20 Months

Wow, Jacob has grown a lot this month! He is really starting to show his personality, and he is quite the goofy, mischievous little boy. As you can see in the video above, Jacob is now starting to climb all over. He loves climbing on the sofa, in particular, and we have had to block it off with chairs a few times to keep him from injuring himself. He is also starting to communicate what he wants (or doesn't want) much better. We have been doing more sign language with him, and this has really helped improve our communication. He now knows the signs for more, milk, food, bird, pig, sheep, help, and stop. With our next child, I want to start doing sign language a lot earlier since we have seen Jacob catch on and use it so much just in the past two months. He continues to slowly start to use his verbal language a bit more, and he has started trying to say names. He can now say the names of his cousins Ava and Asher, and he can say Abby (the sign language teacher), and Papa (Grandpa). We still notice him trying to say other new words, but he's still pretty inconsistent when it comes to saying them more than once.
The biggest change we have seen this month is in Jacob's sleeping habits. I am happy to say that it seems Jacob is finally sleeping through the night! He started doing this every few nights this month, but over the past 5 days or so he has been consistently sleeping all night. We still help him get to sleep, but this is not a big deal at all. I am just so happy that he has finally learned this skill and is able to get all the sleep he needs each night.
Jacob definitely looks more like a little boy now, and it is so fun to watch him act like a little boy rather than a baby. It's hard to believe that he'll be a 2 year old in just 4 months. Time sure does fly when you're having fun with such a little sweetheart!

19 Months Old

Well, our little man is another month older. He is slowly starting to add some new words to his vocabulary such as "oh no," "apple" (app-oh), "open" (obeh), and "grandpa" (papa). We have also noticed that he will try to say other words sometimes, so this is very exciting and shows that his language is finally starting to take off. He can also sign the words "clean up" and "stop." Another new thing he likes to do is scream at the top of his lungs, which is not very amusing when he's doing it in the middle of Target.
Naptime has been going really well, although he usually just falls asleep in the car on the way home from errands or another morning activity. Bedtime is also going well, but he still wakes up once most nights. We still bring him into our bed then, but we've decided that once he turns two he won't be allowed in our bed anymore.
We're still having a lot of fun going to different activities during my time off. We got to go to Disney in the middle of June, which Jacob loved. Once we got back we picked back up with our weekly storytimes and local activities. On Mondays we go to storytime at the library, Tuesday we started having music class downtown, and on Thursdays we go to Stroll & Sign. It's fun to have these activities to look forward to each week. We also got to go to the Children's Museum in Bloomington and visit the  Riverfront Museum for fireworks on the Fourth of July. It's been a lot of fun seeing Jacob explore new things and learn.
I guess that's about it for this month. Our little buddy is getting so big!

Sandbox

18 Months Old- What a big boy!

Jacob no longer seems like a baby anymore and is truly a toddler. He has really started doing a lot of new things in just the past two weeks, including trying to say a lot of new words. His speech has been pretty slow, so it is exciting to finally hear him saying new words or repeating ones that he knows really well. Some of the new words he says now include purple, bubbles (bubbo), Bible (that one really surprised us when he said it!), and uh oh. We continue to encourage his speech, so I'm looking forward to hearing him say more words each day. In addition to new words, Jacob's new teeth are coming in- bringing him to a total of 14 teeth! I can't believe he has so many, but I'm looking forward to the end of teething.
Jacob now gets to stay home with Mommy all the time, since I am on summer break. We have already done a lot of exciting things, including going to the Farm Park (he touched one of the goats and loved looking at the rabbits), story time at the library, and something called "Stroll and Sign" (a stroller walk followed by some sign language). When it's nice we are outside as much as possible. I have a ton of ideas from pinterest, and so far we've already done some finger painting, made colored ice cubes to play with outside, used sidewalk chalk, and even painted with Kool-Aid. In addition to these activities, I usually take him on a walk in the stroller each day and plan to take him to the pool several times a week. He definitely loves being outside and is good at climbing the steps on the playground jungle gym and is able to go down the small slide by himself.
A few weeks ago I bought a stuffed animal that plays music and projects lights on the ceiling at bedtime, and that has really helped Jacob to fall asleep in his crib. He still wants one of us to rub his tummy or back until he's asleep, but we don't really rock with him at all when it's bedtime. I still want him to be able to fall asleep on his own (or at least not freak out if we leave the room), but I'm thankful for the progress we've seen so far. We've been able to keep his bedtime pretty consistent (around 8:00), whereas in the past it's been anywhere from 6:30-10:00. It's nice knowing that he'll actually fall asleep the first time we take him back for bedtime. We still have 1-2 night wakings, but we just bring him to bed with us until morning. He typically wakes up for the day around 5:30 or 6:00.
I guess those are all the updates I can think of. Below are some pictures of Jacob from this past week:

Laughing at Daddy

Blueberries & Bustin' a Move

No, No

This is from a book of his that says, "No, No"

Broken Record

17 Months

Well, Jacob is another month older already, and he is now starting to do something different every day! Some new things he can do include climbing up and down steps, signing the word "more," using a fork, putting his milk away in the fridge, pointing to his belly/mouth/toes, and playing "kitchen." It's so exciting to see all these new things that he can do. Jacob is also starting to try and say more words like ew (dih), good job (do da), hi, and door (doh). There are probably more words than that, but it's still hard to tell since most of his words just sound like babbling. Either way, he is working on communicating a lot more now.
Jacob is also working on more teeth- 1 molar and 2 bottom incisors. That will be 14 teeth once those come in! Unfortunately, that also means his sleep has been pretty bad lately. The good news is that Josh gets up with him when I go to sleep, and usually they both end up in our bedroom. Jacob sleeps pretty well in our bed, so I usually only have to get up with him once or not at all. It feels good to get a normal amount of sleep, but I still long for the day when Jacob sleeps in his own bed all night long. Maybe by the time he's 3 it'll happen- haha.
Jacob also finished weaning this month, which is bittersweet but also a relief at the same time. It went a lot smoother than I expected.
Finally, Jacob had his 18-month check-up today. It was early, since he wasn't able to get his shots at the last check-up. He weighs 23 lbs (50%) and is 31 inches long (15%). He's such a happy boy, and I am excited to see him keep growing this next month!

16 Months

This month Jacob has been on the move non-stop. He is walking really well now and can get up to almost a run. He is constantly walking around the apartment, pulling things out of cabinets, and trying to explore. When the weather has been nice we have been able to take him outside to help burn off some of that toddler energy. Jacob loves walking up and down the sidewalk, picking up rocks and throwing them, and he even made friends with a dog a few apartments down from us. Sometimes he will throw a fit when we have to come inside. He is all boy for sure.
At Jacob's 15 month check-up he was 23 pounds 10 oz (60%) and 30 inches long (12%). So far he's taking after his Mommy in the height department. He still has a big belly, because he eats so much! He continues to eat just about anything we give him, which makes it so easy when preparing dinner or going out to eat. Hopefully he'll continue to eat lots of different things, because I couldn't imagine what I would do if he started being picky.
Jacob still loves his "nursies," but I have finally started weaning him from breastfeeding. I am now only nursing him once when I get home from work! This means that I do not nurse him if he wakes up in the middle of the night, and it seems to have helped him sleep a little better. That's right- I am finally starting to get better sleep each night! He is only waking up 1-2 times a night  now, which is a huge improvement. I know some of you probably think that sounds like a lot still, but if you knew what it was like before you would understand. I actually feel rested now as opposed to exhausted and worn out every day. If Jacob does wake up at night either Josh or I will rock with him for about 5-10 minutes, and then we are able to lay him back down. Now we are working on getting him to sleep in his crib and without being rocked to sleep. Yikes!
Jacob is also starting to be a little more expressive. We still cannot get him to say many words, but he is really starting to understand a lot. He relies on pointing a lot still, but we think he tries to say "go" and "yeah" a lot. He's also said "bye" and "done" a few times, and he knows to wave when you say "hi" or "bye-bye". He also will help clean up sometimes by putting a book back on the shelf or putting a blanket inside his dresser drawer. And he loves helping me carry laundry to his room to put away. Of course, then he will throw it around his room, but it's the thought that counts right? His fine motor skills are getting better also. He is really good at using a spoon to eat, and he is really working at trying to use a fork. When we're reading a book with flaps on the pages, he is really good at opening the flaps without my help. I've also been letting him color with crayons, and he's getting better at that too. I'm hoping I can do more crafts and activities with him this summer, but until then I keep trying to introduce different art materials whenever I can.
Finally, I thought I would bring back the list of "likes" and "dislikes" to show what Jacob is into right now:
Jacob likes running and walking, "nursies," being outside, pulling things off shelves and out of cabinets, eating, taking a bath, brushing his teeth, running around naked after his bath, and dancing.
Jacob dislikes getting his diaper on after bathtime, going to sleep, waiting for us to get his food ready, getting cleaned up after he eats, and having his fingernails clipped.

Eggs

Train

Inside Snow

Snowman

Sledding

The next few videos are a few weeks old, since I have slacked on updating the videos.

 

15 months

Well, Jacob is another month older and really starting to turn into a boy rather than a baby! As I'm sure you know, Jacob is finally walking and has been doing so for about a month now. He is to the point where he no longer crawls and just walks everywhere around the apartment. His walking is still wobbly, but he gets steadier and faster every day.
Jacob is also trying to communicate more, although he still does not have many words. He is a little behind in this area, but we did have him screened at daycare and they did not seem concerned. They said he was more focused on his walking and that language would come next. He does babble all the time still, but he has really started communicating a lot through pointing. He was doing this before, but now we can tell he actually is using it to tell us something. For example, the other day I was holding him and he pointed to the kitchen. When I took him in there he pointed up to the cabinet, because he wanted a snack.
Some other new things that Jacob can do include turning the light switches on and off (if we hold him up to them), pulling the door closed using the door knob, pushing in the babyproof latches on our cabinets, turning knobs on his toys, and putting things back on the shelf after taking them down. He has also started doing some climbing and enjoys getting on top of his activity table and going inside his toy box. Luckily he hasn't started climbing on the furniture just yet.
As usual, Jacob sleeps poorly. I am hoping to try nightweaning at the end of the month- until then we just go with the flow. He does sleep well at daycare, thankfully. Another road block to good sleep is the fact that he is getting in some more teeth. Right now his first molars on top are halfway through, so they of course cause him a lot of pain and discomfort. I think he might also be working on some more bottom teeth, so we'll have to wait and see. I feel like he has been constantly teething since 6 months so I live for the day when we're done with new teeth!
Jacob continues to bring so much joy to our lives, and he is always so fun to watch, play with, and take places. His smile and laugh just light up our days!
I will post some more pictures and videos soon, so stay tuned!

Finally Walking!

Push Walker Racing

13 & 14 Months

Okay, so I realize I am a little behind on updating, but things have been pretty busy and crazy between work and home. Since I've been behind, I thought I would kind of summarize what Jacob's been up to over the past two months. He has been changing a lot and doing lots of new things, so I feel like I have a lot to share!
Jacob is still not walking, but he is very close. He has taken a few steps when we have gotten him started, but he won't take any on his own yet. He is constantly standing up and walking along the walls, cabinets, coffee table, tv stand- everything! He is also getting really good at using the walker I bought him for Christmas, and he even pushes around his activity table too!
Jacob is also doing lots of other things. He can wave- either by shaking his whole arm or opening and closing his hand- and he can also clap his hands (my personal favorite!). Jacob is also very talkative and babbles all the time. He says "buh" a lot, but we can't quite figure out if he's saying ball, book, bye, or if it's just interchangeable for all these things. He's also starting to say "no" (nuh), and he says "da do" a lot but we haven't quite figured out what that's supposed to mean. Some other things Jacob likes to do include opening and closing drawers and cabinets, playing peek-a-boo (he'll hide behind the rocking chair in his room & then crawl out laughing & squealing), "dancing" to music (bouncing up & down), and brushing his teeth.
One down side to Jacob getting older is that he is starting to throw tantrums now. When we say "no" or "not for Jacob" he reacts two different ways. He either a) smiles at us & proceeds to do whatever he isn't supposed to do until we pull him away from it, causing him to throw his head back, kick his legs, and cry, or b) he just starts crying right away since he knows he's in trouble. Either way he gets very upset. Sometimes if he's playing and the toy gets stuck or his walker won't move the way he wants it to, he will throw himself on the floor and start crying. This is a little more comical but still frustrating. Unfortunately I know this just comes with the territory and is part of being a toddler, so we're just trying to find ways to communicate with him & get him to cooperate as best we can.
Jacob still eats really well and is only eating table food. We usually give him the same food that we're eating, and he usually eats it. I am still nursing, but he is now only drinking whole milk when he's away from me. His sleeping habits continue to be a rollercoaster, but I have been looking into night weaning in order to help him sleep through the night and hopefully fall back asleep by himself.
In general, Jacob continues to be a happy boy, and we are enjoying every minute as he grows and learns!

Halftime Show Part Two

Halftime Show

Say Hi

Dancing

Crawling with dvds

Push walker

This is from a month ago, so he is way better at the walker now!