23 Months

Jackson is now just one month shy of his second birthday. Wow- time flies. Jackson is doing great. Here are some of my favorite things Jackson is doing at 23 months.

1. Jackson talks all the time now, he is hardly ever quiet if he is awake. He regularly strings 3 word sentences together.

2. Jackson still loves to dance. He made Dustin dance all through the mall and didn't care that others were watching him. But, he is still generally shy around strangers.

3. He tells me abut all of his outings with his nanny Erica. He will talk about these for weeks. Last week, they went to Perk and Play (a coffee shop with play area for kids) and the fire alarm went off and the fire department had to come. This was so exciting for Jackson. He continues to talk about the "loud beep" and that the "fireman fix it". Seriously, so cute!

4. Jackson loves the zoo and all the animals there. He will talk about what the animals did weeks after he sees them. He constantly talks about the gorilla picking his nose or the big gorilla eating an apple or the hippo that was swimming and opened his mouth really big- which prompts Jackson to open his mouth really wide.

5. Jackson can count to ten. He uses this to his advantage sometimes. For example we tell him he can pick out three books and he always replies with "four books." Or we tell him he can have two treats and he will respond with "five treats." Pretty funny.

6. Jackson is beginning to learn the alphabet. We have flashcards and Jackson knows about half of the letters. He also loves to point out the letters he knows. He knows all the letters in his name. However, whenever we spell something while pointing out letters (for example, we will say T-E-X-A-S, Texas)he always looks up smiles and says "Jackson" He thinks everything spells Jackson.

7. Jackson continues to love Elmo. He has also just discovered Nemo...he loves Nemo!

8. Jackson also continues to love trains and trucks. We wait for the trash truck to come every week. This is a highlight for him. He points out trucks wherever we are and he is almost always right...the fire truck, ambulance, mail truck, ice cream truck or even just a "big white truck." He also loves watching construction trucks and got to see a digger working at a park. He talks about the digger all the time.

9. Jackson also loves airplanes and the airport. With all of our recent visitors, Dustin would take Jackson to the airport to watch the planes take off and land. Jackson loved this!

10. He now actually plays with other kids more and more. A little girl, Alex, comes to play once a week and he loves chasing her around. He talks about Alex and reminds me that Alex always wears a bow in her hair.

11. When Jackson wants you to stop something he says, "all done..." Grandma was dancing when she visited and he looked at her and said "all done grandma." When he doesn't want anymore of a song he says "all done, eiei" (Old MacDonald). At any given moment in our house you can hear Jackson yelling- "all done, all done!"

12. He talks about his family and friends all the time. We sing a good night song where we tell everyone goodnight before bed time. Jackson always tells me who to sing goodnight to. Each night it varies, but he always includes his friends from school and soccer and family. It is really sweet.

13. Jackson continues to be such a sweetheart. He is so sweet to his brother Brady and cuddly for Mom and Dad. He will randomly and out of no where ask for a hug. It melts your heart. Many times these request come after some tears and makes us forget that he just spent the last 5 minutes melting down!

My almost 2 year old....