Dogs and Hunger Strikes

Jackson and I took a nice trip to Portland last week to visit my family. We stocked Mark up with lots of frozen dinners, bought some lollipops and new calculators for the plane ride and took off. It was a blast seeing friends and family, watching my youngest sister graduate high school, and watching my parents follow Jackson around like he was a celebrity.

Amidst all the excitement of the week, Jackson moved from being paranoid to obsessed with dogs. Beyond the occasional da and ma, dog was the first thing he verbalized in a recognizable manner. This video was part of his initial exploration. By the end of the week he was chasing the cat around calling her "do--gh" as well.

Every animal we see now has been assimilated into a dog. Here is Jackson chasing a bird all the while saying "dog."

Who knows if it was the excitement of the "dogs," new surroundings, or just a little tummy bug, but after one day in portland, Jackson went on a hunger strike. Nothing quite gets a mother's anxiety level high like a hunger-striking one year old.

Suffice it to say, Jackson came back markedly skinnier. All his clothes were huge and Mark and I could not get over how little his arms, legs and tummy were. It was certainly most notable in the neck (as pictured below):

Being skinnier had some nice consequences: he was easier to hold, easier to dress, but most of all he looked so much older! All his baby fat left to reveal a toddler.

Living up to his new look, Jackson has taken a few steps, thrown a couple of tantrums and tried to help me do everything from baking bread to pulling weeds.

Thankfully, he ended the hunger strike the day we left. Grandpa's whole wheat pancakes got him regular again (like they do anyone) and he's certainly made up for lost food--eating twice as much as he did before the trip. As such, the skinniness has disappeared,but I think the toddler traits are here to stay.

(Better watch his cute buns now, because we might be forced to remove when he gets some teen traits)

PS: If we hadn't watched him eat all the food he did yesterday, we would have been certain his huge belly swelling came from malnutrition. My goodness that thing got big quickly!