Michaelsen Baby Love: June 2013

Aw nuts... I missed 2 months! SORRY!!! To try to make up I'll be posting lots of pics and then follow up with a post with his pro 18 month pics.

Can you believe Jax is 18 months old?!? Maybe it's easy to believe for everyone else... I, though, am just shocked and even more so when I look back at the last 18 months. I feel like it was yesterday that Jax was just a tiny baby, and at the same time like it was a lifetime ago. Such a strange sensation.

I watched a dumb chick flick the other night that has been haunting me. The Vow. The movie is everything you expect and nothing more. I wouldn't necessarily watch it again, but it has stuck with me. In short: couple falls in love, gets in a car accident and brain injury causes girl to loose memory of her husband and therefore no longer loves him. This terrifies me. Brings me to tears just at the thought. I cannot stand the thought that there is something out there that could tear my love for my husband and child apart. I try to reassure myself that it would be different with the victims child. That not even a brain injury could tear that kind of love out of a person... but the doubt is there, in the back of my head, scaring me to death. So, in a paranoia only a mother could understand I feel like I have to journal my sentiments for Jaxxon - in case I can't be the one to tell him how very much he is adored. How even on the nights (like tonight) that he screams and fights bedtime for over an hour - how I miss him even then when I'm so close and I can go to him at any moment, but I don't for his own good... I miss him and it breaks my heart. How on dull or blue days the sound of his laughter can turn it all upside down and make it one of the best days of my life. How when he plays with my hair and makes me look like I have a bad case of bed head it's one of my favorite moments - because he's so happy and entertained with just me. When he runs into my arms throwing himself at me - it's like pure joy explodes through my entire body. I don't ever want him to doubt how much I love him... Okay... I'll find somewhere else to write this all down for him and move on.

At his 18 month appointment Jax was in great health and right on track! 32.2" tall (48%), 25lbs (39%) and that big ol' head full of brains was 19.2" (77%). He's ahead of the bar in his verbal skills - having already begun stringing words together (something they said to look for around 2 years). Doctor mentioned over and over how highly social he is. Not afraid of strangers and while he'd rather be on my lap or in my arms he didn't scream when Dr. Davis did her exam. He squirmed, but she said that was nothing - most kids his age start screaming when she walks in and don't stop until they leave the building. She was amazed at how easily he went with her across the room so she could watch him walk back to me, and how he giggled and played with her when he realized he was free in the room. I was one part proud of my little social bug and one part aware that I'm going to have a job teaching him stranger danger...

Since he started talking Jax has said "where'di go?", which I guess is technically 3 words, but I always thought in terms of vocabulary it was one to him - he learned it all together and always used it all together. But lately it's been more of "where'd Bew Belle go?" Or "where'd Duh Duh go?" (Duh Duh is Mickey Mouse - I think because I sing the first beats of the Hot Dog song with Duh duh duh duh...). He'll ask for a "ba" in the morning and I get him a banana and he almost dances around saying "my ba, my ba". I'm amazed every day at the things he says to me and I KNOW (I know) I need to be writing them all down... and I don't get it done.

That all being said, he's also become more whiny than ever. He runs to me, tries to scale my body, and then turns my shoulders and whines. I'm working very hard on getting him to use words when he wants something. Even if they aren't words that I understand I'll jump to get him whatever I think he might want if he'll say it and not whine it. Sometimes it works great - he looks at me and rambles some gibberish that means nothing to me but that he's very deliberately saying to me and I jump to action. Other times he just bursts into tears - it's just too frustrating to try and put words together.

Jax has really started dancing a lot more. It cracks me up! He mostly just fist pumps (which I swear Brian and I don't really do) and more raps than sings. I think he got it from (again) the Hot Dog song on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. They kind of pump their hands in the air while dancing. Jax mostly dances to his own beat - he doesn't necessarily do it when he hears music. A few weeks ago, though, I pulled him out of his highchair and Garth Brooks was singing Shameless and I was singing right at the top of my lungs with him. When I scooped Jax up he started swaying and I put my hand out as if we were slow dancing and he put his little hand in mine and started singing his own tune and we finished the song in a duet slow dance. One of the most magical moments for me. It was intensely private (mostly because of our uninhibited singing), and yet I wish a fly on the wall had gotten video of it. I'd love to get to experience that moment again. Every once in a while, if I'm busy cooking or cleaning up after a meal he'll come to me, grab my pants or skirt and start dancing. We always take a dance break if he wants one! He decided to have a dance party in the cart in Target today. The store staff was loving every minute of it - and he just pouted when they'd say 'bye bye'. I think he liked the audience!

I try to remind myself every day that good or bad, everything is just a phase. Sometimes it scares the bejesus out of me because he's such a joy and I don't want any of it to end! Other times I am counting the days because it's a tough phase. Currently I'm reminding myself even more that it's just a phase. For a couple of weeks Jax was pushing his bedtime later and later. He usually goes to bed so happily - after a very short fuss (like 5-10 seconds) at the initial thought of bed he would go through a happy little routine pointing out people in pictures and flipping light switches and giving Dad knuckles & high fives. Then he'd welcome being put in his crib, take his blanket with a giggle and roll over and fall asleep. Since he never really makes a fuss about bed time we let it slip a half hour here and there until we found ourselves not getting him to bed until 9:30 or after and he wanted to sleep until 9:30 am every day! So, we decided to re-adjust back to 8pm. It all started on Fathers day. It had been an unbelievably full weekend and we were all beyond exhausted. He was happy playing with the hose in the back yard all afternoon, but when it was time to come in and get dinner started he went from fussy to inconsolable in a matter of minutes. A fit of Hollywood proportions. Throwing himself on the floor chasing me through the house. After trying everything we knew to try we left him in the playroom to figure it out. He eventually found me in the kitchen and looked up through teary eyes and gave me a small smile. I said okay and scooped him up in a hug at which point he flipped the switch and continued the fit. I put him back in the playroom to figure it out on his own and when he couldn't I decided it was simply time for bed. I got enough water and soap in the bathtub to consider him clean as he flailed and screamed and I wrapped him up tight in a towel and held him close and had a brief moment of calm before he unleashed again as I tried to put on a diaper and jammies. We put him in his crib at 6:30pm and he was asleep by 7pm. It was exhausting. We overshot our mark by about an hour and a half, but he needed bed that night. I figured 8pm would feel like a treat to him Monday night. No such luck. For 3 nights now he's thrown a fit at bedtime. I hate the thought of him falling asleep so upset, but it seems it's our only answer - he can throw a fit downstairs because he's over-tired and we let him stay up, or he can throw it upstairs in bed. Bedtime, nap-time, it doesn't matter. If he's supposed to go to sleep he throws a fit. It seems to be happening at the same time that he's decided not to take any medicine willingly anymore. I think last week he brought me his Ibu syringe and wanted some (no, he doesn't get it upon request) and now it's a fight to get it anywhere near his mouth when he's so upset and needs a calming agent (Doc says it helps them sleep when they are upset). Also right in there is the complete 180* turn on bath time. He used to jump and run to bath time when I'd mention it. Now he wants to shower. He likes the water falling on him rather than sitting in it. I did get a happy bath in tonight, so hopefully the sleep-time phase passes that quickly, too!

Brian and I agree that we are putty in his hands at his latest thing, and that is taking us by the finger and leading us to where ever he wants to go. Every kid does it, but dang, when it's your own it's just the sweetest thing. He never really held our hands and walked - he just stood up one day and walked. So we are all mushy when he does it now! He'll hold my hand if he's on unsteady ground (gravel or fresh mulch or really tall grass). It's just the sweetest thing. :)

ok - enough of me rambling. PICTURES ALREADY!!!! These are all completely out of order... sorry.

Four days before Mothers Day I decided I wanted to run the Mothers Day 5k... This picture does not do the day justice. I think we all had a pretty great morning!

Playing Captain Hook at our friend Brock's Jake & the Neverland Pirates birthday party!

We have so much fun (and learn so much) at our play dates with the Graeve's!

In Jax's opinion this is the ONLY way to use a picnic table

He finds it really funny to perch on this little piece of step. And lately to stand on it!

BFF's. These two go out of their way to sneak a hug or kiss or snuggle in when no one is looking

ON his 18 month birthday... he looks like such a KID!

The Smoky Hill River Festival is one of my favorite things. Running around at the park is one of Jax's. Only one of us got to have fun at a time.

he loved this little caged entry to the tennis courts!

Tormenting Moe Kitty. Or "meh", as Jax would say (instead of meow). He loves chasing that cat!

Riding with Scott & Grandpa in the Gator! (One of the few things for which he'll say please)

Our first trip to the neighborhood pool. Without a lot of help I didn't actually get any picture AT the pool that day... later I did, though.

He was so fussy one night and he found a picture of Nana & Grandpa from before they had any kids and he was only happy holding that picture and stroking Nana's face.

Sweet snuggles

If you push the slide over it's a FORT!!!

Fathers day (before the fits)

I feel like I've seen a picture of Brian as a toddler that looks just like this. :) Maybe I'm making it up, but it just looks so familiar...

Jax loves the pool... it's not a peaceful place, it's filled with squeals of delight!

His new favorite thing. He knows where I plug it in and everything. If I'm using it he runs to get his lawn mower and "help". If I'm not using it he gets it out and does his own cleaning.