happy birthday jackson!

Max's cousin/my godchild, Jackson, celebrated his FIFTH birthday on Monday. I cannot believe he is already five. He is incredibly smart, talented, loving, creative, funny, adorable, and insightful.

AND he loves Maxwell...very important! He is extra careful with him and often makes special accomodations for his cousin. For example, Jackson is having a birthday party theme of DINOSAURS. No one is allowed to come unless you know about dinosaurs. (He seriously quizzed me!) When I explained about Maxwell wanting to come to the party but not knowing yet about dinosaurs, Jackson said that was ok because Max knows the sign for dinosaurs and that was great. Later in the week Max wouldn't sign "dinosaur" and I asked Jackson what would happen the day of the party if that happened again. He again said that was acceptable since he knows Maxwell knows the sign, he just isn't choosing to not use it right now.

Seriously, how stinkin' cute is he!?! He and Thomas are going to be great "big cousins" to Maxwell.


Yes, Jackson has developed quite the personality these days. He loves to tell stories and play with dinosaurs...ALL the time!


He also is very inquisitive and loves to learn about everything...including Max's sign language and eating issues. However, Jackson also loves to make up his own signs. I have explained repeatedly that we really need to stick with ASL so that Max doesn't get confused...but reasoning with a 5-year-old doesn't always work! It is always a very funny conversation. His signs often do make sense, but they are just not ASL.

So for Jackson's birthday dinner, he chose IHOP as his restaurant of choice. I was excited because pancakes might be something new to try with Maxwell. :)

We rarely go out to eat, so I was curious how well Max would do. He did great! We practiced with crayons, he ate a lot of baby food AND a few bites of pancakes, and played with his cars of course.


"Hey there Mommy...you ever going to put that camera down?"













"I love the game of tossing my crayons and then getting Mommy to retrieve them!"













"Mommy is sooooo proud that I am learning how to use a crayon!!! This took a lot of work!"













"Here I am literally stuffing my mouth with a chocolate chip pancake. YUM!"

(Some of this came back out...but no worries. It was a new texture and was thrilled that he tried it.)










"Everyone came over to sing to Jackson. I loved it and signed for more!"













"No seriously, is that it? Mom, where did they go?"