March 2004
Wednesday
the 31st. Jackson had his first official trip to the Dentist today and it
went great. Amy said he talked the whole time and really made us proud.
Check out other Jackson milestones by clicking
here.
Tuesday
the 30th. Jackson asked me to take pictures of each of his "moves".
After each picture he would run back to the camera and check out his pose. He will also
ask you to tell him he is the meanest kid in the world. After you tell him
that, he
says, in his tough guy voice, "Hey, don't call me mean, I'm a big tough boy!"
Jackson had two buddies, Conor and Samuel, come over to play today.
Monday
the 29th. Mike, Brooke, and
Landon hosted
Dinner Club last night. As always, a good time was had by all and we
already look forward to seeing everyone again next month. We had not seen
Beverly in a while, so it was nice that she was down from Blacksburg.
Landon and Benjamin get closer in age every month. A few more dinner clubs
and you won't be able to tell who is the oldest.
Sunday
the 28th. Amy and I celebrate six wonderful years of
marriage today.
Click here for a clip of Ben cruising with his car to JohnnyBGood
Saturday
the 27th.
We
celebrated two birthdays today. The first was Emma Davis' four year old
birthday party at Bolton Park in Winston-Salem. Jackson had lots of fun
spending the afternoon running and playing outside. And it is always nice
for him to see his friends Emma and
Molly. We then traveled back to Winston-Salem to celebrate Deana's
birthday with dinner at Arigato's. Benjamin ate his weight in rice and enjoyed
watching the chef's theatrics.
Friday
the 26th. Benjamin likes to walk through the house pushing his fire truck
and car. He has discovered that pushing both at the same time works even
better. Today was beautiful so Amy and the boys spent most of it outside.
They met Samuel and Timmesa in the morning for a long walk and lots of
play. Jackson helped me wash my bike and our car during lunch. And
then everyone went back outside again to play in the backyard. Amy and I
were able to cap off the day by having dinner out alone, thanks to the Eads'
very generous babysitting talents.
Thursday
the 25th. Happy Birthday Deana! Sometimes we think Baby Ben
looks like Deana in her baby pictures.
Wednesday
the 24th. We thought Benjamin looked very natural in his bib overalls.
Jackson loves taking his four wheeler to the farm because he has so much room to ride. This past Sunday he rode it till the battery ran down. You can tell by his smile in all the pictures how much fun he is having. He is also laughing because he is thinks he is going to run over his daddy.
Tuesday
the 23rd. Jackson really enjoyed getting to see Gabe and Parker last
weekend. They are always very nice to play with him and he thinks they are
just the coolest.
Monday
the 22nd. These photos overlook the valley where Jackson and Benjamin's
great-great-grandparents,
Daddy Heath and
Granny,
lived and raised Papa James. And where
Papa James and Hama lived and
raised Papa. And where Papa brought me
to work and play as a boy. And where Jackson now loves to come and
play. I am sure that Benjamin will have just as much fun on the farm
in a few years, but for now he just appreciates Hama's cooking and
her company.
Sunday
the 21st. A great day for the boys. We went to
Hama's house in
Virginia for lunch. Jackson got to ride his four wheeler and play with his
cousins Gabe, Parker, Caleb, and Isabelle. Benjamin got to eat Hama's
cooking and play inside and out. I took a lot of pictures and will post more
of them as the week goes by.
Saturday
the 20th. Deana and Sharon took Jackson and Caleb to a magic show at
the Andy Griffith Playhouse this afternoon. He said "they put somebody in
a box then stuck swords in it. And it didn't even poke them."
Benjamin started pushing his car/walker around the house today. By the end
of the day he could go anywhere he wanted. When Megan was around, he would
get to her chair, turn loose of the car, then stand with her.
Friday the 19th.
Beautiful day. The boys went on one of their Main Street walks, ate
rainbow sherbet at The Good Life, and played at Miss Etta's playground.
Friday evening we broke from the norm and ate out. Benjamin loves going
out, Jackson says "I WANT TO EAT AT MY HOUSE!!!"
Thursday
the 18th. Congratulations to
Thomas and Jennifer Eads on the birth of
Ryan Nesbit Eads Wednesday evening! The picture of Landon
is from his visit last week.
Wednesday
the 17th. The Heath and Eads kids got together for a morning at McDonald's Playland, then Mo came over this afternoon to watch the boys while Amy ran
errands.
Tuesday
the 16th. I took these pictures of Jackson Sunday morning when the sun
was shining more than it is today. Very wet day today in Mount Airy.
We always have a camera handy at the house, so when I saw Jackson sitting at the
top of the stairs I grabbed it and snapped a few quick pics. Same deal
with Benjamin's apple pics from yesterday.
Monday
the 15th. I like these pictures of baby Ben because you can see his
little front teeth and the color of his eyes. A few people have now told
us that Benjamin's eyes are same color her dad's were.
Sunday
the 14th. Started the day celebrating Jackson's buddy Conor and Conor's older
brother Drew's birthdays. Ended the day by visiting the boy's
great-grandmother in Virginia.
Saturday
the 13th. We remembered today that Jackson learned to walk by cruising
around the oval coffee table. So we raised the leafs on it this morning
and let Benjamin have at it. He had completed his first lap within
minutes. He also moves from the table to the couch or, like in the
picture, let's go and stands solo. I left him standing at his exersaucer
while Jackson and I fixed his supper this evening. I heard my guitar and
looked in the dining room. He had cruised to his ball ramp toy, then to
the piano stool, worked his way down the length of it to the corner, and was
standing there strumming my guitar.
Friday
the 12th. Brooke and Landon visited with us while Mike spent the
evening at the ACC tourney. Benjamin really enjoyed having a buddy over.
Landon has grown so much since the last time he visited.
Thursday the 11th.
Jackson is celebrating Johnny Appleseed Day today. Benjamin stood up
unassisted on Jackson's bed for twenty-eight seconds last night.
Looking for a few old things at my parent's
house tonight, I came across some of my U.S. News and World Report
magazines from the early 90s. The one from Jan 6, 1992 has an advertisement for an "Affordable
Color HP Deskjet Printer for only $1095". There was also an
advertisement for "MS-DOS 5 - no PC should be without it.
Unquestionably the best DOS ever." Wow, some things have really
changed. It was also an election year, Bush was president, we had just won
the war in Iraq, the biggest concern for voters was the number of jobs lost, and
the country's economy was in terrible shape. Ok, so not that much has
changed.
Wednesday the 10th. Amy asked
Benjamin to give her kisses today and he did. She didn't make a kiss sound
or anything. She then said "Give Daddy kisses." He turned to look at
me and made his big smacking kiss.
Click here for a clip of Superman (500kb).
Tuesday
the 9th. One of Benjamin's top front teeth is all the way through and
the other one isn't far behind it.
Monday the 8th. For some time
now, when Jackson hears a word or phrase he doesn't know, he asks us what it
means. Today he asked Amy what metaphor means. One day he
asked me what dareshebows meant. He had me stumped on that one
until I asked him to give me an example of where you would hear that word.
He said "You know, like when Captain Hook says 'dareshebows men'". Ah ha,
there she blows.
Sunday
the 7th. On the way back from picking Jackson up in Claudville we saw
fifteen to twenty wild turkeys in a field next to Dan River. We got
out and watched them for a while and took a few pictures. Once back in
Mount Airy, we had a great walk in the Sunday morning sunshine that
included ice cream, coffee, and Connect Four at The Good Life Cafe.
Benjamin got to sit on the ground and feel the grass for the very first time.
He was more interested in how it tasted than how it felt though. Jackson
often asks us to tell him stories about his Papa Welbert
who passed away
two years ago and whom Jackson still remembers. This morning I was telling him about some of the many
things Papa Welbert gave me when I was a boy and about some of the things he
gave Jackson too. Jackson very seriously asked "How come Papa Welbert
never drops me any toys from Heaven?" I couldn't think of an answer that
would make sense to him, so I finally described a scene where a bird is flying through the
clouds when a toy tractor falling from heaven hits him in the head and knocks him out of
the sky. He laughed first, then agreed that dropping toys
from Heaven wouldn't be a very good idea.
Saturday
the 6th. Unfortunately the last week brought us the loss of both a
dear friend's daughter and Amy's aunt Charlotte. Jackson spent the day
with Papa in Claudville while Amy, the baby, and I went to West Virginia for her
aunt's funeral. On the way home we stopped by and visited with Amy's
cousin Heath Muncy in Bland, Virginia. Heath now lives in the house that
belonged to Amy's Granny and Granddaddy Muncy. It is also the same house
Grandma Sue grew up in. Amy has many fond memories of the house from her
childhood and it was a very nice visit with Heath and his family..
Friday the 5th.
Isabelle, aka Scooby Doo, came over to play with Jackson, aka Superman.
They played really well together, laughed, ran all around the house, and
Isabelle even wanted to stay the night.
Click here for a short Ben clip (1.4MB)
Thursday the 4th. Amy and
Benjamin enjoyed our eighty degree weather today by walking on Main St.
Later in the day, after Jackson was home from preschool, everyone played in the
front yard. Twice Amy caught our three year old Jackson on the front porch
with his pants down watering the grass. Later in the night Jeff and I
drove to Danville to see Stanley and his band, Nex-Faze, play. We got
to watch a couple of really good sets that included Purple Haze,
Little Runaway, Jump, Fly Me Courageous, and their original
I'll Be Fine before heading back to Mayberry in the
middle of the night.
Wednesday
the 3rd. Timmesa and Samuel joined Amy and the boys for a nice long
walk to Main Street this afternoon. Benjamin got to try lots of new foods
today, like hard boiled eggs and grits for breakfast. Amy and I were
trying to figure out where grits come from, so I used Google to get the
following definiton; When corn has been soaked
in lye and the casing has been removed it becomes Hominy. The lye is rinsed out
very well and the corn is left to harden. Then the swollen hominy is ground up
to the texture of tiny pellets. When boiled with water, milk and butter it
becomes a cereal similar to cream of wheat. It's used as a side dish for a good
old fashioned Southern breakfast.
Hmmm, so now we know what Hominy is too.
Tuesday
the 2nd. Jackson celebrated Dr. Seuss' 100th birthday at school today (or as
Jackson says "The Cat In The Hat's Birthday). Jackson said The Cat was not
at the party though. Benjamin went to Dr. Gale's for his nine month
checkup. He is in the 90% for weight and the 60% for height (click
here to see his
milestones/growth chart). He gets to go on table food fulltime now
which will make him very happy. And his top two teeth are ready to push
through any day now.
And we are very happy for Anita and Steve who just found out today that they are going to have a baby boy this July!
Monday the 1st. Jackson was
telling Amy a story about a ladybug named Weary this morning. Amy asked
him why his name was Weary and he said "Because he wears out when he walks."
Later in the morning, while on a walk, Amy and the boys stopped by my office. Jackson has always liked visiting his many friends where his daddy works and I think Benji enjoyed getting out and seeing some different faces too.
