He's been making this squinched up wrinkly nose expression for some time now. He does it sometimes when he's frustrated. Other times when he's being silly. I was so glad I caught it on my good camera.
Jax learned to sit up on this trip to Kentucky. Probably because he almost ready, but needed to be left alone sitting, to practice. At home, that would result in him bonking his head every time he lost his balance. But here, with a rug layered over the carpet, he never once cried when he fell.
The four photos above remind me of the infatuation with dogs, especially small dogs, that I discovered Jax has. These two strays taken in by my friends Daniel and Kristin, hadn't ever been around babies before. Jax was a good testing ground for the baby they are expecting in November. He pulled hair and twisted ears, and neither of them snapped or growled. I would always immediately go over if I saw the dogs near Jax, to be able to keep his strong fingers from hurting them and getting anyone in trouble, or hurt worse.
The bigger one, Trevor, is part beagle (last photo), and eventually learned to sit far enough away that Jax couldn't bother him. In that photo, Jax had been gently patting the dog's back, but just as I took the photo, Jax fell over (thus the crinkled expression on his face). He didn't cry since the carpet was soft enough, but I missed the photo of him patting the dog. At least this one reminds me.
The top photo is Jax looking at a book with photos of dogs. He was entranced by the book, since the photos are of real dogs, and are easy for him to recognize.
The middle two photos are him with the little dog, Madden. The very last day we were there, Jax got a hold of Madden when we weren't looking, and we suddenly heard Madden's pained yelp. I rushed over and unwrapped Jax's fingers from Madden's scruffy ear, and all was well. Kristin and I looked at each other and said, "Well, at least we know what happens."
The funny thing was, Madden really liked Jax, and Jax really liked Madden. Madden would come sit in Jax's lap, or right next to him. Even though he knew he was going to have his hair pulled a bit before I removed Jax's fingers, he still came and stayed.
This is a better photo of Madden.
And two more of Jax, in winter garb. It got down to forty three Farenheit one night while we were there, and after that, the mornings were cold enough for pants and sweatshirts. I had brought mostly shorts and tee shirts for myself, and rompers for Jax (because they're easy). Luckily, I packed two pair of pants for me, and three for Jax, a couple sweatshirts, some baby legs, and a couple hats. He ended up wearing the hats during the night while he slept because otherwise his head and ears were so cold.
In this photo, he's wearing plenty of layers: a long-sleeve onesie, a romper, baby legs, pants over the baby legs, socks, a sweatshirt, and the hat. I bought this hat on clearance from Lands End about four years ago...hoping one day to use it on my son. It's navy with white stripes and will fit him perfectly this winter.
Expression one: Mom's got that toy again. The one she won't let me play with.
