Jackson & January (Mostly Jackson)

It's been a really long time since I've done a general update on our Jacks. I don't even know how I'll sum him up, but I'm going to give a shot at some of the things about him that come to mind. Like any good Mama, I'm going to start with the positive, so excuse me while I dote on my boy for a minute. Forgive me for being a sap, and resist the urge to think that our situation is perfect. I'm highlighting all the GREAT things about this stage and writing a tiny bit about the not.so.great things because who wants to remember those?! The not.so.great also change daily as he learns and grows, and the GREAT tend to be pretty consistent, except they only get greater. :) 

Well, little man...let's see. You are now well over two and a half (32 months and 2 weeks to be exact)...making your way (very quickly) to three. By the way, you've asked for a "train party" and a "party for kids" for your third birthday. You love a good party and have asked many times since your 2 year party when your next one will be! I've never really been into birthdays much, but I will admit that I'm already excited to plan a day in 2011 to celebrate you. God has really blessed Daddy and me beyond what we ever thought possible in giving us you! I would never say that there aren't challenges in parenting or times when we just want a break, but God is teaching us a lot about His love and character as we try to raise you up to know and love Him. If you want to realize how imperfect you are and how much you rely on God's grace and mercy, become a parent. It is hard work, but God is good. I'm so excited for the rest of the journey.

Let's see...how in the world could I capture the personality of you in words? You are a mess! You keep us laughing, even when we are not supposed to be laughing. I can't count how many times I've had to turn my head or leave a room in order to maintain my authority while disciplining you. Even when you're bad you're cute. Well, sometimes. There was that time a couple of weeks ago when you were so whiny I had to lock myself in my room for five minutes so I wouldn't lose it with you. Come to find out you were getting the flu...lovely. I felt awful for not having more patience. OK, Moms...don't leave me hanging. I know I'm not the only one guilty of locking herself in her room...right?

You are so full of life! Lately you've been telling us a lot that something "makes you so excited." Ha! We will leave a place or finish hanging out with friends and you will proclaim, "Well, that was fun." Last week at Wednesday night supper, you strutted off toward the gym and announced, "I'm gonna go see who's here." Mr. Social...You never want to miss out on anything, and you never want the party to end. I have no clue where you got that. ;)

You are so sweet and full of compassion. You have an obvious concern for people. For example, you are always telling me to "Be careful" and "Don't hurt yourself, Mama." If I'm deep in thought or happen to be upset or tired..."Hey mama, are you sad? It's OK, it's gonna be OK. It be better." Randomly...out of the blue..."I love you." You always know just when we need to hear it. You say "Please" and "Thank you" most of the time, and when you had the flu a couple weeks ago, you would utter in your sad, sick little voice, "Thank you give me that juice, Mom." "Thank you for turning on Mickey for me." You even show compassion to complete strangers. There is a lady at Kroger who has an obvious disability of some sort, and she often bags our groceries. The other day, you started chatting away with her. At the end of the conversation you told her, "Hey xxx, you're my best friend." You just have no idea how it made her day. Then you talked about her for the rest of the day and a few days after. Now each time we go to Kroger, if she's there, we purposefully get in her line. You remember her name and always speak to her. :) Today at church we caught the shuttle in from the parking lot, and the driver sneezed. You told him "God bless you!" He was so tickled because you're so small he couldn't even see you in his rear view mirror. You make people smile, and that makes me so proud. I could go on and on with stories like this. I love your sweet little heart! 

You are hilarious. Yesterday you were up in the playroom upstairs, and you told me "Hey mom, come upstairs. Everybody's up here...Me...Old Bear...New Bear...Catches." Goodness, what a crowd. I'm so blessed. A few weeks ago after play group, we had to run to Wal-Mart. I was kind of nervous since it was going to be right during your nap time. I think I still suffer PTSD from really bad Wal-Mart trips with you when you were younger. I forget how much more grown up you are now. You were great. But anyway, almost the entire time we were in the store, you sang "Jingle Bells" at the top of your lungs. You had a really hard time letting Christmas end. I think you made a lot of people's day, judging by their reactions to you.

You are so incredibly smart, and you have a killer memory. For example, you know who gave you every single toy or item of clothing in our house. It is the strangest thing because you have been given things by lots of different family/friends. You always note when you are playing with something (even the tiniest matchbox car) who gave it to you. I love that about you. You have been learning scripture verses with me and even remind me that we need to practice. We mostly do this during breakfast and lunch at home, but we do it when we're playing, too. One memorization strategy I have used is putting the verses to music, so you often tell me you want to "sing about it." You learned Ephesians 5:15-16 to the tune of "Happy Birthday." You've been telling us all sorts of facts that you've learned, but one recent one happened today (1/29) in the car. You said, "Hey Mama Daddy (that's what you say when you want to get both of our attention), guess what? Green says 'go', and red says 'stop'!" Good job, buddy!

You are doing very well with potty training. I'm so proud of you. We haven't gone into "no mercy" mode, but I think you're on the verge of being finished with diapers. Last week you asked, "Mama, can you change my diaper because I poo pooed and I don't want to get a diaper rash?" If you can say that, you ought to not be wearing diapers--ha!

You're also doing very well at "school." You love your school, your teachers, your classmates, everything. You get so excited when I tell you it's a school day. You do your special tongue-in-cheek grin. It's so cute. I love how social and fun-loving you are. You certainly have teachers who make school fun! You have been learning how to count to ten in Spanish, Russian, German and French. You don't do it on your own just yet, but you count along with me. We practice on our walks, and I am proud to say that I can count to ten in Russian! I already knew Spanish and French, but now I need to learn German so that you don't know something I don't. (By the way, I've figured out how it is that you regain back all the brain cells you lose during pregnancy. You have to stay at least one step ahead of your kid, so you learn it all back plus some.) I'm so thankful for your amazing teachers! I will be registering you for 3 year preK in February, and that blows my mind! In two years, I will be registering you for Kindergarten. :( I am still enjoying working while you are at MDO. I absolutely love Braille and have gotten to do a lot of it! Of course my favorite times are still with you, but it's nice to have my hand in the "VI pie" (as they say) a little.

One more thing...you are quite the negotiator. Looks like you've got your Daddy's "business" skills. When I tell you it's time to take a nap, I get responses like, "Well, how 'bout I play quietly on my bed?" or "How 'bout five minutes of Mickey?" or "Ok...just a fewwwww more minutes." You are something else! I'm proud of you for learning how to make choices, and I pray that you'll make good ones most of the time. When your requests are reasonable, I try to grant them; however, unfortunately for you, buddy, I mean business, too. ;) You definitely make things interesting. 

I don't want to make this whole parenting gig sound like peaches and cream. Let's be real, there are some TOUGH moments. I've had some moments where I've wanted to completely lose it. I remember one day this month feeling like I was tired of being a parent because it's a very selfLESS job, and sometimes I want to act like a 2 year old and whine for my own mama. Temper tantrums have definitely gotten fewer and farther between as you've grown in your understanding of what is right and wrong. They just seem to be more difficult to handle when they do happen. I don't always respond appropriately, but for the most part I've been trying to respond to you in such a way that I can help you learn how to respond to your own frustration. I think sometimes my first tendency is to want to respond to you with 2-year-old behavior (grunting, sighing, losing it) but then ask you not to behave that way. I've prayed for an extra dose of compassion when you're having a difficult moment/day so that I can show you how loved you are and that we are going to meet your needs. I'm a work in progress, too. You're teaching me so much! 

As far as what's been going on for our family this month...It was a pretty uneventful month! We spent some time returning to a slower pace of life after the holidays and then just having fun with friends and as a family on the weekends. We took lots of walks and played outside for a long time on the days that it wasn't too cold. We hit baseballs, kicked a big red ball, blew bubbles, played with your bubble lawn mower (you wanted me to stomp on all the bubbles), took turns bumping each other off the slide and laughing hysterically, walked to the park, rode your tricycle (Fred Flinstone style), played trains, played blocks, read books...we've been busy. You're so sweet when you ask us to play. "Hey Mama/Daddy, would you like to play trains with me?" I have never turned that down. You also will say, "I like to play trains now please." Yes sir! I'm thankful that at this stage Daddy and I are your playmates of choice. I hope you will always find our home a fun place to be with your friends. In addition to the days where we played our hearts out, we had some "sick" days and some freezing cold days where we could do nothing but play inside. 

We got together with our friends the Smiths and Lees to watch the cotton bowl earlier this month. You loved playing with Madelyn as always, and we had a fun time watching the game and eating steak fingers, gumbo, broccoli, green bean casserole, croissants, creamy jalepeno dip/chips from Chuy's, and Ashley's famous Kahlua cake...yum. And by the way, Geaux Tigers!!! :)

We've had a fun month! 

Enough with the words...here are some pictures! :)

This was you being SO silly in the laundry basket one day.

Playing on the floor with you...

You look a lot like me in my kindergarten school picture in this one. (I'm talking about the sailor dress one, Mom & Gran.) My right eye was often closed more than my left in pictures when I was younger! Too funny.

Here you are playing in your knight costume from SaraBeth's birthday party. You've played in it a TON this month. One day I told you to get down from the fireplace and you said, "But Mama I'm a shiny 'knife'!" ;) 

This is your sweet little pose you do when you're playing with your trains or cars. 

Silly! :)

I can't believe we don't have any pictures of the three of us from this month (or any time recently, really!) We will have to get some family pictures taken soon. 

What a great January we had! Looking forward to February. :)

OH, and just for fun...here's a pic from January '09...

...and one from January '10.  You sure are growing fast!

(P.S. Be sure to check out the post below on Mitchell and Dustin's visit. I wrote both of them little by little and just posted them both tonight. So far I'm keeping my resolution about Blogging more. We'll see how long it lasts!)