one half of one year

Today marks the first day of the second half of the first year of our first born. We are writing this at 6am, which is a good thing as it means that we aren't writing it at 5. For Jackson's birthday, we let him hold the spoon and devour some winter squash. We also gave him our bedroom, and we slept on an air mattress in the living room. He actually slept better, almost through the night (with the exception of his usual bout of lord knows what at 3). Not sure what that means. Has a 6 month old actually managed to kick his parents out of their own bedroom? The answer is yes. And only one of us is proud of that. The youngest one.
In retribution, because he's too sweet to actually do anything to him direct, we're going to eliminate the practice of captioning each picture. Let them sing for themselves, we say. Instead, here's a bit of a play by play for what the man's been up to of late.
*His new sleep pattern is as follows: 7-12, 12:45-3, 5:30-6. Most of these are AM values, mind you. And most of the time in between is not what most of us would call, um, serene.
*Jackson is getting teeth. This may account for the above.
*Jackson's been "eating" "solid" food with a bit of a fury. Both are in quotes, for he puts as much in his nose, ears and eyes as his mouth. And these solids don't really require teeth.
*Jackson's been saying "da da" Yes. Dad Da. Actually, he's been babbling a lot of syllables, but some are more exciting to some of us. Truth be told, he says Abba most, which either tips us off to his musical taste or is Hebrew for father.
* Jackson now wears a signature hat--a blue Gilligan style sun hat. He's become a celebrity around the neighborhood as he still has a way of wooing posh moms and gangsters alike. Jackson likes to think of himself as an equal opportunity charmer. He's a model in free love.
* Jackson still is going to be looking up to his big cousin Jacob for quite some time.
* Jackson now knows about Spring (thanks to his Gamma), which blooms will make him sneeze and which smile.
* And he now knows about pharmaceuticals, thanks to Ben.
* He still loves his mom the most, and he now eats the hell out of her face as well as her mammaries.
* But his dad can make him giggle on command.