Mother's Day...

I didn't get a chance to write an update yesterday, obviously.  Grammy Camp has been put on hold while my parents are enjoying themselves on a Baltic cruise.  As such, Mommy Camp commenced yesterday.  It was really nice to spend an extra day with my little man, and we tried to make the most of it!

Mother's Day was nothing short of wonderful.  We had a really great day and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Jeff, Jack and I went up to the club for the most amazing brunch I've ever seen.  Seriously, it was huge.  I ate my weight in waffles.  After we got home, we went for a walk and took Jack to the park.  He did some swinging, and sliding with me, and he really seemed to enjoy that.  When we got home, we took a nap together.  I haven't done that in a really long time, and I forget how peaceful it is to have your child sleeping on your chest.  I should try to remember and do that more often, since he's getting so big!  He's twenty-four weeks today, if you can believe it.  He'll be six months in just two more weeks.  He made me a present at day care on Friday.  Basically, they get him down to just his diaper and let him go crazy with paint.  I would love to see that.  Still, I've never been prouder to get a piece of artwork that I'll cherish forever:

 

Overall, Jack's health is much improved.  We'll go back to the doctor in a few weeks for some more chest x-rays and his six month check-up.  He's still got a drippy nose, but his cough is so much better, if non-existent.  It was a really hard week last week - I tried to work from home as much as I could so I could keep him home with me and out of day care.  I think it was necessary, as he's been up to his old tricks these past few days. 

We did experience a new "first" on Saturday night.  Jeff and I went to a wedding and Uncle Alec came over to our house to babysit.  He did a great job giving Jack his bottle, taking him on a walk, playing with him, putting him to bed...and cleaning out the leftovers in our fridge!  All kidding aside, it really put my mind at ease that Jack was so well cared for and does well with "strangers."  Oftentimes I wonder how much he really "gets."  I know he knows that Jeff and I are his parents or caregivers.  That much is obvious.  Yesterday, when we got home from our walk, Jeff was home and as soon as Jack saw Jeff, he started cooing and making a steady stream of dolphin noises.  I know he knows who his mommy and daddy are.  I am pretty sure he knows who his day care teachers are as well, since they're the second-most constant presence in his life.  He knows his Papa Puff, and therefore probably knows Grammy as well.  My sister thinks he's just starting to recognize and figure out who she is.  But I'm pretty sure he'd blank on just about everyone else.  The books say we're getting to the age where Jack will experience "stranger danger" and shy away from "new" people, even those that are constants in his life.  So, I guess the moral of this long rambling was that either I'm glad we're not "there" yet, or Jack just won't fear new people coming into his life.  Here he is, just before I left for the wedding.  I went a little crazy with the lipstick kisses on him...such a ladies' man! 

We had a busy week, in spite of illness, and Jack learned all kinds of new tricks.  We started him on squash, and I'm sorry to say that he's not a fan of it.  Last night, I tried giving it to him and he just cried and cried the whole time.  He still likes bananas and sweet potatoes best.  He also learned how to "stand" unassisted.  This happened almost by accident.  We were sitting on the couch, and I put his feet on the ground, and he reached forward to grab the magazines off the coffee table (tearing paper has also become a favorite past time).  In any case, I let go and he kept standing all by himself, so of course I had to experiment with this new skill.  He's not sturdy, obviously, but he can do it!

And I think that's it!  He's really getting into his feet and found that he can stick them in his mouth, which he has really enjoyed doing over the past few days, so I'll leave you with a video of my little yogi...