Christmas Festivities

Last year, all Jackson knew of Christmas was bright lights and eating wrapping paper.  This year, he has already been enjoying so much of the season.  From all the colorful "balls" (ornaments), bright lights, warm fires, sweet treats and the general excitement that comes with shopping and holiday get togethers!!  One evening, we pulled out the camera to catch some of his Christmas glee:

(Disclaimer: It is a lot more difficult to capture great pictures when you aren't using a flash, are 8 months pregnant and your model is a 17 month old boy) 

This is a photo area that they set up at church.

Last night we went to a local walk-through Christmas light display that had Jackson bright-eyed and enamored for about a half hour.  It is a 1/2 mile path through the woods in someone's yard that changes theme and music as you stroll.  If ever there was a Christmas decoration created, these people must own it!  From Santa Claus to White Christmas to snoopy to woodland animals to penguins having a snowball fight...they have it all!  Entrance is by donation only and all proceeds go to the local humane society.  This was a much better way for Jackson to see all the lights than him trying to strain from his car seat to look out the window.

  

Boosie "The Tolerant" Alford

Jackson has become extremely comfortable and daring around Boosie and we are just so thankful that Boosie loves that little boy and is extremely tolerant of his shenanigans.  Boosie gets tackled at least once every day and often times sat on rather forcefully.  Jackson's new favorite place to sit is Boosie's head...

Today, I was washing up the dishes and I heard an eruption of laughter from Jackson.  I peaked around the kitchen wall and Jackson was chasing Boosie with the wire whisk he had swiped from the dishwasher.  Although, he wasn't striking Boosie and was just holding it up in the air, Boosie coward as if he was going to get hit at any passing moment.  The laughter was adorable, but I quickly put Boosie out of his worry by quickly taking the whisk back.  However, it was only a few hours later that Jackson was found trying to lint roll Boosie!  That poor dog can't get a break!!

Scrub-a-Dub-dub

We had a beautiful day and the car needed a bath, so we decided to give it a little wash this afternoon.  Jackson had a blast!  His favorite part was playing with the suds in the bucket, but working the hose and taking the sponge to the car were also great fun.  By the end of the experience, he was covered in soap, water, grass, and dirt.  He only tried to drink water off the ground once and hopefully managed to not ingest too much soapy water.  

The fun drastically came to a halt after Jackson fell over and took the bucket with him, covering him in sudsy water from head to toe.  However, a few minutes later his tears were due to the fact that he had to go in for a bath and couldn't play with the car anymore.

Jackson's Christmas Tree

One of the new traditions we started this year was in giving Jackson his own small Christmas tree for his room.  This allows Mommy to do what she wants with the main Christmas Tree and gives Jackson something special to call his own.  We will be continuing the Tallman family tradition of getting one ornament each Christmas and now Jackson will have a place to collect all of his ornaments each year.  This year he got two, one for this year and one for last year.  He is quite enthralled by these new additions; one for his obsession with football and the other, Marshall, from Paw Patrol.  These are the first things he talks about in the morning and the last thing before bed.

We are now working towards the concept of looking with our eyes and not our hands!    

Chatty Kathy!

Jackson is extremely verbal and talks non-stop!!  He is getting better at talking on-command, but still chooses when he decides to cooperate.  Here are a few videos from after his nap today!

Cat, Cow, Sheep and Dog

Monkey, Elephant, Bear and Lion

Car, Train, Rooster and Papa

Football and Touchdown

Fort Jackson

While Papa and Gammie were here, the new nursery furniture got assembled, which meant there were large boxes laying around.  Papa carved out two doors and some windows to make a splendid play fort, which we lovingly refer to as Fort Jackson.  Jackson has really enjoyed getting to play in the box, especially when he has a friend to play with like Boosie or Mommy.

Looking at the cars outside! Jackson's new favorite thing to point out!

Fall Festivals and Halloween

Jackson has so much to learn and enjoy about the seasons and all the holiday fun...but to him, the fall has been great because there are orange "balls" everywhere aka pumpkins!!

Mommy and Jackson were able to go out to a family farm one day with some friends from church.  Although most of the activities were geared toward slightly older kids, he really liked getting to play on the tractors like the big boys and in the corn kernel pit.

Halloween was fun because Gammie and Papa were here and he got to be his favorite animal, a giraffe!!  He didn't mind wearing the suite, but the head piece was top heavy and it quickly became tiresome to wear.  He could hardly hold his head up enough to see where he was walking, but he entertained it enough for a few cute pictures. 

Gammie taught Jackson how to hike the football this week!

Best Buds!