Happy 2.5 Jackson!

Wow- where to even begin. Jackson, you are now 2 1/2 years old. It seems like you have turned into a little boy and it feels like it happened almost overnight. Sometimes, I wish I could stop time, or maybe just slow it down a bit.



You are such a fun little boy, with such a love of life. You are so silly, with such a great personality. You love to make everyone around you laugh. You spend so much time trying to make Brady smile and laugh (and he always laughs and smiles at you...always!). You are curious about everything you encounter. And, you are so smart with a great memory. You take in everything around you and are like a little sponge. After three classes at Park Hill PDO you could count to ten in Spanish and knew what amigos and gracias meant. Just today I asked if you wanted to wear your blue sweater and you looked up and said "yes-blue-azul!"



You now enjoy school and talk about Ms. Nea, Ms. Linda and Ms. Barb. You also love your new nanny Kristy.

Your "terrible twos" have definitely had some terrible moments, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. Because with those moments came 1000 times as many wonderful moments.



Things you love:
- your baby brother, Brady
- books: you love to read and spend much of every day reading books. Your favorites right now are Thomas Breaks a Promise, Thomas and the Fogman, Dinosaur Roar, My Big Book of Animals, My Big Book of Trucks, Trains and Emergency Vehicles, Runaway Bunny, and Guess How Much I Love You.
- Puzzles- you love putting together puzzles and you are so good at doing them. You can put your dinosaur puzzle together all by yourself and are getting really god at the smaller truck puzzles- it is incredible!
- Trains- you LOVE playing with your trains and train table. You always bring some of your trains (generally Thomas and Percy) to bed with you every night.
- Water and swimming- you still love to be in the water and have absolutely no fear. You amaze most of the other people in the water with your skills.
- Daddy- you love to be with your Daddy and do anything he is doing. You guys have so much fun together mowing the lawn, throwing rocks in the river, playing rough...just about anything you do with Daddy is fun. Every morning when I get you you ask where Daddy is and you are always sad when he is at work. On Saturdays when Daddy gets you up sometimes you will say- "no go to work Daddy" it is precious.
- trucks- you still love the trash truck and we go outside to see it every Friday morning.
- Spelling- you have been watching Super Why and now love letters and spelling. You are always carrying around your "super letters" and trying to put them in you "super computer." Plus, you are trying to spell different words. You are Such a smart boy!
-playing with your friends- you have fun with your friends now and can tell me about different friends. You enjoy playing with all of your Paddington friends and Ella and Alex. You also really like Alex's little brother, Hank!



Things you dislike:
- getting your hair washed- you love your bath but hate having your hair washed
- being told "no"
- having to take a nap or go to bed when you are not ready- "but i awake, mommy"
- sitting still for too long
- (you don't have too many consistent hates, but you certainly have plenty of things you don't like at any given moment...)



Things we love about you:
- your beautiful smile and infectious laugh
- the things you say- you come up with some of the funniest things- just the other day your told your daddy "don't throw little boys daddy, throw balls" (Daddy, by the way was watching football and not throwing anything at the moment)
- your sense of adventure
- your compassion- you are always saying "brady its okay" or when Mommy or Daddy are hurt you come up with such concern to give hugs and say "be okay mommy, be okay"
- your hugs and kisses
- listening to you talk when you don't think anyone is listening- just the other day I listened to you saying the ABCs over the monitor when you were supposed to be taking a nap!
- singing songs and reading books to you- and listening to you "read" your favorite parts- You know your Thomas books by heart and can be heard reciting them at any given moment.
- watching you interact and play with Brady
- the cuddles we get, whenever we can get them
- listening to you repeat words we say (lately it is "goodness" or "come on dude")
- realizing that you listen to Mommy and Daddy, but don't always display that with your behavior (for instance you are always saying "don't throw toys, only throw balls", but you are constantly throwing toys)
- Pretty much everything about you!



Jackson, you are the sweetest little man and we are so proud to be your family! We all love you SO, SO much!