"Bye Bye"

Baby Jack is changing daily now. He is really starting to understand us, and knows certain words mean certain things. He definitely understands quite a lot now. He’s been clapping his hands on demand and when he wants to communicate "happiness" to us for quite a while now. He knows that the word Daddy, means the big guy who hugs him and carries him around and feeds him. He knows the words fan, kitty, balloon and looks at the object when you say those words. He knows "num nums" and "sleepy" and raises his arms reaching toward people when he wants to be picked up (when the person makes that guesture to him first).

Amazingly enough, this weekend, we had a littel breakthrough. We have been working on saying bye bye and using our hand in an opening and closing guesture as a sign for the word. Sometimes he would wave back at us when we said bye bye and waved, other times he wouldn't. On Sunday, Mom & I took Jack to the Mall where they have a wonderful carpeted paly area for small children where they can climb on large animal statues and roll and tumble. (Jack is not crawling yet, but it is a great place for him to see other children moving around and to slither and roll around on the floor and to practice getting uyp on his hands and knees). Anyway, he was intently watching a little 15 month old boy (who was no bigger than Jack) crawl and toddle around. Jack smiled and smiled at this little boy and did everything he could to get the little boy's attention. When the other little boy didn't respond, sweet little Jack lifted up his little hand and waived to him!
This was so touching, because we all cheer and clap when Jack makes this gesture...so I suppose that the poor little thing figured that the little boy might like him if he waved at him...since it seemed to make Mommy, and Daddy & Nanna happy.
Since Sunday, he has been waiving all of the time. Whenever we say bye bye, he waves.....what an amazing little boy. I think it is quite early for him to be making these associations and using these signs...but who knows?
Other things that he does is when dressing him, he helps by pushing his little hand through the armholes of his clothing. He laughs so hard whenever we sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" for some reason (no other song seems to affect him like that). He is really close to being able to crawl. He squirms around and can sort of push/drag himself about the room, but it is not really purposeful movement to get to a specific location...he can't quite aim himself and get there yet. He does get up on his hands and knees and rock and sometimes he even moves and arm and a leg forward before he goes back down on to his tummy. I have awakened at night to find him up on his hands and knees rocking away.
He has gottent o HATE to have his face washed or anyone touching or wiping his nose, mouth or in the vicinity of the face. If he sees you coming toward him with a washcloth or tissue, he turns his little head away. He also fusses now when we dress him. This is new....dressing and diaper changing used to be no problem...now he gets quite fussy turning dressing and diapering into an olympic event at times.
Some of Jack's current favorite items around the house:

Tube of Desitin Diaper Rash Cream-- It’s guaranteed to stop him crying when we are changing his diaper.

Anything in his diaper changing basket--The vitamin drops, the nose suction thing, the Orajel tube, etc. He just loves to play with those items and will chosse items out of that basket over any toy available.

Remotes--any TV remote will do, he likes chewing, slobbering on and generally pressing buttons.

Cats or Dogs-- (but especially cats) The sight of one of our cats or one of the dogs will immediately bring a smile to his face...and he does anything he can to touch or grab one. Although at times they get a bit annoyed with his roughness, the cats and dogs tolerate, and actually seem to enjoy his attention at times. Often at night, the cats come and sleep above our heads on the pillows and Jack will reach up and accidentally touch one...and he will continue to open and close his hands in their fur...smiling the whole time. He also will sit at his highchair and hand bits of his food to Darby (our Dalmatian) as he knows this will ensure a "doggie" near him for the remainder of his eating experience.

Satin--Jack LOVES anything satin. He rubs it between his fingers...and loves when you rub in gently on his face, around his eyes and above his lips. He squinches up and smiles and coos. He always wants to hold the satin part of the blanket at night when we go to sleep and to feelit near his cheek.

His blow up bathtub--Jack loves this little tub. Every morning before he goes down for his nap, he wants to visit this tub that we have hanging by a suction cup in the bathroom. He likes to bang on the little fish that whistles when it is squeezed and to look at the pretty colors of the tub itself.

And last but not least...FISH--Jack loves the fish in the fish tank. He does know the word "fishy" and loves to look at the fish. We have two fancy goldfish in a 55 gallon tank in our bedroom and he likes to try to touch them through the glass. He would look at them for hours if we could hold him up to the tank that long!



These are just some of the things that our sweet baby angle is doing right now. I don't know what we ever did without him. Thank you God for the most precious gift.