Sunday, April 1, 2012

22-month-old Jackson

We're less than 2 months away now from calling our little guy a 2 year old! At 22 months, Jackson is seriously just becoming more fun each day and he always keeps us entertained.He is a people lover for sure. He loves his friends and is often asking when they're going to come to our house. And that isn't just for those friends here in Edmonds - or even in the U.S.! He still asks often about his friends back in Italy and when I tell them that's where they are, he responds with "Washington! No Italy!" (Dan and I feel the same way about that, Jackson. We miss them too!)While basketball is still the activity that occupies the majority of play time around here, that's not the only thing that keeps this little guy busy. He's been working on his golf swing for months now with his plastic putter, chipper, and wedge and loves to snuggle on the couch with Dan to watch a few minutes here and there of a golf tournament. He shouts "Made it!" when a ball goes into a hole and he always cheers for his favorite golfer, John Huh...even if he's not playing in that particular tournament.He also loves to "pummel" his bears. It took almost 2 years, but Jackson finally discovered the giant basket filled with stuffed animals in his room and they've quickly become his new "crash pad" in the most literal sense. He likes to build a mound of furry friends, then run and jump into them yelling "Pummel the bear!"He also gives his bears hugs and kisses too.That brings me to one of Jackson's ultimate new past-times called "Timber." Basically, this means that he, accompanied by an adult, stands on top of our bed's headboard and dives into a mound of pillows on our bed. If Jackson isn't telling Dan "Daddy, lay down!" so he can stand on his stomach and shoot baskets, then he's asking Dan to "play Timber" with him. He can't get enough of it!Ok, pictures can't express something like Timber. Here are a couple of videos:


Speaking of Dan, Jackson is absolutely crazy about him. And I think it's pretty easy to see why. He's one amazing dad.Jackson asks for him all day during the work week and greets him each day at the front door with some kind of request to do something extremely fun like Timber or "Hulk Coaster" (see video for explanation of what that is).

He definitely loves and admires his daddy and wants to emulate him. He likes to wear his hat that's just like Daddy's.He likes to help daddy work on projects - like assembling our new TV (yep, we've finally upgraded to a flat screen!).He likes to do whatever it is Daddy does - here he is "writing" just like Daddy.He's big into rocks these days. He of course loves to throw them (especially at the beach) but now he'll find one special rock and hold onto it for a few days. He keeps it outside on our front porch until the next time we go outside. He'll take it on walks, in the car, to the store, or wherever we let him take it until he eventually moves on to another rock. I guess this is his version of the Pet Rock?He still likes to color all the time. And he always prefers to color with a friend (or perhaps a grandma - like Grandma Jan!).He still loves to read books...and a lot of them! Here's a sample of our reading list from just one morning:Not only does he love to read, but he memorizes the words and "reads" the books to himself. Sometimes he will just randomly quote one of the books out of nowhere. He's always amazing us with all of the things he remembers!Dan and I are trying to learn how to teach an almost-2-year-old about Jesus and this kid is making it kind of easy for us. He loves to read his Jesus Storybook Bible, and he's always pumped to watch his kids praise DVD. He's crazy about John the Baptist especially for some reason and he knows that John the Baptist's dad's name was Zechariah (although it kind of sounds like "Jack Ryan" when he says it - and no, we haven't been watching any Jack Ryan movies around him).

He likes to pray and his prayers are so cute and so funny. Last week he prayed "for booyah, Kaleb, Gabriel, booyah, and Dan Blankenship." Cookies made it into tonight's prayer list. Yes, he inherited the gene that Dan and I both carry - the chocolate-chip-cookie-loving gene.

He still sleeps with his buns up in the air and still snuggles with his Goodnight Moon book. I'll be so sad when he grows out of this stage. He talks in his sleep every night, which I hear and Dan usually sleeps through. All throughout the night, I hear shouts of anything from "Grandma" to "potty!" to "No Goliath!" to "Buzz Lightyear" coming from Jackson's crib.Jackson has already proven to be a negotiator. When he's told he can't have any more Cheerios, he'll ask "Six more Cheerios?" When Dan tells Jackson no more Timber, Jackson replies "Teeny bit of Timber?" And at bedtime is when he pulls out all of his negotiating skills in effort to postpone the inevitable. He asks for another trip to the potty, more hugs from Daddy, more books to be read by Mommy, and then from his crib he'll look at us with those puppy dog eyes and ask for "Teeny snuggles?" which of course neither of us can resist. Yea, we're suckers for a cute little boy.

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