Run Around

Last week Jackson really started to put things together and speak in concepts. As opposed to just up, all done, mommy and daddy. I went in to get him out of his crib one morning and he goes, "Fan, fan. Run around, run around." and made a gesture with his arm and hand of something going around and around. He says things like more please as opposed to more or please. He can say Thank You Daddy instead of one or the other. It's very cool. He loves up and down. We went over a hill this morning and he goes DOWN!!!! Followed by a Mr. Miyagi impression of paint the fence (up....down....up.....down). He knows that the green light means go. It's very neat to watch him put these things together for himself.

Heartbreaker

I mean this is in the most heartfelt way. The first time I took Jackson to day care in August of 2008, I sobbed. I sobbed pretty much the whole first week, and then gradually became okay with it as I felt like he did.

Today I took him to school, and he didn't want to go. He didn't want to get out of the car. He didn't want me to put him down. He didn't want to let go of my leg. He didn't want me to put him down again. When I left, I handed him to one of his teachers, Miss Patty.

Big fat tears started to roll down his cheeks and his face got red, but he didn't do the demonstrative, screaming crying. He just quietly cried and was clearly sad to see me go. It totally and completely broke my heart and it felt like August 2008 all over again, only much worse.

Worst Blogger Ever

I'm the worst blogger ever. We have had so many exciting things with Jackson, and I completely suck and haven't documented jack (pun semi-intended). To try and fit in everything he's been doing in the past couple of months would be pointless, but I'll try a condensed version.

Physically: He jumps. He doesn't jump well, but he jumps. He's also scaled his way out of his crib one time, so we put up a gate at the top of the stairs. He hasn't tried it again thankfully so we haven't moved him to the big kid bed just yet. On occasion he will fling bowls at my head from the backseat. Which is impressive, but not that funny. He actually can throw balls pretty well and loves to play basketball on his little hoop and race his cars.

Chattiness: He amazes us with his new words each day. Today at school he said to me "run around" which was neato. He knows all his letters and loves to shout them out when he sees them on signs or magazines or whatever. He also will randomly start counting to four in the backseat of the car, which I find amazing. He has names for all his grandparents: Opa and Nama (My parents) and Papa and Nami (for Jason's Parents) as well as Bussy (Buffy the dog) and the occasional E for my brother and Auntie for his wife. We are working on learning Jason's sister and family as well. He is good at saying "I love (fill in the blank with a name)" and he also knows his teachers names at school. He, up until about two days ago, would say the word RED as Rhett and the letter W as ba ta doo. He has since learned the correct pronunciation. I would have been okay with him not learning that for awhile as I found batadoo to be adorable. He enjoys playing indoor golf with his Opa, which he will indicate by saying "Opa, golf, bussy" over and over again.

Decision-making: He is very insistent on making his own choices from time to time. He wants to draw. He wants to look at the birdies. he wants to play with the ball popper. He does NOT want to eat that banana. Wants to shoot, play basketball, race cars, go outside. I wouldn't call him stubborn just yet, but since both his parents are insane stubborn lunatics, it's not far off.

In any case, Jackson is simply a joy. He is at a tremendously fun age right now, amazing us with the things he knows and the things he can do each day. We are communicating with him more and more, he helps us decide things as a family and is a very nice, very loving little boy. He is your typical jump around, crash up, crazy little boy and loads of fun for his parents.