My kids are amazing! Chaselyn is more brilliant and wonderful and beautiful and creative and just plain cute than I ever was or will be. And Jacob is more adventurous and crafty and smart and handsome and exciting and just plain cute than I ever was or will be. Both of them are learning so many new things everyday. I am really sad that I haven't blogged about their milestones over the past three months. So if you aren't into hearing about how wonderful my kids are, you should stop reading now.
Let's start with Jacob, since he is 1.25 years old today. The last post I wrote for him was his one year post. WoW! What a difference 3 months makes. He was just starting to put steps together and walk then. Now I can't keep up with him, literally. He's too fast for Mommy. He loves to run around and chase Chaselyn, Daddy, Holly or anything else that moves. He's a daredevil too. He likes to stand on the sit-n-spin and do a little dance. He climbs on everything. He's most entertained by playing with Chaselyn's toys when she's not around. A close second is anything electronic - phones, remotes, cords, computers, etc. And he's good at finding things too. Forgot where you put that gross/dangerous/poisonous someone should call CPS item? Jacob will find it. And the boy loves the water. The splash park is the latest big hit in Jacob's world. It took him a couple of trips to figure it out, but last time we went, he was running through all of the little squirters. And he still loves bath time. Ducky got a little spray mister too that he loves. And if it weren't 1000 degrees outside, we would let the little guy have more water fun.
Now, I don't want you to think that the boy is just "all boy" and nothing more, he's smart too. He knows how to say Daddy, Mommy, and Ducky. He can bark like a dog on command (Chaselyn taught him that) and he knows how to moo (we're currently trying to get him to connect that to a cow). Jacob is not easily fooled either. There is no out of sight out of mind with him. He knows where the food is supposed to be. He knows where his paci's are supposed to be (only in his bed). And he'll tell you all about it if they aren't there. He has taken to screaming when he's upset, which we aren't too fond of. The daycare said that there a couple of screamers in his class, so they figured he was mimicking them.
What would make Jacob upset you ask? Not eating. The boy is a bottomless pit. I am seriously concerned about the boy as a teenager. He can put away 3 hot dogs, a half can of veggies, some bread, and some fruit in one sitting. It is amazing and kind of scary all at the same time. But during the last 3 months, he's cut his molars, so it's no wonder the man child wants some steak. And you would think with all of that the boy would be a little tank toddling around with the chubby legs and squishy arms. But no, Jacob has never had the little baby fat rolls. He gets a little poochy belly after he eats, but it's gone within an hour. He is still in size 3 diapers and size 12 month clothes. I don't know where all the food goes. Speaking of diapers, we have to keep pants on Jacob so that he keeps his diaper on. I don't think he is trying to take his diaper off he just likes to play with it and try to push it down. That's not clear, but I know what I mean. We've only had one incidence so far of finding a naked boy. And even then he was contained to his crib after a nap. (Side note upon entering the room Chaselyn at eye level with Jacob's boy parts asked "What's that kind of booty?" After containing the laughter we simply said it's the boy kind. She seemed to be appeased. They have taken countless baths together, so I was kind of taken off guard.)
So there you have it, that's my 15 month old boy. Like I said, he's doing new things everyday. And one of the things that has been a bother to me with my current condition is that I haven't been able to interact with the kids as much as I would like. I feel like I'm missing out with Jacob a lot because he is so busy and mobile. But, he still calls me Momma and smiles and bats his beautiful long eyelashes with his amazingly blue eyes and my heart still melts.
Oh, I almost forgot, last week we took him for his first haircut. That aged him by like 2 years in 2 seconds. Please see the photos below.
Now, for my precious daughter. Chaselyn is (almost) 2.75 years old going on 5 years old. She is growing and learning too fast. Let's start with the growing, she's recently needed a wardrobe change to upgrade to 3T (and sometimes 4T) clothes. I have stretched the 24m and 2T about as far as they can go. And remember I mentioned those red shoes, those were size 5. She's now in size 7 shoes. She's just over 3 feet tall and she's loosing her baby fat. Chaselyn had the chubby little legs as a baby, but she's thinning out and looking more and more like a little kid every day.
But it has been so fun these past few months to have time to do special things with her and just to be around her as she's learning. She has really found a lot of joy in song. Between figuring out how to turn her cd's on for herself, vacation bible school at CABC and Ducky's encouragement to sing, the girl knows more songs than I do. We have now added singing songs as part of the bedtime ritual. Which was immediately followed by a 2 song limit on the singing at bedtime. One of her favorites is the friend song. I think that Ducky made it up, but the words are simple "I've got a friend named Chaselyn, Chaselyn, Chaselyn. I've got a friend named Chaselyn. She's my friend." We start with our best friend Jesus, then we go through the family - Chaselyn, Jacob, Mommy, Daddy. Then we sing for anyone else staying in the house which has ranged from 1 extra person up to 4 extra people. Then she picks "one" more friend to add. This "one" is often a lump of people, like "Caroline, Chris, and MaryAnn" or "Natalie and Isaac", or she'll pull out a family member that came to visit us, like "Aunt Charlik (Charlotte)" or "My Leslie". Another part of bedtime is prayers. The girl has learned to pray for others, she's learned to ask God to heal her, she's learned to pray for her "whole fampily". Nothing can replace those sweet moments.
Now it's not all about the bedtime in our house. Just stand back and watch Chaselyn go. She's a very loving sister, sometimes to a fault. She will sit and "read" a book by herself for 15 minutes. She loves to play with her kitchen and cook for people. She is so creative too. One day the same set of beads was a jump rope, a swing, a tail, and a big necklace. And don't even ask about the fun of a large cardboard box or the empty cabinets she and Jacob play in. She loves to play outside too. Again, with the heat this had been a little harder. But she still runs around the house. She also loves some down time too. She likes to be read to and to cuddle up and watch movies. Even in the extreme heat, she still wants to snuggle with blankets.
Here are some of the favorite quotes from our little girl:
Re: My baptism - "Did Pastor Jay help you put your hair in the water?" This was said obviously after my baptism and noticing my hair had fallen out.
Re: MaryAnn - "She's gonna call me Cake. I'm not Cake, I'm Chaselyn." This was said as a kind of thinking out loud situation on the way home from school.
Re: A name for her new Rocking Horse - "Fredit" and "Dugah"
Re: Going up a hill in AR - "We're leaning back!"
Re: playing a game of memory - "You don't have to be here." Said to Ducky to let her know that she could do it on her own.
Re: hearts - "It's a heart for loving you."
Re: Jacob - "JAAAAA-COOOOOOB!!!! Where are you?"
Oh, there is so much more. But I forget. You just all need to come spend a day with us to see how marvelous our kids are.
