First Trip to the Zoo!

A couple of weeks ago we were on a walk and met our neighbors Carrie, Paul and their daughter Allison.  Allie is just a little over two.  Carrie invited me and Jackson to join her at the zoo one Friday, and although we had been putting it off so we could go with Dad, I said yes.  Greenville has a tiny little zoo that is handily located directly across from a very nice children's park and a main access point for the Swamp Rabbit trail which runs from there straight up to Main Street.  It only takes about an hour to walk through the whole zoo so most people hit both the zoo and park in one trip. 

 The giraffe at our zoo is supposed to have a baby any day now.  There's even a Giraffe Cam.  The zoo is pretty packed every day with people hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse.  While we were there the male giraffe came all the way over to the little fence and kneeled down, swaying his neck over the line and stretching out towards the little kids.  It was pretty cool. 

 He was NOT a fan of the cheetah.  As you can see, it was pacing right by the window.  At one point the cheetah whipped around and his face was right in Jackson's face.  It scared him to death and he shrieked so loud we had to leave the cheetah behind. 

 We practice animal sounds at home but all Jackson has ever really seen in person are cats and dogs.  He got a video of the San Diego zoo and actually sat through 30 minutes spellbound, but I didn't know if he would really know to look into cages for animals.  The first paddock we came to had the elephants.  I don't know how many pictures Carrie tried to take, but getting Jackson to look at the camera when there were huge zoo animals right there was impossible.  At least we got one of him making his "trunk". 

The next weekend we had enough time to take Dad on his first trip to the zoo.  That visit the zoo was all decorated for Boo at the Zoo, and the decorations were a bigger hit than most of the animals.  Matt had a ball telling Jackson about each animal and making the animal sounds for him.  Thanks to Gran we have an annual pass now so we can go all the time!      

Fun Times as an 11 month old

 It's amazing that over the course of just one month Jackson went from taking 3-4 steps to being able to make laps around the entire house without falling down.  He loves pushing the tiniest of trucks in front of him as he's walking, which usually ends up with him tripping over it into a somersault into the closest object.  Grammy Pammy made us a "boo boo penguin" and we are really putting that thing to use!  

Meals are more and more fun.  Jackson is getting pretty good with his fork- switching left and right hands though so we aren't sure which hand he will actually use later.  Maybe he will be ambidextrous like his mama.   

At 11 months all he says are "mama", "dada" and "dog".  He is obsessed with the penguins in his room and points to them and his "letters" (his initials over the door) as soon as you get him out of his crib.  His favorite game is throwing things into our tub.  One day I searched for my keys for 20 minutes before thinking to look in it.  He is fascinated with lights- pointing to them, turning them on and off, looking at new ones.  His favorite chores to help with are vacuuming (he holds the cord), laundry (he pulls things out of drawers as quickly as I can open and shut them) and unloading the dishwasher (he flings the utensils on the ground).  I jokingly call him my "unhelper".   

He's all boy at the playground.  He can sit on a big swing and knows to hold on tight.  He inches himself to the edge of the slide and zips down it over and over again.  Half of the mulch comes home stuck to his body or in his socks.  Anything he sees a "big boy" doing he has to copy.    

Our friend Zacharie.  He spent the night recently and they had their first ever sleepover not that either one of them had a clue until the next morning.  They thought posing in the crib together was big time fun! 

His favorite toy ever- the remote control.  He points it towards the TV and if a game is on tells the football players "hi".