That first smile

Today, while McKinley was at preschool and Cary was at work, this Mama was blessed by our sweet Baby Jackson's very first smile.  I was carrying him from the nursery into our room when I looked at him and those beautiful blue eyes lit up when we made eye contact and he smiled this small, sweet smile.  It was such a precious moment and I feel so lucky to have been the first to share this with both of our boys.

Jackson is so sweet, he sleeps a lot.  I mean...a LOT.  I'm quite sure he's gearing up for when he is mobile.  I can't wait.  He doesn't fuss all that much, just when he's hungry and tired.  And when he's both...well, watch out!  He will babble and coo and make eyes at all of us, but he reaches this point where he must just sleep...like, RIGHT NOW!  And he will cry, which signals us he's had enough and then, as quickly as his fussiness came, in it's place is a peaceful, sleeping baby.  He likes the same "hold" McKinley liked, and the "butt pat".  They work like a charm. 

Ahhh, that first smile...
Lynn

Favorite Things

I have recently looked back on some of this blog...first of all, I am in serious shock that I have been blogging for nearly four years, second....I am in serious shock that McKinley is nearly four years old.

Hello.

Anyway, in my little emotion-sparking time travel back in to McKinley's babyhood I realized I posted a lot of updates on things McKinley had learned to do (smile --- oh that one really did make me cry, wave at 10 months, first word around that same time: Mama!). I've highlighted so much but have kind of neglected to do that lately. I guess he just continues to learn new things at break-neck speed and by the time I would get to blog it he would have moved on to the next three new things.

So I decided to highlight some of our favorite things he has learned or picked up for the sake of family history - because some day his children WILL want to know the first time he...whatever. Right? Okay, well, anyway here are some faves:

Whistling!

McKinley has heard Cary and I whistle since birth. One day last summer he asked how to do it. He said, "Mommy teach me how to whistle!" That is harder than one might think, I remember my Dad teaching me and it wasn't easy - and I was a LOT older than McKinley. But ever the persistent child, he worked at it for a little while (and by a little while I mean like an hour - if that) and he had it!

He was 'caught' whistling one day in class while he helped pass out snacks. The kids could NOT figure out where the noise came from...then neither could the teachers...until it hit them, it was McKinley whistling! Suffice it to say that they were all impressed and made a HUGE deal of his quirky ability. He never told us this story though, call him humble. His teachers told us!

Now, almost everywhere we go he makes a friend (employee of a store, restaurant, office, etc) and asks their name and if they can whistle. It's hilarious. Some people - strike that - MOST people are so completely caught off guard by the fact that the three year old child in front of them CAN WHISTLE and has asked them to whistle too, but most comply...unless they cannot whistle and then they just make them selves look silly all for the sake of our inquiring boy who never met a stranger he couldn't befriend. I love it when he asks some stiff, goody-two-shoes or snob...those are the best. It's nice to see people loosen up a bit every now and then...especially when they are serving your lemonade......

Lasterday (translation: sometime in the past, usually fairly recent)

As with most children (and some adults who shall remain nameless), time is a hard concept to 'get'. McKinley does pretty well but gets tripped up when describing a past event or occurance. Almost always whatever he is describing is dubbed 'LASTERDAY'. Never was a cuter 'made-up-word' uttered. It is my favorite of his made-up words. I have to hide my smile when we are talking, unless we are in the car...where he won't see me. It is a very good thing we have good memories, Cary and me...otherwise, Lasterday could be lost.

Peace Office-offer (translation: Police Officer)...this one is so old! Sadly, the peace office-offer days are long gone, but I still needed to archive it...for posterity. When we would pass a police car he would exclaim this precious phrase that made us giggle out loud. "Mommy! Peace Office-offer!" Oh, that gives me the warm fuzzies just thinking of it.

McKinley definitely comes up with some funny things! He has a great sense of humor an is always laughing or making us laugh. He has grown so much!

Lynn

Antics

These days McKinley has quite the personality. He is funny in so many ways one minute, while the next he is mid-tantrum laying ON THE FLOOR of any given store, park or hallway. I always SWORE I wouldn't let my kid lay on the floor like that...over the last 21 months I have learned NEVER say NEVER. I would MUCH rather have him QUIETLY laying on the floor in a tantrum as opposed to wildly flailing arms, screaming at the top of his lungs resulting in dirty looks and menacing stares from holier-than-thou-non-parents. Yes, I said that...I used to be one of them. Again...NEVER say NEVER.

Then our sweet, precious boy comes back to us with a wonderfully random knee hug, or a gentle face-grabbing kiss, or his sweet way of sharing by ramming his tiny spoon down our throats offering a taste of his food - and don't even think about saying no because our boy will NOT take no for an answer. He has been known to shove a bunny cracker through tightly pursed lips and clenched teeth. Sharing is very important to him!

Lately McKinley loves telling people 'bye' and 'see you in a bit'. This cracks Cary and I up every time. He happily swings doors open with a gleeful, high-pitched, 'Hiiiiiii!' And leaves with a wave and a cheery, 'Bye, lub ewe, bye - see you in a bit!'. It's pretty funny. Our Easter present this year was the addition of McKinley's full sentences. The evening of Easter he informed us that he was, 'Done wit meeeelk'...translation: Done with my milk. He's added many more sentences lately, with 'Close he doe', meaning I'm going to close the door. Of course, I love, "All done eatin''...eatin, not as in eatin', but think eat-tin.

Today his funny little antics lead to an impromptu haircut - originally scheduled solely for yours truly. My butt got booted out of the chair as my son quickly won the hearts of every stylist in Amy's salon when he came in, saw Amy, removed his hat and went right over to her chair. You could hear hearts melt...Amy scooped him up and begged me to let her give him another cut. I didn't mind a bit - he needed it, but felt so bad about messing up her already very packed schedule. She told me she didn't care one bit and that he was too darned cute to turn down, and that if McKinley would simply stop being so cute it would not be an issue. Hahaha!
He came out looking like a rock star - he loves looking in the mirror at himself and the finish product (which is made even more rock-star-like with the addition of some wax and a faux-hawk). I just hope every hair cut is this easy with him...at least until he turns 12 and wants his own style, huh? I'm proud to report we both went home with new do's, there was plenty of time left for my own cut.

McKinley is around the corner from 22 months and ever-changing by the minute. I love that he is so opportunistic and unpredictable - even if it completely wears us out - it is so much fun!

Lynn

Changes!

Wow, I just can't believe how quickly McKinley is changing already! Yesterday he smiled in recognition of my face for the first time. I'm sure glad he didn't cry when he saw my face! LOL. What a beautiful thing to witness! It brought tears to my eyes when I saw that he could recognize me and smile at me.

I also noticed today that when we talk to him, he tries to respond with the sweetest, Ahhh's and Ehhhh's. Its so sweet to hear what his voice will soon sound like.

I'm happy to report that McKinley has finally adjusted (crossing my fingers) to a formula. I never really believed he was 'colicky'...I always thought he had just been having a rough day or two and that perhaps our doctor jumped the gun in switching formulas in effort to help all three of us out. It turns out that formula was the worst yet for McKinley and he is very happy on the original stuff!

No worries though...our little monkey is thriving! According to our home scale he weighs in at almost ELEVEN pounds! He's not really chunky, but filling out nicely and is getting noticably longer.

Next week we will have our beautiful first professional portraits of McKinley Shane. Can't wait to share! In the meantime, here is the most recent photos. With his fussiness last week there was little time to take pictures, I promised myself we'd be better this week. Lots of great photo ops to come!

Lynn