AUTHOR'S NOTE: OH, I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY, I HAVE NEGLECTED THIS POOR, POOR STORY FOR SO LONG!!! AUGH!!!! I AM SO TERRIBLE!!! FORGIVE ME!!! FORGIVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
June 16th -
Guess what day it is today? Jackie's birthday!!
Today was AWESOME. The crew surprised me with a kind of party for Jack… except it was more of a surprise party for ME because they already had Jack before I had woken up… and so, here I was, searching around frantically for my baby in my cabin; screaming and yelling "OH, MY GOD!!! I LOST JACK!!!!" and freaking out Mary Sue.
"YOU LOST THE BABY!?!?!?!?"
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!!"
"YOU FIND MY BABY, TEAGUE!!! OR, SO HELP ME, I WILL PERSONALLY CASTRATE YOU!!!!"
So, then, I panic and open the door to my cabin and the crew's all outside the door and they yell, "Surprise!"
Jack was up front in the hands of one of my crewmates. I punched him.
"What the hell was THAT stunt!? It's not MY birthday, it's Jack's!"
"Yeah, but 'e don't know that."
I had to admit he (this dude named Jorge I found in Botswana) had a point. Oh, you should've seen Mary Sue beat these guys- it was funny. The dudes were so nice, though! They gave little Jackie a bunch of presents- this one guy (Gerard) knew that Jack had been teething for a while know (both his top and bottom front teeth are in…) and Jack had been chewing on EVERYTHING up until now (we found him gnawing on the mast, once) and he sacrificed and cleaned the barrel of his gun to let my ol' boy chew on it!
Jack loves that thing… can't get it away from him.
Another guy- and this present was absolutely INGENIUS- he handed me a rope and said "He'll never be out of your sight again."
And then everybody started laughing 'cuz they knew that ever since Jackie learned how to crawl, he's been all over the place. I knew he meant it as a joke but I'm seriously considering it: that kid does not stop… I don't know where he gets all the energy. And I KNOW it ain't gonna' be long 'til he starts walking…. And when he starts walking, well, it ain't gonna' be long 'til he's running… and you know that's gonna' suck on my part. The entire time Jack did his favorite past time by looking into other people's faces and starring at the blankly, bearing his teeth.
And, going back to the walking thing, Jack learned to walk while holding onto something about three months ago- which I think is remarkable considering we're on a ship and it's always rocking side to side. He's so adventurous, too! He's tried walking on his own several times but keeps falling on his little ass and getting back up again.
One time, he was holding onto my finger and we were walking around and then he tries to walk to the mast (his favorite place to be, for some reason) and I didn't want him to hurt himself, so I gently tugged his hand and then he lets go and screams at me. Right in the face! He just opened his mouth, looked me in the eye and went
"NAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!"
Then he turned around, took a step, and fell on his ass.
I couldn't help but laugh at him. He didn't mind- he juts crawled over to the mast and chewed on it.
Oh! Oh! OH!!! I forgot!! Jack said his first word!!
Okay, here's how it went- I was walking around one day with him, holding his little finger, and pointing out things to him.
"That's the sea, Jackie… the sea. Can you say 'seeeeeeeeeea'?"
He just waved "hello" to the ocean and said "Igama bee!!" So, I continue going around the ship and then I sit him down on a part of the floor no one was working at and I pat the ground and say "This is our ship, Jack? Can you say 'shiiiiiiiiiip'?"
"Bloggle."
"No, Jack, that's not right… say-"
"Bloggle."
"Say 'shiiiiiiiiiip', Jack."
"Chih?"
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiip."
"Chiiiiiiiiiip. Chip! Chip chip!"
"Ship."
"Ship. Ship ship."
I smiled and asked him, "Jack- what is this?" in my high-pitched baby voice, patting the floor. "What is it, Jack? What is it?"
"Ship. Ship."
I AM SO PROUD OF MY BOY!!!!!!!
I mean, SHIP!?!??!???!? That was wonderful!!! He's so smart!!
I picked him up by the armpits, held him in my arms and said, "You are a smart boy!"
"Ship!! Bloggle ship!!"
Then I showed him off to all the other guys and his new word. All the time, Jack was clapping his hands and saying his new word. That little man loves to clap. It's just, like, I ask him; "How are you today, Jack?"
Clap!!
"Yes, Jack- we know you like to clap, but how ARE you? Good? Bad?"
Clap clap clap!!
"Can you say 'Gooooooood'?"
Clap!
Ah, whatever. He'll get it, eventually.
June 21st-
I did something terrible. I know Jack's only one year old, but he'll hate me…
