Who is this child?

My son is a little chameleon. I suppose at two this is perfectly normal, but he is constantly changing. Constantly. Part of it stems from the fact that he seems to be learning something new every single day, and the things he learns, he likes to put into practice. He's a little chatterbox full of cute little tidbits (provided you speak two year old). Two of his newest favorite sayings are "I so proud of you" and "I so cute." So humble. And when he's building something with his blocks, it's always a grocery store. For now. I'm sure it will change tomorrow.

This is sooooo different than a year ago when he was this little bundle of hesitation.

A year ago, I couldn't pay this child to say "mama"...He literally laughed at me. Could he say it? Yep. Would he? Not on your life. He would smile at the request, then say, "Dada!" You can imagine the glee this brought to my husband.

A year ago, the only words he would say with any regularity were Dada, Blue, Dado (his grandfather), and outside. ...Oh, and No. Of course. He only recently started saying yes. For a while, he would giggle when he meant yes. Then he would say "hooray!" But not yes. Then one day, out of the blue, he said yes as clear as a bell. No doubt. Such a sweet little articulate boy.

One of the things we've always been so proud of was how from a very early age Jackson would say "please" and "thank you" at appropriate times. Especially thank you (this is a big hit at restaurants when the food or chips or drinks arrive). So when he finally started saying yes, we started trying to instill the importance of saying "yes, ma'am" or "yes, sir"...sometimes he remembers, but mostly not. However, because his yes was so proper and polite sounding, I wasn't sweating it.

I'm sweating now.

Literally overnight, my son has stopped saying yes. It's "yeah" now. The teacher side of me has been pulling my hair out strand by strand for the past 24 hours. It's not even a polite sounding yeah...if there is such a thing. It's obnoxious sounding. He's my son and I love him, so I can say that.

I probably shouldn't be stressing about this like I am, but I'm a teacher. I want my children to be well-mannered. I know that in life, being polite will take you infinitely farther than being intelligent. Being intelligent will get you a degree, it will not get you a letter of recommendation from your professors. Being intelligent might get you a job, but being polite will keep that job. I'm not saying that good manners replace competence, but they complement each other nicely.

So right now, every question that has a positive answer goes like this:
Me: Jackson, do you love your momma more than cookies?
Jackson: Yeah.
Me: Yes, ma'am?
Jackson: Yes, ma'am.
Me: Big boys don't say "yeah."
Jackson: Yeah.
Me: Yes ma'am.
Jackson: Yes ma'am.

Do you have any idea how many questions a mother asks a two year old in a day? 732,000.