Letters

Jackson has a new addiction in his life: LETTERS. He's discovered the alphabet and he loves it! I bought him an alphabet puzzle about a month ago. It's take some time but he's learned where all the letters are, and he can say most of them (though I don't think he understands that there's an actual order to them). He's also been watching a LeapFrog video he got for Christmas called The Letter Factory (it's about letters and the sounds they make). This has been a GREAT teaching tool for him! He can't quite say all the letters yet, but he can identify them and say the sounds for most. If we're wearing shirts that have wording on them, he takes so much time pointing to each letter, prompting us to say the letter for him (though lately we've been able to ask him what it is and he'll say it). It's been really fascinating watching this all progress! Kind of weird that he still can't really talk, but he's obsessed with the alphabet...

Unfortunately, he's still hitting me. I'm getting better at avoiding situations that cause him to strike out, but it's not always easy. The other day, he was swinging at me with both hands, which I grabbed to stop him, and he used his head to bash into my nose. Seriously, I'm starting to feel like an abused woman! Paul has NEVER and would never raise a hand to me, but Jackson sure has. I'm still at a loss as to how to handle it. I feel like I need to talk to someone, but I have no idea who.

Speech-wise, Jackson's slowly adding new words to his vocabulary. We're pretty certain he understands just about everything we say, so I'm having to really work at curbing my potty mouth. Yeesh. He doesn't quite understand opposites yet (like hot/cold, light/dark, up/down), though he does understand most of those words. He can say if something's hot, but if it's cold, he still doesn't know the word for that. He'll say dark when the lights go off, and he knows what a light is, but doesn't really understand the concept of those 2 being opposites. I know this is something that happens later though.

We have a few quiet weekends coming up. Jackson is going to a sleepover at Aunt Cake's this coming Friday, so Daddy and I are going out to dinner and a movie! A REAL DATE! That hasn't happened in a long time!

Hasta luego!