Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Our big boy is 3!

Jackson has grown and developed so much over the last year, it's amazing.  And on top of it all, he's handled many big changes like a champ.  He's moved into a big boy bed, become a big brother, been potty trained, and changed classes at school - all of which happened in just the last few months.

He's been extremely excited for his birthday and has had a countdown in the works for 50+ days. Corey added an app to his phone to countdown the days remaining and I made him a paper chain, where he gets to remove a ring each day. He loves seeing how many days are left each morning and though he almost always knows exactly how many are left, he of course still uses both the app and chain to double check.

Here are few of the things he learned to do, since turning two:

• Say the ABCs
• Count to 100, and can count backwards from 20
• Count to 15 in Spanish
• Knows all his colors (can't remember if this happened before he turned three) and a few of them in Spanish
• Knows all days of the week, the order and most importantly, how many days left until the weekend on any given day (his teachers love this one)
• Knows all the months, their order and important events in some of them (i.e. Mother's Day is in May and he gets to help daddy pick out a present for me; Christmas is in December)
• Can (finally!) quickly hold up two fingers to show his current age, and three fingers to show his new age (though three still takes some help with the other hand)
• Ride his big wheels type bike (still working on fully understanding turning), and is starting to get the hang of his Strider bike
• Overcome his fear of pools, water and swimming
• Overcome his fear of haircuts
• Become MUCH less shy (I haven't heard "I don't wanna say 'hi'!" from him before going into someplace new or with people he doesn't know in months; in fact, he's often the first one to say hi to new people, like checkers at the grocery store)
• Understands the concept of time and is very interested in what time it is at any given point during the day, how much longer until something occurs (i.e. how long until my mom picks me up/how long until 4:30 (which is my usual pick up time)) and can do simple math (if we tell him at 4 p.m. he has 10 minutes until we start doing something else, he can tell you how many minutes are left at 4:01, 4:02...)
• Has memorized (nearly word for word) several of his books, which he likes to "read" to us at night.
• Stopped using his bink for naptime at school, which is part of the transition from his old class to his new class. 

His memory is impeccable which makes him great at memory games, as well as remembering specifics, details and facts from months prior.  This includes things we've told him, promises we've made him, and who has given him various toys or clothes.  On our way to his haircut the other day, which was the first one in over two months, he said, "If I'm a good boy, I should probably get a cookie afterwards" as he remembered that he's had a Specialties cookie afterwards in the past before.  How can you say no to that?!  And his knack for remembering what number each song is on a given CD (and he has 20+ CDs mind you) is pretty darn amazing.  Speaking of music, I love when he sings along to songs --- sometimes he sings the right words, and sometimes not so much...but cute nonetheless.

While becoming a big brother was a bit rough at the very beginning (which was expected of course), he quickly grew accustomed to the change and truly loves Cole now. He's always asking if Cole can play with him (i.e. throw a ball, etc.), which we help Cole do, and he loves to help however needed (putting Cole's bink back in, turning on his swing or bouncer, etc.)  He even uses a baby voice to talk to him and loves to give unsolicited kisses and hugs.  The other day, he even played with Cole on his play mat - I'd put Cole there while I made dinner, and I looked over and Jackson was down on the floor talking to him, reading him books, and giving him pretend waffles from his kitchen.  Cole knows there's something special about Jackson, and that he's different than Corey and I, as he saves his biggest smiles for him and is always very interested in watching J, no matter what he's doing.

J's so smart I find it hard to reason with or make deals with him at times, and then I feel completely silly for being duped by a two-year old!  I wasn't aware that he'd stopped using his bink at naptime and he just happened to tell me in passing on our drive home from school a week or so after the change.  When I asked, his teachers said he was completely unphased by it, so I told J that I thought he could stop using it at home since he was such a big boy now, and his reply was, "If I don't use it at home, I'd probably be pretty sad.  Maybe in June. No wait, maybe in July..."

His rough streak at bedtime/overnight has greatly improved with continued Mommy and Jackson time (and sometimes "family time", which he asks for rather than just Mommy and Jackson time), and most recently a countdown timer and a Get Ready for Bed Checklist.  He has 30 minutes to get all ready, read books, watch videos and cuddle, so he's learning how to budget his time to get through the non fun stuff (potty, PJs, brushing teeth) so he has more time for the fun stuff (books, videos and cuddles).  He loves being able to see how much time is left at any given point in the routine (and has even been known to stare at it while cuddling, which doesn't make cuddle time much fun for us - ha), and to turn the timer off when the alarm sounds.

Potty training continues to go well and he hadn't had an accident in over two weeks...until one at school earlier this week.

We are so proud of the big boy he's become, and love him to pieces.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Happy birthday, Jackson!

Nearly every weekend includes at least one trip to the park - this kid LOVES his park time.

Quite the multi-tasker - chatting with Grampa Kent on the phone, helping Cole play and talking to me.

Is he trying to tell us he wants a career in modeling?

Standard weekend morning position, while perusing YouTube Play Doh videos.

Playing with one of the many toys he received for pooping on the toilet.