Patience is a virtue

Over the past week, I've been trying to encourage Jackson to put food into his mouth. He loves to eat when someone is feeding him, but can't grasp the concept quite yet to feed himself. So I figure the more I can get him to touch food, the more likely it is he'll accidentally figure this whole thing out.

Last night while I was getting his "real" dinner ready, I put a few little pieces of cereal onto his tray in the hopes that he'd consider picking one up and putting it into his mouth. He thought they were fun to play with but I don't think he ate any of them. Most of the little bits, in fact, ended up on the floor - and there was no one more pleased about this than the dog.

You can almost hear what Lucy was thinking: "After nine months, this kid is finally starting to pay off."

It's time to get up

Jackson has an almost uncanny ability to wake up at exactly 7:00. You can set your watch by it. Seriously.

Yesterday morning, our first of a three-day weekend, I was really hoping for a few extra minutes of shut-eye. Was 7:30 really too much to ask? (Crazy to believe that a year ago I wouldn't see the light of day before 10:00. And even that would be considered early.)

But right on schedule, I heard Jackson start to stir and talk to himself at 6:57. Fairly soon after that he was yelling his, "Hey guys, I'm over here...time to come get me!" mantra. Likely kneeling in his crib smacking his open palm against the slats, as if to impress us with his newfound mobility.

It was Saturday morning. I was so tired. Work has been so busy. I just need 15 more minutes, buddy. Pleeease let me have 15 minutes...

And as I was lying in bed listening to the jibber-jabber of a little boy who was oh-so-ready to start his day, I thought to myself, "Someday, when we're older and retired and the kids have moved away, I will give anything to have one more day just like this."

Suddenly, getting out of bed didn't seem like that much of a chore.

So we went downstairs, I made some coffee, and Jackson and Lucy got into a disagreement over the purpose of her dog bowls.

It's been an amazing weekend.