Toddler Funnies and Frustrations

I know I post things all the time about Jackson and the things he says and does, but ya know, he is my first, and I am just constantly amazed at how quickly he learns things. It seems like one day he is doing something new and I feel as though I couldn't be more proud of him, and the next day he completely tops it. It's a disgusting display of pride, but if you don't get that I'm like that by now, then read someone else's blog, lol. Besides, this is how I make time to journal. You're allowed to brag in your journal, right? ;)

So in the last few days here are some things he has done that I was impressed with:

-He has an old-school set of cube blocks with all the letters on all sides. He loves to dump them out of the cube container they fit perfectly in, then very meticulously put them back in nice and neat. In doing this, he found one with the letter O. He brought it to me out of the blue (I was watching TV like a bum on the couch) and said, "O, Mama." I looked down and was shocked! Where did he learn that? Yes, we do a letter every week, and yes, we have recently been focusing more on vowels, but he is in and out during group time, and I never thought he was paying any attention to our letter lessons! (Thinking he was a genius, I quizzed him on several other letters, but no, O is the only one he knows, lol.)

-I just bought the Taylor Swift CD because I love the Love Story song (I know its been out a while, but I never get to listen to the radio, so it's still new to me.) Anyway, I listened to it many, many times while he was in the car with me this weekend and when we went into Hobby Lobby on Saturday night, he was singing the chorus part, "It's a Love Story, baby, just sa-ay...Yes." over and over. You could understand what song he was singing by the melody, but the funny part was that he was mumbling all the words except the last line, so it ws coming out, "blah, blah...YETH!!!!" Then his song changed to a medley of "La la la la, Elmo's World/We're Your Best Friends, the Backyardigans/ABCDEFG-LMNOP." Of course, being Ben's child, he has no volume control, so the whole store was cracking up before they even saw the child who was singing. He is so funny! Truly, he doesn't watch as much TV as this little story might lead you to believe, he just LOVES music and really learns songs quickly. He loves to dance and sing - funny, so do we!

-Tonight Ben is undertaking the project of doing our taxes for the business, so I gave Jack a bath. (Now that I am getting bigger, Ben gives Jack a bath because it really, really hurts my back.) When I asked him if it was time for bath, he emphatically shook his head and said, "NO! NO want bathtime!!" I finally got him to go up the stairs by himself by promising him bubbles and moving the bubble bath bottle up the stairs a few stairs ahead of him at a time like a golden carrot dangling in front of him. After he got into the tub, he was fine and happy to be playing in the water, but he knows bathtime is the start of his bedtime routine, and he fights bedtime now.

-Yesterday and today the preschoolers have been searching for ladybugs in the backyard with their bug collection kits. (Purchased at CVS for $3 each, I think. Includes a wire mesh enclosed cage, and several utensils for picking up the bugs. Provides hours of science education, and lets kids play outside with something other than the play structure or traditional backyard toys. Note: All bugs are released before we we go back into the house.) Jackson is fascinated with the search for ladybugs. At first, when he saw a kid find one and let it crawl around on their arm, he was disgusted. ("ewwww, a bug! das yucky!") But then he got really into it and was frustrated that he couldn't find one himself. When he finally did get ahold of one, I'm sorry to say that it perished under his not-so-gentle grasp, but now he follows the kids around the backyard as they search, hollering, "Laaaadeeeebuhhh! Whay aw yeww?" as if the ladybugs will just hop out and show themsleves, lol

He is such a funny guy sometimes, although he also has his moments where I'm thinking teenage years with his temper will not be very fun. He is soooo grumpy when he wakes up from nap sometimes! It will take me 20-30 minutes to get him to calm down and let me put him down (ever been 8 mos pregnant holding a writhing, kicking toddler? not so fun on the back!!). Today, after he refused juice, Elmo, rocking in the recliner, a snack (all the while screaming and writhing for no apparent reason, miraculously not waking up any napping kids...yet), and was put in time out, and even got a little pop on the leg for kicking, I just decided he must not be ready to wake up yet, and I put him back in his bed. I turned down the monitor (not all the way) so he wouldn't wake any kids (L woke up when I was taking him back upstairs) and let him sit in there for about 20 minutes until he calmed down. At first he screamed and kicked in protest, but after about 15 minutes I could hear him playing happily with his naptime buddies and his blanket. He was a cheerful guy after that! Don't know what that was all about, but I'm glad he got himself under control, cuz nothing I was doing was working! (When he isn't in a particularly foul mood, a simple 1-2 min time out gets him to stop crying and "use his words" to tell us what he wants (or understand that he doesn't get what it is that he wans and move on), but today I tried everything, I couldn't even get him to stop crying and take a breath long enough to tell me what it was he was so upset about.)