The Whaleys: Jackson is 3 years old!

I don't even know how it is possible that 3 years has already passed since I first held my sweet 6 1/2 lb beautiful baby boy. It is going by too quickly! He amazes me every day with his intelligence, sweetness, and wonderful personality in general. He is so incredibly special to us and as I have said before, he brings us such joy that we never knew was possible. At three years old:

-He is a talker. We have long conversations and sometimes he blows my mind with his amazing vocabulary. He repeats everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that he hears! :) I think I am just so surprised at how much he comprehends at 3 years old. He is becoming his own person more and more every day. He is very outgoing these days and will talk to anybody. Currently he is telling everybody that he sees that he is going to Disney World in October and that he is going to play soccer. People who have known him for a long time keep remarking at how he seems to have come out of his shell in the last few months. He has become quite the little extrovert!

-He is having a ball at 3 year old preschool. His behavior has been great and the teachers say he so much fun in the classroom. Two things: When I went to pick him up from school the other day, his teacher took me aside and said she had to tell me a funny story. She said they were all singing a song they had been learning that had a little dance with it. His teachers said they heard someone singing really loud and it was Jackson and when the looked over he was really into it, so they got tickled and sort of stepped back to watch him. At that point, they said all of the other kids were watching and following him while he was leading them in the song and dance. Can I just say that I absolutely LOVED hearing this story? All I can say is he got it from his momma! The other thing is that his main teacher is a retired 3rd grade teacher. She said she wanted to show me what he painted. The kids were given finger paints and Jackson make a beautiful picture (if I do say so myself). His teacher asked him what it was and he said it was lava flowing out of a volcano. She said she was shocked at how articulate he is and that he is very creative. I am so proud of my smart boy!

-He is a good eater, although he still wont eat vegetables! Thankfully his multivitamin helps to supplement what he is missing, but I am going to have to start sneaking them in my recipes. I have some great recipe books to help me with that. Some of his favorite foods are: Pulled pork BBQ, Brisket,bacon, rotisserie chicken, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, cheese poofies, deli meats, chicken nuggets from Chick Fil A, and yogurt. Of course he is crazy about chocolate, ice cream, and cookies...but what kid isn't? He still drinks milk and water only, but we do let him have juice when he goes to birthday parties. The only fast food that he has had is Chick Fil A, but he doesn't really like french fries. He will not touch vegetables, pasta, or pizza.

-He's really into soccer and riding his bike right now. He will kick his soccer ball all around the yard and down the sidewalks. He loves playing outdoors. He starts soccer on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see how he does. I am just looking forward to seeing how cute he looks in his outfit! :) We got him his big boy bike for his birthday and he is riding like a champ.

-It is wonderful having him potty trained but he has a fear of public restrooms. He refuses to use them. I changed his diaper many months ago in Whole Foods restroom and it traumatized him. He said the toilets scared him b/c they were too loud. Now he wont use any public restroom. We have tried to get him to at least walk in the restroom, and he will, but then he says "lets get outta here now!" If we dont leave, he will have a meltdown. We really have to work on this before our trip to Disney World. We stayed at the Beaufort Inn recently and he used the potty in our room, so that is forward progress.

-He has really warmed up to Rhett and has stepped up as a wonderful and loving big brother. He loves to help me change Rhett's diaper, feed Rhett his solid food, and hold Rhett. When Rhett cries, Jackson will sing him songs and try to make him laugh. He is constantly kissing Rhett and showing him new things/toys. I can't wait until they are able to interact even more. One cute thing that Jackson says is when Rhett has a complete meltdown in the car, Jackson will say "Mommy and Daddy can you make Rhett stop? He is scared-ing my ears!" :) Jackson also loves to help me pump (breast milk) in the mornings. He will come in the room with me and sometimes he plays with his toys, but other times he will "help" hold the pump and put some of the pieces together. He says "Look mommy I am helping you pump your boobies". HAHA Hopefully we aren't messing him up too much :)

-Jackson loves to help me cook and is great at stirring the scrambled eggs, getting stuff out of the refrigerator, and rinsing off the dishes. Speaking of scrambled eggs, he can sing the ending credits from the show "Frasier" (Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs). I love how he gets a deep voice to say "scrambled eggs" at the end. How stinking cute is this!?

-Although the threes seem to have brought a new found sassiness from Jackson, he is still extremely affectionate and loving to us. One of my favorite parts of the day is putting him down for his afternoon nap. He usually asks me to snuggle with him for a minute and when I do, he snuggles in so close to me and says "Awww sweet honey, I love you so much forever and ever" and "Aww mommy you are my best best friend and I love you". Sometimes he will give me a big kiss and says "Do you know what that means mommy? That means I love you so much!" It just doesn't get much better than that.

-The sassiness has been challenging to deal with, though. Some of his not so nice things that he says: "oh no YOU dont tell me what to do mommy!", "I make the rules", "You will never tell me what to do" and "you better think about it Daddy or you will go to time out!". When he gets put in time out, he has been hitting and acting really nasty so now he spends time in his room. We also began taking things away like dessert and toys when he hits and that seems to be more effective than time out right now. He is definitely learning how to push our buttons and talking back a lot these days. I know he is testing us.

-But I cant wrap this up without talking about his amazing memory and sense of humor. First, this child remembers everything and brings up things from the past all the time. He remembers details like you wouldn't believe and he can recite a book back to you after only a few times having it read to him. Now, that, he gets from his Daddy! As for his sense of humor, he is hilarious and loves to make us laugh. He is really clever and comes up with the silliest stuff. He gets so proud when he says something that surprises us and really makes us laugh. He made Rhett laugh the other day and was so proud.

I could go on and on about this boy-he is so amazing and we are so proud of him. I can't believe we have been blessed with two beautiful boys. But since this is about Jackson, I will just say that these past 3 years with just been nothing short of wonderful and as I always tell him every night before bed, he makes me so happy every single day. We are so proud of Jackson and who he is becoming. He is so special to us! Happy 3rd Birthday my precious boy!