Jackson apparently had a nightmare last night. He dreamed that dragons came out of my [pregnant] belly and grabbed him. Jason slept with him most of the night. He called me at 6am complaining of the cold and told me that 'Daddy found the dragon and the mouse' before he dropped back off to sleep.
When I got home today, he told me some stuff about dragons and about how they aren't real. But at bedtime, he was distraught about the idea of sleeping in his new room. He insisted the light stay on and I stay with him. Fortunately he was exhausted and blinky and went to sleep easily. I'm afraid tomorrow won't be so easy.
This morning, Jackson slept until 8:30! I'm sure this was a result of 2 acts of leniency on my part. First, I let him stay up an extra couple of hours. But we were making mini cheesecakes, and it was only fair to let him enjoy his handiwork. Second and probably more influentially, I let him sleep with me the last half of the night. He's teething, and unless I drug him at bedtime (we're out of baby motrin) he wakes up screaming, "Mommy-I need you!". So at 4 am, on the second round of screaming, I tucked him back in bed, but left his gate open and told him he could come sleep with me if he wanted. He was in my bed before I returned from the bathroom. He does sleep more soundly with another person. I had to get up at 8 after the hunters' gunshots frightened my dog who nosed me out of bed. Jackson only lasted another 30 minutes on his own. We came downstairs, and Jackson is snuggling in his fuzzy blanket and eating french toast. Every 10 minutes or so, he said "Mom, you know...I bery lucky." So I say, "You are very lucky. I'm very lucky too." Then he might say, "We both bery lucky." I find these words to be a profound statement of affection from my boy. He came to them on his own, and I imagine they make more sense than repeating "I love you's". I'll take them. I'll also take the "Oh, mom-mom" I used to get with my hugs, but the frequency of those has declined since his vocabulary has increased.
Jackson and I went to the grocery store today. He was tired, and didn't want to ride in the cart. So I let him help me push it instead. He figured out (without my prompting) that he could stand on the bottom rack and ride, then just hang from the bar holding his feet up and ride. Very exciting stuff for my little 2 year old. Even more exciting was the thrill of helping me shop. First, he found the s'mores display and in went the marshmallows. I spent too long reading packages in the soup aisle, and boxes of Mac n' Cheese were tossed into the cart. I stopped by the candy aisle to get some new potty "beans" and he threw several bags of candy in, which I had to surreptitiously remove. I'm sure we'll have many adventures in grocery shopping to come, and on some of those trips cookies and crackers will make it home that I won't have see enter the cart.
A few days ago, Jackson showed me this: He proudly proclaimed it "mine airplane".
Some time later, he converted it into this: "bird".
Thus his imagination has taken flight.
Jackson loves Mr. Potato Head or "Tado Head" as he calls him. Sometimes, only his parts can be found, and that's fun, too.
We're still having our usual night time struggles. Right now, the ritual goes something like this: 1-Take Jackson up to bed. Change him, check his armpits for critters (ticks) and re-read a couple of stories. 2-I suggest we climb in the bed and I can "Hop Up" with him a bit. He refuses and goes on playing with whatever he was playing with before story time started. It could be blocks or trucks or this weekend, a handful of makeup wedges and a butterfly hairclip (Funnest toy he's had in a while). 3-I coax a hug and a series of kisses out of him, and tell him "Sweet Dreams, Jackson" which he echoes "Pweet Dweams, mommy." 4-I turn out his light, leaving the hall light on so he can see his toys. 5-Five minutes later, he's standing at his gate calling, "Mom...Mom...Mommeeeee!" 6-I may or may not come then, but I check up on him. Eventually, he might decide to climb into bed and and "move" over so I can "Hop Up". The important thing to him is that I say "Sweet Dreams" a couple of times everytime I check in. 7-Eventually, he will go to sleep. Maybe 1 or 2 hours after being put to bed. Usually in his bed, but sometimes not.
Shown here: Jackson rocks himself to sleep. With pillow, fuzzy "Blank", the book, 'As Quck as a Cricket", a bear, and a crayon.
I slept the afternoon away with Jackson. He didn't even kick. Until he opened his eyes and saw me curled up in the fuzzy microfiber blanket that I wasn't sharing with him (gasp!). In an elaborate downward facing dog to the ribcage, he stole his fair portion away. Then we slept some more.
I dreamed that Jason came home early and made spaghetti. He's doing that now. Thank you, Jason.
I think this is the new series. Like Ethan and Kate in their stroller, I'll be doing Jackson asleep in the Rocker. Look closely, you'll see that "Where the Wild Things Are" is now on our regular reading rotation.
This post will probably be a mishmash of what life is like right now. I'm posting from the bathroom. We have recently become the household of baths every night. We had been the household of baths "every other night" which I'm a little ashamed to say turned into the house of "Hey, when's the last time Jackson had a bath?!" Times have changed for two reasons. First, its warmed up. By that I mean its been near 90 degree weather! We are enjoying it, Jackson has been to the park frequently, and he keeps sneaking out the back door and down the stairs to dig in the sand. So he's become an extra dirty kid. The other reason for the baths is that Jackson has some kind of a rash. It started on his thigh, spread to his belly, then slowly crept across his whole body. It started 3 weeks ago. Jackson doesn't seem sick in anyway, so we weren't overly concerned in the beginning. We mentioned it to the pediatrician at Jack's 2 year appointment last week, when the rash covered 1/2 of his body. The doctor wasn't concerned at all either. Even though the rash doesn't itch, we got some hydro cortisone cream to try to clear it up. Since its an all over rash, I slathered it on kinda heavy. Last night, I noticed red dots all over Jack's cheeks and neck, little broken capillary dots. My online searched turned up options like Meningococcea and bleeding problems. So we headed back to the pediatrician today. He said the rash still doesn't look like anything, but we are trying to get an appointment with a dermatologist sometime this quarter (getting a doctor's appt in Connecticut is impossible!) and we had to have blood drawn for a platelet count. Cross your fingers that the broken capillaries were caused by the cream and we don't have something more serious on our hands.
Other things that are going on? Well, I mentioned Jackson is sneaking out the door. He wants to be outside all the time! It's great, except it makes it hard to keep the household functioning--can't really make dinner from outside. And the trips to the park? Well, they often start with Jackson shouting, "Park! Par Par Paaaarkkk!" At the park, Jackson mostly likes the slides. At the top, he calls out, "Hoy I come!" He hits the ground running and dashes back up the stairs to come down again, like he's all grown up or something. Monday night, I spied asparagus in the garden and sauteed them for myself, then cooked a few down further and pureed with milk to call soup. It was pretty tasty, and Jack had a bit (before Ally got to it). Next time, I'll name it "dip" and hope he consumes it faster.
Bedtime is also a bit unusual. We start with the typical routine--fresh diaper, optional pajamas, 2 stories, tuck him in bed, gate the door. Jackson usually gets back up, plays, calls for me. I'll tuck him back in once. He invariable gets up again. Lately, he's been finally going to sleep in the rocking chair. Most nights for the last few weeks. It's an adorable sight, see for yourself.
I'm off to tuck Jackson back in. I'm sure to hear him say, "Move. Hop", that's I'll move over so you can hop up into bed with me.
