Cleaning Up

Jake, I have to hand it to you, you are smart. Too smart for your own good!! Awhile back you started helping me clean up after meals. I hand you a wipe and you would wipe down your highchair tray. We all thought it was really cute. We can't clean up with out you helping, it helps turn something unpleasant into something slightly fun. Now you have started wiping your mouth! The first time you did it, you did great. Then you started doing this funny thing. You hold the wipe in front of your mouth and move your jaw back and forth. I have to get it on video, my description isn't doing it justice. You look at me like, "I'm wiping my mouth mom, so you don't have to!". It cracks me up! Do you think you are deceiving me? Your little jaw just moving back and forth without the wipe even touching anything! Amazing. Is this what I have to look forward to? You trying to trick me for the rest of your life? It could be worse, at least life will be entertaining!

Love,
Mommy/I love that you are silly!

You are a genius!!

I'm always so impressed by what you understand and the concepts that you grasp at such a young age!

The other night at dinner I told you to put your water in the cup holder on your tray with just verbal commands, no showing you where the cup holder was and you took your cup and plopped it right in the cup holder. This is even cooler to me because for so long you didn't allow anything on your tray. Not even my arm, you would push it off and look at me like I was crazy for having my arm on YOUR tray! Your cup has gotten tossed many times from your tray, so I was very excited when you put your sippy in it's 'special spot' and left it there for a whole meal. 

Another incident proving to me how smart you are happened the other night, just before bath time. You were running around naked, I know that I take some risks with having you naked, but I feel like every kid needs some naked time. What better place than a tiled bathroom? You were walking around while I was filling the tub and then you got quiet. This is my cue that you are getting into something you shouldn't. So I turned around to see you banging on the lid to the toilet, peeing on the floor. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a coincident that you walked over to the toilet and peed. You were walking around and then walked over to the toilet and were banging on the baby proofed lid like, mom this thing won't open! It was funny. I cleaned you off, put you in the tub and cleaned the floor! All the while amazed that you have grasped the concept of going in the potty. 

You call just about everything "ba" for ball but you are quickly learning the names to everything. You point to things and look at us waiting to learn the name of whatever object caught you fancy. It is such a joy to teach you. To help you learn about the world. I knew you would be fun but I just love teaching you new things. The grocery store is the best. You point to apples, I tell you what they are and you repeat "a-po". My favorite is Avocado, you say "ca-do" or "Avo". Too cute. 

Oh, you also love to share. What one year old loves to share? You walk around handing people toys and objects wanting them to play with you or teach you! I love that you love people, even when it makes eating out difficult, you would rather wave to everyone than eat! You have made many peoples days with just a smile. You have a gift Jakey. You connect with people in a special way, even now!

Well, my boy, I'm convinced you are a genius! Every mom is convinced their kid is the smartest kid around! But I'm sticking by my claim. I promise to not over do it though. No "my baby can read" or memorizing things at a young age. We will play fun learning games and have a great time learning about the beautiful world we live in! 

Love, 

Mommy/contemplating home-schooling you. 

12 Months Old

I know this is super late. Next week you will be 13 months! But here are some cute 12 month pictures of you! 

you really like the hat I made for you!

I love this face! 

you look so innocent! 

there's a cute smile!! 

this is one of my favorite pictures of you!

silly boy!

"mom, i don't like this hat on my head!"

you loved playing with a pom pom!

cute little boy!

this is your baby model pose

pointing and saying "ooo"

'I didn't do it'

This is my favorite face you make!

learning to walk. 

Here are some facts about you:

At this point you are wearing some 24month clothes, some 18 month and even some 12 month clothes. It just depends on the item of clothing.

You have 9 almost 10 teeth (all 8 front middle and your right molar). We brush your teeth and you love it. Daddy is trying to teach you how to spit. I hope that doesn't back fire!

You stand independently and take a few steps every so often but are not walking. I walked early, around 9 months so, I'm really glad that you have taken your time. That seems to be the way you do things. In your own time, when you feel capable. You are working on getting your standing down first and then you will walk when you feel ready! You are a great crawler and get around just fine without walking for now. It's giving me a little time to get used to your mobility and now I think I am prepared for you to walk. Everything is baby proofed!!

You say, da-da, mama, dog, ball, thank you, all done, hi, up, and just about anything we say you will repeat! We are not introducing baby signs, ask me why we didn't some time, I have my reasons. 

You take two, two hour naps a day, usually. I think the first nap will be dropped here pretty soon. You sleep 11-12 hours every night. Your bed time is 9pm, this time works best for us, you get to eat dinner with the family, play a little, spend time with daddy, take a bath and go to bed. Plus it allows me to get up before you and get somethings done. For us this works best.

You eat 3 meals a day and a bed time bottle. You eat what we eat and you refuse to eat baby food. You won't touch applesauce because you think it's baby food!! You are a funny boy. We also switched you over to whole milk, with no issues at all. You won't drink it cold and you only have it at bed time. You drink water the rest of the day. We tried giving you some juice, I'm not a fan of the empty calories juice has but, we tried some. The only time you get diaper rash is when we give you juice so, no juice! You love water anyway, and it's much healthier for you! 

As you are growing your wants and desires are becoming more and more clear. You have learned the power of the word "up" and use it every chance you get! your personality is showing more and more. I love that you are who God created you to be. I get to help shape your character but your personality was designed by the creator of the universe and it's amazing to see who he created you to be! It gives me a little insight to His heart!

Well, my boy, you are a delight! I have loved these past months. I don't know how I ever lived before you came along. You have brought so much to our lives. You are the apple of your daddy's eye. It gives me so much joy to watch you two play. You adore him and already look up to him. I love that your relationships with each of us are different, we each take different roles in your life. You have a huge heart and I can tell you will love people. You also love to challenge the rules. You are just like your mommy and daddy, I'm sorry! We will do our best to pass on the wisdom we have learned in our short lives to you, hopefully it will save you some heart ache. 

Love, 

Mommy/still in denial that you are 12 months old!!

On your birthday

On your actual birthday, Mommy, Grandma and Daddy (who left work just for you), went to this place called 'The Jungle'. It's a place with ball pits and tubes to play in and they have a special toddler section, just for you! We went for a short, little special time to celebrate your birthday. Here you are enjoying your first outing as a one year old! 

You have a tent with balls in it at home but this was much deeper and bigger!

you kept saying, "ba...ba" for ball! 

Mommy got to get in with you and play!! 

Mommy and Jake.

As you get older this will become more and more fun. I was really impressed with what you could do though. You crawled through tubes and across ropes and dove into the ball pit! You had a great time. After playing hard we went and got 'Pizza My Heart'. One of our favorite pizza places! You ate mushrooms and sausage off of my pizza and took bites of some cheese pizza. You really enjoyed it!

Happy Birthday my boy!! I can't believe how different you look from last year. Life truly is a miracle!

Love, 

Mommy/ thankful for my little miracle!

Birthday Party!!

About a month ago we had a birthday party for you! I was so excited to plan and decorate. For some reason it became a big deal to me. I always want your birthday to be special and separate from Christmas. I LOVE birthdays!! It's like your own holiday, a day to celebrate your life and how special you are!! I hope that we can always do that for you! I apologize that your birthday falls amongst the crazy holiday season but I promise to always make a special time for you! Anyway, back to the party. We had a small gathering family and close friends over and mommy over decorated. Nana made a white chili and Grandma made baked potato soup, both were delicious! 

we decorated the dining area

I made you a birthday banner!

and centerpieces!

These Ikea stuffed animals have gotten so much use. I used them to decorate at the shower, you love playing with them and now they are decorations again! 

A giant Cupcake for you!

Little cupcakes for everyone else!

Sweet little birthday plates!

You didn't quite understand why we were letting you rip paper

You really enjoyed all of your presents

I'm really excited about the musical instruments you got.

You love your Yoda!

starting to get the hang of opening gifts

you were so serious the whole night. I think it was a bit overwhelming for you. 

This Buzz lightyear car is awesome, it has helped you learn to walk and you love pushing the buttons!

when you play with cars you make this cute car noise, "vrooooom".

you got a sit n' spin which you would rather stand on

finally it was time for cake! look at how cute you are!

waiting patiently for cake...in the adorable hat I made you!

you couldn't figure out why we were singing

but you enjoyed the candles

the way you reacted to your cake could be my fault, i have never let you smash food every where or dig into your food like crazy. So when this giant cupcake was placed on your tray you looked at Daddy and me like we were crazy and you thought you weren't allowed to touch it! 

you took these tiny little bites and kept your hands as neat as possible

you wanted to share your cake with everyone, or you just wanted to be cleaned up!

I opened up the cake a little and you continued getting only one hand messy and taking little nibbles

Mommy smashed your hands in the cake to help you get the idea of what you should be doing. You didn't like having sticky messy hands or mommy telling you what to do. You have never been a fan of being shown how to do something. I can't take your hand and write your name, I couldn't nurse you because I had to hold your head! From the first day you were born I could see, "I'll do it myself"behind your eyes. Not a bad way to do things but someday I hope you can learn to appreciate and heed other peoples advice and guidance! 

You had a great party! You were surrounded by loved ones and thats what truly matters. You also got some great gifts, that will help you learn and grow. Lots of books, puzzles, blocks, instruments where you make the noise,  and some fun noise making toys! It was a great day, one that I will remember for a lifetime! You are truly a joy to everyone around you. 

Love, 

Mommy/still trying to organize all of your toys!

First Haircut

Well my love, you were born with a full head of wispy blonde hair. When you came out we were really surprised to see that you had hair, most light haired babies aren't born with any. Your poor mother didn't have any hair until she was 2 years old! So I was very happy that you had some fuzz!! I was so nervous to cut it, I couldn't imagine what it would look like and it was one more thing that meant you were growing up! The day before your birthday party we took the plunge and cut your luscious locks! Grandma has been cutting your grandpa and uncles hair for a very long time so she had the honor of giving you your first hair cut! We bought a toy at Target and you played while grandma cut and I took pictures!

You look so grown up!! I didn't realize how long your hair was until we cut it and now you look much less like a girl! You went from a shaggy little baby to a clean cut little boy. You are so handsome! I can't believe you are a part of me. I'm so proud of you! 

Love, 

Mommy/in awe of the toddler you are becoming!