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I'm a little emotional today.

Not going to hide it.
 
These milestones are so exciting, but they are so much harder when it is the last one.  I may or may not have a tear sliding down my cheek right now.

Nevertheless, it is still exciting to celebrate these milestones with my sweet little man.  I'm biased, but I just love this bluebonnet picture of him.  It makes me want to reach into my computer and squeeze those precious cheeks!  So, what's happening Bubs?

Little big man, you are now 27 3/4 inches tall (>3rd percentile) and 18 lbs, 12 oz (>3rd percentile).  Your head circumference is 47 cm (64th percentile). You are still my cute little pumpkin head.  It is a little jarring to see you with the 'older kids' at church.   Because you are so incredibly mobile, you've already graduated to the older class.  I saw you looking for me at the gate when I was coming to pick you up.  At first, I thought you were kneeling down.  Nope!  Turns out you were standing straight and tall next to the much taller kiddos.  Maybe there's a big growth spurt in your future!

Despite your stature, you are a social butterfly.  I am truly amazed at your innate charisma.  You charmed the entire waiting room while Sissy was at speech.  This included an older gentleman sitting on his walker whom you convinced to pick you up and give you a horsey ride.

And that is not to mention the entire crew of older gentlemen who play racquetball on Wednesdays while your sisters are in dance classes.  It is a constant chorus of "Hey, Jackson!" and "How's it going, Buddy?"  You have even convinced several of them to let you borrow their racquets which you promptly bang as hard as you can against the floor while they chuckle adoringly.  It was not entirely surprising that one of them presented you with your very own racquetball yesterday.  Clearly, you know how to work a room.

As far as eating goes, you love anything that I'm eating.  You could have the same thing on your plate, but you want mine.  So, needless to say, you remain enthusiastic about food.  One of your more unusual favorites as of late is tomato basil lentil snaps.  I can thank the sample tray at Sprouts for this unusual snack.  Strangely enough, though, you did not enjoy the cupcakes I baked for your birthday.  You enjoyed smashing it up, but you did not like eating it.  You may be the only kid in history that doesn't really love cake.
You are (finally) sleeping through the night.  It turns out my limit for night wakings is 11 months, 4 days.  We sleep trained the next night.  You were actually quite easy to sleep train.  And, now you sleep like a champ.  You go down between 7:30 and 8 and wake up between 7:30 and 8.  You take one long midday nap.

You have become quite an affectionate little thing.  You will walk up and give our legs sweet hugs.  Sometimes, you will cuddle your head right in the crook of my neck.  You will lay there for a minute before you're ready to go play again.  It touches my heart every time.

You are growing into a special young man.  We are so thankful for our sweet little Bubsy!