This little cutie is TWENTY TWO months old today! Just two months from his second birthday. I can’t even believe how much he has grown in recent weeks.  His language has exploded, and he speaks in full sentences, perfectly able to articulate his desires and needs.  He has begun potty training and is really great with going #2, but we aren’t really forcing the issue at this point.  While some of Jackson’s attributes make it so evident that he is becoming a big kid, there are pieces of baby dispersed throughout his personality that serve as a welcome reminder that he is still part baby.  He loves his paci (this one I could actually live without), and is the sweetest, snuggliest, loving little bug on the planet (all of these I wish to stay forever).

Jack loves anything that is classically “boyish.” He is obsessed with tractors, trucks, cards, motorcycles, firetrucks, airplanes, and being generally destructive to his safety. He started swimming lessons last month and is loving the opportunity to be in the water once a week.  He can wall walk with his hands all on his own, and knows how to get himself out of the pool if he were to fall in. It’s pretty incredible.

He also has the w.o.r.s.t. tantrums in the entire universe. This is no exaggeration. He goes from “milk” to “MILK!!!” to high pitched screeching screaming dying “MMMMMIIIIIIILLLLLLLKKKKKKK!!!!!!” (The agonizing scream that makes you want to instantly punch yourself in the face). All I have to do is say “How do we ask for milk?” and he stops and sweetly says “Milk, pleeeasseeee?” and all is forgiven.  He also has grown rather fond of a few choice words that I regret ever flying out of my mouth (damnit and shit are at the top of the list…). And he loves to hit - only me though.

In short, we are really settling into toddlerhood and actually enjoying all of the trials that come from a tiny being with no outlet for expression of emotions.  We are learning the best ways to explain things in toddler terms and what works for us and Jackson in terms of discipline (time out is really working for us these days - he actually understands that he is in trouble, and we always have a conversation about what behavior should be altered). Each day we get to spend as his parents is such a privilege, and I have never been given a job that I love more than this one!