18 months

Our little man is already 18 months old. I dont know why, but that always seemed like such a big age. I mean, just this time last year he was only 6 months old.I remember thinking then how crazy it was that he was growing so fast - that was then:

this is now:
Shows you what I know. It has been an amazing 18 months and I can honestly say that Jackson is the most fun kid I know. He has got a sense of humor like you would not believe. Just today I heard him cracking up heading my way. I look up and he says, "Mama" and then busts out laughing. I look closer, he's got my clippy in his hair. The littlest things can get him belly rolling and he is such a happy kid. He listens so well, obeys about 90% of the time and we get compliments all the time on what a joy he is to others. We were out to eat last night and the manager came up as we were leaving and he said, "I've only been here a week but we've got a lot of little kids in here and he is the most well behaved one I've seen." I was like, wait, what? my kid? can you write that down, sign it and date it? That is such a blessing as a parent to hear that.Some things he's into: the park. going down the slide by himself. trains, airplanes and trucks. He wants you to let him drive the car every time we get into it. Best thing ever is that cart at Kroger that has the car built in. After we disinfect it 28 times, he is busy the entire I'm shopping. He loves reading. Loves books. He has this book he calls "tiptoe" - Ben's aunt Pam sent him a book about 'going on a bear hunt'...I know you remember that - "can't go over it, can't go under it, we gotta go through it." I loved that book and evidently so does he. There's one part where they're going through the cave and it says "tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe" and he turns there first and says "tiptoe!" So cute. He also loves this book called Bear and Ball. It's a super simple book, one of my favorites to read with him and his too. We love all of the books Aunt Pam has sent to us - they've been some of our all time favorites!
I can't believe his vocabulary these days. It's like in the past month somebody turned on a switch and bam he decided he was going to start trying new words. Now, don't get me wrong, he's not winning a pronunciation bee or anything. My favorite is how he refers to my brother and his dog. I'm seriously laughing as I type this. So, we call my brother Funcle (fun + uncle = funcle) and his dog's name is Lulu. We've been trying to get him to say funcle and lulu for months now but he would only say 'that' for funcle and pant for lulu. For some reason, when they came to visit a few weeks ago he busted out with "diudiu" (lulu) and "caca" (funcle). I died laughing. So, on their way home I asked my mom how it was going driving home with doodoo and caca. So funny to me.
He's 120% boy and loves, loves, loves playing outside. Ben let him go barefoot in the mud the other day and I'm pretty sure it's the highlight of his whole life up until this point. It is truly a nightmare in our house when it's raining and we can't go outside. He just sits at the door and stares waiting for it to stop.And speaking of rain. It was raining on Tuesday and I sang the "rain, rain, go away, please come back another day" song and he started the whole big boohoo's again. I think we've got some issues with goodbye. We had a cat (his fave) run away about a month ago and I think it's sinking in that she's not coming back. So, anything with go away or goodbye sends him to tears. My tenderhearted little carebear. Oh how I love him so.

We don't go to the dr until the 16th so I have no idea how tall he is or how much he weighs. We went in a few weeks ago for our first ear infection and he weighed 26 1/2 lbs so we'll see. He's been eating me out of house and home lately so I'm pretty sure he's gained some weight. Hope ya'll are doing well. We sure are loving life.