Jacob still benifits from getting a nap most days, and 9 times out of 10 he goes right to sleep...but there are exceptions to the rule. About a week ago, Jacob asked me how I know when he's sleeping for real and when he's pretending. I simply told him "Mom knows, and when you are a dad, you will know too". Since then, Jacob has asked me many times, hoping to solve the mystery. He's asked so many times now, that we make up silly things like "you get purple poka-dots all over your face", and we laugh, but in the end, my answer is always "Mom knows". Today I went to check on him during nap, and heard him playing in his room right by the door (the door was closed). So I slid a note under his door that said, MOM NO'S (so he could read it!). Clanking toys and singing stopped, and I heard Jacob, "What's this?...mom...knows...oh,oh!!", as I heard him run across the room, and jump back into bed!

At the lake.

When we went to get Jacob's passport, the lady at the license center asked Jacob if he was going someplace soon where he would need his passport. Jacob told her he was going on a Disney Cruise, and she told him he was a lucky duck. When we got in the car, Jacob asked what a lucky duck was. Since then, he has really put his new vocabulary word to use!! Jacob is always point out situations where someone is a lucky duck!!

We spent this weekend at the lake, but it was too windy to do any boating. We found some fireworks in the garage, and Jacob LOVED doing the pop-its (snap-its). He went through 5 or 6 boxes of them! We also went to a park/garden area not too far away tonight.

"Wouldn't it be neat if the floor was made of chapstick!!...THen we could just rub our lips on the floor!!"

At the car show! Jacob liked seeing the cars, especially the one painted with chalk paint that he could actually write his name on, but I think his favorites were riding on the Space Needle, and trying his vey first snow cone!

Today Jacob got his passport in the mail! We gave him the envelope to open, and he was beyond excited. I think it was so special for him because it was something he could hold, proving that he can go on the upcoming Disney cruise. It was extra fun for Nate and I, because it was a year ago today that Nate and I left for the Alaskan cruise. We are REALLY excited to see Jacob experience the Disney cruise. He is already trying to save his money for a Pluto stuffed animal!

Last week after I cleaned the bathroom, I painted "I LOVE YOU JACOB" on the under side of the toilet seat. Jacob noticed it right away when he took his next potty break, and liked it, and I didn't think much of it again until today. I had cleaned the bathroom last night after Jacob went to bed. This morning I was in the kitchen when Jacob took his potty break. I heard the door close, and the seat hit up on the lid..."Awe no body loves me anymore...It's gone." He came out and got me to tell me what happend, and asked me to paint it back on again!

VBS this week (first 2 pictures). Jacob has been busy making anything he can think of with tape lately. Also, if he wants to tell you about a really huge amount of something, he uses the number 168. "I'm so hungry I can eat 168 apples!" It always reminds me of a few years ago, when he always used the number 22 for a sarcastically huge amount of anything.

I gave Jacob the cardboard tray from a case of bottled water to play with. He wanted to make a parking ramp out of it with a door on the side. He was trying to cut the side for the door, but was having a hard time cutting through the cardboard. He asked me for help, but noticed that I was having a hard time cutting the cardboard too. Finally he said, "It's wife proof, isn't it!"

Jacob has been coming up with a lot of excuses at bedtime about seeing monsters in his room. We have tried all kinds of things to get rid of monsters the past week or so. Tonight it was raining at bedtime, so Nate opened the front door and told Jacob to throw all of the monsters outside in the rain. Jacob made 9 trips to the door, and afterwards reported that he threw out 105 tiny monsters. At the end, he added, "I can see them because my eyes are better than yours!" Jacob seemed very confident that we won't have any more problems with monsters at bedtime.

At the train museum. (The first picture is a statue at the gas station on the way to the train museum that Jacob asked to stop and see.)

Tonight we went to Duluth for a pizza train ride with Grandma and Grandpa to celebrate Jacob's baptism anniversary. Jacob liked waving out the window, even when there were no people to wave at. He also liked walking from car to car while the train was moving. We all had a really fun time.

Today Grandma told Jacob that Grace broke her arm, and has a cast on her arm. When I came to pick up Jacob at Grandma's, he told me what happened, adding, "The bones in her arm were probably loose already."

Jacob was really into painting at the lake this weekend!

Too windy to boat today, so we went and checked out the wind generators...UP CLOSE!!! Jacob was really excited!

A few weeks ago, Jacob and I were driving and he asked about a building he saw. I explained that it was a battered women's shelter, and that it was a safe place that moms and kids could go if Dads or husbands were hurting them. We talked about how it was not okay to hurt people or animals, etc. I had no idea he thought anything of it until tonight. This time we were riding with dad, and Jacob asked who lived in an apartment complex we passed. I explained single people can live in apartments, families, and some apartments are even just for senior citizens, like Carol's apartment. After a short pause, Jacob blurts out form the back seat, "Or women and kids who need to be safe from Dads who hit them!" The look of shock on Nate's face was priceless, and I had to explain my earlier conversation with Jacob! I love the way Jacob makes such great connections with new things he learns!