Weekend with Mom

Stephen spent this beautiful snowy weekend in Washington DC so Jack and I got to have two entire days all to ourselves. My, what one can learn in a weekend...

I don't know if it's just that Jack is growing at lightning speeds or I haven't really had the chance lately to spend 48 straight hours completely dedicated to being with him, but I swear I learned so much about him this weekend that I didn't know.

For starters, he can walk. Well, sort of. He can take a few unassisted steps before lunging at his stuffed animals...or me. He can sing. We were watching Faith Hill's Christmas Special and I realized as I was humming along that he was too. He can spin in circles on his bum. For hours. He loves, and I mean loves, to hear me make animal noises. Quack quack is his favorite. Arf arf is second. He smiles

with all of his teeth, now, and he gives of that smile freely. He will never go outside a 20 foot radius from me although he likes to get just out of sight long enough for me to say, "Where's Jack?" and he comes flying around the corner and into my lap. He needs periodic and regular hugs, about every 5-1o minutes. When upset, he has to be sitting in my lap. Not just touching me or sitting next to me, but on my lap squarely. If he's really upset, whilst on my lap, he needs to suck his thumb and hold his monkey at the same time for at least 1 minute.

He giggles at himself (or something that none of the rest of us can see) all the time. When he concentrates, he breathes very loudly and deliberately out of his nose and then laughs about it. He can say "Ma-ma" "Dad-dee" "Da-da" "Dean-Da" and "neh neh" (which is "more"). He loves to look out the window and watch birds or people or just the wind blow through the trees. He is very tenderhearted and likes constant reassurance. He understands "no no" and will almost always obey it after the 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) "did you really mean no, exactly?"

attempt. And when he goes back to said "no no" object after a few minutes, he always looks at me first to be sure I still mean it.

He loves my cell phone and now when I say, "Can you call Daddy?" he will put it up to his ear and smile. He will throw a ball back and forth for upwards of 5 minutes, which is an eternity for a 10 month old. He will even add Dean into the throwing party and Dean will very politely sit and roll it back. Speaking of Dean, he likes to share his food with him, either by handing it to him or letting Dean eat it out of his mouth. He likes to get my attention by saying, "Aya ya ya!" and

laughing when I look over at him and say, "Is that so?" He loves bath time but isn't a big fan of teeth-brushing time. He will take a nap without a fuss as long as I put two books in his crib with him. He likes to flirt with ladies at the store, especially the large ones.

I know he is only 10 months old, but I can already see the kind of person he is going to become and it is exactly like his father. His heart is big and soft. He thrives on affection and sweet conversation. He does not like to have someone cross with him. He will be funny and love to laugh. He will be awkward at first and because of that he will need some help to be as confident as he can be. He will never be arrogant. He will always need my hugs. At least I hope so.

I love you, Jackson. More today than yesterday and more tomorrow than ever before. Thank you for such a wonderful weekend.