Marathon Mama: 20 months and counting

Well, as usual, far too many weeks have passed with lots of fun memories made and new things learned since my last attempt to capture them in writing forever. Ah well, I'm resigned to realizing that is just how it is for me!

Jacob, you turned 20 months two days ago and WOW how you've changed in the last two months! It's incredible! Your vocabulary has exploded and you're now comfortably saying two, three and sometimes even four word phrases. Some of our favorites have been: "go 'way fly" (said repeatedly to the fly that was trapped in our house for a week last month), "Jacom read it" (by Jacom, you mean Jacob, and this is what you say when you want to read a book all by yourself in your chair), "no, Preson, no!" (what you like to say to your sweet friend Preston at school who is so friendly at pick-up time that he comes and gives me a hug daily, usually before you do), "no, Cay-Cay, 'top it" (what you said last weekend to your sweet cousin Caitlyn just because you were in a no kind of mood), "peace wis you" (which you said at Mass last week as you extended your hand to shake everyone else's around us during the sign of peace - PRECIOUS).

You are a complete and total SPONGE, my little man. You absorb everything we say and do and repeat everything and mimic everything. I've realized that I say, "oh shoot" too much because I've heard you say it once or twice now! Oops!

Your favorite song has been Five Little Monkeys, which you refer to as "monkey song" and ask for frequently in the car. Luckily, thanks to the awesome CD your cousin Thomas and Tia Lorena gave you, we can play it over and over and over again until your heart is content. One time you little heart wasn't content until we heard it eight times!

Your favorite books have changed just a bit over the last few months. While you still love Llama Llama Red Pajama, your new fave is Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, or "Bus!!!!!!" as you so emphatically refer to it. You love saying no to the pigeon. I love the way you say pigeon. You also still love your Bible, The Gospel for Little Ones, which you very endearingly ask for as "Jesus". And your other favorite lately has been Green Eggs and Ham, or "Sam" as you like to call it.

Elmo is still your favorite on Sesame Street but George often gives him tough competition. Tonight we sat and watched half an episode of Curious George together. You soak up every minute of it though you favorite part is the opening theme song. I love the way you squeal with excitement and yell "George!!!" when you hear it.

Your favorite activities are going outside, coloring, reading, and dancing to any kind of music. Daddy recently taught you to say "Rock and Roll!", which comes out "Wok an Woll!" and you love it. You love listening to fun toddler music as well as some Pink Floyd and The Beatles. You clapped so much after every Beatles song on our last little road trip. Made Daddy very proud!

You've amazed me so much at how you're learning your colors and numbers! When you first started learning them everything was "bu" (blue). But lately, you've almost got them all straight, though sometimes if you're not sure, green and red are your go to choices. Yellow is definitely your absolutely favorite color - you LOVE yellow anything - yellow legos, yellow balls, yellow paint chips at Lowe's...

Numbers are a very recent nugget of learning for you. You like to count with us as we put away toys or books or spices in the spice cabinet, and as we go up and down stairs. You first learned that two comes after one. I would say "one" and you would always follow with "two". And in Spanish! You would follow my "uno" with "dos". Anytime you see more than one of something, you call it two. Impressive! You know two means more than one! Just this week, however, you've also started remembering some of the rest of the numbers. In both English and Spanish! You usually get stuck on three/tres, but after we help you out with that one, you're pretty good at remembering that four and five come next. Cuatro is hard for you in Spanish but you've got cinco down! It's so incredible to think back to you as a little baby whose now grown into this little person with an amazing mind of his own. I sometimes just watch you in awe now at how much you grow every day.

You know all your friends' names at school and love to say bye to them at the end of the day when Mommy picks you up. It's helped me learn everyone's names, too!

You're still on a veggie strike and it sometimes kills me! I've resorted to Ella, Plum, and Happy Tot veggie pouches because it's the only way I can get you to have some kind of veggies. You also love the Naked Green Machine juice, so at least there's some veggie benefit in there, too. I keep trying to give you real veggies, prepared in a variety of different ways, and you pretty much reject me every time. If it's not chicken, cheese, or a carb, you really just don't want it.

We're about to get rid of all the sippy cups and switch you over to regular cups full time! You've pretty much mastered drinking from a big boy cup and you're getting really good at using your fork and spoon, too!

The past week you've gone through some pretty crazy sleep reversion. I hear it's not uncommon around your age though and thanks be to God you have at least stopped standing in your crib crying after we put you down. That happened for three nights in a row and the third night it lasted 45 minutes. It broke Mommy's and Daddy's hearts to hear you crying for us. The last two nights you haven't gone down easily, but we're so very thankful you've at least stopped standing back up and crying. I think it's true what they say about letting you cry, at least you learned that standing up doesn't get us to come back in. It's hard, but we know it's the best thing for you. I think (please God!) we're almost through this little rough patch.

Which reminds me - somewhere shortly after 18 months you went through a crazy growth spurt! For a good four nights or so, you slept for 14 to 15 hours! It was nuts! Your usual is 11 to 12, so this was crazy. We had to go in an wake you up around 9:45 one morning so we could get moving for the day. It was a flash forward to your what your teenage years may look like!

Jacob, you are still so cuddly, yet squirmy. You love climbing on anything and everything, including Mommy's tummy. You still have no idea baby sister is coming and are mostly just amused by poking Mommy's button (belly button). Makes you giggle like crazy! You are still a mama's boy, who needs Mommy at bedtime for snuggles, but thinks no one is funnier or cooler than Daddy. One of my favorite things to do is watch you and your dad play. There's really nothing that fills my heart with more joy. I love you my little monkey and I'm so thankful for the laughter and love that you fill our lives with. Happy 20 months!