Jake: 18-months-old

 

Oh my sweet little Jacob! These past few months have been so much fun, watching him grow and learn in leaps and bounds. I think this is the stage where I am the most amazed at development. Nearly every parent thinks their child is a genius - and it's no wonder because a crawling baby with very limited communication skills becomes a running and talking child in just a matter of months. Three kids down, and I'm still in complete awe at the process. Our God is pretty amazing and I'm thankful for the close-up look I get at his incredible design and plan watching these little ones develop.

Jake is an early talker, like Abby was but unlike Ben. Although each child develops at his own pace, every parent knows that it is an extra blessing for a child to talk earlier rather than later as it diminishes a lot of frustration. My memory is already fading, but without going back to check the blog, I'm pretty sure that Jake is ahead of even Abby at this stage. He can say so many words that I lost track long ago. About a month ago, he began saying his own name ("Jakey" or "Baby Jake") and also phrases and a few actual sentences. Of course, sometimes he says entire "sentences" that we can't understand at all, but a lot of it we can understand even if others can't. Like at church a couple weeks ago, someone thought he was speaking gibberish and I said, "Actually, he just asked for a drink of water. He said, 'Dinka wa-er.' which I know means, 'I want a drink of water'." :) But a lot of what he says IS understandable too. I can't remember his very first sentence, but to give you an idea, yesterday in the car I was telling the kids that Uncle Gene wouldn't be able to go to the fair with us because he was sick, and Jake responded, "Uncle Gene sick." He also said, "Bubba's outside," and "Where Abby?" He also likes to say possessives like, "Abby's jacket," "Benny's truck," "Uncle Paul's tractor," or "Daddy's boat" (we hear that last one A LOT :). In fact, last week we went out to Westport to see Kevin bring in a load of tuna (pictures coming soon), and it was fun to see Jake make the connection with all our talking about Daddy's boat and fishing for tuna. At first he pointed at every boat saying, "Daddy's boat," but by the end of the day I'm pretty sure he got it figured out. He also seemed to make the connection about tuna, and when we had tuna for lunch the following day, he said, "Daddy's tuna!"which is really three connections since he'd already been calling the tuna cans we label and ship out "tuna," and then the fish he saw on the boat, and finally the tuna he ate from our jars of home-canned tuna.

Another favorite word of his is "apple." Awhile back when we were in the car, he spotted the apple on the sign at Applebees that is a few blocks from our house and now he likes to say "Applebees!" when he sees the restaurant and at other random times. (I keep telling the kids that someday we should go there to eat just to see what Jakey would do. :) So, you can imagine his excitement at finding apples on the ground at Uncle Paul's farm two weeks ago.

I LOVE his bright, big eyes, his sweet little lips and his chubby smooth cheeks. Mmm, I love kissing this precious boy! Which is a good thing, because lately he has been going through a mama-only phase again. He won't let anyone at church hold him anymore - sometimes even if they just LOOK at him, he starts shaking his head and saying "no" because he thinks they are going to try to take him out of my arms! Ha! I think this particular mama-only phase might have been exacerbated by Kevin's absence most of the summer and he is always quite happy to be in Daddy's arms whenever he does see Daddy.

Jake is a pretty funny little guy, doing silly things and making us all laugh. It's a long story that I won't get into, but the kids and I started saying "Oh, bug soup!" occasionally. Jake picked up on it and frequently says it and then fake laughs in order to make all the rest of us laugh. It's turned into an inside joke of sorts and he loves being able to tell the joke. :) In the picture below, he found a rectangular-ish rock that he was pretending was a cell phone! Such a silly boy!

In addition to talking well, he is also beginning to comprehend very well. This, too, often surprises me. Afterall, we mamas start talking to our babies from the day they are born, long before they understand a word! Two nights ago, we were heading home from church and I asked Jake, "Did you have a good time at church?" not really expecting a response. He replied, "Friends! Babies!" I was so surprised (didn't even know he knew the word "friends"), but it was definitely an accurate response to his time in the nursery. :) He has also just started to begin helping with cleaning up toys and understands putting specific toys in specific containers. Yay! Of course, he's still good at dumping them out once it gets filled up, but we're working on it. :)

Jake is still my little guy, even more petite than the other two kids were at this age. We're only just starting to move into 12-18 month clothing! His stats are 31.5 inches tall and 23 lbs 5 oz. Those are in the 25th percentile range which is up from the 10th percentile at his previous appointments, so he is growing! :) But being small hasn't kept him from acting like a 2 or even 3-year-old on the playground! He's always on those toys running and climbing around like the big kids. Last week he even climbed UP the slide! Strangers have tried to guess his age and we get some pretty strange answers, because his abilities make him seem older and yet he is so small!

Jake, you bring so much happiness and joy into our lives. These last few 18 months have been such a blessing! We love you dearly! Happy 18 months, Jake!