Jacob - 2 Years

Jacob turned two years old a couple of weeks ago. I've already blogged about his pictures we took and his birthday party, so here is the blog about what Jacob is up to these days.

Jacob has dramatically changed over the last few months. He now talks all the time and we understand most of what he is saying. It is so great to hold conversations with him now. He speaks in short sentences and really communicates well to us. He loves to learn new things and does a pretty good job at recalling things the next time. He is currently fascinated by puzzles and loves to put them together. He can put a 12-piece jigsaw puzzle together very easily and we're beginning to wonder if he has a photographic memory because he can watch it be done once and do it without a problem the next time. My dad and Dan both have photographic memories so it is possible.

Jacob just loves life. He is almost always happy and is very social. He has lots of friends at daycare and has the teachers wrapped around his little finger! He loves to sing and dance and we often will sing songs off of a children's CD in my car on the way home every night. Jacob also has discovered TV recently. We DVR'd "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and he watches it multiple times a day now. We've been trying to introduce other cartoons, but he seems pretty happy with Charlie Brown at the moment!

Jacob is also very sweet to Bailey (unless she is stealing his toys). Whenever she cries he finds her pacifier or will hug her and tell her it's going to be okay. He also cheers her on with us when she does something exciting. Sometimes I forget that he is only two. Jacob constantly cracks us up and I can't wait to see how he evolves over the next year!


Here are his milestones:

*Height - 36 inches (87th percentile), Weight - 29 1/2 pounds (69th percentile), head (75th percentile)

*Knows all of his colors

*Counts to 10

*Speaks in short sentences

*Can name family members and all of his friends and teachers at daycare

*Has all of his teeth except the two-year molars

*Tells us when he is going #2 and is expressing interest in using the potty

*Loves to mimic what we do and is starting to pretend play

*Moves chairs (and toys) over to light switches, countertops, etc. to get what he needs - this is not necessarily a bad thing either!

*Just started watching TV cartoons

*Has become my little helper and likes to let Rascal outside/inside and will help get me things I need

*Favorites include: everything yellow, school buses, dancing to the "Cha Cha Cha" (see video below), pizza and fruit snacks, puzzles, playing outside


Here are some pictures of Jacob on his actual birthday:

Opening presents

Playing with his new racetrack

His first attempt at putting together Mr. Potato Head


Posing with his gifts from us

Eating his birthday cupcake



Here are some goofy pics of him in the last couple of weeks"

Playing in the leaves

Found him in his toy box one night

He loves to fool around with boxes, here an Easy Mac box


Jacob dances to the "Cha Cha Cha" every night and loves showing off his moves. Here is a video of him along with Bailey getting into too!

Yellow Party

We had a "yellow" party for Jacob's 2nd birthday. He absolutely loves all-things yellow, so it was an easy pick. The decorations were pretty simple and we had the cake decorated with a school bus, in honor of his other favorite thing. We invited family over and most wore yellow which was fun! We served lunch, which went well I think and then opened presents and had cake. All-in-all it was a great time!

Jacob got a lot of great presents. He got loads of puzzles, books, clothes, and much-needed new toys. He got a golf set, bathtime basketball hoop, vacuum cleaner (which actually cleans!), alphabet fridge toy, racetrack, and Mr. Potato Head.

Bailey did steal some of Jacob's thunder during the party, though, with a monumental first. She started crawling for the first time during the party and it was really special to have family there to witness it. I'll share more during her eight-month post here in a couple of weeks!

Here are pictures taken during the party. Thanks to Sharla for taking pictures for me, which is why she isn't in many.

Jacob's 2nd Birthday Party

Jacob's Pictures at 2 Years

After our fiasco last summer of trying to get Jacob to cooperate in taking professional pictures, we made the decision to take our own and no money would be lost. On a nice day last weekend we took the kids to our favorite local park and took lots of pictures of Jacob to mark him at two years. The park is great and has lots of playground equipment, a splash park, and lots of great landscape spots. It was so hard to get him to look at the camera AND smile, but I'm happy with what we got. I just wish we had gone a couple of weeks sooner when there were still lots of pretty leaves out, but that's okay!

I've included the photo album of all the pictures I like. Believe it or not, I started with 150!!

Jacob - 2 Years

7 Months

Bailey is really becoming a big girl, developmentally, not in size! She is still so tiny and she really has no baby fat except her thighs. This month she is on the move! She is on the verge of crawling and rocks back-and-forth and lunges in all directions. I think that she would be crawling by now if her leg strength was better. She still can't really stand very well, but that's okay. We do have to watch her because she does make her way to things, particularly Jacob's toys. Bailey is also eating much better and just began the fruits.

Bailey had a rough week a couple of weeks ago. She started a fever on a Sunday afternoon with no other symptoms. When I called the nurse on Monday, she advised me not tp bring her in unless her fever lasted more than three days so we could see if anything else developed. Well, her fever never broke and by Tuesday night it hit 104 degrees with the chills. It was heartbreaking to watch her in that state. I was up with her all night and called the 24-hour nurse line several times. I got her into the dr first thing the next morning and it turns out she had a urinary tract infection and probably kidney infection. Poor girl. She got on antibiotics and her fever broke by Thursday, but then she went on a milk-strike through Friday. She is now scheduled for some tests on the 16th at the hospital to see if she has a condition that will cause her to be prone to additional UTIs. Hopefully we'll get some answers and then onto the next steps of treatment. More later!

7-month milestones:

*Through the vegetables and onto fruits

*Nearly crawling

*Sleeping through the night without feedings, but still needs soothed a few times a night

*Takes about three naps per day

*Beginning stranger anxiety


Bailey pulling everything out of her diaper basket while I wasn't looking

Halloween 2009

The kids had a great Halloween this year. It was fun that Jacob had more of an understanding of certain aspects of Halloween than he did last year. He liked wearing his costume and getting candy! Jacob went as Tigger and Bailey was a ladybug. Daycare had a parade on Friday, which was inside due to the rain and then each room had a party afterwards. The infant room really doesn't do anything significant, so I spent time in Jacob's room. It was great to watch him interact in that environment, which I don't get to see. There were a few of his guy friends gone that day, but there were about eight kids total.

We took Jacob trick-or-treating for the first time and he loved getting candy. We taught him to say "trick-or-treat" and he actually said it! It was chilly that night, so I bundled Bailey in her stroller so I wouldn't miss the experience. We made it around the block before I took Bailey back home and then Dan and Jacob hit a few more houses. Afterwards, Jacob also had fun when kids came to our door. He stood and watched and let us know when kids were coming. Next year will be even more fun with Bailey more in the action!!

Here is a photo album of all the Halloween pictures :)

Halloween 2009