17-months-old

This is Jacob's normal position for watching Mickey Mouse. It's his favorite thing to watch - based on - it's really the only thing he'll sit down and watch. And by "sit down" I mean - lay down with head on chair, blankie in arm, thumb in mouth and not move until episode is over. Then we jump up and do the "Hot Dog Dance." I know some day I'll probably be posting my angst at trying to rid Jacob of his thumb-sucking. However, currently? Cutest. Thing. Ever.

Jacob is our early riser. And whoever isn't awake when he gets up is usually woken up shortly thereafter by his giggles and the sound of him running around the house.

Words: "Shoe" and "Juice" are his two latest words. "Shoe" is usually accompanied by him poking a shoe in your face. "Juice" is usually accompanied by him poking a sippy cup in your face and is followed up with a giggle when you take the cup and head for the kitchen.

Chores: Jacob has taken over "diaper disposal" duty from his brother. Sometimes Joseph still supervises but Jacob is quick to grab the dirty diaper and run for the pail. (and gets a bit irritated if anyone beats him to it.)

Teeth: We are enjoying a blissful non-teething period. Jacob has 16 teeth and we are glad to be done until his next round of molars. He's eating like a champ again and loves getting his teeth brushed.

I love watching their little minds work at this age and realizing how much they understand. As soon as I ask Jacob if he wants to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" he'll put his fingers together to make the spider climb the spout. He also helps "wash the spider out" (whilst giggling) and "dries up all the rain." He still dances almost every time he hears music and loves to play hiding games. His favorite game though seems to be chasing and being chased by his big brother. We now let them go up and play in Joseph's room together. Joseph locks the door so Jacob can't try to navigate the stairs by himself coming down and everything goes pretty well. Every once in awhile we'll get a yell from Joseph asking us to come up and get Jacob off his table. Yes, that's our little climber. He does everything Joseph never did - tries to get into every cabinet, climbs on everything, plays with cords and tries to eat Legos. He pretty much needs to be supervised 24/7 and is a pro at reaching the things you didn't think he could get to. Hypothetical situation: Say you had a scissors and a screw driver on a table in your room and pushed them back so your precious one couldn't reach them. Then within 10 minutes he walked into your bathroom carrying both items. Again, that was just an example of something that would maybe happen at someone else's home. Not mine.

And now I should probably go check on that beautiful little mess. :)

From the innocent mouths of babes

disclaimer: I don't always share the inappropriate things my children say. However, this one needs to get down in writing before I forget the particulars as it will definitely need to be recounted at future events like Joseph's high school graduation, college graduation, medical school graduation, rehearsal dinner and when he has his own kiddos.


Last night I heard Joseph yell from the kitchen, "WHO WANTS TO GET SCREWED?!"

(silence)

mama (thinking he could not have possibly said that): "what was that?"

Joseph: "WHO WANTS TO GET SCREWED?!"

mama (cleaning out ears): "what did you say?"

Joseph: "Do you want me to screw you?"

mama (don't overreact, don't overreact): "um, how would you do that?"

Joseph: "like this!" - put out arms and starts spinning in a circle - "I'm a screw!"

(mama and daddy breathe sighs of relief between their fits of giggles)

Daddy (busy putting away the groceries whilst doubled over laughing behind the open refrigerator door): "well, why don't you go in the living room to, um, screw."

Baby girl-ish-ness

This past weekend we made, yet another, whirl-wind trip to Nashville. (how many of my posts start out that way?) It was for a very special occasion - a baby shower for my sis-in-law and soon-to-arrive niece. Hostess duties were split between five of us and everything came together so perfectly. We are all looking forward to meeting sweet baby Ava in about 5 weeks!!!

Popsicle Holder

Joseph wanted to eat a popsicle outside the other day. A couple of minutes later I noticed that he was playing and not eating. I envisioned the popsicle on its side, dripping down the deck. But Joseph figured it out. . . . .Do you see it?

In my sink - episode 1

Jacob has started depositing his sippy cup/bottle in the sink when he has finished. This is awesome. I had a total "my baby is so smart" moment. No more finding yucky bottles/cups under the couch or entertainment center a couple of days later. But his "brilliance" has progressed to putting quite a few other things in the sink as he finishes with them.

Here is: Episode 1 of Things I Find In My Sink

what we've been up to. . . .

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. There are a couple of reasons for that. First - we've been sort of busy. Second - I got an IPhone and it's just been a lot easier to take pictures with that. Although, so far, not quite as convenient for posting those pictures on the blog.

Christopher was in Miami recently for a conference so my sister, Natalie, and niece, Scout, came to entertain us while he was gone. We had a great time watching our kiddos play together. Our other big challenge was entertaining them while also staying cool. Little Rock set an all time heat record of 114 during this time (the heat index was 122) so we tried to do outdoor things early in the day and then relax indoors in the afternoons.