23 Months

Jackson, here are 23 reasons why you're such a big boy.

1) You wear size 8 or 9 shoes. What on earth!
2) Last weekend you picked your very heavy Radio Flyer rocketship completely off the ground. The next day you picked up your dad's guitar, parallel to the ground, and handed it to me.
3) You hop and jump so well.
4) You climb up on our bed, scale the enormous pillows, and reach the light switch at warp speed.
5) You will finally tolerate the apple skin instead of collecting it all in your mouth and spitting it out.
6) You can say "Thank you" and a not-so-clear version of "Jackson." (J's are not quite there yet. You did try to say "Jesus" when Ella was singing about him last weekend.) You also say "My daddy. My Bibby. My Pappaw."
7) You love to go to school.
8) When Daddy gets home from work, you immediately have to do or show him something manly.
9) You cooperate very well when I give you a bath.
10) You like to "swim" in the bathtub. You started laying all the way back with most of your head under the water and only your face sticking out. You kick your legs like you're doing a backstroke.
11) This morning I saw you go around the room to gather the blocks you had scattered everywhere. In order to pick up more blocks, you put the first one under your arm and held it there.
12) You tell me when there's stuff in your diaper. (Good one, Mom!)
13) You'll be watching TV quietly and you'll suddenly bust out laughing at something you thought was funny. It cracks me up.
14) You talk back now on the telephone.
15) You don't fight me anymore when I brush your teeth. You are getting used to toothpaste.
16) You have some radical breakdancing moves.
17) You talk about your friends when they're not around and you miss them.
18) When Mommy tells you not to throw something, you hold your hand up in the air and just let it drop out of your hand. Because that's dropping, not throwing.
19) You have so many teeth, I've lost count.
20) Sometimes you count things unprompted. "Two, twee, fi, siss, eigh."
21) You're learning your colors. You love blue and purple.
22) We have so much fun when I draw animals on your Magnadoodle and you tell me what they are. Even when they all look pretty much the same.
23) You will be two years old in three weeks!

UPDATE:
24) I just went in your room because you were supposed to be falling asleep, but I could hear you saying, "Poo poo. Poo poo." When I found you, you were sitting there on your bare behind, diaper in hand. Praise be to God, the Glorious Father, because there was no poo. I've been dreading the day this would happen and now it has arrived. Thankfully it was a dry run.