Jackson @ fiVe.
Little buddy is five. {And just two weeks ago he said to me, after I called him buddy, "Mommy, can you just call me Jackson and not buddy?"} Hmmm. I'm not sure I can deliver on that request. Because you are my little buddy. My bud.
Dear Jackson,
Jackson at five you LOVE to laugh. You smile constantly. You love your friends. You are a happy boy! You are a pure delight to me.
Rough-housing with Daddy is still one of your favorite things to do.
Your favorite friends right now are Kaitlyn from school, Kaylee from church, Malia from the lake, Triston and Olivia, your faithful friends since forever ago, and Maryam, your Iraqi sister.
You actually wanted a pink and purple birthday theme but I sort of, shall we say, 'redirected' and it's purple and yellow, and a few other primary colors mixed in, to give it a sort of eclectic feel.
You still love your trains and train table that Grandpa made you, and just this morning we made a new track that you are very excited about.
You love to pretend play and you use different voices and you even sing in different voices, stating that yours is the low voice and Hedge Hog's is the high voice.
You LOVE "Castle on a Cloud" from the Les Miserables CD. You sing every word, with passion and appropriate pausing.
You love musicals, and enjoyed going to "Annie" with Papa, Aunt Becky, Mommy, Daddy and Maddie at Christmas. And then Aunt Becky recently took you to see "The Sound of Music" a couple weeks ago and since then we've watched the movie, oh, about a dozen times. You love it.
You still LOVE to snuggle and I hope that never stops. You'll make your wife very happy some day.
You are still particular, making sure that things are the way they are supposed to be. In order. In line. Straight. Neat and tidy. You get very frustrated with yourself if you're building something and it doesn't go as planned. Or, if you're printing your letters and you accidentally do the wrong one. Oh boy, major problem.
You love to ride your bike and just yesterday said, "I so want to learn how to ride my bike with just two wheels." You're ready for it, buddy. Soon.
You're our carrot man. And corn. And peas. And apples.
You love Honey Bunches of Oats for breakfast, especially the crunchies.
Up until maybe 6 weeks ago, you still weren't sleeping through the night, which was killin' Mommy. But, now you are {almost} and I can't tell you how happy I am to be getting, for the most part, uninterrupted sleep.
You get leg aches quite frequently so I will rub your legs and sing to you until you fall back asleep. And this is one of those treasures about being a mommy that I would never have guessed. But when you're sick, Mommy does want to do everything she can to help you feel better.
You love books and reading.
You have a very kind heart. You're sad when other people are sad. You like to help and really enjoy cooking with me.
You still suck your thumb and love your fuzz BUT, we're working hard to stop those habits.
You are SO expressive. When you're excited you can barely contain yourself and you do this little happy jig and you run up and squeeze whoever it is you're excited about or for or with. Conversely, when you are sad, your pout is among the saddest in the land.
Your blue blankie is your favorite and you love wearing cuddly footie pyjamas. You go to bed with a water bottle, just like your big sis.
Just last night, as I came in to make sure you were covered up {because you move all over the place when you sleep} I started to adjust your blankets over you and you woke up and looked up at me and gave me the biggest, most beautiful smile. I said, "I love you, Jackson." And you said, "I love you, Mommy."
And as I left your room I started to cry. My baby is almost five. THAT seems impossible. I wish time could stand still and I keep telling you that. In fact, I must have told you that so many times because just yesterday I said, "You're going to be five, buddy." And you piped up, "I know, and you want me to stay five FOREVER!"
Yep, you're right little man. Please stay five forever.
Love, Mommy