Big Boy Words

Your vocabulary has been rapidly expanding and you now say some pretty cute things. You went from one word to two word combos and now...some pretty full sentences. Your first sentence was, "I afraid of the dark."I was surprised by the completeness of your statement and by the fact that you think you are afraid of the dark. You aren't really. You walk into dark rooms, sleep completely through the night in the dark and you love the moon and stars. So, I was quite shocked by your first sentence. 

Not only is your vocabulary expanding but so are your feelings and emotions. You were never afraid of something before. You are learning to label your feelings and we are helping you to manage them. You are quite the feeler. You feel things deeply. When someone leaves, when you don't get your way, your little heart breaks. But, you are a good listener and we can explain things to you and you understand. It's a work in progress and I'm learning to not take every fit and bout of defiance personally. It's hard...every child is different and sometimes I compare you to other kids...and that's not fair to you or me...at all. I'm learning, this whole process is new to both of us. I always thought my parents knew what they were doing...but, no amount of reading or babysitting has prepared me for the real life decisions I face everyday. Do I spank you...time out...take away that toy...sit you down and talk...a condo of all of the above. Somedays it feels like a barley make it through with my sanity but, you are growing up to be quite nice and even polite. There isn't much more I can ask for right now. You are discovering who you are just as much as we are getting to know you. 

Anyways....

My favorite new thing that you do is narrate your self. You say things like..."I sit down" "I do it" "I get it" "I pick it up" "I color" "I play with cars"...I love it!! I love that you know what you are doing and you love to tell us. You are so proud of the fact that you can communicate with us. It is such a joy to watch you grow and learn. 

Something else thats new...I think we are going to start potty training. I want to just do it in one swoop and will probably start the 'three day method' soon. Let's do it or not. But, to see if you were ready, Daddy and I bought you a really cool ramp/launcher thing for your cars! It sat on the back of the toilet in your bathroom and you would try and try to go potty in your toilet so you could get this toy. You totally understood what we wanted you to do and that you would get that awesome toy if you went in the potty! So one night Daddy sat you down to try and you went!!! We were so excited. It was the smallest amount of pee I have ever seen but you did it! We rejoiced and you clapped for yourself. You were so excited to get your new toy. We even stayed up a little past bed time to play with it! So, another journey begins. I'm not quite sure I'm ready...I think potty training is more about mommy training at first...always asking if you have to go. Well, here goes nothing. 

We took these pictures today...I love being silly with you!!

Love, Mama/glad to be on this journey with your Daddy and you!! (and soon our little Jackson)

Funny little happenings...

You say the funniest things. Not only do you repeat almost everything we say but you come up with the funniest sentences. Here are a few cute things you say...

We were in the pool, you were 'painting' with water on the cement. You grabbed my chin and turned it toward you and said "mama, look with eyes", to which I replied "what are you doing Jake?", "Painting, look with eyes." I love when you say 'look with eyes', we are working on not touching everything we see, somethings are not safe, other things are way out of reach and make me almost drop you, somethings you just need to not touch and so on. So I have told you, "Jake, look with you eyes, not your hands, please." or "no touch, look with your eyes." You have picked up on that concept very quickly, you still touch things sometimes and I love that you say it to me...so funny. I just can't get over it...'mama, look with eyes!". When we are out people get such a kick out of you saying such things. You are so very smart...too smart sometimes.

Next story, We were meeting with our young marrieds group trying to find a Giant's game to go to. Prices went up this year because the Giants won the world series last year! So in joking, I said, "Darn the Giant's for winning the worlds series last year." You were walking around not paying any attention to us, just playing with your cars. But as luck would have it you walked over to me and said "dang it!" All of us could not believe it. I quickly explained to you that we don't say that and you went on your way. None of us wanted to make too much of a big deal of it or you would have kept doing it, thinking it was funny. Oh, buddy, mama needs to watch what she says around you...or were going to get called into the nursery!!

In this story you didn't say anything funny just did the funniest thing I have ever seen!! We went to AAA to get car insurance and you were with us. We knew that this would take some time, so I had plenty of cars and snacks. At one point you walked behind us while we were answering some questions. When we turned around you were licking with glass cubical wall. Tongue out, licking back and forth across the glass wall. I didn't laugh, although it was super funny. You got scolded and told to stay in the cubical and play with your cars. But, you had left your mark, two giant spit streaks across a glass wall (we caught you on the second spit streak!). Oh toddler of mine. Some parents might be mortified it this behavior but, what are you to do, it was funny, he was bored and he did get in trouble for doing it. We apologized and the insurance lady laughed. So, no harm done. Some windex and things will be back to normal.

You new favorite thing to tell/ask us is "read to Jake." I think it's funny that you refer to yourself mostly as Jakob and occasionally in certain phrases as Jake, like here. You will bring us books, even some of Mommy's baby magazines and Daddy's car magazines. You love to read, look at pictures and learn.

Your vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems as though in two weeks you have learned how to put words together and your sentences just keep on growing. I'm always impressed by how quickly you pick things up. Just this week you have nailed down your colors and you are labeling things, blue truck, red semi, yellow jeep. I love it. You never stop talking, well, only to make car noises. We are so proud of you Jake. You are such a great boy, you bring so much joy to our lives!!

So, I forgot a story....Let me start by saying, you don't watch much TV, like maybe an hour a week, and even fewer movies. You have a Toy Story book with little character toys that came with it. You love this book. The other day you walked up to me, pointed to the TV and said, "Mama, show, please." I was stunned, you have never asked to watch TV before. "You would like to watch something on TV, Jake?" was my response. "yes please." well ok, so I asked you what you would like to watch and you said, "Buzz and Woody" this is particularly odd because you have never watched Toy Story or any shows with Buzz or Woody in them. "oh, you want to watch Toy Story?" I clarified. "Yeah" this is your response to everything. I say it and you say it just like me...we spend a lot of time together. Well, I couldn't figure out how to watch Toy Story off of our Apple TV, now I know, so we watched it the next day. You sat and watched the whole movie, we even had a special lunch on the couch of mac and cheese (your fav) while watching Toy Story. You loved it! Funny kid, you know what you want and now how to ask for it! You are growing up so fast. 

Love,
Mama/ proud to teach you!

18 Months Old!!

Happy 18 Months my boy!

You have changed so very much in this very quick year and a half. I am sometimes still in amazement that you are mine...You are truly a joy. Your daddy and I are truly blessed to that you have been bestowed upon us. You are a gift and we do our best each day to teach you and train you in the way of the Lord. 

Here are you current stats:

30 lbs. 3oz. (80th percentile)

31" tall (95th percentile)

and I don't remember your head measurement but it's in the 90th percentile!

You are tall that is for sure, everyone is always surprise to learn that you are only 18 months old. Usually after they have been talking to you for a few minutes and you have only replied with smiles and simple words. I think people expect you to start spewing complete sentences...soon...no rush!

You do know so many words. There are too many to list. My favorite things you say are, O-range, mah-mah (for monster truck), mo-mo (for motorcycle), airplane, choo-choo. As you can tell you love things that move and make noise!! You have started calling us Mommy and Daddy, only occasionally, when you are referring to us not actually calling us...funny.

You love to run and are getting the hang of jumping. You absolutely love to be tossed in the air and spun around. 

You have started sitting on the couch with the adults. You can climb up on your own and squeeze into whatever room is left on the couch. You watch minimal TV, Little Einstein's, the Good Night show on Sprout, Penguins of Madagascar, some Clone Wars with Daddy. All of these are occasional, you will watch as you please and then run off and play, come back and watch for a little while and then you are off again! 

You LOVE playing cars. You have a gigantic hot wheels collection, like 300 something cars that have been collected since before you were born. You love playing with them, by yourself or with people. You know the names of some of them too...Raptor, Land Rover, Jeep (of course) and if you don't know the specific name it's 'Car' or 'Truck' and you know the difference. Oh, and if it's a police car, ambulance and fire truck you make a siren sound for it...

You have begun learning to express yourself. Sometimes you get so frustrated, your face turns red and you yell. You are quick to calm down and apologize. Time out's work very well for you, as does talking it out. You are very smart and we treat you as such. We always explain what you did wrong and how you should respond the next time. You are a quick learner, I'm hoping you are getting your toddler stuff out early. You have always developed early no reason this should be an exception. It's tiring but I know that this is just a phase and if I deal with it well now you will grow up knowing how to behave. Which make life more pleasant for everyone. You are by no means horrible now, not even one time out a day. Somedays are worse than others. Your daddy just got back from a week long trip to Mexico and you were not happy that he was gone for so long. You made it quite clear a few times that you wanted him home...now!! But we made it through and now your daddy is back, reading you stories and playing cars...the world is right again!

You are not a picky eater. You eat what we eat usually. You aren't a huge fan of salmon but you like tuna. You like some sushi and love edamame, of course pizza, chicken (nuggets or grilled), mac and cheese is one of your favorites. You like peas, carrots and corn. You will eat anything if it has BBQ sauce on it...especially Grandma's sauce. You drink whole milk and water with the occasional chocolate milk or apple juice. You love oatmeal, yogurt, fruit snack and nutri-grain bars (fut-ba as you call them).

You like coloring and playing with play-doh. After you eat breakfast I keep you in your high chair and we color or squish play-doh. We sing songs and do some flash cards. 

You are learning your colors. You know the names of all the colors but not what they are. You know pink and purple really well. O-range and lellow (in Jakey speak) are some of your favorite colors. We are also working on counting and the alphabet.  You know one and two and can hold fingers up to count and you know if you have two of something. You also know what sounds certain letters make...M,P,S,L, D and B! See I told you, you were smart!

You are shy around complete strangers, you won't talk, just smile and sometimes wave. Sometimes you ignore people when you haven't seen them for a while. They say Hi and you turn your head away. I wonder if you are bitter or punishing someone for not being around more often. 

You are a great sleeper...11.5 to 12 hours every night and then a two hour nap everyday. I'll take it! 

You love to read, we always read before bed. I have to give you a cutoff number of books we will read or we would be reading books all night or through nap time. I have a shelf of cardboard books down at your level that you will pull out and read through out the day. Sometimes by yourself and sometimes you will bring the book to me to read to you! 

You love your family and Ted the dog. You love to laugh and make other people laugh. You are so full of energy and life! You have done summersaults off of low lying pillows and taken a few spills off the couch. You are tough and get right up and keep on going. You have gotten more cuddly in the past few months. It totally when you want it, which is fine, I'll take what I can get. You will walk up and plop your head in my lap or snuggle up to me on the couch...best thing ever! You are learning to blow kisses and give eskimo kisses. Your hugs consist of you falling onto someones shoulder so they can hug you and your kisses are the presentation of your cheek so someone can grace it with a smooch!

These past 18 month have flown by and continue to leave me in awe of the God we serve. He has perfectly designed you. I have had little to do with your actually development. He is orchestrating your life and I am merely the first chair violinist...with daddy as first chair trumpet. Ok this analogy is getting weird. But I am here to help instill in you what the Lord has taught me. The rest is in his hands. I am so glad that we serve a gracious and masterful God and that He is in control. It is was all on me I would feel overwhelmed with responsibility. But I do my best each day knowing that the Lord will fill the gaps. 

Thank you Jake, for making being a mommy so great. Your daddy adores you and can't get enough of you. We are so glad that you are ours!

Happy 1 1/2 years!!