Jacob paintng














Jacob is really into opening and closing doors lately. He locked himself into the bathroom at grandma's house today. At home, he usually hides in the pantry (See video). Sometimes he knocks from the inside, tonight he kept saying "bye-bye". His voice is so cute!!

When I found out I was pregnant with Jacob, I invested in a book that was a collector's edition of about 6-7 Curious George stories. It was also kind of the theme for the nursery because it could be for a boy or a girl, used primary colors, and was full of simple objects like bikes, balls, kites...a yellow hat, etc. I thought it'd be a good learning environment as the baby became a toddler. Jacob loves to read, and this weekend I saw that a Curious George movie is coming out soon. So the other night, I picked out the bedtime story. The stories are a lot longer than our usual stories, but he is so attentive. If I ask him where something is, he likes "finding" it in the pictures. He wants to read Curious George all the time now, but we save the stories for bedtime. I think he will like seeing the movie on the big screen, even if he doesn't sit through the whole movie.

Tom and Pippo stories are his other favorites!! Tom is a toddler and Pippo is his little stuffed animal friend. They remind me a lot of Jacob and "Wolf"!!

Jacob LOVES churches!!! He can spot them from a mile away. He askes me to draw them for him constantly. I was on the computer the other day, and he wanted to see churches on the computer screen. So I googled images of churches, and we had fun looking at churches from all over the world. Everytime I clicked on a new one, he would sign "more" and "church". He even signs "Jesus" and says "Jee-Jis" if he sees a statue of Jesus, or he'll point out a "Coss" (cross). This church googling has now become a nightly ritual. I guess if you have to be obsessive about something, churches are a good choice!!

The other day I took Jacob to the play area at the mall again. This time we met up with Alex and his mom, so Jacob had a little friend to run around with. The boys were playing, and Jacob ran over to the play area entrance, and signed "water" to me and pointed out to the mall. I thought he wanted a drink, and we weren't going to be there much longer, so I signed back "no" and "later". He was persistant several times, signing "water" and "yes", and pointing out towards the mall with a throwing motion. Finally, I fugured it out...he wanted to go see the water fountain in the middle of the mall. Last week when we were there, I let him throw a penny in the fountain, and he remembered. It was soooooo cute to see him book down the hallway, on a mission to see that water fountain, with this HUGE grin on his face!! I can't explain how excited he was!! He talked about it the rest of the evening, repeatedly signing "water" and "money" and making a throwing motion, as he chattered away, telling me about what he did. He was so proud of himself, and it was so fun to see his excitement...WELL WORTH a penny!!

Believe it or not, our other new adventure is learning to cut with a butter knife!! He see's me cutting, and always wants to try too, so we've been practicing poking with a fork, how to hold the knife, and the cutting motion. He's actually getting pretty good, and likes doing it. He cuts play dough, bananas, mashed potato...anything I can think of that is soft. I'm glad he's willing to try so many new things...he's gotta learn them sometime anyway!!

Jacob know just over 100 signs now!!!

We have really been busy doing a lot of new things lately, so this weekend we decided to just enjoy playing at home. The car auction was on tv this weekend, and Jacob likes to see the cars. In fact, yesterday he turned on the tv by himself and signed that the cars were driving on tv...he was so excited. Sometimes he'll hand you the remote and sign "car", asking you to turn it to the right channel for him. Remember, this is the guy who was watching the Nascar race in the hospital when he was just 24 hours old!!

Jacob also likes drawing. Actually he wants you to draw something and he'll tell you what it is. His daily request is to draw a picture of a church for him. This weekend, he actually said, "draw a church", as he signed church. This was the first time he has really spoken multiple words together in a sentence on his own.

Tonight Jacob dumped out all of his dishes and brought me the bin, signing "water". He LOVES playing with a bin of soapy water!! It keeps him busy forever. I got smart and decided to put the bin in the bathtub...no more water or towels on the kitchen floor. Tonight he discovered that he can get bubbles all over his hands, and clap really hard, and they splatter all over his face, clothes...and mommy!! Jacob also likes learning little poems and songs that have hand motions. He practices some at Grandma's house too. We are learning 4 or 5 different ones, but I got 2 on video tonight. (See videos)

Updates:
Transitioning from the crib to the toddler bed has been pretty successful. In fact, yesterday morning, Jacob was determined to use the toddler bed entrance to climb back INTO bed, because he did not want to get up. This was not exactly the challenge I was expecting to face when we converted to the toddler bed, but I could definately empathize.

Jacob continues to sit on the potty chair, and has actually gone twice now. The other day, he was "helping" me clean the bathroom and apparently he got tired, so he decided to sit down on the potty chair and continued working. It was really cute. I'm glad he is so comfortable sitting on it.

Last night, we went to the kid's play area at the mall. There is no door, just an open entrance, and the first time Jacob ran out, I showed him where he had to stop. He tested it a few times, and then all of a sudden, he ran across the play area and over to the enterance, came to a dead stop, and shouted "sop", putting his hand out as if he were a police man directing traffic. Then he put his hands behind his back and stood there for a really long time looking out at the mall, with about 10 other kids running around and playing behind him. A bunch of the other parents were laughing (including me!), but I was really happy he understood the rules and followed through...If only it were always that easy!!

Today Jacob and I went exploring at the Children's Museum in St. Paul. He was a VERY busy guy for about 4 hours. There was a lot to see and try out. His favorite was the water stations, where he could race boats, float ping pong balls through clear tubes, and...play in a huge sink of soap bubbles!!! When we got home, I put some soapy water in a storage bin for him in the middle of the kitchen floor, and that still kept him busy for a really long time, even after all the time at the museum!! We will definately check out the Children's museum again!!!

Today, I took Jacob to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He did okay, but there is not as much to see at HIS eye level. Luckily, it is a big place, so there was a lot to look at. His favorites were looking down at a water fountain that he could hear, and seeing a picture of 2 deer...he noticed it, and signed "deer" as he stood in front of the picture. He also liked one of the rooms that was decorated to reflect a historic period (I didn't have time to read about the details!), but it had toy animals set up on the floor. You could only see it from the doorway, which was blocked with a sheet of plexy glass. Jacob liked it so well, he laid down on the floor and looked at it from under the plexy glass. We climbed a whole lot of stairs today!!

On Thursday, Jacob started walking backwards all by himself. I have been trying to catch it on video the past few days, but with no success. Wouldn't you know it, today at the museum, Jacob all of a sudden decided to start walking backwards!!! (see video!)

"OH WOW!!"...Jacob has been saying this a lot lately when he sees something he likes. The other day, we were driving in the car, and Jacob saw a bunch of flags..."Oh wow, Oh wow!!", I hear from the back seat. Last night, Jacob was eating some pea pods, and I opened one for him so he could see the little peas inside..."Oh wow!!". Today he was "cooking" with his dishes in the bathtub. He put water in the little pot, stirred it with a spoon, put the lid on, waited, removed the lid, cautiously peeked inside, and proclaimed "Oh wow!!". It is really fun to see what he "Oh wow's" about all the time!!

I was "wowed" today...When we walk downstairs, Jacob holds the railing with one hand and my finger with the other, and we count the stairs outloud as we go. He usually copies the number I say (if he says anything), but today, he said some of the numbers that come next. I was so surprised, we did this several times. He knows so much more than he lets on.

Jacob really likes the guitar. Nate has a guitar, and we got Jacob a little one for Christmas that he likes to play. They like to have little "jam sessions" together, or sometimes I'll play Jacob's guitar while he spins around in circles dancing. Tonight Jacob figured out how to go get Nate, signing "daddy", and convince him to follow Jacob into the other room so they can jam together. Jacob gets very excited about this, and did it several times tonight. It is very cute to watch Jacob trying to get his point across, and Nate usually stops what he's doing and follows Jacob's lead.

Jacob has a little bank that sits on his dresser. It has a monkey that dances to a song when you put money in it. Since Jacob figured out how to open doors, he likes to invite himself into my bedroom, and help himself to change in a coffee can. At first I was concerned about him swallowing the money, but he is so focused on getting it to his bank that this is not a problem. He continues to make trips for more money until I tell him that's enough. About a week ago, we started practicing the sign for "money" and now he has to sign for it in order to get any. Today, he picked up a dime off the floor at Grandma's house, and actually said the word money. Maybe we should start learning to sign "stocks and bonds" or "investment opportunities"!!!

What a weekend of milestones...tonight Jacob went potty in the potty chair for the first time!!!! Play dough was the winning strategy for getting him to sit on the potty chair long enough to go.

The toddler bed adventure went great throughout the night last night. But by nap time today, Jacob had learned that after mommy leaves the room, he is capable of getting out of bed just long enough to smuggle the entire box of baby wipes into bed to keep him entertained. What he did not think about was mommy coming in to check on him 20 minutes later, catching him with a huge handful of wipes in each hand, and not at all in the mood to sleep anymore. We'll see what tonight brings, but the wipes are out of reach anyway!!

This morning, Jacob helped transform his crib into a toddler bed. He climbed into his bed, and looking confused, pointed to the new opening at the end of the railing, and signed "broken". He seemed satisfied once I called the opening his door (although I tried not to really emphasize the fact that he could now climb in and out on his own). When it was nap time, we followed the bedtime routine as usual, and I closed the door. Within 2 minutes, Jacob came strolling into the kitchen. I put him back to bed a second time, and he went right to sleep. Tonight at bedtime, he didn't even get out of bed!!!

We also took a little road trip to see Minnehaha Falls this afternoon.

Tonight Jacob burned off a little energy at the McDonalds Playland. I think it was his first time actually getting to play there, instead of just to eat, although we don't go very often anyway. We ate first, and he imediately wanted dip (ketchup) , and when we talked about there being meat, and cheese, and pickles in his burger, he signed "cow", and "cheese". When it was time to play, he was very hesitant until I agreed to go in with him...luckily there were not many people there! He didn't want to explore inside much, but mostly climbed in and out of the main entry tunnel. I think he's a little too young yet, but it won't be long.

Jacob's talking has been so fun to listen to the past week or so!! He says "Fehl-woe" for Fellow, "boo" for blue, and "alh-la-woe" for yellow!! He says "Heh-woe" (hello) and bye-bye all the time, but today, he said "sho-vel". This is my new favorite word that he says!! His little voice is just unbelievably cute!!

We went out to dinner tonight, and Jacob saw the deer antlers mounted above the fireplace at the restaurant. He pointed and then signed "deer", which is an open hand like you are giving someone a high five, with the end of your thumbs touching the sides of your head, and your fingers are the antlers. He doesn't miss a thing!

New words we're learning to sign are "boy" and "girl".

Jacob had a little lesson in static electricity with the New Year's aftermath!!