Saturday, August 27, 2011

Dear Jackson,




Have you been reading this blog? Because it wasn't 24 hours after I had written my last post about you not having tantrums when you showed me that you were fully capable! You were fighting naptime, so I held you to rock you and you let me know that you were not happy in the form of a full blown 2 year old tantrum. You were screaming, screeching, hitting yourself, hitting me, shoving your hands in your mouth, and kicking. It was almost like some wild animal had taken over my sweet boy! But then you finally gave in and fell into a deep peaceful sleep.



I knew it was just a matter of time before you had a true tantrum. You have been quite the firecracker this week, but I know it is just a phase. I know that you are frustrated and trying to find out how to deal with that frustration. Still, you have spent a lot of time in 'time out' this week, although at times you seem to enjoy it. I think you pretend to enjoy it just to spite us sometimes :) You must get that from your mommy!



Tonight on the way home from dinner and a stop at Toys R Us, you decided to have a fit during the car ride home. Boy, you were really screaming and angry that we left the store. You thought you'd really show mommy and daddy by pulling your socks off with your teeth (yes, with your teeth!). Only it backfired because mommy and daddy started laughing so hard at you that you got tickled yourself and started laughing. Then you proceeded to entertain us the whole rest of the way home by shoving your dirty sock in your mouth (you are such a boy!) and giving us the cutest belly laughs. See, that is how I know that underneath the moments of nastiness, you are still our sweet loving boy. We love you, our little wild animal!

Monday, August 22, 2011

2 years old!


























It is hard to believe it, but our sweet boy is 2 years old! It is amazing at how much he has changed in the past year. Here are Jackson's official 2 year stats:


Weight: 28.1 lbs-50th percentile

Height: 37 in-96th percentile


In his doctor's words, he is seemingly "perfect". We would have to agree!


At 2 years old, Jackson


-is sleeping in his bed all through the night about 75% of the time. He still has times every now and then when he wakes up once in the middle of the night, but he usually goes right back to sleep. He sleeps from about 8:30 pm-6:30 am and takes an hour and a half nap everyday from 1-2:30.


-has started 2 year old preschool. He goes to preschool at our church on MWF from 9-12 and then he still goes to MMO on T, Th from 9:30-1:30. Preschool has been an adjustment for him, as he is in a bigger class with new teachers and even though he is in the same room as his Sunday school, it is still a different crowd. He still cries when we drop him off, but the teachers say he doesnt cry for long. He has already done many new activities such as planting a seed, painting a picture, made a collage out of magazine pictures, and working on new puzzles. On Mondays, all classes of the preschool come together for chapel. The teachers say he is great and is the first one out the door and the last one in from the playground. I know there will be a day (hopefully soon) where he will walk in without crying. He is always happily playing when we pick him up.


-has still been good about trying new foods, but loves fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, and apples) above all else. We will be trying peanut butter soon. I am always looking for new things to fix him for lunch. When we go to a restaurant he opens up the menu and says really loud "Ice cream, poofs, cookies, chocolate cake!". The boy loves his chocolate! We have noticed he has been drinking less milk than before...not sure if it is just a phase or if he will dislike milk like me. Also, we still haven't given him juice and don't plan to for awhile.


-He had his second dental cleaning last week and everything looked great! The dentist said he has one last molar to come in and then he will have his full set of teeth. He still lets me brush his teeth for the most part, but he does go through phases where he fights me.


-He still has his little fits when he doesnt get his way, but nothing too bad. I am still waiting for the full on tantrum-I know it has to be coming. We still do time out with him, which seems to work well. One thing that I have learned-when he is overtired, he gives the wild animal screech when he cries. It is a dead givaway that he is waaay tired when he starts making those screams/screeches. He has also begun kicking his feet when he is mad/upset.

-He is stringing along more words and sentences. It gets easier every day to communicate with him. He still loves to count and we are currently working on colors. He is also starting to sing along to some songs that he hears often.


-His newest obession is cars. He loves racing his cars around and carries them everywhere. He even sleeps with some of them at night. He can point out a corvette and camaro (guess who taught him that?)


-He LOVES going to the playground and would stay for hours if he could. He loves the swings and slides. He woke up from his nap today and the first thing he said to me was "park, slide, wheee!". He also loves throwing and kicking a ball.


What can I say, these last two years have been nothing short of wonderful and Jackson brings so much happiness, joy, and laughter to our lives. He is surely the biggest blessing of our lives! I am so excited to watch him grow and we are sure to cherish every single moment with our boy!


***I probably won't do monthly updates anymore. I plan to just update as needed, when there is something that we will want to remember. That is, until I (hopefully) get pregnant again in the future. I will probably go back to regular updates then.



Sunday, August 14, 2011

Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party!!

We had his party at our local Little Gym on the Saturday before his actual birthday. Although it started pouring rain right before the party started, we still had a great party! Many of Jackson's buddies came: Liam, Brayden, Mia, Madeline, Eddie, Alexander, and Evan. Jackson was in a wonderful mood for the party and all of the kids seemed to have a blast! They ran around, sang songs, danced, played on the equipment, and played with the parachute, balls, bubbles, and bouncy air track. The party lasted an hour and a half, which went by so quickly. We had to bring the presents home and open them later because we ran out of time at the Gym. Jackson loved the balloons and (of course) the chocolate birthday cake. My good friend Lauren outdid herself as usual on the cake and it was amazing! The party was a Toy Story theme. It was a wonderful time and birthday boy had a blast!! Check out the pictures: