My baby turns 9 today

I'm not at all sure how this is possible. It seems as though he should still be four or so. He's still so much my baby; in fact I call him 'baby' which a few years ago he questioned but totally seemed fine with once I explained that he would always be my baby - long after he was bigger than me. I think he shrugged his shoulders and said - eh, okay.

Jackson is hilarious. He has no idea what the concept of comic timing is - but I tell you he has it in spades; the dramatic pause, the single eyebrow raise, the perfectly timed witty come back. He makes us laugh out loud every day.

Unfortunately he's able to make his peers laugh as well - which means he pays more attention to being the unofficial entertainment then to getting his work done in school. This has been an ongoing issue since birth and I imagine it isn't going away any time soon.

He has a tremendous amount of common sense and overall awareness of how the world works and how things are connected. Often he chooses to use this knowledge to amuse himself or others by starting a chain of events where he's confident of the outcome. It's hilarious and rather scary to watch, though of course we do our best not to fall down laughing and instead to point out the good and not so good times to use this power of his.

The other side of him is this lovely and wonderfully helpful little guy. He's matured so much over the past year, it's been really lovely to see. If I need him to do something - anything - he'll happily help out well unless he's in an ornery, stubborn mood which happens with some frequency.

He has been known to slam his door to great effect and follow that with throwing thing repeatedly against his door. He's full of drama. I have no idea whatsoever where he gets that side of him. (Brad you be quiet!)

This is a picture of him that captures his sweetness.