Movin' on Up

A big milestone occured this month - Jack moved into the 1 year olds room at church!! Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Isn't that about 3 months late?" Well you're supposed to wait until they start walking, which he was by 13 months, but the nursery workers told me I could keep sending him to the newborn's room since he was still very new to walking and because "he's so sweet." And since I don't always deal with change too well, epecially that kind that involves my child growing up, I left him chill out a few more weeks with the itty-bitty babies. But now that we're back from Christmas traveling it's time to face the music.

I was a little apprehensive, that 1 year olds room is HUGE compared to the nursery. When I walked in there were lots of kids, half of which were crying and clinging to the only two workers. But Jack took off as soon as I put his feet on the ground. According to the ladies watching the kids, he was very good although he is a "drink stealer." Oops. When I came back to get him over an hour later, he was busy playing soccer with the boys. Okay, not really, more like someone accidentally bumps the ball, sends it rolling, and a bunch of toddlers scramble after it until someone else accidentally bumps it another direction. It was very cute. Even cuter was the line of 1 year olds that followed Jack and I to the door, all waving "bye bye" in their adorable, pudgy-handed way.

We had more changes following Christmas. Our babysitter decided to go get a real job instead of watching Jack on Mondays. Ok not really, she started student teaching this semester. And we all know even babysitting one day a week pays better than that. But anyway, we were very sad to say goodbye. Or, I should say, I was very sad. I'm sure Jack would have been sad if he understood what was happening. This is one of my frustrations with this age. I can't explain to Jack that we won't be spending Mondays at Miss Kristin's house anymore than I can explain to him that in 3 months he's about to be ousted from his place on Mommy's lap for the better part of the day.

My friend, "the other Janine" has graciously offered to watch our boy during these final few months before I go on maternity leave. I say gracious because I'm not sure she knew what she was getting in to. Janine has a 19-month-old girl, Jack's buddy Abbie, and is about 4 months pregnant with a second baby. Jack and Abbie are fun to watch together. But they are very different. Abbie is this sweet, petite, quiet thing and well, Jack is Jack. He's a couple inches taller than Abbie, so apparently he's discovered things in Janine's house that Abbie has yet to get in too. He's also a good deal heavier and doesn't have as extensive a vocabulary as Abbie. I was afraid he'd bully her around too much but apparently that is not the case. According to Janine Abbie is a little bossy, and surprisingly, Jack is the affectionate one. One time, Abbie got so tired of Jack's hugging that she finally pushed him away, pointed at him and said "bye bye!" Haha, I wish I could've been there to see it. I'm really not sure how Jack ended up being such a lover. For those of you that know Jon and I, we are not touchy-feely kinda people... except when it comes to Jack. The more I think about it, I do give that kid quite a few hugs in the day, but I don't think anymore than most parents. And those kisses!! Both Jon and I think they are to die for. But he generally only gives them to us and occasionally the grandparents.

So what does this mean for #2? Am I going to have to constantly guard him against "Jack's hugs?" Will we need to watch for "Jack the drink stealer?" (this could look very interesting with a nursing baby). Will Jack end up being the "bossy big brother?" Well, one guarantee is, whatever the outcome, there will definitely be plenty more stories to blog about in the future.