Jackson just shy of 2.5...

- You love watching Go Diego go before bedtime. It calms you and makes for a nice snuggling ritual on the couch at the end of a day.

- When given the time you love to pick out your pull ups or your pajamas and get excited when you've been successful.

- You are a sponge. You learn new words every day and repeat them in a tone of question. As if to say "is this right?"

- You don't mind when mom or dad have to leave and always ask for a kiss and a hug. You often tell daddy to give mom a hug and a kiss when he heads off to work too.

- You love to sing to the baby in mommy's tummy. When asked where baby Addie is you point and say "inside mommy's tummy." Sometimes you also want to show others how babies get fed by pulling down mommy's shirt. Feeding the new baby will be interesting.

- You enjoy playing with play-doh and only ask to switch colors every five minutes or so.

- You read a lot, often "reading" stories to mom and dad.

- You know landmarks: which house is one of your grandparents, which building is daddy's work, the hospital, the library, your school when you pass by it in the car.

Rewards...

On Thursday we met with the owner of Jackson's childcare center. He's not been napping at school, which means for a crabby evening and falling asleep at the dinner table. We worked with Carol to find some new ways to encourage him to fall asleep. So if Jackson takes a nap, he gets to add a Diego piece to the spot under TV Show, and he can watch an episode of Diego before bed. No Nap = No Diego. If Jackson does not follow other directions throughout the day, he can have books taken away from him. We'll see if this helps!

The cute giraffe...

Jackson is going to be a giraffe this Halloween, provided he doesn't gain an ounce or get any taller between now and then. I found a Haloween costume for Jackson at Once Upon A Child the other day. I brought it home, washed it and Ron put it on Jackson to make sure it would work. We put the little giraffe hood up over his head and guided him to the full-length mirror to take a gander of his new look. Jackson's response when he saw himself in the costume: "Cute".


I'm not sure where it came from, cute is not a word often used in our house. But let me tell you it sure was cute to hear him say it about himself.

Another Jackson update: When asked who his girlfriend is, he says "Reagan". A little friend of his from school. Who would have thought it would already be obsessing over members of the opposite sex at such a young age. Oh brother!

Double take...

Today when I picked up Jackson from and put him in his car seat, I did a minor double-take. "Is this my kid? I thought." For some reason, today more so than any other day, Jackson looked like he had grown into a little man from the time I left him in the morning, until the time I picked him up. For a split second, I wondered if I took off with someone else's kid, an older, wiser, smarter kid that wasn't my own. But nope, his smile gave it away, this was my Jackson that I was straping in, he just changes incredibly fast.