This morning, we went to an Easter event at church. Jacob got his face painted, made a craft, participated in an egg hunt, and his favorite...petting the 7 week old baby bunnies!

We were in the car, and Jacob asked me if I remembered to bring a "Cabela". I asked him to repeat it several times, trying to figure out what he meant. Finally, he said, "Yes Mommy, a Cabela to hold up over us, so the rain doesn't get on our hair."...(Umbrella!)

"This juice helps keep my arms on!" I asked him what else his juice does, and he said, "It helps me grow, grow, grow up to the clouds like a beanstalk!"

Jacob's recent versions to "Here's the church, here's the steeple",
while entertaining himself during the church sermon...
With hands folded like for prayers; fingers on the outside,
"Here's the church, here's the steeple...Oooops, they're all at home!"
With hands folded like prayers, except one finger folded inside:
"Here's the church, here's the steeple...Look, Pastor's the only one there, because it's not Sunday!...He's working."

Jacob got a birthday card in the mail today. He wanted to hang it on his bedroom door, so I gave him a piece of tape. He went over and taped the card to the front of Fellow's kennel so Fellow could read it first. Jacob had even taped it so the front of the card was facing Fellow. He loves getting mail, and recognizing his name!

A few days ago, Jacob and I were talking about how owls and bats can see in the dark, and are awake at night and sleep during the day. Last night he brought his black train in, and told me it was an "Owl Train" because "this bright light on the front helps it see in the dark when it drives at night, and it says, "Whooooooo, Whooooooo!"

"Counting pennies in Spanish" (see video)

Whenever we see a semi-truck, I ask Jacob what he thinks is inside. Everytime, he says it's filled with boxes of puppies, and it's driving to people's houses to bring them a puppy! Yesterday, we built a semi-truck out of legos, and Jacob put "boxes of puppies" on the truck. I asked him what all of the puppies names were, and he said, "mmm...prob'ly Fluffy, and Fellow, and Ginger, and Cookie!" (Daniel's new puppy is Ginger, but I'm not sure who Fluffy and Cookie are!)

Jacob's latest line is "That's okay, I still love you", except he uses it when HE does something wrong. The other day he said, "I'm sorry I didn't have a good time out, and I wasn't a good listener...but, that's okay, I still love you!"

This morning was Jacob's first trip to the dentist! He wanted to sit on my lap while he had his teeth cleaned, but followed directions well, and all 20 teeth look good! I think his favorite part was seeing the
x-ray pictures, because they were just like the x-rays the vet took of Fellow's leg a few months ago...And, he wanted to see the fish in the waiting area "one more time" before we left too! Jacob and I went out to brunch afterwards to celebrate!

Clear out of the blue on Sunday, Jacob asked me how to count
in Spanish, so we started learning a song about counting to 10. Sometimes we sing it in English, and sometimes in Spanish, but we always sign each number (sign language) as we sing. Last night, we even took the clock off the wall and pointed to the numbers, so he could see them as we sang. (Jacob was pretty excited that the clock could come off of the wall for our song!) So Monday, Nate picked up Jacob after work, and in the car, Jacob asked how to count in Spanish. Nate didn't know, and told Jacob he'd have to ask Mommy tonight. Then Jacob asked, "Why don't you go to school to learn Spanish?"

When we pulled into the driveway tonight, there was a black and white cat sitting in our driveway. When I pointed it out, Jacob asked if I ran it over (no, I didn't run it over!), and was really concerned about why it was outside. I explained that "When I was a toddler, I had a black and white cat that played outside in the neighborhood during the day, and came back in the house at night." Jacob replied, "And when I was a toddler, there was a black and white cat sitting in my driveway!"

Jacob came in holding his toy fishing pole off of the back of his neck. When I asked what he was doing, he said he was a tow truck, and I was a broken car. He hooked the end of his fishing pole onto the belt loop of my jeans, and hauled me off to the garage to get fixed!

Jacob knows that you shake hands with your right hand, and your left hand makes an "L", but now he's asking about compass directions. In the car he'll often ask, "Which way are we going?". He knows the sun comes up in the living room, and "goes to China" in the dining room. So the other day, I had Jacob stand in the living room facing north, and said, "When your tummy faces north, Minneapolis is behind you, and that's south. You say 'good morning', and shake hands with the sun in the east. Then it shines over your head at lunch time, and goes to china in west when it's time to go to bed."
We talked about Mommy's work and Texas being south, and which direction grandparents live, etc. It was like he was drawing a little map in his head. It was fun to watch his mind work, and see such an interest to understand it though! Jacob recited it a few times and said, "I shake hands with the sun in the east...and then it goes 'plop' in the west!"

Yesterday morning, I pointed to the clock, and explained that Jacob had to finish breakfast by the time the long hand got to the top, because then it would be time to put shoes and jackets on. Pretty soon, Jacob came and found me, and announced, "It's time to go!" He was right...the long hand was at the top! I was impressed! So this morning, I showed him again. Jacob came running in just a few minutes later, saying, "Mommy hurry! It's time right now! Come and see!" We went in and looked at the clock...it was 11 seconds into the new minute!

Jacob was telling me the days of the week, and said, "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...the dentist!!!" (He finally gets to go to the dentist next Friday!)

Jacob asked if he could play in his sandbox tonight, so I pulled it out from what's left of the snow on the patio. It's hard to believe that we had 2 feet of snow while we were in Texas, and today Jacob can play outside in just a sweatshirt! Jacob was really excited when he discovered that his bobcat could scoop snow, and not just sand! He wasn't quite so excited to see his melted snowman.















Playing in the snow last week!

Papa and Nana have a foreign exchange student, Monica, staying with them this week. Jacob and Monica were playing , and Jacob came over to me and asked what her name was again. I told him to ask her, and she jokingly replied, "I don't know!". I whispered it to Jacob so he could tell her, and he walked over to her and said, "Your name is Monica. Can you say that?...Mah-nick-ah" Jacob is really into words lately. Last night Dad and Alyce came over for dinner, and we were talking about farmers growing vegetables in their fields. Jacob turns to my dad and says, "Can you say 'field' gampa?" He is so comical!

Tonight we saw "Go Diego Go" at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. Jacob's friend, Daniel, got to sit right next to us. We've been talking about the show all week, but Jacob was a little confused because it's called a theatre, but doesn't have a big screen to see a movie on. Diego is a cartoon on TV about a little boy who likes to rescue baby animals in the jungle, like jaguars, sloths, and chinchillas. The boys made these hats with foam Diego stickers to wear to the show. Jacob had a good time. The lobby looked like a toddler convention!

About a month ago, Jacob was really interested in how light bulbs worked, and why they burn out. Today I was home with Jacob, and when he woke up from his nap, he said, "I woke up because my legs conducted energy!"

"When I get older, I want to drive a scoop truck Mommy...and you can drive a dump truck when you get older and grow up too!"

The boys played at the kids play area at the mall, and then it was time to say good-bye to Zachary. We road the tram at the DFW airport several times before it was time to get on the plane. Jacob likes riding trams, shuttles, escalators, and "hotel alligators" (elevators). He also liked walking through the DFW airport, swinging his arms and singing, "Swing low, sweet chariot, coming forth to carry me home".




































Quotes from Jacob during our trip:

On the way to the airport the day we left:
"My Baby Fellows are crying at home because they miss Mommy Fellow" (the stuffed animal he brought to TX)

Jacob's question a few days before it was time to go home:
"Why don't we have a house in Minnesota anymore?"

When we boarded the plane to go home, and it had a different crew than the one we came in:
"Where is Mary's plane?"

Learning to talk like a Texan:
"We say Yee-Haw in Texas like we say Whew-Hoo in Minnesota. It means the same thing"

Jacob's favorite question in the car was "How do we get there?". Then he would make up his own directions from the back seat:
"You just go straight for a little bit, then turn right, then go south, then go over the bridge, then go west, then go past the gas station, then you'll be there."

Today the boys got to play on the trains at the railroad museum.

This afternoon we found a park near Zachary's house to play at. It had a baseball field, which Jacob seemed to like more than the playground. After going to the beaches the other day, it did not take him long to take his sandles off to play. He liked making snow angels in the beach sand and the dirt (see video).

Today we went to Johnson Space Center in Houston. We saw a movie about shuttle launches, and took the tram tour to see the astranaut training camp, and mission control. There was quite a bit of hands on activities for Jacob to do there too.
















Touching a moon rock

Today we spent the day in Corpus Christi, and Padre Island. There was a public beach access right next to our hotel in Corpus. Jacob started out playing in the sand, but finally just decided to go in the water, tennis shoes and all! He loved playing in the water (see video) It was really windy at the Padre Island beach, and Jacob liked playing in the sand more than the water, burying his sandles in the sand, and playing on the sand hills. The beach was one of his favorites!