Santa Land

We took Jake for a magical Christmas playtime and to meet Santa.

In the Christmas wonderland -- we are up where the train is and there is more fun down below.
Waiting in line for the train.

On the train -- this was right when it started to move!
Here it comes around the track.
There's Jake!
The place was a madhouse. Jake went on the bouncy house things for quite a while. You can barely see him in this picture, he was going so fast!
Thus the alcoholic drinks were much appreciated by the adults.
Jake watching a movie after getting his bell and candy cane from Santa.
So earlier in the day I had Jake watch The Polar Express. Thus he got the idea of what Santa is about and all that. He has never seen Santa/sat on his lap before. So after we got in line to see Santa and it was Jake's turn, Jake went right up to Santa with a smile on his face and lifted up his arms for Santa to pick him up. He then started chatting with Santa. Then when Santa asked Jake what he wanted for Christmas, Jake did what he saw the boy in the movie do: he covered his hand with his mouth and whispered to Santa. It was the cutest thing ever! But of course now I have no idea what he asked Santa for, lol!

Jake can't stop talking about how the picture turned his green pajamas red, which is funny, but I totally love this picture.

Fantastic Day

After the heat wave, we wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. So we decided to go to the zoo and ride the Washington Park Zoo train. In the summer it takes a long route that has a stopping point at the Rose Gardens/Children's Playground.

After spending way too much time driving around the parking lot looking for a spot, we entered the zoo and walked to the train and luckily were the last people to get a seat on the train, meaning we had zero waiting time. Score!

Jake, as usual, was very excited. This doesn't get old.
The breeze from the open windows was refreshing and it was pretty scenery!
I rode this train/route a few times when I was younger, was fun to take Jake.
We stopped at the mid-way point and got off and walked to the playground. Jake ran around like a wild thing. We had a picnic lunch there.
The slide was his favorite thing. He only went down about 50 times.
And convinced Daddy to do it once.
There was some time with the sand.
Then we headed back to the train station.
We got lucky again!! We were again the very last ones on the train and just walked right on. It was a different engine this time. Jake and I had a conversation comparing the Thomas the Train engines with the engines that were pulling us on this track. We decided the engine was more like Thomas than Gordon :)
Happy boy.
Back to the zoo where Jake insisted on seeing the giraffe.
We totally lucked out and happened to catch both the tiger and the leopard walking around. That never happens!
And then a visit to the very cool stellar lion tank.

Then back to the car where it was exactly time for a nap.

Personality

Only ONE month until Jake turns THREE!!!

Yesterday the following occurred:

Jake was watching a Thomas the Train movie, one that he is really excited about and into because this one is computer animated with the train's faces move while they speak (rather than just the eyes moving and being 'narrated.') I was reading a book.

Jake looks at me and catches me watching the movie. "What are you doing, Mama?"

"I'm reading my book."

"Please read."

Apparently he didn't want me to watch his movie!!

Funny boy.

Trains and Stars

Mama got creative and made a "garage" for Jake's trains.
Jake got two new additions to his Thomas the train collection today, Emily the train and Harold the helicopter!!
A boy and his trains.
I love this photo. You can also see his new pajamas with the stars on it -- they have become his favorite pajamas now.

Trains and Cars and a Successful Outfit Picture!

These pictures were taken earlier on Valentine's Day, while Jake was still very much awake and happy and not ready to throw himself on the floor at the sight of a camera.

He got some Valentine's gifts from a special family member (thanks, Aunt Dotty!) He was THRILLED to find that Thomas the Train is finally in his hands.
He also got this very wonderful wooden car, which he immediately dubbed "cool car."
And then back to Thomas the Train. He immediately wanted to take Thomas home to play with Gordon, Lady, Salty, Bill & Ben, and Duck.

Sign Names

In American Sign Language we use sign names for people, places, etc. instead of having to fingerspell those things all the time. Some sign names are common, such as 'Daddy,' 'Mama,' 'Portland,' and the like. Other sign names are very specific to a person, for example we have a friend named Tom who has a sign name, but if we have another friend named Tom, we do NOT use the same sign name for that Tom. We'll either fingerspell it or use his own, specific sign name for that Tom.

Jake has by now grasped the concept of sign names. He knows our friend Tom's sign name, as well as Sara's, Corky's, Skylar's, his own, and other friend's, and he uses them.

Jake is also very into Thomas the train engines and loves to watch the DVDs and play with the trains. A few weeks ago we were astonished to discover that Jake had come up with his own sign names for 2 of the trains -- all on his own!! Thomas the train gets 2 pats on the chest, and Gordon the engine gets 2 taps on the forehead with a flat hand. We have NO idea how he came up with these, but he did. So impressive.

Halloween Fun

Jake and I carved this pumpkin together in the afternoon. We covered all the basics - eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
Then Jake got dressed in his costume. Isn't he a cute train engineer?
He was so excited about going down to the Village to trick or treat at the shops! Here he's running down the street, Daddy by his side.
Going into the Village with Aunt Melissa and Uncle Mike!! They are staying a night on their way to a family reunion.

The Village was amazingly crowded!! There were lines to get candy by every shop.
Everyone went down one side of the street and up the other.

Jake bumped into his buddy, Skylar! She makes for a very cute flapper girl!
Jake is very serious when being photographed.
Yup, I'm wearing a pumpkin shirt.
We spotted this hot dog.
Hey, I'm married to a train engineer! (Yup, we ate Thai food on Halloween.)
Yay for having them visit for Halloween fun!
Heading back home... He'd had 1 green lollipop and ran around for a good 20-30 minutes. Sugar crash starting in 3-2-1...
We got home and got to work carving the other 2 pumpkins.


We handed out fair-trade dark chocolates and organic lollipops. I hope we have some leftover!
Happy Halloween!