Potty Training...Piece of Cake

We have spent a large majority of Jackson's life struggling. Jackson is an incredibly strong willed, head strong child which poses a variety of challenges on a daily basis. These challenges have become even more apparent the more pregnant I've become, due in part to my lack of patience and his insecurity and difficulty with all the changes.

This all being said...this is not a post to talk about our challenges and difficulties...it is to brag a little bit about our amazing child whose strong willed personality has proven to be a benefit in the Potty Training department!

We attempted to potty train Jackson around 18 months old because he showed such a strong interest in it but it was too soon and so we backed off. Because we attempted it then and backed off we knew that we were going to have to wait till he was 100% ready and than attempt again with no turning back.

Shortly after turning 2, Jackson began showing an interest again in it and so we started to have him go potty at specific times everyday (when waking up, before nap, after nap, before bed). This continued for about 2 months before he came to me one day and asked to wear underwear and from that point on we didn't turn back. We gave it a good month of just pottying at home and wearing a pull up out before he asked to wear underwear to the store. While at the store he had to go pee and successfully without a single tear or fear went on a big potty at the store! I couldn't believe it! How was it that my little BOY was almost fully potty trained at not even 2.5 years old!

We have had set backs once or twice...mostly due to our big move from Colorado to Washington at the end of August but he quickly got back on track and is now 95% potty trained at 3 months shy of 3 years old and will pee anywhere!

And then today...well I just have to brag about what happened today!

I was making his dinner and he came up saying he had to go potty...so I asked him if he wanted to try and go on his own  (we've been working on pulling our own underwear and pants up and down lately), he said yes! I heard the door close and i waited a minute then i decided to go see what he was up to. I walked into him successfully peeing on the potty with his pants down! I than sat back and watched him while he picked up the little potty container, dumped it in the big potty, got a wipe, wiped himself, flushed the toilet, pulled up his underwear and pants, got the step stool, washed his hands, put the step stool away and then without a pause...walked out the door and turned back and said .."i'm all done mommy"

I was in utter shock! I couldn't even think of the right words to tell him how proud I was of him...

Every struggle, every challenge, every minute of feeling like a failure as a parent and uncertainty of if my child loves me or hates me were completely gone in that moment. I knew in that moment that I'm doing something right as his mommy. I am raising an amazing person!

my heart

The next Gardner adventure!

As most people know by now we are finally moving back to the NW! YAY!

This has been a long, exhausting, growing and at times trying experience for the 3 of us this past year here in Colorado. When the opportunity came up to apply for the Bellevue, WA store a few weeks ago we HAD to jump on it! Jesse will have quite the challenge ahead of him with this store but in my mind nothing can be worse than what we experienced in Colorado the first few months we were here.

Jesse and I have had quite the different experience in Colorado. Jesse had a very set schedule where he knew what he was doing everyday and always had people to talk to (whether he wanted to talk to them or not). Jack and I on the other hand had a basic idea of how each day would go with meal times and nap time but other than that we had to create our day and at times the only adults I would talk to for days a time were the angry checkout people at the grocery store. That was until this past spring when Jack made a wonderful little buddy and I a great new friend. This now will be the hardest part about leaving Colorado :( Jackson constantly asks to play with his buddy a few times a day and while I know he will still ask for his buddy after we leave I hope that over time he will ask a little less because it just breaks my heart for him.

On a happier note we are SO excited to start our new adventure in Washington (a mere 4 hr drive) vs getting on a plane and going 4 months inbetween seeing all our family and friends. Especially with our precious little GIRL on the way! AH i still cannot believe we are having a GIRL! I still go toward the boy clothes in the the store because I just can't believe it's really a GIRL! But the ultrasound tech assured me that she is definitely a girlie :) Little lady had here legs WIDE open...silly girl :)

Now I am in the midst of packing up our apartment by this Friday for the 2nd time in 2 months because we get on a plane on Saturday to come back to Oregon for our annual camping trip with Jesse's family (YAY) and Jack & I will not be going back to Colorado after that. Jesse will come back with my dad and drive all our stuff to Washington at the end of August...what a whirl wind move! But we're happy to do it because it means we get to be with our family and friends again!!!!

See you all soon!!!

2 1/2

We joke that Jackson has been going through the terrible 2's for roughly 2 1/2 years...and while this is basically true he has really kicked it into high gear lately!

Sometimes I honestly feel like I'm talking to a dog. You know when you give a command such as "sit" and the dog stands there staring at you with the dopiest expression on its face and does nothing. Yes that is pretty much what it feels like talking to my child daily. The only difference is that instead of standing there with a dopy expression he is yelling back at me and doing the complete opposite of everything I tell him to do and I'm the one standing there with a dopy expression of my face!

Defiant, completely unreasonable and unable to listen to any instruction is what describes Jack's behavior right now. At times I feel that he is getting great joy out of doing things he shouldn't and getting disciplined for them. Blows my mind....I know he's 2.5 and this is normal behavior at this age but it still leaves me standing there with my mouth wide open at times.

When I thought about how it would be to be a mom one day and what my child would be like...I honestly never thought I'd have a child like Jackson. Sure I knew that my kid would throw fits and well...be a kid. I love Jackson's larger than life personality, his innate ability to make anyone smile and laugh and his beautiful spirit.  But with all of these wonderful qualities he has he is also an extremely challenging child. I've read lots of books about different parenting methods but none of them seem to work for Jackson. I feel that we have created an entirely different method for him...and for the most part we make it up day by day.

I just hope that behind all of the discipline he receives and the tears that both of us shed daily that he knows how much I love him and want to be the best mom I can for him. Sometimes it feels like I'm failing and not doing the right thing but all I can do is provide him with love and comfort and pray with all my might that he comes out of this soon!

A little more freedom

I try very hard to make sure that Jackson has the opportunities to explore the world around him.

We go to playgrounds to work on social, physical and emotional skills.
We hit up the Zoo to discover different types of animals and talk about what makes each one different.
We read tons of stories to work on verbal, cognitive and discovery skills.
And we play with his best buddy Ashton a few times a week to work on sharing, social skills and just plain ol' FUN!

However even though I try very hard to provide Jackson with lots of learning activities I know I have been lacking with the art projects. This is mostly my hang up. Jackson is a VERY active little boy and really enjoys running and playing outside. This is nice for me also because it usually means a nice long nap aka "mommy relaxation time!" Plus with playing outside Jack gets to have a lot of freedom. I've been thinking lately that even though it may drive my extremely hormonal patience to the end I need to work on providing him with more opportunities to explore his artistic side. Providing Jack with these opportunities will not only allow him to explore a different side of his brain but as an added bonus it will let me work on my patience which is something I'm going to need A LOT of once this new little bundle of joy arrives :)

So today I let go of my need to control mess side of myself and let Jackson have a little artistic freedom! He had the BEST time and I have to admit I didn't loose my patience once and ended up having a really awesome time as well watching my little man explore his inner Picasso :)

Super Concentrated

what a beautiful moment

These are the best painting cups & brushes EVER!

Super proud of his creation :)

Belleview Park

Today I decided that we HAD to get out of the house because there was no way I am going to beat this slump just by sitting around.

So we ventured out to a park a bit further from home and it ended up being a pretty good time. Unfortunately there were about 6 summer camps there today which means there were roughly 100 kids being supervised by 8 or 9 adults...hard for Jackson to play in that kind of environment. But besides that we had a great time.

baby ducks!

We waited for 25 minutes (1hr in 2 year old time) to ride this train...worth it when he made this face!

Slump

Lately I've been feeling particularly down in the dumps. I think it's partly due to the raging hormones and partly the fact that we just had our 1 year anniversary of being in Colorado but I've been feeling very lonely, isolated and the distance between us and our family and friends feels like it's gotten bigger.

While most days I do feel an underlying sadness of being away from everything familiar and "home" like to us I try desperately to put on a brave and happy face for Jackson because he is the kind of child that hangs on to my every emotion. Recently it's been harder and harder to put on a happy face.

I miss being able to call up a friend and meet up for a fun afternoon...I miss our family being able to see Jackson and vice versa....I miss feeling comfortable with where I am when I go outside or driving around...I miss everything.

I do think some of the problem is that this pregnancy is exhausting me so bad that it's hard for me to get up the energy to deal with a very unpredictable 2 year old in public which involves chasing, diffusing of tantrums, giving back of toys he's taken which he thinks are his and the general whining. Makes it a bit hard to meet people when your kid can't stay in one area of the playground long enough for you to get out more than 3 words to another mom.

Just having a hard time being away from home.....

It just got real

I still can't believe we're having another baby!!!!! My body sure believes it but I go through days where I can't quite wrap my mind around how in the heck I'm going to do this! I know many many many woman before me have done it..my mom for one has and well I like to think that I turned out pretty good :)

This baby has been giving me a run for my money since day 1! Way more morning sickness (all day sickness) than with Jackson, I popped this last week at 9 weeks and I've been fighting exhaustion like I've been hit by a tranquilizer gun daily! Of course this time around I don't just have to take care of myself, I now have a wacky 2 year old that has taken up whining as his favorite hobby and won't let me sit longer than 5 seconds without needing something. Oh how I miss the days when I was pregnant with Jackson and besides work all I had to worry about was gaining the energy to get up to use the bathroom every 10min :)

This past week I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief when we saw the baby for the first time and heard that beautiful (very strong!) heartbeat! My blood pressure is also doing VERY well compared to what it was with Jackson so that's a huge positive :) Sure I knew I was pregnant, i took like 10 tests, nausea, hormonal...all the classic signs. BUT it didn't get "real" until I heard that thump thump thump and saw the baby doing cartwheels in there! That's when the mixture of joy and panic took over. "How am I going to do this?!?"

Good thing I have quite a few months to try and figure it out!

It's getting hot out here

After living through our first Colorado Summer last year we know that it's going to get hot out here! We've recently been in a trend of high 80's during the day, storms at night and then back to hot the next day. While we do spend most of our time at our favorite playground, sometimes when it's just too hot out we hit up another one that has spray fountains and Jackson has such an awesome time!

look at the air he's getting :)

Crazy about Playgrounds!

Jackson is a very active kiddo! He does have a pretty good attention span and gets quite passionate about things but in general he is an outdoor, running around, climbing, exploring type of kid! Playground are his domain. A typical day for us includes at least one trip to the playground which usually lasts at least an hour. He loves it and is super happy when he's there :)

Friends...

Clearly I have been slacking...April 9th! Really!?! April 9th was my last post??!! Sad....

Anyways...

I've always been one to have a few very close friends as opposed to a bunch of acquaintances. Growing up in Oregon this meant that the few close friends I had were people that I've known for many years and that know my story. Moving to Colorado has proven to be difficult in the friend department. You'd think that I have a built in friend maker with Jackson in tow...common interest with another mom by having children around the same age so it'd be a piece of cake to meet someone at a park or museum or something. Not so much...

Sure it's awkward but not that difficult to start a casual conversation with someone..perhaps about something funny your kid just did or asking them how old their kid is...yadda yadda yadda. But to take it beyond that is excruciatingly difficult for me!  How do you ask someone for their phone number so you can hang out with them after having a 10minute conversation with them without coming off like you're "interested" in them?!? I feel like I have to throw in "I have a husband!" Ugh just so awkward! So I had gone 10months here without meeting anyone! Jackson and I were in our daily groove so I guess I just let time pass us by...we got comfortable.

Until!!! Jesse and I took Jack to a playground to play one morning and Jesse said something about the weather to this mom who had a boy that Jackson was playing with and boom! FRIEND! We chatted for awhile and I asked for her number and we have become good friends! YAY!

Awhile before that Jackson was in a preschool aged playgroup at the rec center weekly and I had stricken up a conversation with a really nice mom who's son was Jackson's age. We chatted weekly and then we went back to Oregon for awhile and that was that. A few weeks after we came back I ran into her at the playground and boom! FRIEND! YAY! Now we meet at least once a week to let the kiddos run around at the playground and they are best buddies!

So I guess it just takes time and a wee bit of confidence! While our hearts are always in Oregon with our friends and family it does make it easier to be here for the time that we are if we have a few friends :) I am so thankful for these two woman and their kiddos for helping Jackson and I feel more comfortable in a place that still doesn't really feel like home.

Bye Bye Paci

Jackson has been a tried and true Paci user since birth. As a baby he had it in his mouth the majority of the time because it was the only thing that seemed to have a small chance of calming him down. As he got older we knew we needed to start using it less and less. We waited a good few months past moving to Colorado to start weaning him down to just nap & bedtime use and it went pretty well! With our few trips back and forth to Oregon and all the change he's gone through I wanted to wait till around 2 to start the process of saying bye bye to paci.

I've been spending tons of time lately researching tips and tricks on how to get rid of paci. I decided to get the Elmo video "Bye Bye Pacifier" because Jackson digs Elmo and I thought if he saw Elmo say bye bye it would make things a little easier. With Jackson's spirited personality I was SURE that this process was going to include screaming, fits and a few weeks of little sleep and naughty behavior.

2 days ago I decided to put the video on just to give ourselves a break from the obsession of curious george that has taken over our house. We talked a little bit about what was happening in the video and that Elmo was a big boy now and didn't need his paci anymore. That night...without even thinking about it I picked up Jackson to go rock him for bed time and realized half way through my rocking that he didn't have the paci in his mouth! I thought well...let's see what happens. And to my amazement he simply rolled over and fell asleep and slept all night! He hasn't mentioned the Paci since and goes down without any issues.

HE BLEW MY MIND!

Many stages that we've gone through with Jackson have been HUGE struggles. He is quite a strong willed and spirited child and constantly provides us with opportunities to work on our patience :) I am so thankful to my child for providing us with a mini break in a big change in his life! I am thankful to him for finally not fighting me on something and being the Big Boy that I know he is becoming.

Thank you Jackson from the bottom of my exhausted mommy heart!

My child...the food monster

Right around Jackson's 2nd Birthday (one month ago) he went through what I thought was a huge growth spurt. He was eating tons at meals and always asking for seconds! However, that was NOTHING compared to the growth spurt he's going through right now! This kid is a BEAST! I swear he is going to eat us out of house and home!

Here is what he's eaten so far today....and we haven't even hit dinner yet!

Breakfast - 2 cups of cheerios with milk
                  Half an eggo waffle
                  Cereal Bar

Snack(s) - 2 cups of Blueberry/purple sweet potato organic puffs
                 2 cups of strawberry/beet organic puffs

Lunch - 1 container chobani yogurt
              5 huge strawberries
              2 handful blueberries

Snack(s) - 2 cups strawberry/beet organic puffs
                 1 Banana
                 1 bowl ritz crackers
                 1 bowl of cheddar bunnies

(I clearly need to sneak some veggies in him at dinner!)

He's currently working on the cheddar bunnies and already asking for MORE!!! He's a food monster! I am in no way complaining as this is VERY positive for us...it's just so dramatic from the amount that he normally eats. Just blows my mind!

Sneaky Cookies!

Jackson is a 2-year old and of course that means he makes disgusted faces and runs from the dinner table when something that he doesn't recognize shows up on his plate. Now he does have some internal problems that prevent him from eating certain things but these things would not be such that would prevent him from eating any vegetable beside green beans and peas. He is a child that doesn't like his food mixed together so casseroles, lasagnas and pasta type food (besides mac n' cheese) are out of the question. All of this leaves us with chicken nuggets and other such items.

I just had to share this recipe for the mom's out there that are struggling like I am to get their kid to eat something that's good for them but they just refuse. I must say though if the food in question makes your child ill or he has NEVER liked it than maybe don't make the recipes with that food in them but in the case of this recipe Jackson has eaten carrots before and loved them as a baby so I know he likes them...he's just being a 2 year old :) I found this recipe in the magazine, Parents.

We're also in the process of trying some recipes out the book, Deceptively Delicious!

Here's the recipe for the sneaky cookies! (they are actually super yummy so you may want to make extra because you may want to have a few also)

Ingredients:
1 cup White or whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice (i just used cinnamon)
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1 cup Regular Rolled Oats
1 cup Finely shredded Carrots ( about 2 medium) - i think you can even add more and the kids won't notice - they are THAT good!
1/2 cup Raisins

Make it:
* Preheat oven to 350F
* In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt; set aside
*In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugars, egg, flour mixture, oats, carrots and raisins.
* Drop dough by slightly rounded spoonfuls 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake each sheet for 10-12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.
* Place on cooling rack
*ENJOY!!!

Back Off Lady

Today Jackson started his first dance/music class. With the days leading up to today, I myself was very excited for Jackson to start this class because this kid has music just pulsing through his blood! I was ready for him to show these Colorado people what he was made off and get down with his bad self!

Of course I was prepared for Jackson to be how Jackson is and most likely throw a few fits here or there and for me to spend the majority of class redirecting him from destroying activities that other children were trying to enjoy. But I thought to myself...just stay relaxed, keep your cool and expect these things to happen so maybe it'll be a little easier if they do. Well....they did happen and it wasn't any easier.

For some reason I just can't seem to wrap my head around why my child is the only one in these classes that I take him to that acts out and can't listen to instructions. Why???? Now to be fair to Jackson the majority of kids in this class were girls and this may be where part of the difference lies. I have been told and witnessed in these classes that the girls tend to be more mellow and able to stand still and wait for things to happen longer than the boys can. This has been very much the case in all of Jackson's classes. However, Jackson is typically the only or one of two boys in the class that just wants to run and be free and play, play, play and unable to stop and listen to instructions. I know he's 2 and he's learning but it is so frustrating even still.

The class started off with the teacher throwing out a bunch of balls for the kids to play with. Jackson grabbed a ball, played with it for awhile, dropped it than ran off to get a different one. Typical 2 year old behavior right??? I would think that's normal for a 2 year old but apparently i was wrong because when I looked around every single kid was playing with their one ball and nicely passing it back and forth to their mom without any issues or fits. I thought to myself...hmmm robots??? haha no in fact I was slightly envious of those moms and their beautifully controlled children. I noticed that one of the little girls was from Jackson's last social play class he took in February and I remember that the mom would often give me dirty looks in that last class. Now the little girl is very small for her age so it's possible that this mother is VERY overprotective but STILL it didn't give her the right to do what she did.
Jackson was running around picking up different balls to look at the different patterns on them and he just happened to pick up a ball that this little girl had dropped but I watched her and she just ran and got another ball. Then when she dropped the next ball I grabbed it and handed it back to her saying "oh sweetie here's your ball." Nice right?? So then this mom looks right at me and instead of saying Thank you she says " Actually her ball is the one that your son grabbed off the ground after she dropped it." REALLY LADY?!?! Of course I was on my last nerve with Jackson because he had already attempted to destroy 3 different activities that the kids were trying to do in class and I had every mom's eyes staring at me while I was desperately trying to get Jackson to behave so my response to this mom was " well...it looks like she found a different ball that she likes so maybe you should back off." At this point we were 20 minutes in to class and I was DONE...I grabbed Jackson and we left.

Not sure if we'll try again next week...I have a week to decide.

Plan F

 As I'm sure many of you know...Jackson has had many tummy troubles since he was born. He is being followed by a team of doctor's for his issues and recently I had an appointment with his Gastroenterologist to discuss where we have come in the last 3 months and where we need to go.

Here is the plan now....what I like to affectionately call 

"Plan F" - mostly because i feel like we've gone through this many plans so far!

1. Number 1 and the good news from the visit is that he is very happy with where Jackson's weight is right now. He's gained a good amount since our last visit in December and is definitely headed in the right direction...yay positive!

2. And this one relates to number 1 - is that he feels the reason that Jackson has gained this weight is due to his tummy feeling better from the meds.

3. Because Jackson has gained weight since first starting the 2nd med (erythromycin) and the medicine doesn't seem to be as effective anymore he will have his dose uped so we can get control of the issue again.

4. The doctor feels that it's possible that with his weight gain and the possibility that he's grown some form of immunity to the med that he will go off of it for 5 days (starting today) and then when he starts it back up he'll start back up on his new med. This is supposed to do 2 things. 1) let his body have a break from the med to work against the immunity & 2) basically gives us a mini look at what would happen if we took him off of the med now.

Unfortunately after today being off of it his symptoms have increased quite a bit Not what I was hoping but certainly what I expected.

5. I asked the doctor the pointed question of basically how much time do we have left that we can give him to see if he'll grow out of these issues. He said that we'll give him till he's 2.5 (6 more months) and if he has to continually have the dosage increased with weight gain and he isn't showing any signs of improvement than he has a doctor doesn't feel morally right to just continue refilling his prescriptions which are essentially just masking a problem that is very visibly there. At that point the next step and new plan would be to perform an Endoscopy to see what truly is going on. Obviously this is our last course of action so we are praying pretty hard that he snaps out of this in the next 6 months. He said that when looking at Jackson's Upper GI test we did earlier last year that the way Jackson is "made" is correct but it is his plumbing that's an issue.

 

I feel good knowing that I have a time frame now.

6. So Jackson now have 3 diagnosis:

    1. Extreme GERD

    2. Sandifers Syndrome

    3. Delayed Gastric Emptying Syndrome

After Jesse & I talking last night I think we both feel that if we get to 2.5 and he hasn't shown signs of improvement then the Endoscopy seems like it is our best next course of action. 2.5 years is an awful long time for a little guy and us to deal with all of this and if he isn't showing us that he's getting better than I want to do whatever is in his best interest to help him feel better. 

Only time will tell....


Besides working on his new medicine regimen I will start taking Jackson to Feeding Therapy and Speech Therapy sometime after we get back from our Oregon visit in March. Jackson had a Feeding Evaluation a week and a half ago where they discovered that he has created many habits in his eating that stem from the pain and discomfort he has always had from his 3 diagnosis. 

  While all of this is extremely overwhelming and worrisome most of the time I know that we are very blessed to have a happy (most of the time), intelligent, beautiful and funny little boy. I know that we will figure this all out at some point and until then I need to be a strong advocate for Jackson and help him in every and any way I possibly can to diminish his pain.

It is my mission

As a mother I think about all the values I want to instill in my child as he grows up.

I want him to be a friend to all and a lover of the world.
I want him to not judge others for who they are but bask in the awesomeness of who they are.
I want him to be a positive productive member of society and be happy in knowing exactly who he is.
Of course there are many many more...

And this all means that it is my mission to provide him with a strong and supportive role model as a mother. This means doing things that are scary and uncomfortable at times to provide him with an example.

It is no surprise that most leasing consultants in apartment complexes aren't always the most delightful people. Unfortunately one such individual in our current leasing office has messed with the wrong mama bear. Let's just say that this man is not one of those people that is a "friend to all and lover of the world." He has treated Jesse and I disrespectfully since we moved into this complex and he has recently pushed my last button!
I filled out a survey sent to me by Corporate in which I , without naming names, briefly wrote how unsatisfied we were with a member of the leasing office. One would think that since this survey was sent to me by the Corporate Office that is where it would be returned...clearly not. This past week this man decided to take my phone number out of my file and CALL me to discuss my problem with him!!! Yes...he actually did that! During this conversation he did not take a tone of apology or a willingness to work things out he instead was confrontational and left me feeling scared and afraid to enter the leasing office or be in our apartment anymore. My initial reaction was to say...ok let's just leave it and not make it any worse. BUT I was reminded that it is NOT ok for me to have to live in fear in my own home because of someone else's actions.

This is now an opportunity for me to set an example for my child and to prove to myself just how brave I really am. I am not going to drop it and I am not going to roll over on this.

This man is a bully and it is my mission to teach Jackson that you don't have to let bully's bully you. 

Snowman Fun!

Well over the past few days Colorado has sure gotten hit by a fair amount of snow! 15" in our area to be exact since Friday and boy oh boy are these Oregonians happy!

Colorado does an amazing job at keeping on top of the snow/ice and making things as safe as possible on the roads. There was quite a different reaction to this storm vs. other storms that have come through this winter. This time around the news named the storm "Winter Blast!" which definitely reminded me of Oregon's reaction to snow :) People scrambled to the grocery stores leaving the shelves which contained milk, eggs, bread and meat completely bare! Crazy! Luckily we had done our grocery shopping earlier in the week so we were set to just hang at home and hunker down.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing Jackson's reaction to the snow first thing when he wakes up in the morning...so priceless. And now that his vocabulary has started to grow at such a rapid rate the small sentences he puts together are so amazing and proud for me to hear! This time around Jackson came bolting out of his room and because the blinds were closed he didn't notice the snow at first. But when I told him to look outside he came running, plastered his face against the window and squealed "snowwwwwwwww....prettttyyyyyy....seeeee!" Made my heart melt :) Unfortunately during the first day for the snow on Friday the wind was howling so we had to stay inside all day because that's no place for a child with basically 0 body fat. But on Saturday we sure made up for having to stay inside all day on Friday!

Jesse, Jackson and I ventured out to build Jackson's 1st Snowman! Jesse and I both agreed that building that snowman as a family has been the most fun we've had since being here in Colorado! Such a wonderful memory for us all :)

helping Daddy!

Yes we did use Green Olives for the eyes & buttons, a cheeto puff for the nose and green beans for the mouth :)

I Love this!

Sneaky Mommy

It is no surprise that Jackson being 22months old and the delight he is that we struggle at meal times. The number of foods that I can get him to willingly eat I can count on my two hands so I have taken to the sneaky approach.

This kid is quite observant so I have limited options on where I can sneak different foods in. I've tried cutting up veggies as small as I can cut them and sneak them in to eggs but he finds them and won't even touch it. BUT I have discovered that sneaking different veggies in to meatballs then covering the spot where they poke out with ketchup seems to be a success! I know I know, one day he will have to see that he is eating these veggies but my hope is that by the time he sees them that he'll be out of this difficult stage and it won't be such a struggle to just get him to simply TRY it!

So for now I will continue being sneaky mommy :)

he LOVES them!

finger lickin good

rarrrrr

 

Tonight the sneaky veggie of choice was Zucchini

Helper Boy

I have noticed that Jackson's reach has grown quite a lot lately! He can now reach up onto the counters and I'm slowly running out of room of how far back I can push stuff out of reach. While this seems bothersome the majority of the time I have recently found a magnificent use for his little mischievous toddler fingers!

Since about 16 months Jackson has enjoyed "helping" lift piles of laundry up to me while I load it in the washer however NOW with his inspector gadget reach he himself can put the clothes in the washer!
With his willingness to help me with this task I am going to run with it...tonight he one by one loaded the entire pile of laundry into the washer and said "ready!" when he was done :)

I LOVE moments like this~

Oops one to many

Success!!

Peace & Quiet

Lately Jackson has taken to screaming at the top of his lungs to get our attention & pretty much everyone else's attention that happens to be around. We have been staying at home more as these outburts tend to happen when we are out and about. Jackson is a VERY active child, as most toddler boys are, so being cooped up in the house has been a little challenging.

Today I whipped out the play-doh he got for Christmas and man oh man I haven't seen that child that quiet in a LONG time! 

So sweet & quiet

Look at the deep concentration :)

what a goober

happy boy

It's such a beautiful thing to sit back and watch the wheels turn in your baby's head as he explores different colors, textures, objects and lets his imagination go wild.

Thank you Play-Doh manufacturers for creating such a fun activity that kept my child still and quiet for 30 minutes!

Another one bites the dust

Today started out pretty good, a little rocky but hey what day isn't with a toddler in the house right?

First off, Jackson started swim classes a few weeks ago and while the first week went off without a hitch (which was very un-Jackson like behavior) the second week was not quite as smooth. He was a bit apprehensive the first week with the kids and different atmosphere but during the second week he decided to throw the tantrum to beat all tantrums! This was a level 5 - gale force winds hurricane that sweeped through the rec center and continued on to the home front where damaging twisters tore through the house until the skies cleared 30 minutes later. So...naturally I woke up a bit un-easy today knowing that we'd have to show our faces to the people that looked at us with disapproving looks and would definitely not be my new bff's! Jackson once again surprised us and minus a few moments of toddler behavior ( wanting a toy and not wanting to participate) was extremely well behaved.

Because today was Jesse's day off and I like to suggest activities that I've been wanting to do but need an extra set of hands to help me with our spirited child I suggested we go down to the outlets. Jesse and I dispersed and performed the getting ready to leave routine ( I pack the bag & Jesse goes to the bathroom then gets Jackson's shoes on).

Unfortunately Jackson decided to take this time when his parents were busy to find his little Ikea chair, push it over to the wall, climb on top of it, stand up and fall straight into the wall. As we picked up our screaming child we noticed that blood was coming from somewhere and of course he had taken a big chunk out of his lip and bruised up his gums :(

A little doopy

It looks bad...but he seems fine

Still happy as a clam!

So while the day started off super awesome with a very successful swim class there is no telling when your child is going to decide to smack into a wall :)

Patience

Most days I wake up excited to see my little munchkins face and ready to face a new and trying (as the days have been lately) day.

I wake up knowing that my day will consist of make a meal, have the meal refused, screaming, whining, having my body abused and taken to the very edge of my sanity yet, I do this without question everyday.


Lately however i have grown tired of  the constant being climbed all over ALL day long, having my shirt pulled down in public and being bitten, scratched and poked at. This raising a human being business is HARD!

My new mission.....to become a more patient mother.