All college basketball and no Ellen makes Jackson a cranky boy. Poor kiddo. The last two days there has been no Ellen. He asks several times a day; I wish I had an episode saved, but at least there's You Tube.

We have a beast of a cat. She's not a fan of the kids at all (or anyone else for that matter), but what I find interesting is how how tolerant she is of J. She will let him lay on her, pull her fur and poke her nose. If anyone else tries those things, she hisses and spits. I wonder if she has some "6th sense" about J? Jameson loves her, but she doesn't go near him at all.

Jameson was looking out the window and I heard him yelling, "titty, titty!" and "ow-ow!" (meow), I look out the window and there's a squirrel sitting on the lawn. Hey, it's got fur and a long tail, right?

J is continuing to make nice gains on the eating front. He absolutely loves Cheerios. For the most part, he's actually nibbling them and swallowing them! He seems to do much better with foods that don't shatter into crumbs when he bites into them (like graham crackers). We have to keep the Cheerios box on the table and he labels the letters and numbers on it. He's even noticed that when the box is open, the word Cheerios on the flap is upside down. J's still stuck on Sweet Potatoes and Bananas, but I can get him to try other things if I tell him we're out of the other two.

Object du Jour: A pair of 3D glasses that came in the People mag. J looks through each lens separately with one eye to color things in the room.

We're back from our tour of the state! Jackson loved hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's (much better than the Kalahari!)

Follow-up eye clinic appt today. Jackson whined and cried through the whole thing. He had to keep his stocking hat and glasses on the whole time. (Oh, sure. Now he wants to wear the glasses!) We've decided to not push the glasses and re-check him in 6 months.

J's new thing is to announce to the whole room when he's crying. He'll yell "crying" at the top his lungs. Too funny, like we couldn't tell.

Object du Jour: A random blue block and the baby laundry basket. Everything old is new again!

We're just finising up our 3 day stay at the Kalahari and getting ready to head to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Jackson wanted nothing to do with the waterpark, but Jameson liked it. Jackson had a lot of fun in the arcade putting "pennies" in the machine to get tickets. We have to go down and spend the rest of our tickets before we leave. I'm really surprised how well Jackson handled all the noise and people. Aside from not wanting to go in the water, he did really well overall.

Jackson did just ask to go to Barack Obama's to see his microwave. I bet he has a nice one!

Object du Jour: The orange level and his Wiggles figures. Poor Greg is missing an arm, a leg and an eye. :(

Everything circular is now a toilet. (Figuratively!) Hopefully, this will lead to potty training for J.

Jameson has had a small burst of language lately. He's saying, "Mama, Dada, kitty, banana, cheese, hot, hi, ball, all done, sit down, uh-oh..." I'm sure there's more, but that's all I'm remembering off the top of my head. He's also signing "more" and pointing to what he wants more of. This child is a complete and utter tornado. In the last two days, I've found him on the top of the desk, on the dining room table and on the end table. I will be so glad when this climbing phase passes. It never occured to J to do half the stuff Jameson does. Jameson has been quite the learning experience for Mommy and Daddy.

Object du Jour: The "orange level." J found a small level of Daddy's and played with it for a long time. When he lost interest, Daddy put it back in his toolbox. J was looking through a book of tools and saw a "purple level." That triggered his memory of orange level. He asked for it non-stop until Daddy when and got it out of garage.

Regardless of your political views, I think we can all agree that this a great thing and a step in the right direction for trisomy awareness:

Trisomy Awareness Month

WHEREAS, trisomy is the presence, within a person’s cells, of an extra set of chromosomes instead of the regular two.

WHEREAS, the most common trisomies in newborns are trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), and trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome).

WHEREAS, trisomy pregnancies can present unusual complications and can be more at-risk than non-trisomy pregnancies.

WHEREAS, the life of every child is precious, regardless of the number of chromosomes he or she may possess.

WHEREAS, parents should take advantage of the local support groups and online communities that offer education, encouragement, and counseling for those managing trisomy pregnancies or raising trisomy-affected children.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim March 2009 as: Trisomy Awareness Month in Alaska, and give full support to raising awareness and education for all forms of trisomy, as well as efforts supporting families experiencing trisomy, and to helping people with developmental disabilities achieve their full potential.

Dated: February 25, 2009

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/proclamations.php?id=1676


How cool is that?

Object du Jour: The baby doll I bought J when Jameson was born. I asked him what her name is and he told me "Stickers." :)

Yesterday, Jackson brought home from school a frosted blueberry muffin with a candle in it for Elmo's birthday. I took it out of his backpack and asked him to tell me about it. He kept focusing on the candle and said, "turn it on", over and over. I told him I couldn't turn it on and he looked at me puzzled and yelled, "plug it in!" I laughed so hard! I'm always amazed at the connections he makes!

He and Jameson had a great day together. (Yes, they still fight, but they're brothers, what are ya gonna do?) But, they played and giggled together. Jameson walked into the room, Jackson patted him on the head and said, "Hi Jafeson!" and walked out. Wow. Jackson also gave Jameson a hug spontaneously today. Maybe it's OK that we keep "Jafeson" around for awhile.

Jameson is picking up words fast and furious. Yesterday, he was chasing the cat yelling, "titty!" at the top of his lungs. *ahem* I'm also starting to hear him trying to put two words together. I hear "all done" and today in the bathtub, after I told him over and over and over, I heard "sit down!" I love his little voice.

Object du Jour: "Jackson's Orange Book" J brought home a big/little book that he made in speech. One page has "big" Elmo and the opposite page has "little" Elmo, it continues with Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert, etc. He loves looking through it and talking about the pictures.

The above pic is from Jackson's Fall Party last fall at school. He just dug out that pumpkin and has been carrying it around the last few days. Although, now it's missing the K and the N. Don't you love the squirrel pelt hat? (Disclaimer: no actual squirrels were harmed in the making of this hat.)

Tracy, if you read this...I'm a dork that can't read!

ETA: Aaaaand, now I'm a dork who forgets that she knows more than one Tracy. The above message is for the meeting that was Tuesday, that I showed up for on Wed. Yep, I'm still a dork.

The rest of the results came back on J's GI panel. He's deficient in selenium (that was the thing I couldn't pronounce), zinc is fine. We need to give him supplements. According to google, if I could load him up on Brazil nuts, he'd be fine. Mmmmm, Brazil nuts. Walgreens doesn't have it in stock, so they ordered it for us. And, of course, insurance doesn't cover it, but thank goodness it's only 20.89.

I had my girl's weekend this past weekend. I missed my little guys, but it was so nice to be able to eat and go to the bathroom alone.

Object du Jour: An empty gum box, an empty Snoopy VHS box and discussing how brown the door is. I don't know how this started, but several times a day we need to go look at the closet door in the spare room and talk about how brown it is. Alrighty.

The view from our window...

And who knew Little People and Bunnies enjoy Rectangle Ellen?

Object du Jour: The clip.

Just feeling a little reflective today. We've been getting a lot of bad news lately about friends and my grandma passing recently. I need to remind myself how lucky we are to have what we have and to have to our two beautiful children. If you are a reader of the blog and I haven't seen you in awhile, just know I'm thinking of my friends and the people who care enough to follow J's life. OK, sappy time over.

We went to visit friends yesterday and see their new little fella. What a cutie he is! Jackson stole a big magnetic clip from their fridge and cried when we left because I tried to put it back. They ended up letting him take the clip home. He calls it the "rectangle Thomas" because it's rectangular and blue like Thomas. We ate with it, slept with it and bathed with it and it sticks to the air vents fantastically. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it back (someday) and return it.

J has his Valentine Party at school today. This morning before he left, he was wandering around saying, "Par-tay Har-tay". Nice. I don't know where he learns this stuff.

Object du Jour: The big blue rectangular refridgerator Thomas clip.

I posted the above picture because:

a. it's just darn funny and I need a laugh

b. I can't wait for baseball season

c. I just want to think spring and warm weather.

I mean really, how many people can say they've had a Chorizo hold their baby?

The rectangle remote has been replaced, this is not a drill! We now have, drum roll please....the oval remote. I opened the drawer to the DVDs and J happened to be standing there and saw the grey TV remote (we normally use the DVR remote). He snatched it and christened it the "oval remote" because it has rounded ends. He'll set it down and come to me in a panic when he can't find it. He somehow figured out that the buttons glow in the dark. I found him in the closet with the door cracked a little. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "lights, oval remote." I had no idea the buttons glowed.

We got the results today from the GI workup. Everything's normal, no concerns. They are still waiting on results for zinc and something I can't pronounce.

Object du Jour: Hmmmm...

If anyone figures out what a "boxswave" or a "squigg" are, please let me know. J says these two words all the time and I have no clue what he's trying to tell me.

Still working on potty training, no sucess so far. He just loves to sit there.

Are 13 month olds supposed to be able to snap their fingers? Jameson was watching me snap my fingers to a song on the radio and just decided to do it too. Now whenever we listen to music, he snaps along.

Object du Jour: The Cars Valentines for Jackson's class party. They are really cool and change pictures when you move them back and forth.

Dentist and blood draw today. J started to panic as soon as we were taken back to the room. He cried and shook. The dentist was finally able to get into J's mouth with a toothbrush. He didn't see anything to be concerned about. J left with two toothbrushes, a Thomas sticker and three toothbrush caps. How can you just choose one?

Jameson sat in the stroller and waved while saying, "Hi" and "Hot" to everyone that walked by the room. He'll have his first dental check-up in April. I guess they aren't technically taking new patients but the dentist pulled some strings for us to get Jameson in. Yay! It's helpful for me to take them to the same places. The dentist told me that a majority of their patients are "typical" kids, but they are the largest dental provider for kids with special needs in the state.

Then we had to go downstairs and get J's blood drawn for his annual GI workup. We were in the waiting room for 45 minutes before he was called back. Jameson made a little friend who kept handing him books and making him laugh. Jackson kept violating the personal space of the woman next to us, she said she didn't mind, but didn't seem all that comfortable. He kept looking at her and saying, "Next to me." Like she didn't know that. J took the draw really well without any tears. Not sure how long it will be to get the results.

Object du Jour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z47EUaIFrdQ Save me.

J2 had his one year check up today. He's 25%ile for weight, 75% for head and 97% for height. Zowie, I wonder if he'll stay that tall. I'm so not used to having a kid so high on the charts (actually on the chart at all). He took the shots like a pro, cried a bit and gave the nurse a "how dare you" stare. What a ham he is.

Jackson wanted to cuddle today. He laid his head on my chest to watch rectangle Ellen and I thought he just wanted to snuggle with me. Nope, he wanted to chew on the buttons on my sweater. I guess I have to take the cuddles where I can get them from my big boy.

Object du Jour: The rectangle lids from the baby food containers. J loves to look through them and pretend they are cameras. Cheesy!

GI yesterday. Although J has lost about a half pound, he's at 93% of ideal body weight and his BMI is 15%. So, yay! He's a little over 26 lbs and 3' 11" tall. They are pleased with his height to weight proportion. ETA: WHOA, back up the bus...he's 2'11, darn metric conversions (yeah, yeah, that's it).

They have increased his calories per oz of his Elecare to try to get that weight back on him. I also talked to the BP about potty training and he gave me some stuff to try. Did you know that if you blow out while trying to go to the bathroom, it relaxes your pelvic floor muscles? So, we are going to get some party favors, whistles and bubbles to blow on while sitting on the potty.

The GI dr. doesn't need to see him for another year (this is the longest we've gone between visits) but the rest of the team will see him in June. We do need to take him back over to the hospital to get labs done to make sure he's getting all the nutrients he needs from the formula. They do this yearly.

Object du Jour: All the Potato Head parts. It looks like the poor guy exploded in the living room.

Aaaannnddd...I have pink eye. Woke up Sunday with my eye swollen and stuck shut. Went Urgent Care. The first thing the dr. says when he walks into the room is, "Whoa, that's nasty." Glad I could make his day and gross out a doctor, who I'm sure has seen worse (I hope). So, I have some lovely antibiotic drops and steroids. Everytime we visit the hospital, we bring a little something home with us. It's the gift that keeps on giving! (Remember rotavirus? I knew you did).

Jackson loves a commercial that sings, "For the toys that teach." It's an ad for a local teacher store. He thinks it's hysterical if I substitute other words for "toys" like, "For the Jacksons/windows/recatangles/Ellens that teach." He'll look around the room giggling and give me object suggestions to sing about.

Object du Jour: A small pink (naturally rectangular) suitcase that goes to the dollhouse. Inside it's got stickers with pictures of clothes, shoes, and a teddy bear. J wouldn't go to bed without it. Maybe the rectangle remote will soon become a distant memory. I can only hope.