Jackson has such a love for water and absolutely loves taking baths. One day while I was brushing my teeth, Jackson was messing with the tub in our master bathroom. Low and behold, he figured out how to turn the water on! He was so proud of himself and kept turning around to look at me for approval. He kept turning the water on and then turning it off giggling each time. After a few times of turning the water on and off, he decided that he was going to try and get into the tub. Now, imagine a little boy that is only 30 inches tall trying to hike his leg up to get into a tub that is almost as deep as he is tall. Quite humorous!
We still haven't heard from our insurance company pertaining to the stander that we are trying to get Jackson. I feel like we're in limbo, but eventually they have to respond, right? Waiting is certainly not one of my preferred activities. While we are waiting on the insurance, a friend of ours got in contact with us and is graciously letting us borrow her son's stander! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's amazing how many people have actually reached out to us about loaning us their child's equipment, and for that, we are so very thankful.
Last month I wrote about Jackson getting his derotation straps. I was so excited to finally have something that would keep Jackson's feet in a neutral position. Well, those didn't last long! I got so frustrated with them and after talking with Jackson's PT and realizing that they weren't actually working like they should have been, I made the call to Jackson's ortho to get a prescription for twister cables. The orthotic place was able to get us in pretty quickly to get Jackson measured for the cables and they took a little over a week to come in. When we went to pick them up, I knew what to expect, but for some reason I didn't handle it well the first that they were put on. I immediately thought that they looked like the braces that Forest Gump had worn and had images of him growing up having to not only explain them, but having to defend himself from bullies. It made me sad. However, once I saw him stand up straight the first time and pick up his foot, all of the sadness and worry went away. I became proud and immediately had the biggest smile on my face. One thing that I've come to learn through all of this is that part of my job is to make sure that Jackson is not only comfortable in his own skin, but proud and confident. I may not succeed at everything in life, but making sure that he is proud and confident of himself is something that I will succeed at. :)
I don't know if it's a coincidence or what, but since getting the cables Jackson has started picking up and moving his legs when standing more. He's showing signs of wanting to walk! Yay! It is so exciting to see him move his feet and legs when he standing.
Jackson has learned a new skill, unfastening velcro. Yay for learning a new skill... Boo for the new skill aiding in him on being able to remove his braces. Before getting the cables I started to put socks over his braces to try and limit him from undoing the velcro and taking them off. It worked... For a brief amount of time. Now that the cables are attached to his braces, Jackson can no longer take them off, but he still undoes them all the time. His newest thing is taking off his shoes. One night he took of one of his shoes and decided to put it in the trunk of his tricycle. When I asked him were his shoe was, he held up his hands and said "huh?" When I asked again, he opened the trunk of his tricycle and took the shoe out. It was so sweet.
I don't know if you're like me, but I spend a decent amount of free time on Pinterest looking for ideas for Jackson. Things to make for him, new toys that would benefit him, food ideas, etc. I've been eyeing busy boards and making a list of things to get so that I could make him one. Well, while my parents were in town, my dad built Jackson this awesome busy board. Jackson LOVES it! It has all of his favorite things: things with buttons, magnets, things to pull on, stuff to open and close, stuff to spin, and the best thing of all, a doorstop!
I've been working with Jackson on some fine motor skills. One of his favorite things cost me two dollars to make: a tupperware bowl and pom poms. I made a hole big enough for the pom poms to fit through in the top of the tupperware bowl and let him go to town. He loves putting the pom poms in and then wants us to take them back out immediately. The only issue is that he has decided that the pom poms would be fun to eat, so we have to watch him very closely when he's playing with them. The other thing that Jackson likes to play with to work on his fine motor was free for me to make! My dad cut a slit in the lid of a cat treat container and Jackson inserts poker chips in the top. It's super loud when the chips fall in and even more so when he decides to pick the container up and toss it, but he loves it, so that's all that matters.
While my parents were visiting, we decided to go to the mall because I was in desperate need of pants. While I was shopping, my mom took Jackson to the mall playground. I always assumed that the stuff in the playground was hard because of the way it looks, but I was wrong. Everything in the playground area was completely soft and safe for kiddos of all ages. He got to crawl around and explore and then went down a slide for the very first time! He LOVED it! He had a huge smile on his face and when he got to the bottom of the slide, he immediately started to climb back up to go back down it again.
Jackson is really into cause and effect right now. "What happens when I drop this lid on the floor?" "What happens when I bang my hands really hard on the coffee table?" "What happens when I drop stuff through the railing of the stairs?" The list goes on and on! His favorite at the moment is dropping stuff down the stairs. He will crawl all the way into the living room, grab a toy, crawl all the way back to the stairs, and push the toy through the railing and watch it fall down the stairs. If it makes a lot of noise, he gets quite a giggle out of it. Then, he will repeat the process. He usually drops five to eight things down the stairs before getting bored and moving on to his next activity.
When he isn't throwing stuff down the stairs, his next favorite activity is taking out all of his toys out of his toy bins one toy at a time! He's such a boy - Such a mess maker! The good thing is that we are working on picking up our toys and putting them back into the toy bins. Sometimes he does a great job, other times he just looks at me and gives me a mischievous smile and starts taking his toys back out of the bins. In the picture below, he's "helping" me with his laundry, another one of his favorite activities.
I've been working on transitioning Jackson from co-sleeping with me to sleeping in his crib. At first, it was extremely rough and I gave up often. I couldn't stand listening to him cry, get himself so upset that he would make himself sick, and yell for me. It broke my momma heart. I let him cry, but not to the extent of "crying it out." I refused. I read a blog post one night that had me bawling and made me realize that him wanting to co-sleep is just a phase. He's only going to be little for such a short amount of time. Him crying out for me is because he wants me, needs me - he needs my touch, my comfort, to be able to smell me, to hear my heartbeat, to tell him that everything is alright. My job isn't to ignore his cries, my job is to be there, no matter what time of day.
While it was tough to get him in his crib, all of a sudden, he didn't fight me getting in to his crib and he slept in it through the night! The first night that he slept in his crib, I woke up pretty consistently to check on him. It was like I was back to when he was a newborn, needing to check on him throughout the night to make sure that he was ok. He's still sleeping in his crib, but does wake up once or twice during the night. Between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., he decides that he's done with the crib and that he wants to sleep with me. Eventually, he'll sleep trough the night in his crib, but for now, I'm soaking up the cuddles that I get in the middle of the night. There's still nothing like having your child cuddle up to you and wrap their arm around your arm and then fall asleep.
Those of you with cats, you know how mischievous and funny they can be. Aubie, loves to sleep in Jackson's room. Normally, if we can't find her anywhere else in the house, we know that she's in his room under his crib or dresser snoozing away. Since Jackson has started sleeping in his crib again, Matt hooked the video monitor back up so we can check on him. One night, before putting Jackson to bed, I was moving the monitor around looking for Aubie and found her laying on the bed. She got interested in the monitor since it was moving and decided to check it out. It was hilarious! I know that this has nothing to do with Jackson, but I couldn't resist posting the pictures of Aubie!
I've decided to start crafting again and have been having so much fun. I've already fulfilled several orders and will hopefully continue getting orders and building up my business. I am working with vinyl creating personalized gifts for the home, family, friends, and yourself. I would love for you to check out my page - Custom Creations. If you're on Facebook, make sure to click "like." I will be holding a contest within the next couple of weeks to win a free item of the winner's choice. :)
Well, I think that about does it for this month! One last picture to show you how Jackson can make me melt into a puddle. :)
Crystal
