"I have coffee!?!"

Yesterday was one of those days that you would not want to repeat. Nothing went as planned, but amazingly, I was able to roll with it and not lose my mind. My life has been out of sorts for the past week because of all of the changes we've made to our travel plans. One day I'm cleaning out my fridge because I think I'm going to be gone for four weeks and the next day I'm picking up a friend's little girl who is Jackson's age and gratefully taking care of her for the weekend while I figure out what I'm going to feed the four of us plus make a meal for her family. Whew!

Last night, Jackson had a rough night. I'm sure our lovely day didn't help out. He went to bed late because of all of the last minute travel changes. About 30 minutes into his sleep, I heard him screaming. I went into his room and laid down with him. He kept trying to fall asleep, but just could not seem to get comfortable. I had noticed on Monday night that we was cutting two new teeth. Perhaps his teeth were bothering him?? But he wasn't showing any signs of teething pain. He'd gotten a terrible diaper rash earlier in the day and his little bottom was on fire. He never ever gets diaper rash. He's had it once in his life and it was when we first moved here. I have this great cream from Dr. Burts that I like to use if I notice even the slightest change in color on his bottom. Well, I gave it to Erika, the little girl we watched for the weekend, because she got the worst diaper rash I've ever seen. Jason gave her full strength apple juice while he was taking care of her and Jackson last Wednesday when I was at the hospital with her mom and dad. He had no idea that he needed to dilute it. Erika just happens to be one of those kids who has a bad reaction to full strength apple juice. I felt so bad about it being our fault, that I gave her our cream because it was working a lot better than her Desitin. I never dreamed that Jackson would get a daiper rash a few days later...although the thought did pop into my head that he would get one just because I gave away the cream! But I didn't actually believe it!

So back to last night. Teething. Diaper rash. A busy day. And I'm sure he wasn't oblivious to the last minute changes we were trying to make to all of our travel plans. It was almost midnight before he finally fell asleep! You would think that he would have slept in. No way! He was awake before 7. Then, by 1100, he was exhausted, so I put him down for an early nap. I thought that I'd have plenty of time to workout, doing some rounds in the sauna (our landlord has a sauna in this house), and shower before he woke up. I was 20 minutes into my workout when I heard him crying. He was "all done" sleeping after one hour, and I was all done thinking that I might try to get him back to sleep. So we got ready, played outside, went to the base and played at the playground, went grocery shopping, and then went to get what I felt was a well-deserved Starbucks.

I rarely drink coffee. For one, I don't like it unless it has a lot of milk and sugar, which I try to avoid. Plus, if I drink the littlest bit of caffeine, I'm wired for hours and hours. I do like Starbucks Frappuccinos, but they don't have those here and it's really cold anyway - 50 degrees. So I thought I'd try my first hot coffee drink at this cafe on base called Kuhl Beanz. I usually go there for hot tea, which Jackson loves. We drink vanilla red bush or herbal tea together at home almost every day. We both like it with a little honey and a few drops of cream! I told Jackson that we were going to go get some tea. He liked the idea. When I was getting him out of the car, I said, "Let's go get some coffee for Mommy and some tea for Jackson." He said, "Coffee." I thought he said car keys but he repeated himself until I realized he was saying coffee...a word he never hears. I said, "Oh! Coffee. Yes, Mama is going to get some coffee." His reply, "Jack." I said, "No, Jackson has tea. Mama has coffee." To which he replied, "I have coffee." I could not believe my ears. He was saying this as we were walking through the door and a lady heard him. She started laughing. I assured her that I do not let him drink coffee and that I don't even drink coffee, which is what made this so amazing to me. He kept repeating himself and smiling at me, "I have coffee!" We got him Calm Tazo tea and I got a really great decaf vanilla latte. It hit the spot!

Sorry for all of the rabbits I chased during this post. There is so much to talk about because so much has been going on and Jackson is changing so much every day. A couple of months ago, he started saying and using words a lot. But in the last week and half, he's been putting words together, forming sentences, repeating things I say, and saying 10-15 new words every day! I can't believe it and it is so exciting!