Two and a Half Freeze Frame

Jackson turned two and a half today. We celebrated by singing "Happy (Half) Birthday To You" at dinner and eating chocolate cupcakes.

I told Jackson yesterday that today was his half birthday. When he woke this morning, the first thing he said to me was, "It's my bir-day!" As the day wore on, he told a few people it was his birthday and I had to clarify and say it was his half birthday. Then he would follow up, saying, "I'm a big boy!"

Yes, you are a big boy, Jackson! Let's look at your life in a nutshell right now. Look at your growth chart and how much taller you've grown!

And you've learned so much in your two and a half years. You know that "uncle" is the safe word to make us stop tickling you. You speak in complete and complex sentences. Just today, you told me, "Remember when we went to the park? I wike the park."

You make us laugh with your little jokes and funny pronunciations. Your Js are prounounced like Gs, so you say your name "Ga-kin." Your Fs are Ps, so words like "food" sound like "pood." Blends like "tr" come out "cr," so "trash truck" sounds like "crash cruck."

You LOVE to say no to me, and you also love to repeat the word "Mommy" over and over.

You love taking baths and beg me to give you a bath every night, although the answer is usually no because that's Daddy's job. But you ask so nicely, "Mommy, can you take me a bath?" that I'm tempted to give in to your request. When I DO give you a bath, I watch you entertain yourself for a pretty long time with empty bottles and buckets. You are fascinated by the way water moves from one container to another, and will fill a bottle up and pour it out over and over again.

You say your best friends are "Miam and Beppy" (Liam and Bethany). Sometimes you say Katie is your best friend too. You love playing with trains, tiny bouncy balls, and cars. You love to color. You love to throw baseballs and your new thrill is asking Daddy to play wiffle ball with you. You love Dinosaur Train on TV. And you really really love to read. Go, Dog, Go is always a favorite, and today's book of choice is Llama Llama Mad at Mama. But when you throw a book at me, the Uh-Oh song starts and the books are put away. And that REALLY makes you mad.

You're testing your limits hourly, and I'm trying to do a better job of showing you boundaries this second time around (Katie being the first). I'm no expert, but I think I've found my groove a little faster this second time. Of course, I didn't plan on having to bungee chairs to tables and use the burglar chain on the front door THIS early. But we're having lots of fun in our house because of you, Jackson.

You ARE a big boy, and have taken up so much BIG space in our hearts. Now if you could just learn to potty and quit the paci...