I said sh*t!...and various other stories

One morning last week we were rushing the boys along to get out of the house. It never fails. We struggle to get them to get their shoes on, to get dressed, to stop them from getting yet another snack. The list continues daily. If there's one thing they boys are really good at, it's stalling. Anyway...

I believe it was last Wednesday. We were trying to get out the door and Jackson was messing around with something in his room. Kyle was going around turning off lights and I was putting Kian's shoes on just outside Jackson's room. I thought I heard Jackson saying the "s" word, but wasn't quite sure. By this time Kyle met us in the foyer. I asked Jackson what was going on. He walks out holding the same sweater that he wore the day before and said he was trying to put it on. I reminded him that he can't wear the same thing twice without washing it in between. He turns to walk back into his bedroom and says, "Oh sh*t." Kyle and I exchanged dropped-jaws and I quickly rattled off, "What did you just say?" Jackson walked back out of his room and said (with his head cocked to the side), "I said sh*t" in the most matter-of-fact way possible. We exchanged another dropped-jaw moment and reminded Jackson that he has to choose his words wisely since he's around a lot of smaller children that are developing their vocabularies. Besides, it's not acceptable to use bad words and we wouldn't tolerate it. (If only his dad were on the same page.)

Later on my way into work, I called Kyle to ask him if he shared Jackson's expanded vocabulary with Michelle. Since he didn't I decided it would be best to fill her in. I called and told her that I didn't want Jackson to catch her off guard and told her the happenings of that morning. She said that she doesn't disciple for using bad words at this age and that she would listen carefully to stop him if it happened. She proceeds to tell me, "Oh, that wouldn't catch me off guard. Last week Matt walked into the living room and said, 'What the f*ck?' Now that caught me off guard." How funny! We knew bad words were inevitable, but didn't think they would come this early. I guess we should have known.

We also noticed last weekend that Jackson has started to call us Mom and Dad, not Mommy and Daddy. This has really struck a chord with me and I do not like it one bit. I want to be know as Mommy by him until he goes to kindergarten. Is that too much to ask for? Evidently yes. I know there are many other things he could be calling me, but I prefer Mommy for a little while longer. I told him that I would not respond to Mom, so if he requires my attention he better call me appropriately. I think this all started a couple of weeks ago when we were in the car and I called him Jack. We have used Jackson and Jack interchangeably for his entire 4 years without an issue thus far. He told him that I am only allowed to call him Jackson and Daddy is the only one that can call him Jack. He has also noticed that Michelle will write Jack on his projects and said that she didn't spell his name correctly. Again, I guess I should have known. Yesterday at daycare I went to get my luvin' upon arrival and he obliged, looked me in the eye and said, "I love you Ninny." I love those melt-your-heart moments! Jackson used to call me Ninny instead of Mommy until he was about two. Oh how it bothered me at the time, but whenever he reverts nowadays I get that warm feeling and it reminds me of when he was little. Perhaps he's trying to test me since I tell him that I won't respond to Mom, or perhaps he's just trying to get my attention. He definitely got it then. I love this little guy so dearly.

Flashback: Going back a year or so ago, my Mom bought wooden letters to spell out the boys' names on their bedroom walls. I picked out an assortment of colors for Jackson's name and we had to order the S, O and N since we couldn't come up with a color combination given the letters in stock. Since we had JACK, I decided to go ahead and put them up on his wall since I was hanging Kian's up as well. Keep in mind he was not quite 3 years old yet and knew how to spell his name. One night when we were reading books before bedtime, I noticed that he was distracted by the letters. He looked at me and said, "Where's the SON?" I told him that Nana P didn't have all the letters and had to order them. He just kept telling us, "There's no SON." It was too cute how annoyed he was that his name was not spelled correctly.

I remember the first day he spelled his name for me....September 11, 2006. If you know one thing about me, it's that I can remember numbers and dates like it's nothing. Besides the obvious association with September 11th, another reason I remember the date is because that was the day on my failed amniocentesis. I was 36 weeks pregnant with Kian, terribly uncomfortable, my gestational diabetes was out of control along with my blood pressure, and I just found out that our baby's lung weren't quite mature enough to be delivered the next day. Telling a miserable pregnant lady she has to wait another week is not acceptable. I was able to stop crying long enough to go and get Jackson from daycare. (I was working from home that week which was a blessing.) For my last couple of months of pregnancy, Jackson would stall leaving Michelle's house and put up quite a fight. He was throwing yet another fit when I tried to get him to leave that day. Michelle was trying to help me along, knowing I was not in the mood to deal with him. She asked if we had heard Jackson spell his name. We tried to get him to spell it over and over again. Bribery got us nowhere. I tried multiple times when putting him into the car and on the start of our drive home to no avail. I eventually gave up and we were quiet for a minute. All of a sudden I hear him whispering, "JA-CK-SON" again and again. He said it as if he was unsure of himself and wanted to make sure he was getting it right. I immediately started crying again, but with tears of joy. If he only knew how unbelievably sad I was just moments before he melted my heart. This could not have come at a more appropriate time. I asked him to spell it again and he did it with such pleasure. We called Kyle to share the moment and his voice mail picked up. Initially I was upset that he didn't answer, but it was so neat to leave such a surprise for him. Jackson spelled his name for his Daddy and was so proud of himself. At B&D, they receive their voice mails as emails with attachments. In hindsight it's nice to have this in electronic format to send on to family and friends. How sweet it was.

My reflection is bringing up so many emotions and flashbacks that I would love to type out. There were a few other recent stories that I wanted to get out as well and haven't. I'll take more time tomorrow to get those out.

Until next time....lc