21/52 - The 52 Project

Hello!

My goodness, we are enjoying summer over here!! It's possible that we are extra-delighted with every green leaf, with every warm ray of sun, with every riotously colored flower, with every glowing green and gold view out our windows because our winter was so unbelievably cold and harsh and LONG, but whatever the reason, we are hungrily, happily gobbling it up!! 

I just couldn't choose between the two portraits this week, so I posted both! Our air conditioning is still not up and functioning yet, so today neither I nor this lil goober got much of a nap! Both of us awoke in very cranky moods, so what better way to cheer us both up than to give my son his very first ice-cream cone all to himself, and for me to take happy photos to document this joyous event??

It totally worked, just so you know ;).

"A portrait of my son once a week, every week in 2014."

Oh my boy. You delight me every day! You talk SO much now, with so much clarity and such a big vocabulary! You also have a vast library of movie and tv show quotes (all kid-themed of course) that you never stop performing with impressive gusto. You wake up shouting quotes from Toy Story, you go to sleep reciting entire scenes of an episode of Curious George. Your memory is incredible, your performances amazingly spot on. You also love to sing, and actually land on key more often than we would ever expect from a two-year-old. We think you're amazing, sweet boy, even when you use a dramatic scene from the Aristocats to try to distract us when you're in trouble :). Mommy & Daddy just love you.

20/52 - The 52 Project

Hello there,

Every time we play outside, I am more and more amazed by how much my little son has changed. I'm amazed by the things his brain remembers from last summer, and oddly enough, how much less I have to worry about him. He listens so well, and he has a much greater respect for things like gravity, and tends to discern what the function of things like trails and sidewalks are, and is much more willing to use them properly. As opposed to the Teague of last summer who would plop down on the side of a trail and attempt to sample the vegetation or rocks, and scream at the slightest suggestion that we follow the trail to see where it goes. 

This week's photo was taken at our church cookout, where even though there were dozens of other children tearing around the adjacent forest and screeching with the joy of summer and trees and freedom, my little boy wandered off to a quiet spot at the edge of the ravine, and spent a long, peaceful while just staring down the hill and throwing rocks to watch them roll and bounce down to the bottom. My son will play happily for hours with large groups of children, and tends to get along just fine with any of them, so I don't worry about his social development. But today, it was oddly fulfilling to see those introverted tendencies both I and my husband have showing up in our tiny boy's personality. We are grateful for his outgoing, friendly nature, but strangely proud of signs that our son will value solitude, and getting away from the noise to regroup in nature. 

"A portrait of my son once a week, every week in 2014."

Teague Jackson, I love you. I say it pretty much every week, but I am just having the time of my life watching you grow up. 

19/52 - The 52 Project

Hello,

Two big changes happened this week: it suddenly became unseasonably warm for May, and I took my crazy, unpredictable two-and-a-half-year-old to get his hair cut for the first time! The unseasonably warm meant mostly incredibly wonderful things like sunshine-dappled boys careening through the grass in bare baby feet, beautiful blue skies and even more beautiful spring greens, and moving our lives outside to escape the staleness of indoors for as often and as long as possible. But it also meant a family unprepared for the impressively oppressive Indiana double-whammy of heat and humidity, with an 8-months-pregnant mommy who tends to overdo it :). The weather is supposed to be much more May-like for the rest of the week, so crisis averted, but we were very clearly reminded that pregnant mommies need air conditioning, and will be much more vigilant about getting the A/C turned on next time!

And you know what? The first haircut experience? A complete breeze. Not a single tear, screech, struggle, and nary a wiggle!! My darling baby who balks with impressive stubbornness (and decibel levels) at the slightest attempt to control his movements sat completely calm and still as the barber ran the loud, buzzing clippers all over his little blonde head. I was shocked at the lack of resistance, button-bustingly proud of my sweet baby, and more than a little grief-stricken at the sight of all those blonde curls disappearing one by one. I was amazed and just...even more in love with this adorable, completely unpredictable child of mine.

"A portrait of my son once a week, every week in 2014"

Oh sweet boy, without your curls. Still so gorgeous among the errant maple seedlings in our yard. You amaze me, you fascinate me, you make me better, day after day.

18/52 - The 52 Project

Hello everyone,

Greetings from the *finally* Spring-y land of Northern Indiana! The past week or so we've finally seen temperatures consistently above 40 degrees, and finally, finally we are seeing my favorite part of Spring--shades of beautiful GREEN that almost hurt this mama's nature-loving eyes! I just want to sit and stare and stare at all the green until it permeates my heart and soul and mind with its achingly beautiful hope and joy and sweetness.

Speaking of sweetness, this week's photo is once again, an imperfect phone camera photo. But I caught my baby in the midst of one of his happy little shivers, where he brings his tiny hands and shoulders up, up to his ears, does a little shake, then spreads his arms wide, just grinning with all the bliss his baby heart can handle. Also, our tiny, eclectic, much-loved home is in the background, which makes me love this image even more. Feeling the blessings in my life this week. Many, many things in our lives right now are stressful, hard, and make us wish things were just a little (or maybe a lot) different, but there are absolutely infinitely more things in our lives that are blessings so far beyond what we could ever ask or hope for. Thank you, Jesus, for Spring :).

"A portrait of my son once a week, every week in 2014."

Oh my happy boy, there is nothing I love more than watching your tiny self just soaking in the joys of being outside. Every bunch of soft new grass, every tiny purple violet, every tree, every leaf, every bug, squirrel, or bird, every bright yellow dandelion sighting is cause for squeals of delight and close examination, usually squatting down, with your face almost touching your knees, studying every detail and proudly reporting to mommy in your squeaky baby voice all the wondrous things you see. I feel like I will never, ever get tired of hearing that excited, "Mommy?" and my answering, "yes, baby?" and your breathless report of "purple fwower, Mommy!" "Mommy, a dandy-wion!!" "A squirtle (squirrel), Mommy!" The fact that you share with me, that you bring your happiest joys, your angriest tantrums, your most dramatic sorrows, and even just your simple requests and quiet moments and calm observations to me, is a tenuous, fragile, immeasurably valuable treasure. I hope and pray that I never underestimate the gift of you sharing yourself with me, baby boy. You're loved beyond belief.