Time Flies

It's amazing what two weeks can do in the life of a child. It has been quite an eventful last couple of weeks. While Jackson continues to grow and learn rapidly we think he have unfortunately turned the corner into the 'terrible twos.' It has been a rough week or so and it was just like a switch. Temper tantrums seem to be the hardest part of it-so mom and dad are going to start researching some effective tactics asap!

Even in the midst of this phase he still continues to bring us so much joy and laughter. We took a trip home to the farm last weekend for Gpa Weitl's birthday and Jackson got to ride in the tractor and see the cows and chicks. He also got to go for a ride in my cousin's race car! He was so excited.

Jackson has given us some scares in the last week. It turns out his adventurous spirit knows no bounds! Here are a couple of highlights from his adventures that have also become ours:

• Aunt Kenzie was watching him at the park where he stepped off of the slide from the top of it and landed on the ground. Luckily he walked away unscathed but it gave her a heart attack anyways...
  
• Early morning this week, when Michael was traveling, I (mom) woke up to a loud thud and screams from Jackson. I walked into his room to find him sitting on his floor and screaming in pain. Every time he moved his head he would shriek louder. Of course, not knowing what to do I started to freak out. Had enough calm to call and neighbor and ask what I should do. I took him to Urgent Care but that was even scarier cuz loading him in the car meant he moved his neck and continued to cry. By the time we got there he had calmed down and we found out he strained/stretched a muscle in his neck. Luckily no broken bones. I kept thinking what a different day it would have been if our morning hadn't turned out so well or he had hurt himself worse. Praise God.
• I forgot to enter this one. I put Jackson is his high chair to eat breakfast/watch tv while I get ready in the morning. I did this on Friday, went to get in the shower and when I was doing my hair after the shower Jackson appeared in my bathroom. Somehow he managed to take the tray off his high chair and climb out of it. So much for keeping him contained!
  
• He continues to tumble, trip, dive and dig his body/head into various things such as cement, hard wood floors and whatever other object may be in the way. He is not afraid by any means!
• We celebrated Easter with Jackson. We found eggs that looked like balls and even colored ones that looked like balls. He LOVED the Easter Egg hunts.
  

On the other hand, here are some of the more fun things he has been up to:

• Refers to Cooper as Puter. Cutest thing ever because of how confident he is with it.
  
• Upon falling out of his crib I came home and immediately took the crib apart. He know sleeps on his mattress on the floor and amazingly has done an incredible job of staying in it. The transition was a cinch!
• Continues to learn new words every day. When he walks outside he identifies objects all around. "Car." "Bird." "Truck." Etc.
• Continues to throw tantrums when he has to go inside.
• Funny story: I'm sitting at my computer working on something when I realize Jackson is awefully quiet. I look up to see his curly hair sticking up from the side of the recliner and hear this swooshing sound. I walk over to see that Jackson has completely colored the side of Michael's leather recliner with a yellow highlighter. And when he looks at me it is a "Isn't this beautiful mom" look. Ahhh-luckily a cleaner removed it. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it. :)
• Thinks every thing is the color yellow which he pronounces 'llellow." Its really endearing.
• He loves to hold any cross and talk to Jesus. It actually works in some meltdowns he has to tell him to hold his cross and talk to Jesus. How sweet is that. . .of course he is just babbling his own language but I swear he understands. . .unbelievable.

All in all our life continues to be a blessing. We are realizing this age is a transition as are all ages. There is no option of leaving him alone at this point. It is just too risky. And we are learning again the blessing and challenge of being parents!