Jack at 13months

Jack is getting more and more communicative and engaged in the world around him. It feels like he's doing something new each day. It's so special watching him grow up.

Signing
Jack is really good at signing "please" now. He does it for everything; when he wants me to pick him up, to help him move something, to give him food, to give him a toy, to read him a book, and so on. Often, if he starts to cry or whine, I'll say, "Stop. Would you like Mummy to help you?" and then he'll sign "please". We often don't have to prompt him, he just does it. It's just so good that he does it and I'm so glad I've taught it to him. It just makes things easier that he can communicate with us and we're able to understand what he wants. Although sometimes he'll avidly sign please and we have no idea what he wants :-)

He's also started to point, which is really cute. A couple of Jack's friends, Daisy & Sophie, have been ferocious "pointers" for ages, but Jack didn't shown any interest in it, until now. He now points to what he wants and then signs please. This makes it a bit easier to understand what he wants. Usually, he points at his books and signs please just before bed time, prolonging the inevitable. Yesterday, one of our friend's children, Chloe (age 8), whom Jack adores, walked through the front door. As soon as Jack saw her, he started pointing at her and signing please, over and over. He really wanted her to pick him up and play with him. It was really cute and amazing that his communication is transferring from one thing to another.

I've been trying to teach him "finished" and "food", but he hasn't quite picked these ones up as quickly as "please".

Talking
Jack's always been a babbler and hearing his little babbles is an absolute delight. He often says "ths", "adada", "dis", "broom", "ticka", etc. when he's playing. He tries to say shoe and he says "sh" and sometimes it sounds like he says "ta" and "peas". There are times when he looks like he's trying to say something to us and he'll say, "ca, cul, cul...". He looks like he's concentrating intently on telling you something very important.

Mobility
Jack is still a fervent believer that crawling is quicker and easier, so why walk? Every now and then he stands up by himself and I think once or twice he's taken a step, but as soon as he realises he's standing up, he sits back down. Even though he can stand up quite well, he still sits down. It's like he doesn't quite know what he should do next. He'll walk holding onto my finger now, which he wouldn't do previously.

We finally bought Jack a walker for his birthday and he LOVES it. He walks around with it for ages. He walks out the back door on to the deck, turns around and walks back in side, and turns around again to go back outside. Dave takes him up to the basketball courts with his walker and lets him walk around there, uninhibited, which is great for Jack. It's also a great Daddy & Jack time.

Sleeping
This is going well. He's settled back down into his usual routine. More often than not he'll have his morning nap (usually about 1 hour) and he'll definitely have an afternoon nap, which is still around 2 hours. His night sleeps are great, although he is waking a little earlier in the morning as the sun is now rising earlier. Bring on day-light savings, I say!

Playing
Jack has been playing really well by himself lately. He has a few favourite toys: wooden rings, colourful shapes, his "Little People", his soccer balls and Daddy's basketball. He particularly likes playing with balls and he especially loves to crawl around, hitting a ball with his hand and then chasing it. He'll often "hug" Dave's basketball, hold his mini soccer ball and try to crawl to take them to his play area. Eventually he realises that he can't do it and he'll bat them back with his hand. He's just learnt to throw the ball and to throw it to us, well, sometimes.

Eating
Jack eats really well. He has two weet-bix and a piece of toast for breakfast! He doesn't eat as much for the rest of the day, but he still eats pretty well. Sometimes he won't eat his dinner. I'm not sure if he's too tired to eat or he's being fussy. Either way, we try a few times and if he won't eat it, we leave it. Unfortunately, Jack's getting into the habit of spitting his food out, particularly if it's lumpy, or he doesn't like it, or he's not hungry. It's not a subtle spit either, it's loud and offensive. It's almost like he's blowing a raspberry; very hard to go unnoticed! I hate it, but there's not much I can do about it. I'm hoping it's a phase and he'll grow out of it soon.

Discipline
This is really hard! I feel like Jack deliberately ignores us when we say "no". He often smiles and thinks I'm being really funny, which I find infuriating. We've started to put some consequences in place if he doesn't listen to us. I tried smacking his hand, but he didn't really seem all that disturbed by it, so I started giving him time out. I put him on the floor next to the bookshelf and hold him there for 1 minute. This seems to be more effective than the smacking. I'm not sure if it's having any major affect on Jack and his behaviour, but I feel like we should be doing something to teach him to listen to us.

There are times when Jack will shake his head when he sees something he's not allowed to touch, but I'm still not sure if he completely understands. Other times I think that he deliberately goes to where he knows he's not supposed to in order to get our attention. Children are smart little cookies, aren't they?

Working
I feel very ambivalent about being back at work. I've managed to get a great job-share arrangement where I only go into to work on Mondays and Tuesdays. I'm really enjoying being at work only two days. I have a very small work load and I'm not getting involved in all the unpleasant things at work. It's really manageable. Though, sometimes I have to pull myself back from getting too involved and doing too much. On the other hand, I'm missing being at home those two days and I'm noticing that I don't have as much time - surprise, surprise. I do like being at work when I'm there, but I love being at home, spending time with Jack and having the time to do the things that need to be done, as well as the things I enjoy.

We're so lucky that we have both of Jack's grandparents very close by and they look after Jack one day a week. They have a great time with Jack and I know that Jack really enjoys seeing them. He's developing really good relationships with his grandparents, which is so good. I have noticed that on Wednesday, after he's been looked after on Monday and Tuesday by his grandparents, Jack is a little more unsettled. Hopefully he won't be like that for much longer as he gets used to it.

Routine
Here's what our days when I'm at home are looking like at the moment:

7:00am - Wake, breakfast, play
9.00/9.30am - Nap
10.30/11.00am - Wake, morning tea, play
12.00pm - Lunch
1.00pm - Nap
3.00pm - Wake, afternoon tea, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

On the days I work:

7:00am - Wake, breakfast (sometimes) go to Granny's or Grandma and Grandpa's
9.00/9.30am - Nap
10.30/11.00am - Wake, morning tea, play
12.00pm - Lunch
1.00pm - Nap
3.00pm - Wake, afternoon tea, play
4.00/5.00pm - Get picked up by mum and go home (or stay for dinner)
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed