Never a Dull Moment

Jackson's been two now for about 10 days. It turns out that two is a pretty funny age. Granted, there is the never-ending battle of the wills at this age too, but it's not nearly as fun to talk about. Jackson equips me with a cute or funny story just about every day.

One of the coolest things he has done over the last week is that he is vocalizing aspects of events without being prompted. When I told him that we were going to go swimming with grandpa last week, he said "water!" And then after the fact, I had Jackson to tell Grandma about swimming and he said "turtle" because he played with the turtle at the pool. It is so cool to see him getting bigger and growing developmentally!

Random little stories:

• My mom bought Jackson a pair of light-up shoes at a garage sale. Whenever he wears them, people tell him his shoes are cool. So one day, when I'm trying to put on his non-light-up shoes, he is say "cool! cool!" and it took me forever to figure out that he wanted to wear his "cool" shoes. Can we say peer pressure?!
• There have been multiple times within the past week that I have had to tell Jackson to stop praying at dinner. How weird/inappropriate/sacrilegious does that sound?! But seriously, he wants to pray the entire time. And he can't just pray by himself, he wants me to do it. So, how many times is acceptable to pray at dinner? The Bible doesn't contain these types of answers.
• While changing his diaper the other day, Jackson found his penis and as with all words, he likes to repeat them over and over. It just so happens that Jackson's pronunciation of "penis" is very similar to his pronunciation of "please". I did my best to explain that they have very different meanings without laughing (as to not reinforce the mistake!). Talk about a conversation I never expected to have.
• Poor Jackson really needs his Daddy to come home, a person to teach about manly hygiene. Because when Jackson's in the room while I am getting ready, I regularly have to "apply" deodorant (that wasn't just a phase), hairspray, and blush on him. Oh, and the other day... he insisted that I "shave" his legs after he came across the razor.
• My sister got Jackson a little Tiger-ear headband for his birthday and Jackson calls this his "zou" (Mizzou) ears. Except that they aren't just ears. He puts them over his eyes and calls them glasses, on his chest and calls it a shirt, and around his tummy and calls it a belt. It's safe to say that his non-pretending days are over.
• Jackson loves to Skype and he gets all crazy and in a show-off mood whenever we Skype with Derek. The other day, Jackson chucks his sippy cup at my laptop screen and says, "catch!". So, I explain to him that even though we can see and talk to Daddy, we can't actually play catch. 
• And speaking of throwing things, yesterday Jackson was throwing his cup in the kitchen over and over and over. It was a fun game for him, it makes a loud noise on the hardwood floors. Well, immediately after telling him (loudly) not to throw his cup one more time, he proceeds to pick him up and throw it back down again. I march over to him, expressing my frustration about how I said not to throw and he says, "shoot, Mommy, shoot". Because "shooting" the cup (like a basketball) is totally different than throwing it. Ugh! No Shooting Either!!!

"Sacks, Mommy!"  Yes, thank you so very much for you help, Sweetie!

 Though this kid definitely keeps me on my toes, he totally makes life interesting and so much fun! At least I have good stories.