almost there

Today we celebrated Jackson turning 11 months old. That's right...his first birthday is almost here! Life feels like it's in fast-forward at the rate this little boy is growing! In honor of the special day, the local grocer gave Jackson a big, red balloon which he tried to use as a teething toy. Unsuccessfully, I might add. Thankfully none of his 9 teeth punctured the balloon.Of course, he continues to tug at our heartstrings with his facial expressions and nonsensical chatter. Even with getting his first cold and fever this past week, he's still been a delight and has given us plenty of cause to laugh.
These days his favorite things to say are "Dada" and "Ooooooooooo." Yea, even though he and I are good buddies, he's pretty much deleted the "Mama" phrase from his vocabulary. I'm trying not to take it personally. He has a new-found fondness for swinging in the park swings - an event that always evokes a belly laugh. He's gotten super confident in his walking abilities - maybe a little too confident since he doesn't look down at the ground at all which often results in tripping over his toys, or our feet. The toilet paper roll is still a huge attraction and we have to be QUICK to catch him because he seems to have sensors that go off if the bathroom door is left open even a small crack!

I know I've said it before, but taking the Watch Me Grow photo gets more difficult with each passing month and now that Jackson's walking stride is pretty much perfected, it's a full-on chase that ensues if I'm trying to capture a specific photo. See what I mean...Here are some photo highlights from Jackson's tenth month.