Imagination

Some days Jackson gets antsy while riding in the car. I have had this Flounder activity rattle in the car since he was an infant. It's a big, colorful Flounder fish with a ring, scrunchy noise maker and shaker attached to it. He actually didn't like it much when he was little. Well, over the weekend I busted it back out and he thought it was great!

So yesterday we are driving home and Jackson is not wanting to be in the car. I first offered him a graham cracker, still not happy. Then I offered him Flounder to sit with him, slight improvement. One last shot to calm him I asked him if Flounder wanted a cracker too. Silent. Then, "Yeah, Mommy."

After about a minute I started hearing the most adorable conversation in the back seat! 

"Hi Flounder, Like cracker?"..."Me too"

"Hi Flounder, How are you?"

I tried my absolute hardest to hear everything he was saying to Flounder. Jackson carried on the conversation for a while, repeating a few things and definitely mixing in some other words and phrases. At one point I hear "baby sister" loud and clear, I so wish I heard the rest of that sentence though. :)

Later in the evening while trying to get ready for bed Jackson spotted the thermometer. We have a temporal thermometer and he has a rough idea of how it works. First he took his own temp and then mine. But Elephant, he didn't look well and Jackson was concerned. He brought him to the boppy pillow, got him comfy and took his temperature. His imagination didn't stop there though. Elephant needed to go to bed now. We laid him in the crib and after Jackson requested a blanket, he was all set to sleep. 

Before Jackson could go to sleep he had to tuck Mommy in. He requested I lay on the floor, covered me with a blanket then surprised me by going..
"kiss Mommy" kissing my cheek and saying "good night."

Toddler Talk

Jackson's growing vocabulary, ability to communicate and practically carry on a conversation continues to amaze us. Here are just a few things he said that made me smile lately.

Jackson was at Subway with my dad, one of their go to lunch stops. My dad held Jackson up so he could see and pick out what went on his sub. He said everything almost perfect, pickles, green pepper, tomato. When they got to the register to pay Jackson asked for one more thing..."Free cookie Monday" he told the Subway worker. Sorry Jackson, not only was it Friday but this location didn't do the promotion. Nice try :)

We were out of milk so Jackson and I went to Target. We shopped for a bit before picking up the milk last. He really wanted milk and I had been wanting to try the Horizon Organic individual milk boxes. So I grabbed a pack and opened one up for him. Well at the check out line he is all of a sudden saying "uh oh Mommy" in a panic. I look down and he has squirted milk all over his face. So we clean up and get home and I open up this two dollar Planes camera I found in the Easter section that I thought he would enjoy. Sure enough, he loved it, "Cheese, Mommy."

Jackson and I were running errands. We turned into a parking lot when he all of a sudden started saying "Mommy, eyes." He kept repeating it till I was parked and out around by his door. I asked him if the sun was bright in his eyes. He said "yes Mommy, turn it off!"

We were at the library and Jackson was going down the aisles picking out a few books to bring back to our table to read. He insisted on looking for books himself and told me to "wait, sit down" at the table. I did find a few books for him though ;)  Going through his stack at the table we came across a Peek-a-Boo Elmo book. It was really cute having flaps for the hands that covered each characters face. Jackson loved opening the first two pages to say peek-a-boo. But at the next page one of the hands was just floating and had been ripped off. Jackson was immediately concerned. I told him we could bring it to the librarian later to fix. Well not a chance at all for later when Jackson heard that. He got out of his seat with the book and started running over to the librarians desk. Just tall enough to see and reach over the counter he put the book down and very seriously said "Fix, it broken. It no work." The librarian was very nice and taped it up and handed it back. He said thank you and ran all the way back to read it.

We're Growing by 2 Feet!

We are so excited to announce that we are expecting! Baby Lee number two is due September 2014! We couldn't be more happy for a growing family! 

We found out back in the beginning of January (which feels like forever ago at this point). Aside from  a long stretch of being out of this world tired from 5-6 weeks through 13 weeks, it has been a good pregnancy. 

I have always heard that you are more tired with your second (or more) pregnancy than your first, but no one could have prepared me for this. It was not a tired that a nap or caffeine (even if I could have some) ever could fix. This was a "did I really wake up because my eyes will only stay shut, feel dizzy because I stood up, stop and take a breathe at the landing of the stairs, put my head down during lunch just to gain a little strength, sleep before the toddler" kind of tired. It was brutal and I am so happy to be feeling more like myself again. 

Hearing the baby's heart beat for the first time was such a magical, joyous feeling. I lit up with a smile the second I caught it between the static and when the strong sound came in more focused I couldn't help but giggle. 

We have been telling Jackson for a while now that he will have a new baby brother or sister. Sometime he gets excited, other times just says "oh yeah" in agreement but most of the time he doesn't seem to understand. Then yesterday when he saw the new giraffe Wubanub I just purchased for the baby he said "baby sister." At first I didn't think anything of it and proceeded with the morning. 

Jackson was suppose to go to school. And he did, but not without his first fight ever about it. , He was super cuddly in the morning but then cried and cried saying "stay home" when it was time to get going and then proceeded to cry again when he recognized the parking lot and again when he knew I was going to leave him in the classroom. So crazy out of the normal. Ironically it was the day of our early ultrasound to discover Baby Lee #2's gender. 

At school I told the teachers for the first time and when they immediately asked Jackson about it he said "yah, baby sister." I said goodbye and Jackson tried to make it through the day. I got a phone call after nap saying that he keeps asking to go home. So I picked him up a little earlier than anticipated, now going to have to take him to the ultrasound.

When getting ready to leave and waiting for our appointment, Jackson said a few times that he was going to see baby sister. He was all excited! Poor little man though, I truly think he thought we would walk out of their with a baby. He was sooooooo concerned while the technician did the ultrasound. He kept repeating mommy and crying, he thought I was being hurt. 

All the tears of the day aside, Jackson was right the whole time, its a baby girl!

The baby didn't want to move so the technician had a hard time getting a view. She was very confident though when she did see. Me however, I am going to pin away on pinterest but wait till the very end of April to buy some bows when we get a second confirmation. ;)

We feel so blessed and so excited. Jackson may not know what he's in for yet, but I know he will be an amazing big brother!

Little moments, Big memories

Life flies by fast. Too fast for all the memories. I try to write as much down as I can so that I can recall the sweet, heart warming, funny, inspiring, and sometimes surprising moments. I know I won't remember them all but I hope on Jackson's first day of kindergarden, the first time he says he doesn't like me, and when he leaves for college I can read them and remember when he was so small.

Some of these memories date back several weeks, but better late than never. 

One evening as Jackson was winding down in his room before bed he brought his stacking cups over. Out of almost no where he stacked the cups one by one counting them as he went. He counted 1-9 out loud without any mistakes. He did so almost nonchalantly and did not seem to understand my excitement. Even Matt (who was downstairs) came running to see if he would do it again. Of course, he wouldn't count again, and to be honest I don't think I have heard him count straight through accurately again.  

Now whenever he counts it goes "1, 2, 3, 6, 7, yah!"(clapping). We are working on finding 4 and 5.

We were at Kohl's by the toys and Jackson was enjoying trying many of them. Well one toy he pressed played the song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I have been singing this song to Jackson since the day he was born. Countless nights have been spent singing Twinkle Twinkle over and over. When he pressed the toy and heard its song, he started singing it too! He swayed his head and shifted his weight side to side, trying hard to sing with the words. He would catch several of the words, dragging them out a little over the ones he didn't know and then loudly say a few when he was confident. The smile on his face melted my heart too, he recognized the song I sung so tenderly to him for so long, and like it. 

Matt and I may be referring to each other as "mommy" and "daddy" from here on out. While giving Jackson a bath one evening, I called out of the bathroom to Matt. Well, our helpful little toddler echoed. First it was Matt, then several tries of "Daddy Matt." He has connected they are the same and I am pretty sure he knows how to spell B-E-D too. 

I had been gone all day at a shower. I returned around dinner time and soon after we were sitting down to eat. During the meal Jackson turned to me from his high chair and with a sincere smile and hands reaching out said very clearly "Miss you Mommy." A little surprised he put his thought into words, I asked him if he was happy I was home, he said "yes, missed you Mommy" and wanted a hug (heart melted).

Precious Moments in a Busy Week

Monday:

Jackson loves to play with the large flashlight that I keep by my bed. He was holding it watching it shine everywhere and loving it. He pointed it up at the ceiling at first and the light would shine slightly behind him. So to see it better he would tilt his head back, in doing so his arms holding the flashlight tilted the light farther back. He would again adjust his head/back, and again the light would move....he practically fell over! The best part though was when I aimed the flashlight on the ground for him (fearful he would lean too far back, fall and the flashlight land on his head). When Jackson saw the light on the ground from the flashlight he was holding he tried to step on it. He would take a step, but the light would move too...so he tried again, and again, and again :)

It was the most adorably innocent thing.

Tuesday:

Morning conversation as I woke Jackson up for school;

Me: Good morning my boy

J: (groggily) hi

J: Papa?

Me: You will see Papa tomorrow. Today you get to go to school. 

J: (silent)

Me: Don't you want to go to school?

J: NO!

(By this point he is sitting up, and more awake)

Me: Well where do you want to go today?

(long pause with a focused look, his eyes looked to the side as he contemplated his answer)

J: Grandma's house! (big smile and head nod)

Wednesday:
We had to run to Target after dinner. I told Jackson what was on our list and asked him what else he thought we needed. He said "Mick-mes," then after more thought..."Buzz."
So in Target he kept saying Mickey and looking all around. We picked up several things that kind of interested him and he held them in the basket with him. Then we got to the Valentines. Jackson needed two more Valentines for his additional classmates so I let him pick out a box. There he saw it. A Minnie Mouse with Daisy Valentine set. He was hooked. He held on to it the entire rest of the time, excitedly examining it. The other items he had up front with him he showed me that he would put them behind him in the main cart. He didn't let go of them till we were completely home and I could open them.

Thursday:
When I woke Jackson up for school today I was completely surprised at his new reaction.
I said good morning and he just grunted a few times, rolling over. As I got closer and rubbed his back he said something understandable, "SLEEP." He said it again, grabbing his sleeping pals and curling back up, eyes closed. He said it a third time with a NO in front and tried hard to stay in a sleeping position. I may of had to coax him awake before but this response was a complete first. I think the kid would have went back to sleep for a long time if I just walked away. He is his fathers son.

Friday:

Hope you had a good Valentine's Week!