Jackson's Year of Destruction

Jackson turned three last month, and since that time, Grant has labeled this "Jackson's Year of Destruction."  It has been a crazy time!  He has always been incredibly active and a little defiant, from when he was two days old in the hospital and was trying to turn over on the bed while I was changing his diaper.  The past month has been even more....

Two weeks ago I left the boys with Dan while I went out for some much needed "me time."  When I arrived back home Grant met me at the door and told me that Jackson had done something really bad that "Daddy cannot even fix!"  Apparently Jackson had found a spot on the wallpaper that had a hole under it (where they drilled to blow insulation into the wall) and he got a pair of scissors and cut a big hole in the wallpaper.  He had also peed on the floor while I was gone.  The next day he colored on the same wallpaper with his markers.  (Of course Grant witnessed both of the wallpaper defacements but decided not to be a tattletale until after the damage had been done.)  The next weekend, I found him sitting in the crib with the baby trying to force-feed him a bottle of water.  ("De baby was firsty, mama!")  On Wednesday I took him and the baby shopping.  When we're at the grocery store, Jackson will hold on to the basket and hang like a monkey.  Unfortunately, he tried that with the stroller and pulled it over on top of himself, with the baby in it!  THANKFULLY no one was hurt, aside from the large bump on the back of Jackson's head where he hit the floor.  I nearly had a heart attack!  Here's the last one - yesterday I came home and Jackson opened the door for me and he was crying.  I asked him about the tears and Grant said, "He was trying to drink his medicine and Elise (the babysitter) wouldn't let him so he's mad."  Thank goodness for childproof lids!  He said "I love my medicine.  I want to drink it all day!"  Oh dear.  I sometimes wish they wouldn't make it taste so good!  We don't give the boys sweets, so that syrupy sweet medicine is a special treat, apparently!  Aside from all of these frustrations, he is the cutest, funniest, sweetest, most giggly, and silliest kid around.  I love him so much that it is difficult to stay mad at him for long.  He's just too cute.  All I have left to say is this:  the person who coined the term "Terrible Twos" obviously never met a three year old.

PS - The picture of Jackson eating ice cream is from his third birthday, when he was allowed to have his first ice cream ever.  What an exciting day!

Haircuts

Yesterday I went down to Rockwall to visit my friend Laura and took all three boys.  It is about an hour and fifteen minute drive.  Anyone who tries going farther than the grocery store with more than one kid knows that this is a challenge.  Okay, even the grocery store is a challenge.  Anyway, since we now have three boys and I have come to realize that three little boy haircuts plus Dan's haircut will cost no less than $50 per month, friend Laura is teaching me to cut hair.  So, yesterday was my first lesson.

Jackson went first and I was incredibly nervous, but I managed to get started and once I did, it went really well!  Of course, Jackson cried a lot.  I'm sure the largest part was because he was being left out of the playing (Laura has two boys) and it was lunch time so he was hungry.  Oh, and I poked him with the scissors when I was trying to cut his bangs.  Oops.  Sorry kiddo!  But, the finished result was really pretty good.  He has had MUCH worse haircuts by people who claim to be trained professionals.  Grant complained and griped throughout his haircut, but he did sit pretty still and it was okay.  I was not as happy with Grant's as I was with Jackson's, but only because I cut it short and I think it might look better if it were a little longer on top.  Overall, it looks fine, just short.

Laura was a great teacher, just telling me what to do, telling me how great I was doing and not just reaching over and taking the clippers from me when I was having trouble.  I am hoping to get together with her for the next couple of months to make sure I am comfortable before flying solo.  We'll just have to see if Dan will ever let me cut his.  If he can trust those ProCut people, don't you think he can trust his wife???

My First Post

I have been thinking about blogging for a long time, mostly because it will give me an outlet to write down things that the boys say and do and share them with friends and family.  I am excited about this, because I enjoy telling stories about my sweet children, especially ones when they're not exactly very sweet!

Today was an interesting day with Jackson.  Actually, he's always getting into things, and today was no exception.  After lunch I asked him to go upstairs to pick out his books and get ready for his afternoon nap while I finished nursing the baby.  After about ten minutes, Grant said, "Where's Jackson?"  Well, I thought, hmmm, he has been uncharacteristically quiet, so I went to find him.  Grant & I searched all over the house calling his name.  He finally ran out into the upstairs hallway and announced he had been hiding in my closet.  So, I said, "Okay, go get your books and get ready for nap."  He did and I put him down, then put the baby down, checked on Grant to make sure he was set for his rest time downstairs and headed to my bed for a little rest.  When I walked past my closet I saw that Jackson hadn't been hiding really, as much as unloading every pair of shoes I own into a large pile outside my closet door, as well as dumping out an entire box of nursing pads and pulling out all of my tote bags and shopping bags.  Later this evening he dumped out a large plastic bin full of baby clothes I just brought out to go through for Harrison.  He wanted to play in it, of course.  That boy only wants to sing and play and acts like he can't hear you when you ask him to do something.  He's sooo sweet, but such a challenge.  Last week I was upstairs changing the baby's diaper and when I started back downstairs, I saw that Jackson had spread all of my pots and pans up the stairs so he could make a clubhouse in the cabinet.  How funny!