Jackson, as usual, is keeping life interesting these days! He is imitating everything we say which is really fun but also makes us more aware of how important it is to protect him from things we don’t want him to hear or say. His words for “sit” and “truck” resemble some not so nice words. Our favorite word that he just learned is “birthday”. We got to call Seth on his birthday at work and Jackson could tell him happy birthday!
Here is a little video we made of him parroting Seth. These are a few of his words. I wish I could set up a video to get a day in the life of him talking because he surprises us with every new word!
This past weekend when we got to the finca we went to get settled in our room. Jackson was exploring…mainly checking out any cords and plugs in the room to make sure everything was in hand’s reach. After a few minutes of checking out the room Jackson started shrieking “Jesus”. Seth and I were both busy and didn’t look up until he said it about 5 times. (You have to understand that he says everything 10 times at this stage…on average we respond somewhere between the 1st time and the 5th time :)) When we finally looked up we saw that Jackson had spotted an old Catholic rosary-type thing on the wall with Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. He has learned who Jesus is through his little cartoon looking Bible and when we look at nativities but I thought it was crazy that he knew instantly that it was Jesus. From then on every time we went up the stairs to our room he would say “Jesus!”
Seth turned the BIG 30 on Friday! We headed out of town to the finca with some friends for the weekend and celebrated there! We didn’t take many pictures of the birthday festivities but have a few.
Jackson and I are so thankful for Seth! He is such a loving father and husband! He is the most wonderful friend and I really cannot imagine living life without him! My friends keep warning me that turning 30 can bring on an early mid-life crisis. So far Seth is his normal cool, calm and collected self! Maybe just a little bit sassier than he was a few years ago!
We celebrated Seth’s birthday a little early (since we were going to be out of town) last week by going to dinner at an Argentinian Steak house
We had a wonderful dinner with grilled beef tenderloin, etc and our friends Nicholas and Kima brought desserts from a wonderful bakery!
Jackson had a great time at the finca this time! He did last time too but was old enough now to really enjoy it!
Most of my hours right now feel like they are spent being a broken record of “mommy words”. “Say please”, “thank you”, “say, yes, mommy”,”sorry daddy”. After we came back from our trip to the US, Jackson had mastered hollering out for what he wanted and had gotten quite a demanding attitude. He wasn’t being nasty it was just the most effective way to get attention in a talking crowd and have 4 people run for a cracker! Our first week back we worked on “please” which he learned quickly and now uses all of the time. “Thank you” he has known for quite some time. “Sorry” is just too abstract at the moment although it would serve him well! He has gotten into hitting over the past few weeks and although he falls into the depths of despair when he is scolded he hasn’t figured out using “sorry”! The other thing we can’t wait for Jackson to say is “I love you”. That would erase a multitude of sins! We will have to post for sure when we hear that one!
Jackson…18 months old, wearing a big t-shirt (while mommy hunted for pants) and bear slippers. Running around the house with his special push toy from Nana!
Jackson is amazing us with his ability to learn and transfer his knowledge. 18 months is such a crazy age of learning and exploration. He has been on a constant incline with increasing skills but 18 months and the weeks leading up to it recently have been like an explosion for him. His little brain does not slow down! This morning I was talking to my mom and he wanted to talk, he immediately started asking for the dog. It amazes me that he remembers to associate my mom with also getting to see the dog on skype. The other day Jackson was fussing for lunch and I was bustling around getting everyone’s food. Seth said, “let’s just eat” (implying let’s not try to pray over this 18 month olds fussing), Jackson chimed in with “no, pray!!!” and reached for our hands to pray. He is learning his ABC’s and 123’s and he is at the point where we can say where is the whatever and he will point or go out on a hunt for the item. He is trying to sing along with songs on Elmo. Another fun thing is that Jackson is truely becoming bilingual! Seth will ask him where things are in Spanish that we know he says the word for in English and he will point to it. He is switching between languages really quickly which is amazing to watch. He now says “vamanos” for “let’s go”! I have been using the phrase “not yet” pretty frequently because he has now figured out that when mommy says we are going to do something it might not mean right away. He is by the door and ready to go once he hears the word! This weekend I said “are you ready for your nap?, he replied “YET!” in a harsh voice. He didn’t get the “not” part but I knew exactly what he meant. He is no genius but he impresses us!
Just smiling!
Anyhow, teaching the “please” and “thank you’s” is a hard job! Congrats to those of you that survived the toddler years and successfully raised thankful, pleasant kids! I have to say my friend’s Annie and Sean did a wonderful job with this! I would spend time with Evan, Maddie and Gilly any day!
Thank you all for your birthday wishes! I had a great birthday! Seth took me out to dinner on Sat night at a swanky restaurant here in Bogota. And then we went for dessert at a little bakery that we love. We had one of their amazing cookies and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is literally that..melted chocolate! It was so rich that we asked for a little thing of steamed milk to be able to drink it! Yesterday Seth and Jackson had a little birthday cake and sang to me. They had made me a birthday card which was so sweet! The best part of the day was that Seth got up with Jackson and let me sleep in! It was such a treat!
Dinner at Criterion
If you ever come to Bogota we will take you to Rauch! They make the best cookies we have ever had!!
Making a wish!
Anyhow, thanks for the birthday wishes! I am feeling old but also feeling blessed by so many wonderful friends and family!
