My Boy

Today it is only TWO months before Jake turns three. Wow.

He is growing up so much now, and is so much a BOY. Growing up with only a sister, I am constantly startled to learn what boy behavior is, and looks like, and it makes me laugh! Recently he surprised us by completely mastering use of the potty, both at home and elsewhere (Gramma's and Papa's house! Whole Foods! Art Center!) and Mike and I are very, very grateful for a 6 month break from changing diapers. However, we do need to work on the habit of just pulling off the pants and underwear and peeing on the grass, however delightful that may seem.

His language development continues to explode, and he's just a little chatterbox now. Sometimes we compete for Gramma's attention while talking! Using sign language isn't as easy as just talking, but now he regularly gives us 3-4 word sentences in sign language, and understands everything. It's so much fun talking about more abstract concepts, such as the sun coming up every morning.

In addition to starting to learn how to sign the ABC's, I often catch him singing the ABC song to himself, and moving his fingers to fingerspell them at the same time. He does this side-to-side head bob during this song and it never fails to make me laugh.

Jake is interested in helping us with everything. We recently made an applesauce cake together, with him helping me to measure and pour all the ingredients. Mike was preparing some halibut for the grill, and Jake told him he was using too much lemon, ha! He also helped with picking up the grass after Mike had to use the weed wacker to tame the lawn, before he could use the lawn mower.

One of his favorite games with Daddy is to play chase. For a long time he's loved being chased by Daddy, but has recently figured out that he can be the one to chase Daddy! With Mama he loves to cuddle and read books, and we have been making trips to the library for new books to read.

It's a busy, busy time, but so much fun.

Marching On...

Thought I'd give you all a little update, especially since I haven't been posting much -- I've not had the energy to either take pictures or post updates! Today I'm at 8 weeks, and on a roller-coaster of hormones. Occasionally I feel fine, but more often I feel tired, nauseous, hungry, or a combination of those. I think that means I'm pregnant! Am really looking forward to finishing the first trimester and getting back some of my energy, right when warmer days arrive and the yard/garden really starts to need some work and we can enjoy being outside.

Jake seems to have grown or be growing. I feel like I *just* went through his clothes and put aside the ones that were too small and now I need to do that again? Amazing. He's been working on numbers and the alphabet. He also enjoys tossing and catching a ball with his Daddy and me, and it will be fun to do that more as we can get outside. He loves anything related to Curious George, Thomas the Train, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. He's fascinated with the concept of it getting dark at night, and that the sun comes up in the morning. We have a book called Midnight Moon, and I've memorized it so now every night after we turn off the light, I recite the book to him, and he loves that.

I'll try to take more pictures soon...

Swing!

For the past year Jake has avoided swings. He was on them as a 1 year old, and seemed to enjoy them, but somewhere along the way he changed his mind and adamantly would not be put into a swing. Seems that he had to approach them on his own terms. Right now those terms are that they are fine to play with if you are in a position to get on and off yourself.
This is how he likes to "swing" -- flying!
Oh but what he does like? The tire swing -- only if at least one other person gets on there with him. Then, swing away!

Blossoming

New things that Jake has done lately:

He put his pants on by himself for the first time.

Going up and down the stairs using just one hand to hold onto something.

Put on his BOY shoes by himself.

Using balloons to pratice good hand-eye coordination.

Carrying his own lunch bag to Skylar's house.

Actually brushing his teeth rather than just chewing on his toothbrush.

Orange is the first color that he can tell you he identifies.

He counts up to 15, but skips some numbers here and there.

28 Months

Today Jake is 28 months old. He weighs about 27.5 pounds and measures in at 35 inches tall (gained a little over half an inch in 2 months!). His language development continues to astound me. He is regularly talking in 3-word sentences, both in ASL and English. I have even seen a few 4-word sentences. He refers to himself as "Jake-me" and loves to tell me and others about things he did or things that happened recently. Every night when we are in bed and getting ready to sleep, I recount the day and he now will chime in to add to what I am recalling about the day. He is saying more things in English (today he started saying "whoopsie-daisy", something his playmate, Skylar says. Hilarious). He is also using more signs and changing some of the signs that he uses to make them correctly (he signs "help" by using 2 fists with the thumbs pointed up and moving the fists upward together, but just yesterday he corrected that to 1 fist with the thumb pointed up and the other hand flat underneath the fist).
He loves to pour his own milk into his cup or the cereal bowl, eats an apple a day when they are available, and loves stuffing popcorn into his mouth. He watches Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, or Thomas the Train DVDs after dinner.
And he loves to give us lots of kisses and cuddles.
He is a very active boy who LOVES to be outside as much as possible. The other day he discovered the joy that is sliding down a grassy hill that was slightly muddy from rain. Mama discovered the joy of cleaning mud off jacket, clothes, and shoes. When not outside at the playground or running around, he is inside, also running around and jumping off furniture (oy) and doing exercises.
Bicep curls.
Triceps.
He still loves to read. However, right now he doesn't have a favorite book but rather loves to read the product inserts for things like Brio, Lego, and Thomas the Train. We think he is ready for the Richard Scarry books. Before we know it, he'll be reading War and Peace!

Amazing Jake

Jake has been doing so many new things lately! He is definitely growing and outgrowing his clothes. Luckily the Hanna Andersson outlet store was having a big sale today so I was able to go and get him clothes for this fall and winter.
It's a good thing I got him some new clothes.
With growing comes some growing pains. He's had his share of falls and scrapes, and yesterday he fell down the stairs for the first time. I didn't see it happen, but I was on my way to the stairs so I was there immediately. He was crying, of course, but was fine except for a few bruises on his face. Ouch :( He'll see his chiropracticer on Monday, so she'll make sure he's okay. He had been going down the stairs by himself for quite some time, and doing well. I think he just got a little overconfident and slipped. So we're going to make sure we give him some more help on the stairs for awhile.
If you look closely, you can see the bruise on his cheek (on the left side in the picture). On the right side is evidence that he gorged on strawberries at the farmer's market!
For a long time, he LOVED books. Read them all the time and wanted to be read to. Then in the past few months he lost almost all interest in books. Took a long break from them and focused on other things. Very recently he has returned to books, but with a developmental leap -- he is reading them out loud to himself and to us and remembers the context on individual pages. He is also ready to be read to -- he's actively listening to the story. As Gramma suggested, I'll have to look into taking him to storytime at the library now!
Jake has both bottom 2nd year molars fully in, and one of the top 2nd year molars partway in. We measured his height recently at 34 1/4 inches. Not sure how much he weighs but he's definitely heavier now. When we go walking he sometimes prefers the stroller, but other times wants nothing to do with it. We are so thankful to have the yamo for those times -- he can walk all he wants and then as soon as he gets tired we just pop him into the yamo and we're all happy.

How did he go from a tiny little baby to a walking, talking, thinking, lovable person in 26 short months?!?

Flicking the Lights

Deaf people commonly use lights to communicate with one another in lieu of voices that we cannot hear (the other option is to use our feet to stomp on the floor or our fist to pound on the wall to create a loud, low-frequency vibration that can be felt).

Anyway, Mike and I are no exception. Luckily, we designed our house so that you can turn the upstairs lights on/off when you are downstairs and the downstairs lights on/off when upstairs. Thus if I am downstairs and need to let Mike know that dinner is ready, I will stand at the bottom of the stairs and flick the upstairs lights.

I was upstairs doing laundry a few days ago while Jake was downstairs watching a movie. All of a sudden the lights flicked. There was Jake, standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting to talk with me!! Amazing.