2 years old!!!

Our sweet, crazy Jacob is 2 years old. Technically this happened 12 days ago, on March 30th, but we got up early that morning and hopped in the car to commence our week of travels. I was going to post about him when we got home, but then decided to wait until his 2-year-old well visit today.

The stats:

Height: 35.5 inches tall - 80th %

Weight: 32.3 pounds - 90th %

We were a bit concerned about his very picky eating but he seems to be tracking well and his Dr. feels there is no cause for concern. He'll eat when he's hungry!

Talking:

Jacob talks a blue streak. We have many conversations. I hear "mama?!" about 50-million times a day. Other often used phrases: "I did it!" - "There it is!" - "Uh oh!" - "Have Nice Day!" Most recently he has begun praying along with Joseph at meals and bedtime. He also loves to sing "You are my Sunshine" along with me.

Eating:

As previously mentioned, Jacob is our picky eater. He would gobble up a peanut butter & nutella sandwich at every meal if I let him but may/may not eat anything else. What might be eaten at one meal will be pushed away at the next. He's slow to try anything new. We still encourage it and figure he will eat it when he gets hungry enough. (Which was proven true when he ate an entire bowl of red curry chicken & rice one evening - broccoli and all.) He is good about eating his "breakfast candy" (Flintstone vitamin) every morning and we keep Pediasure on hand as a last resort.

Playing:

Jacob tries very hard to keep up with his big brother. He loves Trains above all and plays with them constantly. He can turn almost anything into a train. Joseph and Jacob spend quite a bit of time upstairs playing with the trains/train table. I'm excited about finishing up the room over the garage which they will begin sharing this summer. We are going with a train theme which has proven a bit challenging since most of the room decor I've found is cartoon-y. But we've been able to find some great things and it's coming together.

Sleeping:

Jacob continues to be a light sleeper compared to Joseph but still sleeps around 11 hours at night and 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Although the occasional bedtime is a challenge, usually he's very easy to put to bed. He loves to give big hugs and kisses. He says - "night night" - "love you" - and "okay" in response to "sleep tight!"

Pre-school:

Jacob will start attending pre-school two days a week beginning in May. The waiting list at Joseph's school is quite lengthy if you don't have a sibling already enrolled so we are getting him in quickly before Joseph is done. He loves taking Joseph to school and is reluctant to just drop him off and leave so I think he'll really enjoy staying. The house will be quiet! Well - only for a few weeks until Joseph graduates and is home for the summer.

Misc:

Jacob is a really sweet boy but also incredibly stubborn. I have to remind myself often that I'm the mama and I always get to win. Also - as the second child - he is picking up many skills by himself just by watching/mimicking his brother. But I also find - as the second child - that I don't work with him as much as I did Joseph at this age. We are working on colors and he's doing quite well, pointing to the correct colors when I name them. We also need to work on him pointing and naming them. He has "Blue" down pat. We need to work on numbers as currently most numbers are "2" or "9." On the plus side, I have let the "second child" thing keep me from keeping his baby book and scrap books up-to-date. yay for that!

I can't believe it's been two years since Jacob was born. He has definitely added a lot of laughter to our family and I look forward to seeing how his personality develops from here.