Jacob at 21 Months

It's been awhile since I did an update on Jacob and he has changed so much, so here goes! This blog is probably more for me because I STILL have not started his baby book, let alone Bailey's. If you ever feel like I give too much information on here, it's probably because I know that if I don't document it here, I won't remember because my memory is mush these days!

Jacob is sweet, hysterical, and exhausting all at the same time. I am constantly amazed at the new things he demonstrates each day. He is a sponge that doesn't miss a beat. I find myself looking at him in awe at how much he has grown up in the last few months and how he is no longer a baby, but this little boy. It makes me appreciate every moment with Bailey now because I know that she too will soon no longer be a baby. It honestly makes me want to cry!

Here is a long list of all-things-Jacob these days....

*He LOVES to sing. Daycare sings songs with them a lot and he has picked up so many songs from there. It's always interesting to try and figure out what song he is singing so we can sing along with him. I finally stumbled upon one of the mystery songs the other day when I was singing "Ring Around the Rosie" with him and he knew it and did all the motions. For the longest time, he has been singing the "ashes, ashes, we all fall down" verse, although I didn't pick up on what it was. His probably absolute favorite is "Wheels on the Bus". We have a CD at home that we play for him and he makes up put this song on "repeat" for him because it's all he wants to hear!

*He can be a great eater unless he is in a bad mood. We are eating more and more meals together as a family which is nice. He has been out of the high chair for a couple of months now and will sit in his booster seat unless he is in the mood to sit in our chairs. I quit fighting him on the this because it just isn't worth it. It took awhile to teach him to stay seated, but now he mostly does great. He also loves eating with utensils. He uses ours, which at first worried me with the fork, but he's done great! We also switched him to 2% milk at home (still gets whole milk at daycare) about two months ago. Pictured here is his first taste of corn on the cob!

*He is completely weaned from his pacifier!! We stopped giving it to him a few weeks ago because he had a nasty rash around his mouth that wasn't healing and getting worse. We think it was from using wipes on his face, but the pacifier wasn't helping things. He only got it at nap and bed times, but one night we didn't give it to him and he never asked for it again. If I had known it would have been that easy, I would have weaned him a long time ago!

*He talks all the time. He repeats a lot that we say and he knows the names to a lot of things and uses them correctly. He also is saying a lot of phrases now. He is also on a possession kick where everything is tied to a person and he uses all of our names in conjunction with objects. It is so neat for him to recognize something in real life outside of a book and call it by name. He loves buses and screams "bus" when he sees them on the road while we're driving. He also likes to look out the windows at home and watch the school bus go down our street in the morning. So cute!!

*In the last week or so he is starting to randomly announce when he is going "pee-pee". We bought him a potty a while back, but now he is starting to ask to sit on it. Right now, it's mainly a toy to him, but maybe he'll actually go on it sometime. I'm in no hurry to deal with potty training, but at least he is starting to show some interest.

*He is showing some compulsive behavior (gee I wonder where he gets that from!). He has special places for things and has a fit if they aren't where they are supposed to be. He also can't stand for doors to be open. If a door is even cracked open, he has a fit. It's interesting because he can be really messy, yet still have these compulsions. Another example occurred the other day. I always where flip-flop sandals in the house. Well, one day I left them at the bottom of the stairs and was walking barefoot around the kitchen. He stood at the gate to the stairs and had a temper-tantrum and said "shoes" over and over because I was supposed to have them on!

*He sleeps great. He now sleeps wonderfully in his new bed, although it is still just the mattress for now. I think soon we'll graduate him to the a regular bed set-up. He normally wakes up in the morning before we're ready for him and plays by himself in his room. This may change though because the other night he figured out how to open his door!

*The kid likes to push his boundaries. We find ourselves telling him "no" a lot. He climbs on top of everything and the other day we found him nestled in one of the shelves of his bookcase. If only we had the camera ready! We use time-out when he throws temper-tantrums and also threaten him with a time-out when we need him to stop doing something. For the most part it works. I know that he is just be a toddler, but I feel like he is a bit on the one side of the spectrum sometimes. He is just so high-energy which is part of the problem. I get so jealous of the parents of toddlers who can sit still and pay attention and not run off. It might be part parenting, but not all of it!!

*He is our little helper doing outside work. All summer he has been by our sides when watering flowers. He also likes to help us pull weeds. His role is to take the weed we hand him and put it into his bucket. He couldn't be happier to help! I mentioned to Dan that I wondered how long the free labor will last!

*If I had to name his favorite activities right now, I'd say they are singing, playing with bubbles, playing in water, looking for bugs, reading books, reorganizing his toys, drawing with chalk, stickers,, doing wooden puzzles (love Melissa and Doug!!), going for walks, and entertaining his sister.

Sorry for the book, but there just seemed so much to share!!

Weekend Fun

This past weekend was great. I took Friday off from work to take Jacob to the pool for his first time. One of the local pools has a great toddler area complete with toddler slides, splash areas, and a zero-depth pool. Additionally, it has a designated toddler time each morning from 9-11 which worked out great. I've been waiting for a day that would be warm enough to go and be comfortable in the morning hours and Friday worked out best. Jacob did great. At first he just wanted to sit in the lounge chairs, I think because they were low to the ground and perfect for him, but he eventually figured out that the water would be more fun! I stuck with him the whole time because he couldn't do the slides safely on his own and I didn't want him to fall down in the water and not get up quick enough. Afterwards, I took him the the adjacent park so he could play. We didn't stay long because he was pretty worn out from the pool and I needed to get him home for lunch before his nap. It was so nice to spend one-on-one time with him without having to take care of Bailey as well. It was good for both of us!!

On Saturday we went up to visit Sharla at her house near Chicago and do some much needed clothes shopping for the kids. We had a great coupon for Carter's and Kohl's and spent a lot of money buying most of their clothes for fall and winter. We still have to get more for Bailey, but I want to wait until closer to the time she will need them to see exactly how big she'll be. We went out to lunch, which is the first time we have gone to a sit-down restaurant since Bailey was born. It was great to have a third person to help. Jacob did so well and although Bailey had a meltdown on the way to the restaurant, she crashed and slept when we got there, which worked out well!

After lunch, we went back to Sharla's house and relaxed the rest of the day and ordered in pizza for dinner. We were going to take Jacob to a nearby splash park, but decided to just stay put and let him play with her hose in the backyard. He loved it!! Jacob is soooo attached to his Aunt Sharla and he asks about her all the time. On the way home, he kept saying her name over and over again. We told him that she had to stay at her house and we had to go back to our house. He kept saying "Aunt Shawa gone." He fell asleep on the way home and when he woke up when we arrived back at our house, he said "Aunt Shawa" before even opening his eyes. It was really cute and sad at the same time!!

We skipped church on Sunday and Dan let me get some extra sleep while he watched the kids. My dad dropped by around lunchtime and it was nice to see him and for him to visit with the kids. The rest of the day was filled with your typical "Sunday things" (laundry, mowing the lawn, cleaning up the house, running errands, spending time with the kids, and getting ready for the week). All-in-all, it was a great weekend.

Here are a few extra pictures from the weekend....

Talkin', Razzin', and Laughin' Videos

Here are a few videos of Bailey doing a few firsts mentioned in the previous blog entry, "Four Months."


Talking




Razzing




Laughing for the first time

Four Months

Bailey turned four months old a couple of weeks ago and she is changing so fast!! She is getting more and more fun to play and interact with. I have introduced her to Jacob's old infant toys and she is loving them! I plan on getting the exersaucer out today for her to try out. The funny thing is is that Jacob has a new found interest in all these toys and is having a hard time seeing her with them. He sometimes grabs them and says "Jacob's", so we're teaching him how to share with his sister. He especially gets jealous when she sits in the bumbo seat because that is something that he still identifies as his. This is just the beginning of them fighting over toys!!

She has been sick on-and-off for the last couple of months. She has already missed seven days from daycare! Her last cold kept her home for two days with a fever and then the next week another two days with a painful ear infection. The doctor mentioned that if she keeps up this pattern, she'll end up with tubes in her ears this winter. He is concerned that she is getting sick too much in the summertime, however she did just start daycare.

She is definitely a tiny little thing. She weighed 13 lbs 1 ounces (27th percentile) and was 24 1/2 inches long (45th percentile). Her head circumference is in the 31st percentile. Jacob was such a chunk, that I'm just amazed how how petite she is. Her clothes are lasting longer at least!

Here are some highlights of what she is up to:

*Smiling - she smiles a lot and is just a happy baby. Her daycare teachers commented that it is hard to give her bottles because she just looks up at them and smiles. She is also extremely smiley first thing in the morning which is a great start to the day for us!!

*Babbling - she makes a lot of noises these days, including razzing.

*Sitting up - she is finally holding her head up much better and is able to sit up with support now

*Rolling over - she rolled over for the first time on July 23rd (back-to-front)

*Giggling - she surprised us last Friday night by laughing hysterically for about 5-10 minutes straight. I was holding her in a sitting position on the kitchen table while Jacob finished up his dinner and Jacob decided to entertain his sister by banging on the table. This sent her into a giggle-fit for the first time! He also made her laugh when I was pushing him in the swing that night while I was holding her. So far, only Jacob has made her laugh.

*Grabbing - she grabs onto anything within reach now and is loving her toys. She has begun to mouth her toys so teething is probably just around the corner. She also likes to hold onto her feet but hasn't put them into her mouth yet.

*Sleeping - she is pretty much sleeping through the night. She is typically asleep by 9:00, wakes up at 4:00 to eat, and then is up at 7:00. With her off-and-on colds and my fear of her rolling over in her sleep and not being able to get her head up, I've kept her in our room at night. She will move to the crib soon, but I'm not just quite ready.

At four months

Peep show

County Fair

We took the kids to our county fair on Saturday. What was supposed to be a sunny, 80-degree day turned into a cooler, drizzly day. Despite the weather, we were there for four hours! Although it was somewhat wet, it still beat the 90-degree temperature from last year. Dan's company sponsored a company picnic for lunch so we began with that.

Through his company, we also got discounted unlimited ride passes. Jacob is a thrill-seeker so we were excited to take him on rides. There weren't many that he was tall enough to go on, but we found a few that worked. He of course loved the giant slide, but also liked going on the mini-truck train over and over again!! I was so proud of him for going on this by himself and not even crying at all. He is very social, but is pretty shy in new situations, but he did great by himself! We also tried out the carousel, but he wasn't too tolerant of the five-minute wait for it to start and then held on for dear life when it started up, but I think he liked it. I also took him on a ride that you sit in individual units that can spin by themselves while the ride also goes in a circle. I thought he would love this, but he cried to get off the whole time. We also each took turns taking him through the fun house. It was quite the obstacle to carry him through this when it is built for little kids. The worker should never have let us in there with him! I think that Jacob had a good time on the rides and I know that next year will be better when he is taller for some of the other little-kid rides. I think Bailey will have to wait a couple of years before she goes on any though!

We also took him through all of the animal buildings. It was neat to see him recognize the farm animals. We mostly kept him in the stroller because we needed to keep him under control and the buildings had lots of animal waste that you had to navigate around. He did get to walk around the small animal building which had rabbits, chickens, ducks, and turkeys. He had such a good time cruising up and down the aisles looking at the animals which were eye level to him.

I have included a slide show below of all of the pictures along with some videos of the day. Bailey slept the majority of the time in the stroller so you won't see any pictures of her, but we'll get some next year!!

Picture slide show

Mclean County Fair 2009

Going down the slide



Riding the train



Looking at the ducks and turkeys