My Parrot

Oh my! I guess Jacob wished to become a parrot when he blew out his birthday candles. I noticed a couple days ago that Jacob was repeating me....even things that he had never said before...like, "oh no" and "wait wait wait wait wait". This is something we are going to have to watch more closely. We do not use bad language, but sometimes we say things that he doesn't understand and/or he has no idea about the context in which you say them. Today, at lunch, Lee and I were in the floor with Jacob's new Mega Blocks. We were each building our own design....and then Lee took my blocks:( So I said to him playfully, "no, those are mine." Then Jacob said, "no, those ah my!" and took them from Lee. It was funny, but I can see how this could go badly for us in the future.

2nd Birthday

My baby is two years old. I can't believe it. The boy that I thought would never talk now says, "mama mama mama mama mama mama mama mama mama" all day long. I must admit that I really don't mind. I think it's cute and sort of funny. I can be sitting right next to him and watching the same thing he is, but he will repeat "mama" until I acknowledge him and let him know that I see it too. (he does the same thing to dada)

We had his party last Saturday, the 14th. We had 17 people and one tiny dog in our home....all family. The cake was decorated with M&M's. Before Saturday Jacob had only had one M&M in his whole life. After I brought the cake out and we sang Happy Birthday, I was distracted, and then my mom pointed out to me that Jacob had started eating the M&M's off the cake and was shoving them all into his mouth at once! He also pulled all the cars off of the cake. It was very funny. He looked like a monkey, heavily engrossed in a hygienic ritual. I'm glad he enjoyed them!

Crayola Caper

Oh Jacob! Jacob had friends over to play this morning. Jared, 3 and Zion, 18 months. While I was talking to their mother, and Jared was playing in the living room, Jacob and Zion decided to go play in Jacob's room. I need to preface this with the fact that Jacob KNOWS that it is not o.k. to color on the wall. This was not his first offense. The difference? This time he had an accomplice! When I walked into the room Zion continued to color, but Jacob knew he had been caught. His little eyes got big and he dropped his crayon and ran to my side. I'm not sure if he was apologizing, begging or denying any responsibility for the mural that covered his walls. I was able to successfully clean most of one of the walls within an hour.....with 2 Mr. Clean magic erasers and a butt-load of elbow grease! I will have to finish tomorrow, because I ran out of magic erasers:(

His consequence? He had to sit in his time-out chair, in the room with me, while I cleaned the wall. Before I get angry phone calls from grandparents......he sat quietly and read books. It was hardly solitary confinement. I also put the crayons out of reach.

What's New

Well.....I was supposed to take a trip to Texas a couple of weeks ago. The night before we were scheduled to leave Jacob threw up....all over me. I decided to wait a day and see how he felt. The next day I was sick. I am just now getting over it.

Jacob has become obsessed with cheese. As soon as he has finished breakfast he runs to the fridge and says, "cheese!" I have learned that if I give him his beloved cheese that he will not eat lunch. He is very upset with my decision. He has become quite strong-willed lately. I guess it comes with the age.

I also have the saddest news. Jacob has dropped his one and only nap:( Poor Mommy! I will be instituting some sort of quiet time very soon. This time is not so much for Jacob, as for me. I need time to regroup and recharge. I really didn't expect this for a couple more years. He is a curious little monkey. I guess there is just too much to do for a nap!

Pictures: Jacob catching the millimeter of snow we had for 5 minutes

Jacob having too much fun in armoir

Jacob with marker mustache

Jacob wearing his favorite toboggan....Daddy's

Ow!

Today was beautiful. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. So, after we went to the YMCA I decided to stop by the playground on the way home. Oh, did we have fun! Then Jacob got a splinter from one of the benches. This was his very first splinter. He held his hand up to me and said, "Ow!", and waited for me to kiss it. I kissed it, knowing that a kiss wouldn't make this one better. Every time he closed his hand he would say, "Ow!" Then he would try to wipe it off on his pants! I decided it was time to go home and try to get the splinter out. When we got home I tried several times to get the splinter. I tried putting in a movie, but that distraction wasn't enough. We waited for Lee to get home. Luckily, he got home early, around 2:00. So Lee and I tried to extract the splinter. We laid him out on the couch and I laid on top of him while Lee worked on his hand. Then Lee tried restraining him while I worked on his hand. Long story short........we ended up at the Dr.'s office! It took 4 of us to get the splinter out. 3 to hold him down and 1 to do the dirty work. I was in charge of holding his legs and distracting him. As I watched the nurse scrape off the skin on his little bitty hand and the blood dripping down, and the tears rolling steadily down his precious little face, it took every bit of energy from every cell of my body not to cry. When it was over we got a band-aid and a sucker and all was right in the world again. His hand is still sore, but we are keeping Curious George band-aids on it.

Jacob has become quite proficient in the art of shape sorting and puzzles. This must be why he is so good at laying track for his Thomas the Train set! I made the circle, but then he modified it by adding the splits and the track down the middle. Not too shabby for a 22 month old! I am allowed to brag on my baby every now and again, right? Look at his face....so engrossed in his work. But not to busy to put on a big "CHEESE" for Mommy! We love this train set and are looking forward to getting a set with some bridges;)

And this is the latest in Jacob fashion. He loves wearing his boots! We have yet to test them out in actual rain, but they work great inside. And, in classic Jacob form, he is bringing me a movie.

Christmas

I always envisioned Christmas being easier when we lived close to home. No more traveling 8-10 hours both ways. Ha!! Instead of getting our traveling done in one day, we spread it out over an entire week! Back and forth and back and forth, over and over. Then we tagged on a trip to Alabama that was 5 hours both ways. I haven't even told you that Jacob was sick all week to boot. The poor baby was running fever for 3 days. But...we survived...barely. I feel that I am just now recovering, which is why I haven't posted anything yet.

Jacob had a big Christmas. By that I mean he got plenty of gifts! Among these were: Thomas the Train set, Rody pony, several Cars items, Tricycle, Elmo knows your name, Magna Doodle, Desk, Cookie Monster, Vacuum Cleaner, etc. etc. etc. With a birthday right around the corner, I'm wondering what else he could possibly need!!

The picture above is from Christmas at Nana and Papa Koelz. The next picture is from GGDaddy Koelz. Following is Jacob running his new vacuum at our house on Christmas morning. And the last photo is Jacob opening up his tricycle at Grandaddy and Grandmother Rein's house. Last but not least is a video of Jacob's first ride on his Rody Pony! Sorry for the crazy angle on the video. He's already gotten much much better riding Rody.