Jackson: 18 months!

Jackson doesn't actually turn 18 months for 5 more days, but he started going to nursery a few weeks ago, and is loving it!  He usually has a moment or two where he looks around, realizes he doesn't see anyone super familiar, and gets fussy.  But as soon as one of the leaders holds him, he typically calms down pretty quick and just goes back to playing.  He is doing great with that, as we figured he would!

Just a few observations about Jackson at this point:

• Jackson has a handful of words, and another handful that we can't quite clarify yet.  He loves to say hi to each sibling and to Jared and I-combining those two words is super cute.  He yells "whoa!" at anything that looks cool and loves identifying dogs, cats, birds, trees, Jesus, and people (in pictures).  
• If you tell Jackson to go to sleep, he'll run to the nearest pillow or blanket and lay down.  He is a belly sleeper through and through.  He is also extremely attached to his blanket-thankfully, only for sleeping, but he has to have it, otherwise, he will be super sad.  He drinks whatever type of drink someone gives him and does great with a cup/water bottle as long as someone is helping moderate the flow.  He uses a spoon to eat applesauce and yoghurt all the time-still makes a decent mess, but uses the utensil pretty well.  He is my pickiest eater:  bananas, grapes, apples, raisins, sometimes bread, applesauce, yoghurt, string cheese.....and that's about it other than crackers/pretzels, and some cereal.  
• You can tell Jackson is sensitive to weird textures.  I see it in his eating patterns, and in other weird instances.  the other day, we were in Frys and he was trying to climb out of the cart, so despite his bare feet, I got him out and let him walk by me.  He took about 4 steps, froze, and refused to walk any further, holding on to the shelf next to him.  This has happened before, and it finally clicked-he didn't like the feel/temp of the floor!  I'm curious to see how long this sticks around.  
• Jackson is so adorable when Jared leaves for work.  He runs out with me and james, stands right in front of the garage door, and waits expectantly. As soon as Jared starts the ignition, he laughs maniacally and then starts to wave just as frantically while yelling, "Bye Dada!  Bye Dada! over and over again.  As an aside, James also waves too, and as soon as Jared pulls out of the driveway, he will smile, and say, very proudly, "Well, that's my Dad."  He says it every. single. morning.  This morning he added, "My Dad is really special."  Love it!
• Back to Jackson.  He can point to pretty much any body part.  His favorites right now are diaper and owie.  He will search on his arms and his legs to find some sort of scratch or scab (and blast it, active kid that he is-he always has one!).
• Jackson climbs absolutely everything EXCEPT his pack and play.  He is very good at knowing his pack and play means bed.  Other than that, he knows no bounds.  He moved a chair yesterday to climb up on the table; I found him sitting in the middle of it calmly taking marbles out of a vase.  A few days back, he pulled our little blue kids table to the counter and climbed up onto it to pull all the crayons out of the crayon bucket on the counter.  He mastered couches and chairs a long time ago, climbs onto the play structure in the backyard, and has figured out how to move the kid chairs next to the picnic table outside so he can climb on that as well-that one is dangerous to some degree, as it is just too close to him scaling the pool fence all together.  The boy is just becoming a monkey!  His upper body strength is clearly not as strong as his lower body strength....that's probably a blessing right now.
• Jackson gets mad.  Right now, it is so cute! I probably need to stop laughing when he does it though and start shaping his behavior a little more.  If you tell him no or take something from him, he will cry out, but then run away throw himself on the floor or on a pillow and cry for about 10 seconds.  He will reach down, pick something up, and throw it, or slam his hand against a door/wall before checking for a reaction from an adult.  Today, he snatched a pack of graham crackers, and got one out before I took the package from him.  He kept trying to reach for it, and when he couldn't get it, he threw the cracker that already in his hand.  I just laughed, and asked him if he thought that was wise?  Cracks me up!  I'll take these kids of fits compared to the ones Sara threw any day!

Jackson is such a joy, and I absolutely love snuggling with him as these baby days just fly by.  He gains so much independence every day-it is totally endearing to me.