Growth Chart Moments

It’s been almost 5 months since I’ve done a Growth Chart Moments post.  If you’re new to this blog (within the past 5 months anyway), these are posts where I list some milestones Jack has reached or cute things he’s doing lately.  This one is more of  a ‘cute thing he’s doing’ post.  Jack’s certainly growing FAST, and there are a ton more that I could have listed. These are my highlights from recent moments we’ve had.

Jack can recognize when there are two things together.  He’ll say both, or he’ll correctly say there are 2 of them.  Sometimes he can identify 3 items, but not every time I don’t think.  He loves to identify double trailer semis when they go by.

He can almost say his full name.  His middle name is Emerson, which he sometimes pronounces Esserman.  I love to hear him say “Jack Esserman!” 

Some of my favorite words he still messes up (there are very few that he doesn’t say correctly) are Cabozer (bulldozer), Perftick! (perfect), Extavator (excavator) and  Let’s metend! (pretend). I love those.

The other day we said “Jack, say, ‘No way, Jose!’”  He said “No way, Hadozee!”  We lost it.  We ask him to say it almost every day now.  He can finally say it right, but he makes sure to mess it up so we laugh. He loves to make us laugh.  He’s always asking, “Is this fun?” “Is this silly?”

Any time Daddy asks him to give him a countdown, he shouts, “3,5,4,3,5,4!” while pointing his finger in the air.

He can put in and even change the DVD’s he wants to watch.  He still asks if he can watch a certain video, but he can open the player, change out the DVD (I taught him to poke his finger through the hole), and push the right buttons to get it to play.  My job here is done!

He rode his tricycle for the first time today – forward that is.  He’s been able to pedal backwards for a while now, but forward is much harder.  We went for a ride around our neighborhood this morning, and he loved it.  He wants to ride all the time!

And anytime he’s around a new person, he’ll tell them that he’s a big boy now.  And that he is.  He no longer resembles the little baby boy he was. 

Oh, and he’s calling me Hon now.  Thanks, Hon. (Honey)

Growth Chart Moments

My little Jack is growing up.  I haven’t done one of these posts in a long time.  Way too long.  Jack is just growing way too fast, and saying and doing things new every day that I can’t keep up! 

At 25 months, he has the vocabulary of a 5 year old.  Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I’ve met 3 year olds who don’t speak as clearly and with as many words as Jack does.  He really is ahead of his age on language.  When his doctor asked if he's saying small sentences now that he’s 2, I said, “He’s talking in paragraphs!”

Here are a few things that have come out of my adorable, yet very ornery son lately.

Actually- He uses this correctly!  “Actually, this is blue, not green." I think I say this a lot, but I never thought he’d pick up on it and use it correctly like he does.

Not quite- He get’s a cute little thinker’s face going when he’s trying to get something to line up or to complete a task.  His head is cocked to one side, his eyebrows are frowning, and he says “Not quite…..There!  I did it!!”

Nice to see you today, Heather – When Heather, who had come over to work on a project the other day, was getting ready to leave, he said (with no prompting whatsoever), “Nice to see you today, Heather!”  Really!  It floored us.  Heather especially.  She also commented that day about how well he said her name.  Most kids say “Header” but Jack actually gets the ‘th’ blend in there.

They’re very similar- Daddy was working with him one night a while ago on using the word similar.  He just happened to have two red trucks out and Rick pointed out how they were very similar, but not exactly alike.  They pointed out what was similar and what was different.  Now, Jack will take two of his toys, look at them, and say ‘they’re verwee simiwar.’  Also with the same thinker’s face he has when he says “not quite.”

Counts objects up to 3- One day a while go, he dropped 3 paper bowls on the floor.  I just left them there (like I do with most things dropped on my floor), and just a few minutes later he counted them correctly.  That was awesome!

counts to 10, kind of- Every once in a while, while we’re driving in the van, he’ll count.  He usually says “one, two, sthree, five, four, five, FOUR!!!”  But every once in a while, when you can get him to say ‘six”, he will continue all the way to ten.  The last time he counted to thirteen, but he skipped twelve.

Mom and Dad –This one makes me sad.  He went straight from calling me Mama, to MOM.  Right around the same time he switched to mom, he switched to Dad.  No Daddy anymore.  I’m not sure where he picked this up, since we refer to each other as Mommy and Daddy.  The funniest though, is when he calls me Mother.  “Can you pick me up, Muzzer?”   That one came out of the blue too.

Oh my goshess! – This last one make me laugh every time.  I often say “Oh my gosh!” and “oh my goodness!”   He has taken the two and mixed them up to form “Oh my GOSHESS!” 

Oh, and he also likes to eat lemons.  Just like his mommy mom Mother.

Growth Chart Moments

Jack turned 18 months last week.  A year and a half!  Time flies when you’re having fun!

Here are some cute things he’s doing or saying that I’m sure to forget if I don’t write them down.

• He says “BESS YOU” to anyone who sneezes, coughs, hiccups, or burps. 
• He calls all animals by the noise they make. 
• Dogs = FUFF FUFF!
• Sheep = BA!
• Cows = MMMMMMMOO! ( sometimes Mmmmmeee)
• Mokey’s = OOO OOO EEEE EEE EEEEE!
• He counts to two.  Sometimes he counts to three, but his three sounds like one, so we’re not really sure about that one.
• He yells “CHASE!” and “RUN RUN!” when he he wants you to chase after him.  His chase turns into chrase after a few times.
• He loves putting blankets around him while walking around.  He loves all blankets and hats, and he loves to wrap them around his shoulders or waist and see how far he can walk around the house before it falls off.
• He is in love with CHOO CHOOs!  The boy turns his food into choo-choos, and everything looks like a choo choo track to him evidently.  He can sit on Daddy’s lap and watch choo-choo videos online all day long!
• He still loves to read books.  He knows what he likes and doesn’t like each night for bedtime, and it changes every night!  His nursery floor is covered with books that he fishes through to find just the right ones for that night.
• He can identify most animals, but that doesn’t mean he wants to touch them or get to close.  He’ll enjoy looking from afar for now.

OH, and he’s sleeping through the night now!  It only took 17 or so months, but he’s not getting up much at all now.  YAY!!!!!

This is his favorite blanket to wrap around himself.  And he can’t go to sleep without it on top of him…even if his room is 82 degrees!!!

Our little Darth Vader Boy.

 

He likes to wear hats!

Some Growth Chart Moments

I haven’t stopped to mention all the new things Jack has been up to in a while.  He’s growing SO FAST!  It seems that he’s getting smarter by the day. 

Some of the words he has now include (but are not limited to):

Hi!: Which started out as “Hi-ya!” and has now become just “Hi!”

Bye: He will say “Bu-Bye!” constantly around the house or in the van. I think he likes how it sounds

Bus: This was one of his first words. But until this weekend, it was just “buu”. Now he has added the s at the end.

Shoe: It sounds like “tschoo” And he can also match up his shoes.  I ask him to go get his shoes, he’ll bring me one shoe.  When I ask him to get the other one, he picks out the matching shoe every time.  This is only impressive because all of his shoes are just thrown in a pile, so he really has to dig to find the other one.

Woof: this was another first word, but it still sounds like “fuff Fuff!”

Free: Just yesterday I pulled him out of his high chair and said “You’re Free!” Now he’s saying “Fee!” all over the place.

Amen:  At dinner time each night, we hold each other’s hands and say grace.  Jack will grab my hand and sit patiently until Daddy’s done saying his prayer.  Rick always ends the same way, so Jack figured out when to shout “AY-MEEEE!”  It’s so adorable.

Choo-Choo: he loves everything that has to do with Choo-Choo trains.  He says “Choo Choooooo” and something like “chgga chgga”

Animal noises: Baaaa, Meeeeee (which is really Moooo), Cuck cuck for Cluck cluck, and a weird oink sound that I can’t type into words. It sounds like he’s clearing his throat.

He LOVES books.  I mean LOOOOOVES books!  I think he’d let me read to him every minute of every day.  He has definite favorites, and he’s learned how to ask for them.  Two books that I love the way he asks for are Goodnight Moon and Clickety Clack.  He’ll say “Hushhhh” for Goodnight Moon or a sound like he’s clearing his throat for Clickety Clack.  (he must not get the K sound yet)

He has become a very stubborn boy.  (Though, I guess I saw that back when he was stubborn about not going to sleep all those times!)  He is mostly obedient, but he does like to test the limits with most things.  When I say “Don’t do that,” it’s must sound like an invitation to “see how far you can go before Mom says NO again". 

(Like here, where I told him NOT to get into the bag of charcoal. You can see that he just heard the invitation)

And he is a MY-BYSELF kind of kid.  When my sister was little, she would say, “No! I do my-byself!”  That has stuck with our family to this day.  Jack definitely doesn’t want anyone’s help when he’s determined to do something on his own. 

I can’t believe he’s already 16 months old.  Even though this second year isn’t nearly as fast as the first year, it’s still going by so quickly.  He seems to know more or do something new every day.  He is  a total blessing to our family, and I can’t wait to see what he does next!  (maybe it will go to sleep without a fight – a mom can hope!)

*oh, and by the way, for anyone who is interested, we’re no longer breastfeeding.  He was completely weaned after my Mommy Retreat.  All went well!

He’s Advanced for his Age!

That’s what Jack’s doctor said this morning.  I have proof now.  We’ve always known our son was a genius, and now we have medical confirmation.

Okay, we won’t go that far, but his doctor did say that exact phrase about his walking skills this morning.  He is officially walking backwards now.  He’s slow, and sometimes looks like he’s dancing, but he does walk backwards now. 

We had to go in to see our doctor, because Jack has Conjunctivitis.  A.K.A. Pink Eye. Poor little squirt.  We were with a play group yesterday from 10-11am, and by 2pm I could see the globs in his eyes.  He’s not really phased by it, unless you call a sleepless night where he would ONLY sleep snuggled into his mommy not being phased.  We’re making it through though.

I do have some more Growth Chart Moments for you.  This last month has been a HUGE Growth Chart month for us.  He’s really coming along nicely!  Or shall I say “advancedly?”  (Let’s hope he doesn’t have my grammar)

• He’s nodding his head ‘yes’ now.  Last time I mentioned he has the ‘no’ shake down.  These last couple of days you could see him working on the yes nod.  It’s more of an entire upper body twitch, but it still gets the point across.  It’s slowly becoming a head nod and not so much a bend at the waist.
• He’s saying “HI!” to us now.  Its his official first word.  Sometimes it sounds like ‘Hey!’ and sometimes it’s a ‘Hi!"’.  He hasn’t unveiled it to anyone other than Daddy and Mommy, but I’m sure some day he’ll be handing out Hi’s to every stranger he passes.
• He says “Da!” for Daddy now.  He still can’t decide which one of us is Mommy and which is Daddy, but he does call Rick “Da'” now.  Let me explain what I mean.  When we ask him where Mommy is, he may point to me or he may point to Rick.  Same thing goes for Daddy.  But he always calls his Daddy, Da.  You try to figure that out.
• His only other word right now is “Ba.”  That may be Bonk, for when he bonks his head, or it may be button.  It’s usually one of those two though, so I consider it a word.

And, of course, he’s still the cutest thing ever.  Even if he’s starting to have temper tantrums now.