Summer Fun

I guess our summer was a little busier than I thought, or I've just been too lazy to post to our blog. I'm just going to go ahead and pretend that we had a busy summer : ) We did make several trips to visit family and friends this summer, and enjoyed visits from friends and family as well. We also celebrated a big birthday in August, with Jake turning two. So far it hasn't been too terrible, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way. I will say that in the last few months, Jake has really started to show his personality, which on most days is hilarious. Hopefully, I'll be able to give you a small glimpse of what Ryan and I enjoy on a daily basis.

Talk, Talk, Talk

Jake has been pretty verbal from day one. He used to lay in his crib as a baby and jabber to himself for long periods of time before he would fall asleep and after he would wake up. Sometimes, Ryan and I joked that he enjoyed getting away from us, because he seemed so happy in there talking to himself. I guess I should have realized that we were going to have quite a talker on our hands when we finally started to understand what he was saying. Some of my favorite things Jake is saying these days are, "Mommy, I hold you," when he wants to be picked up, "Love you, Mommy," which I thought he would never say, "Ooooh nice," when he's done something he's very proud of or he thinks something is cool, "Look Mommy," which is followed by whatever he wants me to look at. The first day he said this, he actually said, "Look Mommy, I build tower," which amazed me, until he said it every few seconds, even if the tower never changed. Tonight, we were out shopping, and Ryan and I thought he was telling us knock, knock jokes. Once he learned how to knock on a door, this became an obsession, but tonight, he would say, "Knock, knock," wait for Ryan to say, "Who's there," and then make up someone, like Blues Clues, Sissy, Daddy...you get the idea. Anyway, it was very humorous. Sometimes I just don't know where he comes up with the things he says.

Obsessed with Ray Ray

I used to think that Jake's obsession with cooking was just a phase he was going through, but I'm starting to think maybe I was wrong. The funniest part about his obsession, is that neither Ryan or I really enjoy cooking. Granted, I do cook more now that we have Jake, so he sees me cooking, but I am definitely not an expert in the kitchen. Needless to say, the boy LOVES to pretend he's cooking. He also loves to eat, so there may be a connection there. I realized just how obsessed he is during one of the rainy weeks we had, when we were confined to the house. We also happened to be painting our basement/playroom that week, so there weren't a ton of options for entertainment. I was watching Food Network, and Rachel Ray happened to be on. Well, Ray Ray (Jake's nickname for Rachel) has been a favorite of Jake's for a while, although, he has only recently started imitating what she does. Giada and Paula Dean also became favorites during our week of confinement. Anyway, while the ladies were cooking, Jake would get out his pans and dishes, and pretend to cook the same things. I would hear him talking to himself as he added the ingredients, and it was all I could do not to crack up. I also tried to turn the channel at one point, and he got really upset. I'm just hoping he picks up enough pointers that he can start making our meals for us in the next couple of years. I've always wanted my own personal chef, and I think my wish might come true : )

Turning Two

We traveled down to West Plains to visit our family and celebrate Jake's birthday the weekend before his actual birthday. Jake definitely had more fun this year, but I think he was most excited about eating cake and ice cream. He's already figured out that cake is served at most parties, so he gets very excited when I tell him we're going to a party. He also enjoyed opening presents this year, but once he opened his microwave, it was as if nothing else existed. Once again, he LOVES to cook. Ryan and I got him a playhouse that goes outside, thinking he would love going down the slide, which he does, but he would prefer to have me bring out all of his dishes, silverware, pans and microwave and pretend to cook in the outdoors. Let me just say that I get very tired of lugging all of that stuff outside, and then back inside, but I know it fosters his imagination, so I do it. I swear, the things we do for our kiddos.

We also had a party on his actual birthday with some of our friends. I was a little worried that Jake might be selfish and not want the other kids to play with his toys, but he had a lot of fun. He does not usually like to share, so I was very surprised that he let everyone play with his things. He wasn't so excited about anyone touching his bubble mower, but other than that, he was pretty good.

Playing Outside

We've been trying to fix some drainage issues in our yard this summer, so Jake has had a great time playing in the mud, watering the grass, playing in the sprinklers and helping daddy mow. He even got to take a ride in the wheelbarrow, which was one of my favorite things to do on my grandparents' farm when I was little. We didn't go swimming very much this summer, but Jake did splash in his little pool a little, and enjoyed playing with his water table with friends.

Don't forget to check out all of our albums on the right. I've downloaded all of our new pictures into an album called Summer 09.

Little Picaso

I think one day his work will be featured in the Smithsonian!

Learning to mow early!

Putting Jake to work already!

New Hobbies

Over the last couple of months, Jake's personality has really been developing. In fact, he's become rather opinionated about some things and exercises his use of the word, "No!" quite often. I was hoping he would skip this phase, but unfortunately, it is here. We're hoping this is not a sign that the terrible two's are beginning already. In all honesty, though, he's really a pretty good kid. We have had to give him a few timeouts on occasion, but thankfully at this point, he sits in the chair for his one-minute time out and apologizes to Mommy or Daddy (with a kiss) when it's over. I'm sure this won't last long either, but I'm glad it's working for now.

Jake's vocabulary is expanding, thank goodness, which has allowed us to communicate with him a little more easily. He loves to play the "tar" (guitar) and sing songs while he's playing. I think he's going to enjoy making up songs like his Mommy.

He also really likes to color in his BIG coloring book. Thanks Aunt Jen! His favorite color right now is blue, anyway that's the color he says most often. I tried to get him to like green, since that's my favorite color, but he chose his daddy's favorite color instead. I guess I should be glad that at least it's not pink : )

He enjoyed playing chess with his cousin, Bailee when she was visiting. Ryan took these pictures while I was gone, and when I looked at them, it really looked like Jake was playing. I know he's a smart kid, but I don't even know how to play chess that well.

Jake has also really started playing with his blocks more and actually builds towers instead of tearing Mommy and Daddy's down all the time.

Unfortunately, not all of Jake's new interests are good ones. I walked into the bathroom one day to find Jake unraveling all of the dental floss. If I flossed more often, I might have been more angry with him, but it was actually pretty humorous to see how proud of himself he was when he had it all out on the floor.

Finally, here are two videos showing a couple of Jake's other new hobbies. Talking on the phone is not really new, but it is still worth watching. The other video shows him playing with bubbles, which he would probably do every day all day long if we let him. Bubble also just happens to be one of his new favorite words.

Fun Indoors

What's For Dinner?

I know I've talked about how much Jake enjoys pretending to eat, but lately he's been getting the pots and pans out and cooking up a storm. A few times, he even tried to cook himself up for dinner.

DUIM (Driving Under the Influence of Milk)

Jake got a dump truck for Christmas, and he's finally started riding it every day. The funny thing is, he prefers to sit on it backwards. You'll notice in the pictures that he's also drinking while driving, so we've got a lot to teach him before he gets out on the road. Thankfully, we have quite a few years until that happens.

Working From Home

Ryan has been blessed to be able to work from home on Fridays, which makes Jake and I pretty happy. I'm sure Ryan gets way more distracted at home than he does at work, especially when Jake is constantly wanting him to play, but Ryan wouldn't trade his Fridays at home for anything. Jake has always been super excited about computers, and we have to be careful not to leave either of ours lying around or he will play with them. Last Friday, when Ryan was at home, Jake really wanted to sit by his daddy and work on his computer, so I decided to put him on the stool by Ryan and let him play with his own computer. The look on his face shows how serious he was about his work : )

Fun Outside

We've been blessed with warm, sunny weather the last couple of days, so we've tried to take advantage and spend some time outside. Ryan and I had so much fun watching Jake, because he was so excited about the littlest things. I guess we've been cooped up too long this winter. He loved watching the geese flying overhead and kept pointing to the sky and saying, "Oh," over and over again. His eyes were soooo wide. The wind was blowing quite a bit too, so he loved watching the leaves blowing around in circles. He kept chasing them, even into our neighbors' yards, hoping he would catch just one. He finally resorted to picking them up off the ground. I'm just glad he's no longer scared to touch leaves and grass. You'll also notice from the pictures, that he helped Ryan wash the Jeep. I didn't think we'd ever get the hose away from him! Here's a slide show of some of the pictures of Jake playing outside.

Our Clean Little Boy

I've come to realize that my cleaning habits have rubbed off on Jake a little bit. It used to drive me nuts that he wouldn't touch certain foods with his hands, because that meant Ryan and I would have to feed him everything. Thankfully, he grew out of that stage and feeds himself for the most part (utensils are a little tricky sometimes). He still doesn't like having food on his hands or mouth, though, so I have to keep a paper towel beside him so he can wipe off his hands and face. He also enjoys spilling his milk or food on the table just so he can clean it up. He likes to keep the floor clean too. Here are some pictures of Jake sweeping the floor. I hope he always enjoys cleaning this much, but I'm sure it won't last.

He's doing such a thorough job.

He obviously didn't want anyone to see him cleaning. What a face!

What an Imagination!

Jake has always cracked us up with his imagination. He loves to pretend! His two favorite pretend play activities are eating and talking on the phone. Before he even turned one, he loved sitting with a spoon and container (it never mattered what kind of container) and pretending to feed himself. Sometimes he didn't even use a spoon and container, he just pretended to pick something up with his fingers and put it in his mouth. He also loved feeding Mommy and Daddy. Now he prefers bigger bowls and spoons, but he still enjoys pretending to eat.

He's always been obsessed with every phone in our house, so it wasn't surprising to see him pretend to use the phone. He will put anything up to his ear and start talking. He begins with, "ello" (his word for hello), then jabbers for a while before sometimes saying, "Bye," and hanging up. When he uses his hand for a phone, he pretends to push a button on his palm to turn the phone off. It's too funny, because he acts so serious.

He also pretends to read his books, take his temperature, put gel in his hair, pour soap or lotion on and rub it in, etc. One of the funniest things, though, was when he got club soda out of the pantry, pretended to pour it on the carpet and then wiped it up with his pretend cloth. He'd only seen me do this once, about a month before. It's amazing the things they pick up on. I really hope he continues to have such a fun imagination.

Fun & Embarassing Photos

Jake has been testing out his independence lately, and when socks and shoes are lying around, he tries to put them on. He's not quite coordinated enough to put them on himself, so we have to help him. One day, he decided he wanted to put on my boots. I'm sure he'll hate this picture when he's older.

This next picture shows off Jake's plumber's crack. This is pretty typical when he's sitting on the floor playing.

Making Daddy Proud

He loves BestBuy just like his Dad!

New Blog

Since Charla thought the other blog was too complicated, and everyone else seems to be using Blogger, we decided to move our blog over here. Since it seems to be easier to manage, Charla has promised to update a lot more often. We'll see how that goes.

We are doing well. Jake is growing like gangbusters! People comment on how he looks like a football player these days. I guess that's to say he is very thick. Which he is. But it's a cute thick!

I'll let Charla fill in more details about what's going on with us. (Women are better at that). Here is a recent pic of Jake.

Jake sitting in his new MegaBlock Wagon.