It's raining, it's pouring...

As the remnants of the Pacific typhoon beat down on us, we stay inside and try to figure out fun things to do in lieu of the daily walks, bike rides, and park visits.
In case you were wondering, this is some of what a cooped up jacob does:




Yes, every last one of those books began on the bookshelf this morning.

Just an FYI: The scratch on his face between the eyebrows is a direct result of Jacob attempting to imitate his swedish girlfriend Jenny. At nearly 3 years old, she is capable of maintaining balance while jumping on benches in the courtyard. Jacob, 1 1/2 years younger and likely a foot plus some shorter, didn't do it so gracefully and fell face first. He was a trooper and was over it in about 5 minutes. But he looks pretty tough..and neanderthal-esk.

18 months...or can I finally refer to age in years?

Jacob is officially 18 months and doing most typical toddler things quite well. He adores playing with and shadowing kids a bit older than him...but tends to be a bit of a bully when he's with younger munchkins. Below is Jacob and Jenny (his almost 3 y.o. Swedish friend) sitting our recycling bins out in the courtyard.

He laughs and smiles as much as ever but can better communicate what is tickling him just so and can usually signify what is bugging him when he's frustrated. -However, he certainly has his toddler irrational frustrations...those are fortunately short lived and distractable.
He enjoys mimicking and, as seen below, sometimes does it quite well....and sometimes cracks us all (including himself) up.

Unpromtped, Jacob has a slew of words and learns new ones constantly (today was "happy" and "glasses") but he really doesn't string them together. We're working on colors, number, and the alphabet... So far we have: "two" and "a-b-e" but he just smiles and mimics when we practice colors.

I suppose he's too distracted jumping off of playground equipment (part not intended as jumping points), climbing onto the dining room table and toilet tank, and picking all the green strawberries and tomotatoes from the community garden (sometimes eating them....)?

He's growing fast and constantly reminds us of his jokester personality and instinctual empathy.

And no, he doesn't consistantly sleep through the night. Maybe when every tooth is in, he has no germ, and has worn himself out? Sigh...

Random september pictures

Another of JDP with Tavin when we went to visit Tavin in Galt, CA.

Corn on the cob Jacob style...

Among the cutest of Jacob's activities- reading and loving books!

Zoo trip! Jacob the turtle...but he wouldn't look up.

Jacob trying to touch the lemur mural.

"Gulp Gulp went the Huge red frog one day.."

Jacob with his (old) new pal Curious George!

That's all for now...more when he's 18 months in a few days!

Tavin and Jacob reunion, part 1.

Warning: cute pale baby butts involved in post.

Solely for entertaining value:

Jacob attempting to yank off his diaper ( it was still clean everyone, don't worry!)

He got distracted with his diaper literally halfway off. The bath was to follow, so no harm. Though I am concerned about what is to come...perhaps before the total diaper throwing he'll be potty trained? (He already loves to sit on his potty, though he hasn't quite got the timing down- and no, we're not really seriously potty trainging him this minute. But we are introducing concepts and he's picking things up quite well!)

Devoted blogees (that a word?) may recall Tavin from all of last year- he was Jacob's neighbor and buddy. Tavin and parents are in town for a bit and the boys got to play again- this time they were much more locomotive and adept with moving quickly. And still quite entertaining together!

Mischief level rising.

Some pictures of unsolicited variations on typical activites that we fortunately caught on camera.

(Eating watermelon REALLY happily.)

(Sitting still for more than 1/2 a second.)

(He was eating underneath the table.)

(Madly brushing the teeth.)

(Breakfast attempt #2: apparently hunger struck and he needed to eat backward on the absolute edge of the couch. And hold his tray backward on his lap.)

(I suppose the smile isn't unusual, rather it has become unusual for Jacob to let me take a shot before he starts begging "peassss" (how he says "please" while doing the sign simultaneously) to watch the pictures/videos on the camera.)

This is becoming quite usual Jacob behavior...hence the side of the crib back in place.

And this was breakfast this morning. He's never willingly eaten fench toast, so i gave in and let him have some powdered sugar. He still ate his french toast, but apparently the sugar had a different purpose.

Happy Birthday Daniel

On the eve of Daniel's birthday, jacob and I though we should put up some pictures to make daniel feel so loved (and some reminders).

Currently, at 17 1/2 months, Jacob imitates his father in oh so many ways.

In regards to sports: jacob shouts animatedly at the television during any kind of sporting event. Don't you wonder where he learned that?

He loves reading about football, basketball, or any ball.

Just this morning we came to a halt halfway down the steps when Jacob said "ball" and turned longingly back to our door...so we had to retrieve one of his 1,298,278 balls. Just so he could hold it in the stroller on the walk to the post office.

Jacob has been introduced to *dietitian in me is cringing* ketchup and will eat darn near anything if it is served with the option of dipping it in ketchup. Daniel, his brother, and especially father LOVE ketchup. Jacob keeps the Pugh tradition alive. Fortunately in JDP's case, he'll eat fish, sweet potato wedges, and other healthy foods while, regardless of ketchup status, other unnamed relatives wouldn't eat unless fried! :)

Little boy has also taken to cuddling/napping on his daddy....something that hasn't happened with his mommy since very young infancy.

Happy Birthday Daniel!

Additionally, Jacob hung-out with Olivia (16 months) and had a check-up yesterday. He's getting lean and taller weighing in just over 23 pounds and a whopping 31.5 inches. This formally chunky boy is now barely in the 25th percentile for both weight and height...hard to believe for someone who once topped the 75th percentile for weight! He's got a follow-up in few weeks to make sure he's gaining adequately due to his flatlined weight gain for the past 6 or 7 months...but really we'll be going back so he can get the swine flu vaccine and have his ears checked. (He's had cruddy congestion for a couple of weeks and now his ears are inflamed.) He looks a little tired of the congestion here...and a little like an elf.

Jascob and Olivia sharing socks. This sock sharing game lasted for nearly 7 minutes.

We got a bed rail for Jacob recently and have used it during the day. We attempted a night...but won't do that again until he is actually sleeping through the night....again. Or maybe until he's a bit more communicative seeing as how he may NEVER sleep through the night! Regardless, he was pretty darn excited and proud to move about his room, including in and out of his crib, freely.

Home Sweet Home Diddily Dum Doodily

We're safely back in Berkeley and we're loving it! We adopted some bookshelves, a desk, and some glasses/mugs from graduating seminarians last May, and we finally get to see them and make them ours (or at least ours for now..we'll see where they go in 3 years). While this summer was truly a gift to see as much family as we did, being back in our home, returning to our community, and getting back into a schedule has been terrific. Like with every other single time we've moved or traveled, Jacob is back to his insomniac ways... He isn't completely weaned yet, so we're working on that and hoping it positively affects his sleep (eventually). Who knows?

Per the norm, we have a few pictures of Phoenix to share that we didn't manage to post before leaving! Another appearance is made by cousin Parker as we got to briefly hang out in Phoenix! We'll have more pictures of Jacob in berkeley soon...

Jacob likes to refer to any child as "baby". So Parker became his best friend "baby" ther weekend they were together. It was sad when Parker left and Jacob went around saying "baby" looking for him!

These shots show jacobn wearing his G.G.'s necklace. The boy loves wearing ties, necklaces, daddy's shirts...anything on his head or neck.

Much love!