Jackson at 3 1/4

Is 3 1/4 kind of a ridiculous age to talk about? He actually just turned 3 1/2 this week but I want this post to be about Jackson this summer. He had so many things change in his life at 3! Potty trained the day after his birthday, gave up the binky right before he turned 3, left his crib for a big boy bed a couple months after he turned 3 which also means no more naps. And of course this all happened while he moved across the country and got Kawasaki Disease oh and gained a toddler sister as Abbie is no longer a passive baby but a playmate who will play and fight with him.

I was very vocally not a fan of the age of two (aka terrible two) and had been looking forward to the day he turned 3! But honestly I don't know why I was so stuck on that concept in my mind. Every age has it's challenges and positives. I have another child who will be 2 soon enough, and already acting it, so I need to have a better relationship with the age of 2. But all that said I should admit that he has grown up in a lot of ways since turning 3. We've got different challenges now but a whole lot of fun along with it.

He is such a good big brother and will protect Abbie with his life. He shares with her so well and he is always so concerned about her. For example he always tries to be quiet when she is sleeping and reminds me often, even tells me I shouldn't vacuum downstairs since it might wake her up.

He is so imaginative in his play. He loves firefighters, police officers, dinosaurs, super-heroes, pirates and animals and throughout the day he is each of those characters at least once.  For example he'll stand on his bed posed with mouth open and arms up like a T-Rex, with his other dinosaur toys lined up and have me pay a ticket to come to his dinosaur museum.

He undertands why we have to tell him no and doesn't throw tantrums like he used to. He does ask the quetion "why not" all the time but for the most part he understands why things have to happen the way they do around the house. Another favorite phrase "I wanna do it all by myself!"


Which leads me to, he loves routine. For example he has a special clock in his room that turns green when it's time to wake up in the morning and during his quiet time. If he wakes up before 7:20, he'll stay in his room until the clock turns green at that time. We also set it for 90 minutes during quiet time and he understands he needs to play in his room until it turns green. He'll knock on his door if he wants me to come in with him but he won't come out, he even asks if he can go to the bathroom.

He understands concepts and structure and might be a little like his mom on that one. His mind blows my mind in a lot of ways in the things he remembers about places we've been and details he'll notice. There's an office down the street that we dropped Tyler off at a few months ago. With no landmarks or anything unique about this building, whenever we drive past it he remembers that's where daddy went. He is starting to memorize the library books we read to him. He even corrects me which I'm sure I have a lot of years ahead of.

He loves playing outside, more in the front yard than back because then he can watch everyone passing by. Whenever a kid rides by on his bike he'll say "HI!" and then "What's your name?" He might be annoying to the older boys but I think it's cute. There are several 8-12 year old girls in our neighborhood and Jackson calls those girls his friends. They love playing with him at the park and it's fun to see him old enough to play with the elementary school aged crowd now.

Some of Jackson's favorite things:

Playing in the rain in his new rain gear

Making his silly face with my siblings

Fruit is still his favorite food, a summer of berries and watermelon makes him happy

He has started to love helping in the kitchen, he always makes us wear aprons.

He still plays with trains quite a bit, but is fading out of it a little.

He goes with the flow with Abbie, notice the sippy cup switch. He doesn't care usually, but Abbie always wants his.

One of the rare times he fell asleep for a nap, he ends up in all sort of crazy positions at night. I even found him under his bed once!

He will always eat carrots willingly, it's hit and miss with other veggies.

During his quiet time he always asks me to come play with him and tells me he'll be sad if I can't play... how can I refuse?

Loves playing with duplo legos and just like dad and grandpa, prefers to lay down to play

I guess he felt left out in the hair accessory world, caught ya buddy!

He's got the best smile out there and loves to run, play chase and just do all things little boy!

We love him so much and are so proud of the great little boy he is!