A little more freedom

I try very hard to make sure that Jackson has the opportunities to explore the world around him.

We go to playgrounds to work on social, physical and emotional skills.
We hit up the Zoo to discover different types of animals and talk about what makes each one different.
We read tons of stories to work on verbal, cognitive and discovery skills.
And we play with his best buddy Ashton a few times a week to work on sharing, social skills and just plain ol' FUN!

However even though I try very hard to provide Jackson with lots of learning activities I know I have been lacking with the art projects. This is mostly my hang up. Jackson is a VERY active little boy and really enjoys running and playing outside. This is nice for me also because it usually means a nice long nap aka "mommy relaxation time!" Plus with playing outside Jack gets to have a lot of freedom. I've been thinking lately that even though it may drive my extremely hormonal patience to the end I need to work on providing him with more opportunities to explore his artistic side. Providing Jack with these opportunities will not only allow him to explore a different side of his brain but as an added bonus it will let me work on my patience which is something I'm going to need A LOT of once this new little bundle of joy arrives :)

So today I let go of my need to control mess side of myself and let Jackson have a little artistic freedom! He had the BEST time and I have to admit I didn't loose my patience once and ended up having a really awesome time as well watching my little man explore his inner Picasso :)

Super Concentrated

what a beautiful moment

These are the best painting cups & brushes EVER!

Super proud of his creation :)

Belleview Park

Today I decided that we HAD to get out of the house because there was no way I am going to beat this slump just by sitting around.

So we ventured out to a park a bit further from home and it ended up being a pretty good time. Unfortunately there were about 6 summer camps there today which means there were roughly 100 kids being supervised by 8 or 9 adults...hard for Jackson to play in that kind of environment. But besides that we had a great time.

baby ducks!

We waited for 25 minutes (1hr in 2 year old time) to ride this train...worth it when he made this face!

Slump

Lately I've been feeling particularly down in the dumps. I think it's partly due to the raging hormones and partly the fact that we just had our 1 year anniversary of being in Colorado but I've been feeling very lonely, isolated and the distance between us and our family and friends feels like it's gotten bigger.

While most days I do feel an underlying sadness of being away from everything familiar and "home" like to us I try desperately to put on a brave and happy face for Jackson because he is the kind of child that hangs on to my every emotion. Recently it's been harder and harder to put on a happy face.

I miss being able to call up a friend and meet up for a fun afternoon...I miss our family being able to see Jackson and vice versa....I miss feeling comfortable with where I am when I go outside or driving around...I miss everything.

I do think some of the problem is that this pregnancy is exhausting me so bad that it's hard for me to get up the energy to deal with a very unpredictable 2 year old in public which involves chasing, diffusing of tantrums, giving back of toys he's taken which he thinks are his and the general whining. Makes it a bit hard to meet people when your kid can't stay in one area of the playground long enough for you to get out more than 3 words to another mom.

Just having a hard time being away from home.....