Big Boy!

Today was a big day for little Jackson! Jackson started the transition from the toddler room at school to preschool. They decided to move him up a little early...he is the oldest kid in his class right now and he has started to act out a little, a sure sign that he is bored. He knows many of the kids in the 2 year old class, so we thought he might handle it just fine. Well, he had a tougher time today than anticipated. He seemed to miss his old familiar surroundings and his favorite teachers. But I think he will adjust pretty quickly as time goes on. I think the new challenges and older friends will be great for him. Here's hoping tomorrow goes a little better than today!

1:51

Now that is by no means a record setting pace. Not even a PR for me. But I am very proud of that time for the 2011 Dallas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. This was my very first race since Jackson was born. The training was the first time I had run over 5 miles since Jackson. Today may have been one of the first times I have enjoyed running since Jackson. All of those factors made it a pretty unbelievable experience for me. I enjoyed the camaraderie of running with 14,000 other people. I really enjoyed pushing myself to keep going when my legs started aching and my feet started hurting. I thoroughly enjoyed rounding the last corner and seeing the finish line just 528 feet away. I felt the rush of emotion when the volunteer said "congratulations!" as she placed the heavy medal around my neck. I think the ultimate goal occurred this morning...the running bug has entered my life again! But I think I am going to stick to 13.1 miles. It is the perfect length. Long enough to require a respectable amount of training. Long enough to make you work really really hard. Long enough to make you dig deep. But short enough to race. Short enough to enjoy. Short enough to recover much faster.

Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend with Jackson. He was in a pretty good mood for most of the weekend, that always makes it so much more enjoyable. Here is a photo from Saturday morning on his trike, he's ready to go!

And here's a video of him "pedaling" the trike:

After lunch on Saturday we took Jackson to get a MUCH needed haircut. Jackson HATES to get his hair cut, so we always end up putting it off as long as we possible can. Saturday was no different, he started screaming the moment they put the cape over him. I held his hand throughout the cut and occasionally even had to physically restrain him. One of the hairstylists told me that he should be fine by the time he is 4. 4?? Oh my! At one point they offered him a lollipop in hopes it would calm him down. I said ok, I knew how bad of an idea that was but I was desperate! He's never had candy before, so he was pretty entertained.

On Saturday night we cooked steaks and potatoes on the patio. Other than a couple skinned knees (OUCH!) we had a great time. Turn out Jackson LOVES steak!

And here is one final pic from lunch on Sunday. I had to include this one so that you could see the new haircut! He looks so much older now!

22 Month Update

I haven't done a Jackson update in awhile. Maybe it's because he is changing so rapidly these days. Or maybe it's because we are just so darn busy that I find less and less time to keep this as up-to-date as I would like.

Anyways, we are just 2 short months from turn 2. wow! I guess it is appropriate that the terrible twos appear to be in full swing now. Just about anything will set him off these days, from a simple 'no' to us not being able to read his mind as to which cracker he wants when he shouts 'cacker'. Most result in an all-out, ear-piercing, floor-rolling tantrum. Sounds fun, right? Well they're not. Thankfully we still occasionally see the big-hearted sweet little boy that we love, even if it is just for a moment.

So what else is he doing these days? Glad you asked!

- Swimming lessons have become so much more fun! He is "swimming" underwater for 5 seconds now! Huge improvement from the first class. His favorite part of the class is going down the slide and sitting by himself on the "bye bye" mat (he loves the attention of everyone singing to him). The photo below was taken after class on Monday.

- His vocabulary is expanding daily...cacker (cracker), muk (milk), waffal (waffle), whayla (whale), play (airplane), poopah (granddad...you can thank Scott for that one), and mimi (grandmom) are some of the funnier new ones. Clock is also very funny, but I won't write it as he pronounces it.

- He still signs when he says more and please, especially when he thinks the double communication methods will help him get what he wants.

- He is getting very good at saying thank you. It melts my heart when he says "tank you mommy".

- He is still very attached to Skipit and has recently grown attached to a new stuffed animal "whayla". This little blue whale was given to him when he was very little, he now carries it around with him a lot when he is at home.

- Scott put his tricycle together on Sunday, Jackson was thrilled! He likes to sit forward in the seat and "pedal" himself around with his feet on the ground. But he also enjoyed me pushing him around the block.

- He still loves his school. Sometime so much so that he asks me to leave when I come to pick him up. That is obviously a good sign of a great place, but not the greeting I want after a long day at work.

- We know he is a true Texan based on his love of chips and queso (and occasionally even some salsa!)

Tiger Update

It has been 8 months since Tiger's FHO surgery. I've been meaning to get an update on here for the past few weeks. We saw a tremendous amount of improvement with Tiger when he hit the 7 month mark. At that point he finally flipped his paw over and started walking on the paw instead of on top of his foot. At first there was a considerable limp as he had significant muscle atrophy and a pretty stiff paw. But once he flipped it, his muscle immediately started to rebuild. At this point he walks with a very slight limp. But the best part is that he can now jump up on most everything and his muscle seems to have fully rebuilt itself. I only notice the remnants of his surgery when he stretches his back legs, at that point it is clear that his left leg is much shorter than his right. But in normal every day activity, he is pretty much back to his normal kitty cat self. We are so happy that he has recovered so well, there were many days where we feared the worst. We knew it would be a long tough recovery, it just seemed so slow as we lived through it. But now we have our Tigee back!