Words to Remember

I definitely put a lot of energy into a lot of things. I would say, in terms of hobbies, I put the most energy into things that make up our memories. I've spent hours on photo books, frames, memorable grandparent gifts, etc. I must say I'm surprised with the lack of urgency I've felt in terms of Jackson's baby book! Surprisingly, we only got one, and it was really cute! I dutifully started filling it out soon after his birth. Then there is just a big gap. He didn't reach many milestones in the first few months, and I felt like most of the noteworthy things happened much later. I am frustrated at myself that I haven't kept better track of things like when he got each tooth and when he said each word. The excuse for the tooth thing is that he gets them in massive bunches! It is actually really difficult to keep track!

The word thing I attribute to my OCD. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it well. If I don't think there's a chance to do it all the way, I'll probably just not do it. I found myself falling into that trap with Jackson's words. I was thinking tonight how just because I haven't written down when he said each word so far, doesn't mean I can't just start now! I can make a list of words he knows as of today. Then try to get better about documenting each one. Or, I can add to the list monthly. Whatever is easiest to keep up with will still be a nice memory--definitely better than no memory!

Luckily, my amazing cousin, Amy, gave us her book: Words to Remember when Jackson was born. Now I have things to write in there :)

So, my first entry will look like this:

Words Jackson knows as of June 16, 2010 (20 months):
Mama, Mimi, Dada (it comes out as nana!), please, hi, bye bye, dong, woof, doggie, cock-a-doodle-do, truck, bus, car, bird, James, Pax, applesauce, cracker, thank you, uncle. I know there are more, but this is what I came up with off the top of my head :)