Jackson is TWO!!!

Goodness gracious, every single birthday is going to be like this with Jackson!  Every year that passes, I am going to have a moment of sadness because he is my last baby, and I will always find myself thinking, this is the last time I am going to celebrate one of my kids turning two. Taking pictures and cherishing these silly moments-like climbing on stuff, trying to open doors,and playing with bath bubbles-seems so much more important now than ever.  

Okay, so moving past the birthday insights!  Jackson is officially TWO as of today!  He is such a wonderful, great kid, we love him to the moon and back.  Jackson is all over the place.  He does not stay still.  He won't ever watch more than a few minutes of any show/movie-he has to be moving himself.  He has to have constant parent supervision because he will get into trouble if not.  He is a smart little guy, and does whatever he needs to in order to get what he wants, whether it be something to eat, something that makes him like his brothers, or something that gets him out of his bed.  It can be frustrating....but more often than not, it is impressive-his independence and his problem-solving skills are developing nicely!  

So here's a few milestones before a serious stream of pictures:

1. Jackson STILL only eats a handful of foods.  I am pushing him to eat other things, but it is still a struggle.  He gets it-you can see the wheels turning in his head that he knows I mean business, but it is still a process.  Right now, he eats applesauce, yoghurt, bread, bananas, grapes, string cheese...and that's pretty much it, other than most cracker-type foods and some cereal type foods.  He will eat muffins of any kind too, but I think that's only because he is a fan of cupcakes ;)  He loves dum-dum suckers.
2. Jackson hit a setback in his bedtime routine/sleep schedule maybe 3 months ago.  He would wake up in the middle of the night and just scream as loud as he could, and we'd have to take him out to the TV room, and "reset"for maybe 45 minutes before putting him back to bed.  He decided to climb out of his bed shortly after this started, and that's when it got bad-and unsafe, honestly, with so much office stuff in that room. We took action and switched him to the girls room so he would be closer to us, and so we could give him a fairly empty space where he would be safe.  We gave him a twin bed, though we haven't transferred him to it yet.  I changed up his bedtime routine to be more consistent-a small amount of juice, songs, lavender lotion, bath, and the same animals/blankies.  It actually got a lot better pretty quickly.  If he got out of bed, we put him back and left his door cracked open with a gate up-he does surprisingly well with that.  Believe it or not--this is our first kid that has aggressively decided to climb out of his bed every single night. it is still a work in progress-he only sleeps through the night, with no wake ups, maybe 3 times a week, but I am glad we have a good strategy in place to help him go back to sleep quickly should he get up.  
3. Jackson likes to pee on the potty!  He pees in it before his bath almost every day.  It's a good start!
4. Jackson talks all the time.  he is in the stage where he repeats everything.  He is understandable in terms of what he is trying to convey most of the time.  He loves to play the tablet, especially a little program that has ABC flashcards, and it says the letter and the item-he loves to repeat it. He won't talk much around people he doesn't know, but he is a chatterbox at home-to the degree that I have to ask him to be quiet sometimes!
5. Jackson climbs absolutely everything.  He will move the bench, chairs, little kid seats, the ottaman, whatever it takes, to get what he wants. Lately, it has involved climbing up onto counters, which freaks me out.  He knows we used to keep suckers in a certain cupboard-he keeps getting into it even though I moved them long ago.  Oh, this boy is going to get injured someday, and it is going to make me so sad I wasn't more vigilant.  This is why it is essential to watch him every second.
6. Jackson loves to ride his bike.  He almost has his legs working to pedal. he loves to position himself at the top of our driveway "hill" and go flying down with his legs held up so the pedals and going on their own.  He likes to do that backwards too!
7. Jackson is a tough kid in so many ways.  That includes his feet.  he runs everywhere barefoot, and doesn't care.  He inherited that for me.
8. Jackson is a people-watcher.  he loves to see what others are doing, especially if those people have a baby.  
9. Jackson loves to sing!  When I put him to bed, he always requests Could I Hold the Baby, and sings many of the words with me-and if he doesn't know the words, he tries to match pitch, or form his mouth into the same vowel shapes that he sees/hears.  He loves I Believe in Jesus.  Too bad this kid isn't in primary, he could sing with us! He also loves Wheels on the Bus, but we don't do that at bedtime because it is too silly for him.  
10. Jackson loves his blankie-the same one Jared used as a baby.  He is also my only kid to develop a real, true-blue attachment to a lovey.  
11. Jackson is a momma's boy through and through.  If he sees me, he has to be with me.  I secretly love that, even though at times, it is frustrating.  The moment he wakes up, he figured out how to take the gate down (so glad he doesn't try this in the middle of the night...knock on wood) and climbs up into my bed with me.  Again-love that! 
12. Jackson LOVES Krazy Air!  he loves to jump on trampolines, and watching a kid this young jump so well is just stinkin' cute! He also loves balls with a passion.  he is great at throwing and catching, although he is in a phase right now where he just trying to hit the ball back to the thrower-he has been watching me and Karianna play volleyball too much!  he loves to swing and slide as well-he used to highly dislike both!
13. One thing he does that I do NOT like-he thinks it is fun to take off his diaper.  Not. A. Fan.

I could go on and on-Jackson is just a special little guy and we love him with all our hearts!  Happy birthday buddy!  

And here is a ridiculously long reel of pics-66 I think! 

 This bath water filled up really high-and he loved it!  Not super safe of course, but he sure loved playing in it while I sat on the floor playing candy crush ;)

 We went to McDonalds today to celebrate with ice cream.  jared's second job is keeping him busy at night, so we opted to do a sibling celebration-jackson clearly loved it, and climbing in any play area is right up his ally!

 And here are a bunch of shots I took of him as his official 2-year old shots.  My camera is at the end of its lifespan....but I still think these turned out okay!

This was his first reaction to me asking him to hold the foam 2!

 Obviously distracted by bugs and rocks.

 Love the joy on his face in this one!

 Later that day, we went to the park with the new ball we got Jackson.  He couldn't be bothered to look at the camera.

 Tracking the ball as it was flying over his head, lol!

Ah, we got to the end!  Hallelujah!

Deja Vu

I think I posted about Jackson's climbing abilities last month.....they keep getting better. Worse.  I don't know what to qualify this as.  Sigh.  This kiddo drives me insane sometimes, even moreso because he is so cute, it makes it hard to get-and stay-mad at him!

Marbles

We started something new in our house just over a week ago and some of the kids were excited to reach a milestone today!  We decided we wanted to start focusing on the positives more often in our home. We felt like we had a lot of tension, and Jared and i were adding to it by always feeling like we were getting after the kids.  So we decided to make a concerted effort to recognize when positive things happened without having to give a reward anytime they happened.  That's how the marble jars were born.  Each kiddo has a marble jar on the mantle.  It is simple-they get marbles for good deeds, kindnesses, obedience, service, and the list goes on.  We brainstormed ways that marbles can be earned as a family and posted that on the wall.  Some of those things were more relevant to certain kids, and a few of them addressed very specific problems everyone is having, like crazy bedtimes and mealtimes where no one stays in their seat.  Others require serving people in the house without being asked, or simple things like reading a book instead of watching a screen.  We also brainstormed prizes that can be earned when the jar gets filled up.  One of those prizes is termed the "Mega-Prize" and requires three filled up jars--if that happens, and that child has been trying to get the mega-prize, he or she gets to go to dinner with mom and dad.  That's my favorite one honestly.

All in all, I like the premise of this set up, and I like what we are trying to promote in our family with it.  I am happy to say it has been going well so far, so much so that three of the kids filled up their jars today!  

Karianna asked for a Dairy Queen treat off the prize list.....

 JD decided to go for the Mega Prize-yea!!!!

 And Sara also asked for a Dairy Queen treat.

Congratulations to the first winners!  We made a huge deal out of the fact that this is NOT a competition, though that didn't stop Jordan from being a little sad that he fell behind because of some poor choices.  I'm sure he'll get there in the next few days, and catch up!

A New Trick!

Jackson has discovered a new trick just a few days before he turns 2:  he can do the splits. 

 He attempts to do them all the time, and it is just adorable, especially when it is accompanied by funny faces....

Super, SUPER cute, brother!

Field Trip with JD!

I love the fact that I get to volunteer more in the kids' classrooms now that Jared is working from home.  It has been such a wonderful thing for me!  Friday field trips are especially doable since Jared only works 4 hours-which is why i got to join JD on this special occasion.  We spent most of the day at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, which is essentially a desert botanical garden.  It took us about an hour to get there, though the drive was not too bad-I actually slept a bit on the way back! The kids were super fun to talk with-I really enjoyed them as well as the scenery.  It was great to spend extra time with JD too-I always love watching my kids around their friends and at school-it makes me so proud of the people they are growing up to be.  

This is the entire fourth grade class-a serious shot and then a funny one!

 This was our tour guide-Ms. BJ.  She was hilarious.  She has obviously done this many, many times and had her own unique style in terms of working with kids.  She did a great job!

 We hiked around the area the entire morning, with several stops to explore various types of cactus and desert plants.  You can see JD in his army jacket walking next to his best friend Brentton.

 A few scenic shots-the heart cactus is my favorite!

 I have no clue what JD was thinking when I took this picture!

 A completely dead cactus-super interesting to see up close!

 They had a butterfly garden, which was quite beautiful! Lots of greenhouses as well for the more fragile plants.

 We came to this enormous pavillion where the kids got in groups and had a quick lesson about the 5 C's of Arizona (cattle, climate, corn, cotton, and cactus.  I did it!). They sorted objects to exemplify each group.

 This was a huge wash we walked across that still fills up when the mountains get rain.

 Stopping to sample a few desert items: agave syrup, prickly pear fruit, and mesquite flour.  JD could/would only try the agave syrup, and even then, they put a drop on his thumb so he could lick it off instead of putting it on the gluten cracker.  He said it was okay.  I was surprised how many kids were brave enough to try the prickly pear-and how many asked for seconds and thirds!

The official cactus garden!

 This was the coolest plant I saw the entire time we were there-and I think this shot is pretty awesome!

 The base of that cool plant in the picture above-I think it is called a Bossun something?  I'll have to look it up again.

 Small pond area with gross water ;)

JD and Brentton assured me they were doing some sort of pokemon move with this picture....I don't know what to believe.

 The last stop where the tour guide quized the students on all things Arizona-they did great, and this circular seating area was beautiful.

 Such a blast hanging with this kiddo today!

 And such an interesting experience seeing this kiddo with his best bud.... ;)

Jordan's 2nd Grade Program

Jordan had his second grade program tonight-and what a show it was!

This is probably one of my favorite programs the school does.  I love how it promotes patriotism, and gets kids excited about the founding fathers and the values that this nation was founded upon. They sing such classic songs, like "I'm Proud to Be An American", "This Land is Your Land", and the national anthem.  They bring any veterans in the audience up on the stage, and we all applaud as they state their name and their service to the country.  The entire thing is just awesome, and I am so glad Jordan got to experience that this year!

Jordan had a line about 2/3s of the way through the program, talking about the 13 original colonies. He said his line perfectly, and timed it well with the partner he was speaking with.  He sang all the songs so well, and every single time I caught his eye, he smiled really huge!  Love it!  He looked so handsome too!

I happened to go to both performances-the afternoon one and the evening one-and a girl in the front row threw up during the program-yikes!  Same thing happened at Sara's program last year!  She seemed okay though and the show went on quite smoothly. In the evening performance, a girl got up to say her line, and she tripped over the mic-fell down, taking the mic with her, poor girl!  We all applauded for her when she stood up-and after that, that show went smoothly as well!

Bad pics, but here's Jordan saying his line!

All in all, it was a great night, and we loved cheering on Jordan-great job bud!