Head...

...ears, nose, and tummy...nose and tummy! (Sung to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes)

 

 



Momma's Helper

My munchkin is quite the helper.  He still loves taking the garbage cans to the curb and then putting them away at the end of garbage day, sweeping, putting things away (he even takes apart all the legos he's just put together, before putting them away!), etc.  But yesterday, he took his helpfulness to a whole new level. 

Without any encouragement or guidance from me - I was simply in the kitchen making dinner - he took it upon himself to set the table with silverware before dinner.  Not sure who he thought was coming over for dinner (top right seat typically has no one in it), or what he thought we were having (I wasn't making soup or anything that required a spoon), but very cute nonetheless to turn around and this:

Thumbs Up

Or in Jackson's case, thumbs pointer fingers up!  He doesn't quite get the concept of thumbs up yet, but it sure is fun watching him try.

Trying very hard go get those thumbs up and pointers down...

Got it, Mom!  Pointer fingers up!

(Not so) Innocent

Jackson's friend Wyatt came over for a brunch/play date yesterday with his parents, Alex and Jen.  These two had a great time playing and watching Elmo 'Singing with the Stars'.

Don't be fooled by their sweet innocence in this picture, though.  Not even five minutes later, they were huddled in the pantry together playing with the receiver, which was tuned to the radio (which was playing in the kitchen speakers).  They found the volume knob and within seconds had turned it up as loud it would go, nearly ruining all of our ear drums in the process.  The four of us adults went running and found a very serious, startled Wyatt and a smiling Jackson sneaking back out of the pantry.

These boys (especially Jackson, the instigator in this case) are T-R-O-U-B-L-E.  And based on the big hug they gave each other at the end of the morning, I think there's lots more play date trouble in our future. 

DQ Success

J loves his sweets - he's been known to ask for cookies and candy frequently - so after dinner last night, we decided to take him introduce him to DQ ice cream...and it was quite the success.  He couldn't get enough  and he couldn't eat it fast enough.

Guess we'll need to plan a bunch of trips this summer!

Happy Birthday, "Gampa"!

Happy birthday to one of the world's best "gampas"!

Dad,

Jackson absolutely adores you and all the fun things you do together, like playing hide & seek, learning about nature outside, reading, and "crashing" (i.e. tackling).  Thanks for being so great!

In honor of your birthday, Jackson made you a short video to express his love.

Enjoy!

Now you see it...

...and now you don't! 

My dad and Corey had some fun in the yard this weekend.  There was a tree at the end of our driveway that was diseased and we decided to take it down (which is exactly what every other neighbor has done in recent years for the same reason).

The guys started working on it on Saturday morning, and very shortly after, our neighbor (same one that remodeled our kitchen) came over to help, after borrowing a chairsaw from another neighbor.  Something about tools gets a guy every time, I swear.  It was a fairly large tree, so it was quite the undertaking.  At one point, branch piles were almost to the middle of our cul de sac.

Jackson liked supervising, and even served beer and pop for the guys. 

It's amazing how much of a difference taking down one tree can make.  Now we just need worry about getting rid of the bazillions of branches that are residing in our garage as they await their turn to make into the yard waste bin.

Big Boy

We've got a big boy on our hands these days!  Much to our surprise, we found on Monday at school that Jackson would start his transition to the "yellow" class (what we've been calling the "big boy class") that day, with a goal of completion by today. 

We were told he handled it all really well, and that he seemed like an old pro in the new class by the time they came around to take photos of him and his friend Jamers who was also transitioning.  Lunch time is later, naps start later, they drink without lids on their cups, and they start potty training, so lots of big boy things going on around here.

Outside of school, he's still willing to try new foods when prompted, but his latest development is to try something and when he determines he doesn't like it, spit it out and hand it to Corey while saying "garbage" in the hopes Corey will throw it away.  He did this out of the blue the other day (after only doing it once before, a few months back) when trying some sausage in his soup, catching us off guard and making us laugh, and has done it a few more times since.

And sometimes, especially when eating, if we pay him a compliment (i.e. "wow, you're eating like such a big boy", etc), he'll respond saying "thank you!" or "thanks!", like he actually understands how to accept a compliment.  Love that.

Here are a few videos of our boy.

Saying "silly songs" --- one of my favorite things he says (like I mentioned in my last post).

Love how he says "mac & cheese"!

Chit Chat

Jackson continues to learn many new words and phrases each week and we are loving every minute of it.

A few of our favorites are:

• "Good job" --- he'll do something and we'll tell him "good job" and he'll repeat it to himself, like he's telling himself he did a good job.
• "Mac & Cheese" --- the way he says this is adorable
• "Silly Songs" --- we've been trying to get him to branch out from the Elmo birthday DVD and snuck a silly song DVD into the mix.  He has a lisp when he says both words and it's way too cute.
• "I do" --- this weekend he picked up this phrase.  When we ask him to do something, instead of just saying "yes" or "ok", he'll say "yes, I do [it]"

Speaking of, he still loves the letters in the bath and has gotten really good at remembering them and what they stand for.  There are about 10 letters that he knows what the letter, and another handful or two that he knows what that letter stands for (i.e. E is for "Elmo", I is for "ice cream"). 

His eating habits have improved over the past month or two, as well.  He typically has whatever we have to eat. He may not eat a lot of it, and may have some extra sides (typically fruit, which he LOVES), but he's much more open to trying things.  We always ask him to try one bite of everything we're eating and he does a pretty good job.  Back to the fruit - he has multiple bowls of blueberries ("blueburrrrrries" and "grapies" with a majority of his meals - he just can't get enough).

I can't believe he'll be two in less than two months!

Life Lately

I mentioned in my last post that lots of cute stuff had been going on around here, but didn't elaborate.  Now it's time to fill you in on that cuteness.

Jackson continues to discover all kinds of new words.  I still think he's coming home with at least a few new words each day.  He's also more aware of his surroundings and will point things out around us, using his new vocabulary.  I've taught him about red lights and that they mean stop, and green lights mean go.  So he will often yell "red stop!" or "green go!" while driving, though not always at the appropriate time.

He's telling us what he wants to eat sometimes (candy, yogurt, grapes are favorite things to tell us right now), and he continues to love watching his Elmo DVD.  We've started limiting it to one time at night, and two times a day on the weekends (once before nap, once later in the day).

When I pick him up from daycare, he runs and jumps into my arms for a hug, asking for "Elmo".  Then once in the car, we have this exact conversation numerous times on our way home:

J: Berfday!
Mom: You want to watch Elmo Birthday (his Elmo DVD of choice these days)?
J: One! (holding up one pointer finger)
Mom: Yes, you can watch it one time
J: Over!
Mom: Yes, you can watch until it's over.
J: All done! (said while using the "all done" sign)
Mom: Yep, then it's all done.

If I don't respond appropriately, he will whine until I play along. 

There's a whole process that we follow to get the DVD started, too.  He looks at each of the three DVDs as if debating which to watch.  He opens each up, says the name of that one, and then closes them before handing the two DVDs he's decided against back to me.  I'll get dinner started after that but if I have time while making dinner, I'll sit down on the couch and he cuddles up on my lap so we can watch together.

While he's watching TV, he still loves to collect all the books and bring them to the couch, reading each one slowly while watching his show. I recently made him a photo book of people he knows so while I'm making dinner, I'll hear him turning pages and saying names of the faces he recognizes. Speaking of recognizing...Sara has been able to come over every Monday (Bachelor date night!) after work, so she's been eating dinner with us those nights. The chair that she sits in has become her chair, which Jackson will tell me when he's helping set the table, even on nights she's not here.

One of my favorite things that he says is repeating "deal" after I tell him he can/have whatever it is he wants after he does what I need him to do.  For instance, if he wants to watch Elmo, I'll tell him that he can after he picks up all of his books and then I will say "deal?"  He'll confirm it's a "deal" and then do what I've asked quickly.

One of my favorite things that he does is give kisses.  He loves to give kisses and since I know it won't always be this way, I take full advantage.  Even if his interest is elsewhere but I ask for a kiss, he quickly leans in gently with a big smile and waits for you to meet him for a kiss.  Love it so much.

He likes to take our "tempa" (temperature) by putting the thermometer on our bellies or down the back of our shirt while hitting the on/off button (which makes a beeping sound that he loves).  Not sure where he picked this up.

He loves his Elmo stuffed animals that he sleeps with, and often brings them downstairs for breakfast.  We have to put them in a chair next to the table --- the little one sitting in the bigger one's lap.  Then before we go to school, they get dropped off in the shopping cart (vs. leaving them out where Roxy could get to them and destroy them).  (Speaking of destroy, she's on the naughty list --- three days after getting our new living room couch, she torn a hole in one of the arms. Luckily, it's in a spot that is covered by a throw pillow, but it still made me FURIOUS.)

That's enough for now.  I'll try not to go so long between updates so that I can keep these posts a little shorter!