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!

My Personal Trainer

The other day, while we were driving home from church, Jack was in the back saying “Up! Down! Up! Down!”  I caught him once even lifting his leg up and down as he was saying it.  We thought that was cute, and encouraged him to continue doing it by repeating him every time he said it.  We had no clue why he was saying “Up! Down!”

Then, last night, while I was doing my Walk Away the Pounds video, Jack started saying “Up! Down!” while Leslie Sanson was saying it on the video.  She only says it for one segment that I recall, and it’s while we’re lifting our weights doing bicep curls.  I was walking in front of my computer, doing bicep curls, and Jack was playing with his toy truck saying “Up! Down!”  It was the funniest thing!!

Now I have proof that I’ve been working out. Most days we go to the park, but we’ve been having a very rainy couple of days here, so I’ve been stuck inside doing my videos instead.  Evidently, Jack has been watching me.

I love how Jack is a little window into what I do and how I act.  I’m sure it will come back to bite me in the butt, but for now, it’s cute to see what he’s picking up on.  I remember a time when he picked up my broom and dustpan (he loves to play with the dustpan) and started sweeping the kitchen like I do.  I had to share that photo with my family to prove that I actually DO clean my house!

Story Time at the Library

Every Wednesday at 11:00 am, Boozle and I go to our local library and enjoy Baby Lap Time.  It’s a story time for 0-1 year olds.  Jack used to take a nap right through that hour, so for the longest time, we were always missing it.  At around 10 months, he decided to drop his morning nap, so we were able to wiggle in a trip to the library on Wednesdays. 

It’s usually a very small turnout.  For a long time, there were only about 5 babies (all of them boys) that came regularly.  We got to know the boys very well, and looked forward to seeing them and their mamas each week.  Then, all of a sudden, a few weeks ago, the population of our story time tripled!  There are so many babies now, which makes it SO FUN!

 

Today was our last Wednesday for story time for three weeks.  We are going to miss Miss Chrissy, the babies and their mamas (and a few daddies)!  I couldn’t leave without bringing a treat, so I made my banana nut bread into mini muffins to share with the crowd.  (They were a hit)

 

One of the favorite things all the boys like to do is play with the door stops.  They can’t open the doors, but they love putting the door stops up and down.  Jack had to wait his turn this time.

 

Jack loves books.  He especially loves books with Choo-Choo Trains in them.  We are always reading books around our house.  I had to capture this picture on our way home from story time today (sorry for the poor quality – it was with my cell phone) of Jack reading his new library book. 

 

I can’t wait for the first week in June when story time will start up again.  It will be fun to see how much all the babies have grown!!

Happy Mother’s Day

I hope you had a wonderful day today.  I spent today with my mother and sister and her family.  It was a beautiful, sunny, chilly day.  We went to the park to get some family photos.

Last year on Mother’s Day, we dedicated Jack at our church.  He was 4 months old at the time.

This year, we tried to get another family shot.  Jack was not going for it at all!  He wanted to run around, not be held captive for a picture.

 

This was the best we ended up with today.  It’s not horrible, but you can see the frustration in Jack’s face.