Earth Hour

A quick reminder for Earth Hour 2009: (http://http://www.earthhour.org/home/)

Saturday at 8:30 pm, turn out your lights for an hour!

In 9 days Jacob turns 1 years old. As his mom, that is just so many feelings that don't have words...but it's a thrill. And one of the incredible parts of this kiddo that sticks out in my mind is how he STILL changes and surprises us every single day.

As we've mentioned until we're blue in the face, Jacob doesn't sleep well; however, this past week he's been going to sleep completely on his own at nap times and night either silently or with under 20 seconds of fussing. The part that gets me is that we didn't change anything in the sleep-time routine...he just seemed to finally get it and act accordingly. Now, this in no way indicates that he's sleeping through the night (HA), but we'll take what we can get.

Part of him learning to put himself to sleep includes his ability to "tip himself". Jacob has a habit of falling asleep sitting up, and we used to have to go back in after he was asleep and gently "tip" him and tuck him in. Now, this is what happens:

(And yes, following these pictures, i moved his leg out from underneath him.)

His walking is currently maxing out at 4 steps, but he's mastered standing on his own (30 seconds and more!) He's climbing on things really well and is a sneeze away from climbing into the tub- which is not a great thing.

He's passionate about music and ball-related sports. This past week Daniel sprained his ankle playing basketball at a nearby park (Jacob and i were there watching from the playground). Following an intial cry when Daniel went down, typically sensitive and empathetic Jacob couldn't be distracted and instead had rolled the basketball toward the goal post, where he proceeded to throw the ball in the air at the basket. Seriously.

Here's jacob's whiney rendition of the alphabet song:

*I'm walking on sunshine*

That's right, Jacob is taking steps! On St.Patrick's day he took a few steps seemingly by accident and then repeated it again yesterday and today. So far, his record is 3 steps before falling...but he's consistant with getting in at least 2 steps before either deciding to crawl

Prior to these steps, he decided to use his toys as stepping stools, as evidenced by the following photo:

And his smile that says "hurry up and take the picture mom". Yes, that's right, he's already gotten that down. We're so proud.

Kiss me, I'm Irish

Jacob is one special kiddo. His mannerisms, the fact that he is constantly smiling, and his love for life is what keeps the blog going. I keep thinking that we are going to run out of footage or things to say, but then Jacob surprises us again with a new talent.

You're really going to like this one. Pucker up!

Aside from that new talent, Jacob is busy with a couple of other hobbies. The other day I turned on Elmo's world, and Jacob sat and watched it!



Well, he stood and watched it. His cognation is really coming along.


One of his other hobbies are boxes. Ya-Ya (my mom) sent Jacob a box full of clothes, and while we were thankful for the clothes, Jacob was thankful for the box itself.



He has another box that he has formed a hole in so that he can take off his socks and pass them to us. He uses his boxes as a retreat from his parents.




We love you all, and don't forget to comment. It is the comments that drive us to post again.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mucho Amor,

D, A, and J.

We said bye to grandma Ruth today, as she had to return to NC and her regular life. All three of us were spoiled by her these past 10 days...so there will be an adjustment back to life as we know it. Upon hearing a dog out behind our apartment this afternoon, Jacob "woofed" and crawled to his bedroom searching for grandma so that they could go find the dog together. It was adorable...and broke my heart a bit.
While she was here we went to Muir Woods

sorted laundry(which Jacob has really taken a liking to?), and read books.

Sleep wasn't high on Jacob's agenda, but I do have proof that he slept at some point.

Anyway, Jacob is now 11 months old.

He'll soon qualify as a 'foward-facing in the car' toddler. This baby to toddler transition in thought sounds impossible as he'll always be our baby....but Jacob has grown and transformed so gradually (and so much) that he's already our little boy.
He's communicating with us effectively, saying: yay, mama, bye, and on occasion, dada. He clicks his tongue, woofs (imagine a closed mouth woof) in response to dog barking or dog pictures/asking what a dog says, he adores music and wiggles his body when he hears it- especially the itsy bitsy spider or his "jacob" song. He's standing on his own rather well and is beginning to shift his weight while standing- no steps yet. He loves to throw the ball to you (read: at you) but also thinks its great fun when you throw the ball at him (but there is no catching the ball in that game). Just in the past 4 days or so he's eating like he can't get enough of anything and I'm already fearing his appetite as a teenager. He laughs, smiles, and gabs to most people and we couldn't be more in love with him.