Most of my hours right now feel like they are spent being a broken record of “mommy words”.  “Say please”, “thank you”, “say,  yes, mommy”,”sorry daddy”. After we came back from our trip to the US, Jackson had mastered hollering out for what he wanted and had gotten quite a demanding attitude. He wasn’t being nasty it was just the most effective way to get attention in a talking crowd and have 4 people run for a cracker!  Our first week back we worked on “please” which he learned quickly and now uses all of the time. “Thank you” he has known for quite some time. “Sorry” is just too abstract at the moment although it would serve him well! He has gotten into hitting over the past  few weeks and although he falls into the depths of despair when he is scolded he hasn’t figured out using “sorry”! The other thing we can’t wait for Jackson to say is “I love you”. That would erase a multitude of sins! We will have to post for sure when we hear that one!

Jackson…18 months old, wearing a big t-shirt (while mommy hunted for pants) and bear slippers. Running around the house with his special push toy from Nana!

Jackson is amazing us with his ability to learn and transfer his knowledge. 18 months is such a crazy age of learning and exploration. He has been on a constant incline with increasing skills but 18 months and the weeks leading up to it recently have been like an explosion for him.  His little brain does not slow down! This morning I was talking to my mom and he wanted to talk, he immediately started asking for the dog. It amazes me that he remembers to associate my mom with also getting to see the dog on skype. The other day Jackson was fussing for lunch and I was bustling around getting everyone’s food. Seth said, “let’s just eat” (implying let’s not try to pray over this 18 month olds fussing), Jackson chimed in with “no, pray!!!” and reached for our hands to pray. He is learning his ABC’s and 123’s and he is at the point where we can say where is the whatever and he will point or go out on a hunt for the item. He is trying to sing along with songs on Elmo.  Another fun thing is that Jackson is truely becoming bilingual! Seth will ask him where things are in Spanish that we know he says the word for in English and he will point to it. He is switching between languages really quickly which is amazing to watch. He now says “vamanos” for “let’s go”!  I have been using the phrase “not yet” pretty frequently because he has now figured out that when mommy says we are going to do something it might not mean right away. He is by the door and ready to go once he hears the word! This weekend I said “are you ready for your nap?, he replied “YET!” in a harsh voice.  He didn’t get the “not” part but I knew exactly what he meant. He is no genius but he impresses us!

Just smiling!

Anyhow, teaching the “please” and “thank you’s” is a hard job! Congrats to those of you that survived the toddler years and successfully raised thankful, pleasant kids!   I have to say my friend’s Annie and Sean did a wonderful job with this! I would spend time with Evan, Maddie and Gilly any day!