Jax the talker

Jax is 19 months now and has developed quite a little vocabulary.  Nowhere near what Emerson had at this age, but everyone is saying it's early for a boy.  For instance, this morning Emerson got out of bed an hour early again... dang you, Daylight Savings Time... she got in bed with us, and we listened to Jax in the monitor.  The following came out of his mouth in one fell swoop:  "Momma??? Da-Da??? Sissy?  Football?  Bah-ket-ball?  Bat?  Baseball?  Ehh-pain (airplane)? Ooooooh.... U!"  He then proceeded to count to 10 in his funny little way.  It was as if he was pulling out all the stops to get someone, anyone, to come get him out of his crib. 

Thankfully he's picking up on his manners, saying 'peeth' and 'gink-you' along with 'aow-bee' when I make him repeat 'obey.'  His two-word combos are slowly making their way out, my favorite being 'gink-you, Momma' when I hand him something important like his sippy cup.  Alas, the 'NO!' while shaking his head violently side to side is also here to stay, I'm afraid.  I'm holding out hope that Hayden won't be strong-willed because frankly I'm exhausted trying to 'gently bend and mold' the wills of my first two.  Okay, some days it's closer to 'breaking and overpowering,' but I'm trying to find balance between the two.  I just refuse to let them win a battle.  And that's hard work.  Especially when all I feel like doing nowadays is finding the nearest bed or couch, taking the pressure off my sciatic nerve, and closing my eyes for just a little snooze.  Never seems to happen! 

On another note, our friends Lauren and Mark in California had their 2nd baby, a little boy named Judah Ryan.  He's just about the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on.  Now they just need to move their butts back to Oklahoma so our kids can play together.  Here's the handsome little guy: