The Months Are Flying By...Jack Is 21 Months!

Since, we in the Jackaroo World, only have kids born on the 5th, today is a very special day. Laura turns 10 years old and Jack turns 21 months. Geesh these kids who insist upon growing up! They need to stop that right now!

I know I have said it before and I know I will say it again, but how is it that time sped up into super duper fast mode after Jack was born. How is it that he is almost two years old? I don't get it.

New Jack Stuff

** He says "thank you" all the time now. I love it when I will sit him down at the table for a meal and he will look up at me and say "tank you". We are now working on the word "please". He knows when to say and how to say it, but my stubborn child will not say it most times when I ask. He will be whining for something and I will say "say please" and the stubborn side of him (yes that came from me, shut up) will look at me and he will shake his head no and continue to whine even louder.

** The boy definitely knows what he wants and doesn't want now and is not afraid to express his feelings. He will shake his head no at me so vehemently that I am afraid his head will come off at times. He also nods his head for yes, but unfortunately that doesn't happen as often as the shaking of the head. Can you say "STRONG WILL"? Again, shut up, I know where he got it from. I can still complain about it, can't I?

** Books, books, and more books. The boy is in love with books. He will constantly ask me to go read books. He comes up to me and says "boo", his word for book. If I say later, he will go running into his room and start bringing books to me in order to force me to read at least one of them. Of course the book-crazed reader in me loves this. I have always dreamt of having a child that finds joy in opening a new book and discovering what is inside. Hopefully we can cultivate that into a life-long passion.

** I know I shouldn't be saying this outloud because as soon as I do, it will come back and bite me. But the boy sleeps really really well these days. He has an internal clock and if he is kept on schedule, we have a Happy Jack. He wakes up now between 7 and 7:30 am. He goes down for a 2 hour nap around 11 or noon. And then his bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:00 at night. No more middle of the night crying. I know there will be more nights of soothing a crying child, but for the time being, I am really loving this pattern.

** He loves fruit. He goes to the refrigerator and stands there saying "apple" or "orange". For the time being, desert to him is eating an orange with Daddy. Shhh, don't tell him it is good for him!

** Words are coming fast and furious these days. He is a little parrot and will copy whatever I say. So yes the time has come. I have to watch what I say or he will be going around saying "damn dogs" all the time.

** He has become very experienced with eating with a spoon and fork. No more feeding. I love it, I can sit a bowl of cereal down in front of him with a spoon and walk away. He will finish it all and drink the milk out of the bowl with very little mess! And it is so cute because he is gets so proud of himself when he does that.

** We are trying to teach responsibility. Since we received the new furniture, it is our goal to keep the family room in a somewhat picked-up manner. So this weekend we have been trying to teach him that if he wants to play with something new, he has to put the old toy away. This isn't exactly working very well at the moment. However, we are making headway at getting him to put his toys away at the end of the day. Last night, I was handing him cars, trucks, trains, blocks and he would go and put them away in the storage bins. So progress is being made in that department.

** He loves his family, or I should say his whole family being together all the time. When Sissy and Daddy are not here, he walks around looking for them. And he really misses Sissy when she is at her mother's. I know he is confused as to why she only shows up certain days. But he sure is a family guy.

** He loves the girls. He gave a little 3-year-old girl a kiss yesterday. She was sitting behind us with her parents watching her big sister in the competition. Jack was constantly going up there and wanting to sit next to her. At one point, he put his arm around her and hugged her. She was so cute, she got all flustered and whispered to her Mommy about that "boy who likes her". And then a few minutes later, Jack sits back down next to her and plants a big one right on her lips. I was so mad because I had put the camera away and didn't get Jack's first kiss caught so I can tease him about it later. Of course he wouldn't do it again with the camera in his face. But he did offer a kiss to her mother. What a little kiss up he is. He already knows that he has to get on the mother's good side before getting to the girl. Of course, this was great entertainment to everybody sitting in our section.

Everyday he makes me laugh as he is becoming his own little person.