Tonight Jacob hosted his first New Years Eve party! He invited a little friend over to celebrate with, and they had so much fun!! They play together really great!! We had finger foods for dinner like meatballs, fruit with dip, and cheese and crackers. Earlier this week, we had a similar dinner so Jacob could practice poking food with a toothpick to eat. He liked that. We celebrated New Years about 8:30 tonight with hats, party horns, and a basket full of balloons. We also had root beer floats for dessert. The kids were so busy playing and having fun, they made it until 11:15pm before calling it a night!!

Last weekend, Jacob and I picked out a potty chair. He was very excited in the store, but it was much more intimidating once it came out of the box. We didn't get one that plays music, or makes flushing sounds...just a regular potty chair. Friday, he wanted nothing to do with it, but on Christmas Eve, Jacob decided to sit on it with the lid down and his jacket on (we were about to go outside). I took this as progress! Throughout the week, he's sat on the potty chair to read books, take off his socks for bath, blow dry his hair, and brush his teeth. He 's even put his stuffed animals on there a few times so they can go potty. I think we've got a good start!!

Tonight at the store, Jacob's shoe fell off, which he communicated by saying, "Uh Oh, Uh Oh", and signing "shoe". He seems to really like being able to communicate what he wants by signing. Yesterday, we were getting some eggs, and Jacob signed "cook" over and over again as I put the eggs in the cart. I think he wanted to crack eggs right there in the aisle!!! He loves cracking eggs (and cooking in general) so we make a lot of muffins and banana bread. He is a helpful little guy in the kitchen!!

Merry Christmas!!
Love, Jacob












Thank you to everyone for all of my Christmas gifts!!

Jacob opening gifts today.

It is amazing how much Jacob has grown in just a year. Last year, he fit in a paper box and was learning how to get Cherios to his mouth...this year, he's out shoveling snow!! I was looking through the calender I kept of Jacob's first year, and a year ago today, he said "mama" for the first time and reached for me!

The weather was so great, so we spent a lot of time outside today: shoveling, building a snowman, sledding, and just learning to walk in the snow with boots on without falling down!! He wanted to bring out a spatula, signing "cook", so he had fun scooping and flipping snow like he was making pancakes or something. We went out before lunch, and then about 5:30, Jacob signed "outside" and brought me his snowpants and boots, so we went out again, even though it was dark already...he didn't care. The hard part is convincing him to go in again!!

Later on, Jacob was dancing to the radio to "Up on the house top", and started copying "Ho, Ho, Ho". I love his dancing!! Even when there isn't any music, Jacob will just start spinning around and around until he makes himself dizzy.

Last night after Jacob went to bed, I finished wrapping the rest of the Christmas gifts, so everything is now under the tree. When Jacob woke up this morning, as usual, he signed "tree" and "lights", and I confirmed, "Okay, should we turn on the tree lights?!" He just gets so excited for those lights!! We went into the living room...completely dark. I turned the tree lights on, and Jacob saw the gifts on that side of the tree, and pointed. We again talked about "no fingers" and to "just look with your eyes", and he agreed. Then he walked around to the other side of the tree, and his eyes lit up more than the tree itself, as he franticallly signed "more", "more" and got all excited...there were more gifts under the other side of the tree too!!!!! Ya know, it's those little moments that we as adults just take for granted, that Jacob points out to me every day, and reminds me to appreciate!! He is such a gift!!!

Today Jacob brought out the stool at Grandma's house and put it up against the wall in the kitchen so he could reach the light switch by himself.

The past week or 2, Jacob and I have been talking about stop lights when we are in the car. "Red means stop" and "green means go". Sometimes we point out stop signs too. Jacob will try to repeat "stop", and put his hand out on front of him, palm out, to signal stop. Tonight we were driving home, not even talking about stop lights, when Jacob noticed the car in front of us put their brake lights on...RED break lights!!. Jacob said "Sop" (which means stop), and put his little hand out in front of him. He was right, and the rest of the way home, stop lights, stop signs, and now all break lights, were recognized as "sop"!

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with my aunts and uncles. Jacob fell asleep before the dice game, but I did show him how to roll dice in a pie pan earlier today, and he thought that was fun. My aunt has a lot of musical animated things that sing a song if you push the button. Jacob loved them!! He danced when they played, and gave them all hugs and kisses...especially the puppies in the basket.

Grandma requested the video of Jacob putting shapes in the shape sorter (see video)

Last week, Grandma asked Jacob, "Where's Mommy?" and Jacob signed that I was driving in the car. I thought it would be fun to show him where Mommy is driving to every day, so we are learning the sign for "work" now, and this morning I took him to work with me for a little while. I had NO idea I passed so many busses and semi trucks on the way to work until I had Jacob in the back seat!! He loved looking at the traffic out my office window, and he colored me a picture with scented markers, which is now hanging above my desk. He watered my plants, carried Wolf around in my empty recycling bin, and sat at my desk and emailed his friend Zachary in Texas. He liked spinning around in my chair, and he was really surprised when he saw his picture as my wallpaper on the computer.

Mr. Independent...Last night, Jacob wanted some apple juice. There wasn't much left in the container, and he usually likes to carry it himself, but last night he tried lifting it all the way up to the kitchen counter by himself too. He stood on his tip toes, balancing the plastic bottle on his finger tips, and reaching with all of his might (thank goodness it was a plastic jug with a twist cap!). He almost had it about 3 times, but he did finally manage to get it.
So tonight he wanted milk. There wasn't a whole lot left, and as usual, I let him carry it to the counter himself. It was one of those split seconds you see in slow motion---He raised the carton up towards the counter, the carton tipped backwards towards Jacob, as he tried to get the bottom of the carton to reach the counter...and the milk came pouring out on Jacob's face. He cried, and my heart just went out to him. He tried so hard!!

Jacob loves nuts!!...his favorite is cashews. He saw the can sitting on the counter tonight, and asked for some. There were just a few left so I gave him the whole can. He thought that was soooo great!! He also likes bringing out a little cup from his play dishes, and he'll sign "water" and point to the kitchen. He loves getting his own water from the kitchen sink...Mr. Independent!!

Last night, I showed Jacob how to dip his saltine crackers in soup. He picked this up pretty quickly, and throughout dinner Jacob said "dip", "dip", "dip". Tonight he and I baked chocolate chip cookies. We each had a cookie and a glass of milk for snack before he went to bed. Jacob took a few bites, and then realized he could dip the cookie in his milk..."dip", "dip", "dip"!!!

Gift wrapping tonight was even more entertaining. Jacob has showed NO interest in the gifts under the tree since I wrapped a few the other day, so I decided to wrap some more. Instead of wrapping together, tonight I gave Jacob some tissue paper, a gift bag, tape, etc, and let him do his own thing. (See videos)

Tonight, I decided to start wrapping Christmas gifts. Jacob was very excited to help, so I sat him up at the table, and we wrapped a coaster for practice. I showed him how to "hide" the coaster in the paper, and put tape on it to hold it closed, and the process went really well...then he wanted to open it to "find" the coaster. I decided to only wrap 2 gifts to put under the tree, and see if they get opened. We talked about "no fingers" (which means "don't touch") and to "just look with your eyes" at the gifts under the tree. He pointed to his eyes and nodded...we'll see!!

Jacob and I ran a few errands after work tonight. He loves helping to put things on the counter at the check out, and giving the cashier the money.

Later in the evening, Jacob was playing in the living room, and a Comcast van stopped to do some work on the pole at the corner of our yard. It had flashing lights, and the extender thing with the bucket that lifts the worker up to the top of the pole (you know what I mean!). Anyway, Jacob was really interested in the action and watched closely. Then he went and got his little fire truck that has flashing lights and the extending ladder too.

Other new signs he's learning are "tree" (for the Christmas tree), "siren", "cook", and "broken". Jacob is getting really good at telling me when something is wrong. This morning, he came in and said, "Uhh Ohh", and pointed to the living room. I followed him in there, and he pointed to the tree, and signed "broken"...some of the lights had gone out on the tree.

Jacob and I were both brushing our teeth in the bathroom this morning. I spit in the sink and rinsed off my toothbrush, and Jacob wanted to try spitting in the sink too. So I picked him up, and held him over the sink and he went "fffffff...fffffff". He was really proud of himself, and it was really cute to see him copy me.

Jacob tried out his shovel this morning (See video), and we went sledding aroung the yard a little bit again too!

The other day, I picked up a bunch of little craft supplies (pom poms, colored foam shapes, feathers, beads, etc.) Jacob was very busy today creating his first little masterpiece. Each time he picked something up, he had to gently rub it on his cheek to see how it felt. It was so funny to watch!! He liked the feathers the best I think.

Jacob also loves using the sprayer in the kitchen sink. (See video) I have to keep a close eye on him when he's helping me cook because he knows how to turn the water on by himself, and grab the sprayer.