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.

See You Next Year!

Jake's Aunt Melissa left for home in Alaska tonight. We were sorry to see her go, it was so much fun. But she was really excited to go home to the foot of snow that had fallen while she was gone. She and Jake had so much fun together the week she was here.

Faces

Skylar, Jake, and Kayla

Playdough!!

Today while I was working I gave Kayla the instructions and ingredients to make playdough. It came out really well!

Not happy with me putting the camera in his face.
Attempting to give me a smile.
Blue, green, yellow. Now making the red one. (They also made orange and purple.)
Cat cookie cutter to play with!
I snuck a peak at them when I was upstairs working. They had made a green alligator. You can also see the red, orange, and yellow playdough.
Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
food coloring

Mix flour, salt and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the playdough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the food coloring to make various colors.

Giant Pumpkin

So I forgot to mention this story, and my Mom reminded me...

Early in October Food Front Coop was having their grand opening. I went there to shop during that time and saw that they were having a contest to guess the weight of this giant pumpkin. So I filled out a paper with my guess.
I won!!! Not only did I win, but I guessed the exact weight of 488 pounds. My prize was a $100 food shopping gift card, yay!
The guess was a lucky one, but I did have a bit of help. I have a neighbor a few streets over who grows a giant pumpkin every year to be entered in a weigh-in. The pumpkin grows in their front yard and they always post updates on how the pumpkin is doing. (This year's pumpkin was named Archie.) About a week before I guessed in the contest, I had walked by Archie and taken a good look at all 320 pounds of him. Thanks, Archie!

Silly Sunday

Wearing Aunt Melissa's hat. He looks Russian.
This his how he likes to nap after already napping for an hour on the bed.
Playing with Aunt Melissa. "Catch me!!"
Uncle Mike made him laugh so much.
Co-sleeping is awesome.