Here are some things I want to remember about our lives with Jake as he headed toward 2.--He loves to sing, and started singing along with us during our nap and bedtime routines. Although you can't understand all the words, you can pick up several and he definitely knows the tunes.
--He's even started singing along with the highschoolers at Bordines (a devo on Sunday nights). He knows some of the songs b/c we sing them at home, so he joins in.
--We've been working very hard on counting to ten, but he just won't say all the numbers even though I'm certain he knows them. Usually, he'll say, "2, 3, (pause and prompting) 5, 6, (pause and prompting) 8, 9, 10." He also sometimes just completely goes from, "2, 3...18!" Who knows why he says the number 18?
--We've been also working on colors, and although he will repeat all the names correctly, his answer to the question, "What color is this?" is always "Green."
--He loves to point out airplanes. Every time we're outside or even in the car and he hears/sees a plane, he'll stop what he's doing, point up and say, "plane, plane" or "airplane."
--His favorite song during this holiday season seemed to become "Jingle Bells." I mean favorite song of all, not just the holiday type. He spontaneously breaks out in "Jingle Bells" a lot.
--Jake went through a stage where he did not like baths. It was really weird and terrible, and we didn't know why. Kevin had a brilliant idea of asking Jake if he wanted to give any of his toys a bath too, and it was the perfect solution to compliant baths. Now, Jake will pick out an appropriate toy and while he's being washed he washes his toy. When Kevin's doing bath, I'm usually sitting on the couch, and when the boys are finished they both march out of the bathroom saying, "Mommy, clean! Mommy, clean!
--He is a big time whiner. This is one of Mommy's biggest struggles during the day, but we are working on it.
--I can't even count the number of times I use the phrase, "How do you ask nicely?" or "What do you say?" in order to help him remember to be polite with "please" and "thank you." The countless times have sunk in somewhat, though, b/c I have witnessed him using his manners without prompting!!!
--He went through a phase where instead of answering, "yes" he would say, "uh, huh." We heard "uh, huh" constantly, and had to constantly remind him of the polite response. Nowadays, "yep" has replaced "uh huh." At least it's a step closer to our goal of "yes" or "yes sir/ma'm"
--Athough he's getting much better with the English language, he still often talks in a language we call, "Jake-ese." He loves "talking" to someone or himself and just rambles, rambles and rambles in Jakese.
--Although Jakese still exists, he's saying many more full sentences. Some of them are "I don't want to watch this." when watching TV. "****, "where are you?" when looking for something.
--He cannot pronunciate the hard "k/c" sound or "g" sound. Instead, he says "Jate" for Jake, "milp" for milk "dot" for got.
--There's a night light in our hallway which Kevin and I would often turn off with our foot as we'd hold Jake in our arms to prevent bending down. Now we ask Jake to turn it off, and he lifts up his foot to do it.
--Preschool continues to go great. Preschool is the only place where he's dropped off on his own where he's NEVER cried.
--Although there are moments when it's sad to me he's growing up, I admit I'm mostly thrilled. I'm so happy he understands everything I say and that we are now starting to talk to each other. I also love that he will respond to my requests, and lately he's been doing a very good job with obeying.
--He has a sibling relationship with Skylar. Sometimes he's super sweet to her, but sometimes he will bother her and aggravate her for no apparent reason.
--If I'm ever upset enough around him that I'm crying, he will come over pat my back and give me a hug, all without prompting.
--When he's watching something on TV of which he has a toy, he always wants to go get the toy that corresponds with the show to watch with him. So he gets his Mickey doll during Mickey Mouse, his tools during Handy Manny, Buzz and Woody during Toy Story, and Nemo during Nemo. It's so cute.
-- I genuinely think he likes playing with kids his own age. He's started to show excitement when he sees his friends.
--He seems to be a follower.
--I'd been warned about the "No" word with having a toddler, and Jake definitely knows how to use this word, but instead of just saying "no" or "no, thank you" (what we're trying for), he sometimes says, "No Way!" This is something else we're trying to stop before it gets out of hand.
--Jake has been a wonderful sleeper throughout his life, sleeping 10-11 hours solid since he was 2 1/2 months old with just a regular bedtime routine and no tears. I definitely know this is a blessing in our lives, and have sometimes thought our days are numbered. Well, our sleeping fiasco began shortly before Thanksgiving when he first climbed out of his pack-and-play when we were out of town, then a few weeks later climbed out of his crib. We had about 1 month (unfortunately during and probably directly related to my wreck/rehab time) of very difficult time of sleeping. He fought going to bed at night, and woke up a couple times in the middle of the night. Kevin was a hero during this time b/c he was fighting the sleeping battle mostly on his own. I'm happy to say things are much, much better, and he's back to sleeping solidly through the night. We've pretty much nixed the getting out of bed routine, and he seems to be adjusting well to his big boy bed.
--When he wakes up in the morning, sometimes he yells really loudly to get our attention, but sometimes he's super quiet and he'll get down himself and come into our room. On mornings when I'm not ready to get up, he'll lay with me for about 15-30 minutes. It's a really sweet time.
--He weighs 28 pounds, is 34.5 inches tall, and his head is 49 cm around. Each one of these is right at the 50% for his age. His doctor commented that he is very proportional...maybe this is one reason I think he is so perfect!
--Sometimes he's super, super silly, but he can also be super, super sweet and I love both of these times so much.
--I'll end with some pics of Jake displaying birthday crown from preschool...
Here's Cubbie's view. He thought it was pretty cool that Jake's Daddy is a basketball coach!
I wanted to get a family picture, but didn't get the picture-taking vibe from the people around us, so I just got one of Kevin and Jake...
And when I say "big boy bed," I mean BIG. Jake's crib was convertible and we opted to only get the conversion for the full sized bed rather than the toddler bed. He's slept in his new bed the past three nights and has done great, but he definitely looks tiny curled up in there. Once we got the bed up, with sheets and comforter, we let Jake have a look before we put up the safety rail. The first thing he did was climb on and start jumping! His room isn't quite finished, but it's on it's way, and I'm very proud and happy. Here he is jumping away...
His "big" Santa gift was a DVD player for the car. This, of course, was not at all appreciated until several days later when it got it's first use. Santa sure knows what both Jake and Mommy need for those long car trips to the grandparents ;-) Here's Jake unloading his stocking...
