Oh...THREE!

This age that Jackson's at right now is going to be the death of me.  I swear, he's a raging maniac sometimes!  Example:

This morning (before school), I asked him nicely to clean up some blocks he'd had all over the living room floor.  All he had to do was put them in their big Ziploc bag.  This request of mine led to him standing in front of me, screaming until his little face turned bright red, crying as if I'd asked him to do something so heinous.  He did pick them up, but not after a lot of noise and show.

After school, I went to pick him up.  One of the classroom aids, a nice woman who knows I'm his mom, came out to help load kids into busses and cars.  She came over to say hi, then told me that Jackson was caught doing something really nice today.  At clean up time, he cleaned what he was playing with, then cleaned up toys that others had played with.  I laughed and told her about my morning, and she in turn laughed and said she didn't believe me.

OH...how I wish I was lying.

This is daily, and there are times where I just look at him and wonder what to do as he's standing there throwing a fit.  Do I discipline him, thus making his screaming/crying worse?  Do I ignore it, like I've heard to do, and make him think his behavior is ok?  Do I get in his face, hug him, show tons of empathy?  Do I follow that teeny tiny feeling inside me to slap him into next Tuesday?  (<--don 2="" 5="" 6="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" another="" be="" br="" but="" can="" do="" feel="" for="" freakin="" go="" happen...="" i="" is="" like="" ll="" lose="" many="" me.="" more.="" my="" nbsp="" none="" of="" on="" online="" or="" people="" phase="" re="" read="" really="" say="" scenarios="" seem="" shit.="" so="" t="" them="" they="" this="" to="" tried="" until="" ve="" what="" won="" working="" worry...that="" years="">
The other thing he does that will drive me to an early grave is declaring every naughty behavior as "my favorite trick!"  When I ask him to stop doing something he shouldn't be doing, 99% of the time, I'm met with, "AWW!  But it's my fave-wit twick!"  If I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, it's "But that's not my fave-wit twick!"  UGH! 

Then there are the times (few and far between as they seem) where he's a total sweetheart.  If I sneeze, it's ALWAYS followed by "Bless you, Mom!"  If I bump into him and say "Excuse me," he responds with "You're excused!"  He snuggles with me every morning and every afternoon after his nap, and if we're on the couch together, he's snuggled in for some warmth and love.  I could eat him up sometimes, and I cherish those moments because I know that someday, he won't want to do those things and I'll wonder where those times went.

Three.  Can't say it's my favorite age right now.  Wondering what four will be like....

JACKSONESE!

I'm going to start this post now, and likely add to it as time goes on.

Sometimes, I think Jackson has a language all his own.  I want to try to remember so many of the funny things he says and expressions he uses, so I'm going to start listing them.  They're in no particular order, though I will try to give approx. times he used these (if I can remember past ones).  Here goes....

--buppin: this is how he says button, and it makes me laugh every time!  He started this probably age 3 and continues it today (3 and 3/4).  Occasionally, he'll correct me if I repeat it, and he'll say the right word, but damn, this one always makes me smile, especially when he says belly buppin.

--big messy: just like it sounds...it's a big mess.  He uses this a lot now, and has for a while.  He may describe something as being big messy.

--hot sauce pool day: this started in early summer 2012, and continues somewhat today, though he's using it less and less like this now.  It's 2 expressions melted into one.  Pool day has always referred to a day spent at the pool, but it's grown into another activity: burying oneself in a pile of stuffed animals.  He pretends he's in water.  In some cases, one must lie down (on a bed, on the floor, on the couch), and he surrounds you with animals (not always burying you in them), then he lays on them.  Still, a year and a half later, it makes no sense, and though I can explain it, someday we'll laugh big about this.  At Waynee World, he just has lake days.  He can tell the difference between a pool and a lake.  :)

--colb: (or cobe...not sure how to spell it).  Basically, this is how he used to say cold.  He's better now at saying cold, and when I say colb, he gets a little irritated, but it's always made me laugh!  This was more an expression he used from about 3 to 3.5 or so.

--din:  Jackson's just started using negatives when he speaks, however a lot of his negatives just take on one word...din.  "Jackson din like that."  This could be don't or doesn't, or didn't, and it's definitely NOT pronounced didn't, but more just din.  He's just started saying, "I din know."  In the past, he always referred to himself in the 3rd person, so for him to use 1st person, it's pretty exciting (probably only for me, having taught language and grammar for so long).

To be continued....

I knew I'd think of more:

--feep: this is how he says sleep, and it makes me laugh!  He's been saying it this way for quite some time now.  I giggle every time he asks us to "Go feep."  He's still having a big problem with consonant blends.

--"What's that all about?"  He just started using this expression, and OH MY WORD I laugh every time!  He uses it appropriately most of the time, too, and it usually indicates he's in a silly mood.