!
We've been trying more new foods and had our first reaction. Jackson had a reaction to cucumber... Like mother, like son! He has always been a good eater, but with his teeth coming in, he's become a little bit picky and not wanting to eat anything that requires him to really chew. I completely understand, I wouldn't want to chew either with a few teeth that are hurting me. So, I've found ourselves leaning more on the pouches again. He's become a pro at feeding himself the pouches, but still likes to squeeze it all out at once if I'm not watching.
I've been working with Jackson drinking from a 360 cup, while he likes it, he has gotten this new fascination with drinking from my glass. We've also been working on using a straw. He can use the straw, but prefers for someone to put the drink in the straw and let it drip into his mouth.. Imagine a hamster. Haha!
With Jackson learning to crawl, he's figured out how to "escape" the living room. He loves to explore the house, open and close cabinets, and of course, play with the fur babies toys. He reminds me of a snail, wherever he goes, he leaves a trail behind him.
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| Jackson's escape route! |
Jackson is still babbling up a storm. He loves to say "mama" and "dada." He is working on "ba," "wa," and still using sign language. I'm about to start adding a few more signs in, but not sure which ones yet. He LOVES making mouth farts and blowing out his lips to make them move and make sound... I have no idea what to call that, but it's so funny and absolutely adorable. :)
Jackson loves to give kisses and we're working on blowing kisses. He has done it a few times, but it's pretty random. We're also still working on waving hello and goodbye. Again, he's done it, but it's random. He loves to clap and will do so when you tell him to. He likes to clap to music, when we give praise, and just because.
Now that Jackson has learned to pull to stand, he wants to stand all the time! It doesn't matter where he is, he's going to try and stand. He pulls up on the couch, in his pack n play, on the coffee table, etc. If he thinks something will help him stand, he's going to try. He's so determined!
Courtney, Jackson's PT, got married! Congratulations Miss Courtney! Courtney has been working on cruising, crawling up the stairs, and strengthening. She's also still working on pulling to stand, kneeling, and crawling, but it's more of a practice, practice, practice type of thing since he's gotten the hang of it. We are still waiting for Jackson's stander to come in. We're hoping that we will be getting it soon. The last I heard was that it was in the insurance hands. We are also still waiting to get the approval for Jackson's new braces, but that should be happening in the next couple of weeks.
We will be starting occupational therapy on 8/17 and are so excited! So, now Jackson will have PT two times a week and then OT one time a week. When the OT came and did the evaluation, she was really impressed with Jackson, but we did discuss some of things that we need to work on. They were mainly my concerns, but none the less, things that we will work on to get him on and keep him on track.
We will be going on the 15th for Jackson's first sedated MRI. I'm a nervous wreck, but I know everything will be fine. Jackson's neurosurgeon wants to start doing sedated MRI's so that he can get a better look at Jackson's brain/ventricles and spine. We will get the results of the MRI at his next SB clinic on 8/22. We look forward to seeing all the doctors again, getting some questions answered, and hopefully getting a great report.
When the days are tough, and believe me, there have been some tough days, I look at my sweet boys face, listen to his laugh, watch him crawl, and listen to him blab up a storm and it brings me right back down to Earth, right where I'm supposed to be. Being a mom isn't easy, but it's completely worth it.
I guess that's it for now. My next blog post, unless something big happens, will be 10/11, but I'll still be posting on Facebook. It's still hard to believe that Jackson is 14 months old. Time has gone by so quickly, I really wish that it would slow down. Even though the time is going by too quickly for my momma heart, I love watching Jackson grow and learn new things. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our little man.
