Play on words...

I got to come home for 2 hours this afternoon before a late night at work, and JW and I took the kids outside to play.  We decided to go for a walk, and Jackson found a rusty old washer on the ground.  Jackson wanted to carry it home, until of course, almost home, he dropped and lost the washer.  He was crying and so upset, and he said, "I want that laundry room thing, waaaahhhh!"  Haha, you mean the washer, Jackson, so cute!!

Out of the mouths of babes...

I did not believe it, but while we were playing with dolls, Savannah started to say, "Baby" over and over again!!  The words are coming!  Now we have:
1. Dada
2. Mama
3. Jackson (sort of)
4. Hello/Hi!
5. Baby
6. Please--Savannah was pointing to the fridge, and I told her she had to tell me what she wanted, and it sounded like she said Please!  We'll see if that one gets repeated.

Jackson gets funnier every day.  His latest funny phrase is, "Speaking of fire trucks, Mommy," or "Speaking of Lightning McQueen, Mommy..."  It's hilarious.  He spent 15 minutes on our walk home from the park yesterday watching a little worm/bug crawling, and he was talking to it, it was cute.  Today I spontaneously took him to the zoo for about an hour, and we rode the train (alone), did a quick peek at all the animals, and spent some time in the reptile house as he made friends with an ugly tarantula.  And, (drum roll) this is the first night (ever?) he fell asleep before 9pm.  Miracles!!

That's Progress!

So I just had to post today, because a lot of things have been going on in the Jackson arena.  For the past 2-3 weeks, JW and I have really been struggling with Jackson's behavior.  He was getting out of control, not listening at all, and we were getting complaints from his other care providers.  So we decided we had to make a change.  We stopped spanking, which was only making our home more violent; we re-instituted time outs (4 minutes now); and we re-started a reward system.  We promised each other to be consistent with the reward system for at least 30 days, not to give up too soon as we were in the habit of doing before.  Sure enough, on the first day, JW said, "This is NOT going to work, I think we need to do something else," but he agreed to press on.  Now, we both agree that there has been SUCH a positive change!  He listens so much more, does things more independently (we are so excited that he pulls up his own undies and pants before coming out of the bathroom) like getting dressed and cleaning up, and there is a lot less yelling (on my part).  He sits on the chair for timeouts without getting up.  We changed bedtime so that he no longer can go to bed with a book (see previous post), and for the past week he has been asleep by 9pm!!!!  (before, it would be 10 or 11pm before he would be asleep)  Sleep has also made a big positive change in his behavior.  The only lingering issue is dinner time; he still usually will not touch what I make for him, but we've decided to pick our battles.   2 out of 3 meals isn't bad, and we were recently reassured at his well child visit that he's not even slightly anemic!

So I just had to write because I have been very stressed out about Jackson and feeling like a really bad parent doing a really bad job, and I am really encouraged to see changes and God's work and answers to my prayers.  Thank you God for listening and for helping me out! 

Now to get Savannah from standing up in the middle of the train table...

Overheard

"Jackson, you can't go to bed with books anymore.  New rule."--Me

"That stinks."--Jackson

No, no

So I must add a new phrase to Savannah's Lexicon..."No, No." in a tiny squeaky voice, accompanied by vigorous shaking of her head back and forth.  It's less annoying than a defiant, "NO!"  It's actually endearing.  She mostly does it as I'm asking her which book she wants to read, she's pretty particular.  It's coming in helpful as we continually seek to understand her needs and wants since she refuses to actually speak most of the time, ha!

In other news, it was a beautiful spring day today here in Michigan, reaching the 60 degree mark!  The sun was shining and we spent a lot of the day outdoors.  Jackson ran on cement and of course fell down, busting his lip---thankfullly, no stitches needed, and other than a fat lip, no lasting effects.  It could have been a lot worse.  Looking forward to more fun times outdoors!

Milestone

So yesterday, at 19 months of age, Savannah said her 4th word (after Dada, Mama, Jackson)--Hello!  Clear as day, when I asked her to say "hi" to my mom on the phone.  We were both like, what did she say!  Super cute.  Usually she just waves at the phone like the person on the other end can see her.  

In other news, we asked Jackson today if he could spell his name, not really thinking he could...and he proceeded to spell out "J...A...K...S...O...N"  So close!  I was amazed.  My little boy is growing up!

So, Mommy...

As Jackson approaches age 4, he has started coming out with the funniest things!  When he is going to ask me a questions, he's started saying, "So, Mommy..."  in a very grown-up manner.  It's really funny.  He also has been saying, "You're kidding me!"  It's really funny.

I sat with Jackson before bed and let him watch a few YouTube videos of Cinderella, highlighting some of the famous songs and such.  We don't own that movie, but he liked it.  It was fun to do that with him.  But then I had to show him some Cars 2 clips, and that revved him up way too much.  Lesson for next time.

Savannah still won't talk, but she started saying, "uh-oh" in this teeny tiny voice which is really funny.