Jadon made his very first art project today.  One of the kids I watch is gone for the next few days so we had some extra supplies.  I was using the extra supplies to show the daycare kids how to make their own project.  Jadon was tugging at my legg and hollering at me.  He often feels left out during art time.  He is sure that there is something super fun going on up there at the table.  So I picked him up and held him in my lap, gave him the marker so he could help Mommy decorate the shaker.  I held the shaker and gave Jadon the marker and showed him what to do.  As you can see he made his very pretty.  :)

Then I helped him tape on the face and gave it back to him.  The project was a heart opossum shaker.  A combination of our theme "Mammals" and "Hearts".  The cardboard tube was filled with rice so it made a cool sound when shaken.  Jadon liked that a lot.  He would shake it, then just look at it, then look at me.  I think he could not believe I was letting him play with such a big kid toy.

What a fun morning!!

Already February!

January at our house was kinda quiet. I am not complaining at all. I personally enjoy the month of January. The craziness of the holidays is over, the kids are not in any sports, and there are not a lot of school functions. We just get to hang out at home together. We have enjoyed several movie nights and a couple family game nights also. I would not suggest challenging Jake to a game of Scrabble Slam. It took multiple rounds to finally beat him. Shelby is the one who finally brought him down.

We have all enjoyed watching Jadon walk all over the place. It feels like it happened overnight. The therapist is watching his posture closely however. From the very start he has leaned to the right (his BPI arm) when he walks. His therapist said we are going to let him get accustomed to walking before we do anything about this. I am not sure at this point what that means so we will see what the future holds there.

Jadon also learned to climb the stairs in January.  He drinks from a sippy cup all the time now except for one bottle at nap and bedtime.  He is getting so big!

One morning this month Jacob was getting his shoes on so he could go out to catch the bus.  He was telling Jadon that he had to get ready to go to school.  When Jacob stood up and went to get his bag he found a certain little boy sitting on his bag with a very big grin on his face.  Jacob just started laughing.  Apparently Jadon did not want his big brother to go to school that day.  He wanted his big brother to stay home and play with him.  LOL!  It was so cute and I captured some pictures of course!

Now it is February. This is the big party month. Jadon turns one!! Where did the time go? I can't believe it has been a year already. So many things have happened and I have learned so many new things in the past year. Anyway, time to decide on a theme for the big bash! It should be a lot of fun!

Step By Step!

Jadon started trying to take steps on his own on December 29th. He took his first step when we were at The Ronald McDonald House. Since then he has been getting braver and braver. A step here or two step there. Over the weekend he really made a lot of progress. He started taking three to four steps to cross the room. He has really been working hard at figuring out how to walk. We are so excited! Shelby and Jake are having a lot of fun helping him and watching him. Everyday he walks more and more. I know it is just a matter of time before he is unstoppable.

Mommy's Little Helper

Jadon has become quite the little helper in the last couple weeks. About two weeks ago he got a hold of my broom and spent the next 20 minutes (probably more) "sweeping" the floor. He loved it! From then on anytime I needed to do dishes or anything in the kitchen I gave him the broom. Matt said that we should find him a broom more his size and a little cleaner. Today we went to Toys R' Us and found Jadon his very own broom. He has played with it all day! He absolutely loves it. I think he would have gone to bed with it if we had let him. Below are pictures of Jadon this afternoon playing with his broom and then later in his pj's still playing with his broom. Matt also got some video of his sweeping. He really knows what he is supposed to be doing.

Jadon also likes to help with the laundry. Shelby folds towels for me frequently. Lately she has had some help with that. At first Jadon was just coming over and throwing all the towels out of the laundry basket. Shelby got him to take the towels out of the basket and hand them to her to fold. Not the fasted ways to get a load of laundry folded but Jadon loves it. He has helped me with a couple loads too. He gets really mad if you try to grab something out of the laundry basket yourself. He must hand each item to you. So funny!