Little Explorer

I can't interest this kid in a path. He wants to blaze his own.

A cuddly day

When teeth are hurting, extra cuddles are required.

Baby Model - the end result

Jacob's baby model picture from last January was finally posted online! They only used one shot, but it is ADORABLE. I can't believe he was such a little munchkin and that this was almost a year ago...

The website can be viewed at http://www.egg-baby.com/striped-modal-jersey-hoodie-baje314-navy.html.

The Naturalist

On Monday we went to the Museum of Natural History with Nana and Papa. It wasn't Jacob's first trip, but he is finally old enough to really recognize and get excited by all the animals. He LOVED running from diorama to diorama, finding familiar animals and exclaiming, "oooooohhh!" to let us know. The dinosaurs were also fun, but less familiar. Skeletons are a pretty abstract concept, it turns out.

Vocabulary at 18 months

Words Jacob says most often:

Ball (baah)

Book (buuh)

Yogurt (Go Gur!)

Taxi (ta si!)

The Bus (da buuh)

Truck (druh)

Bath (Baaaahs)

Boat (boah)

Bear (buuh)

Outside (atie)

Milk (mooah)

Bye (bye!)

Night-night (bye!)

Dog (duh)

Baby (beebee)

As you can see, some of these sound very similar, so context is everything...

Words/phrases he thinks he's saying but isn't quite saying:

Keys

Door

Family names

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" (nomuh! (with finger waving))

story

wheels on the bus

Animals he can say the sounds for:

elephant (raspberry lips)

cat (Mao!)

Bear, Tiger, Lion, Leopard (Raowr!)

sheep (baa)

goats (baa)

fish (lips open and close silently)

whale (weeeeohhh (like a siren))

horse (nay)

cow (moo)

monkey (ooohh ohh aahh ahh)

owl (whoo)

parrot/bird (awwww)

Animals he can make the movements for:

gorilla (thumping chest)

penguin (turning head)

donkey (kicking feet)

buffalo (shrugging shoulders)

The sounds that wake us in the morning and put us to sleep at night and keep us entertained pretty much every hour of every day:

Fire engine sirens (whee oohh whee ohh!)

beeping cars, taxis, and buses (beep beep)

Spoon

Jacob mostly eats his own food, but I tend to give him finger food that doesn't require a utensil. But sometimes we do spoons. Usually I'll spoon up some rice or stew or whatever we're eating and put the spoon on the highchair and he'll pick it up and eat it. The only thing I still spoon-feed him is the yogurt, because it's just so messy. But the other day he insisted on spooning it himself.

What a big boy.

18/18

Today marks Jacob's 18 month birthday AND mini-jost's 18 week mark. Jacob celebrated the day by reading some books, learning a new word (taxi!), and practicing a juggling routine. The Deuce celebrated (presumably) by rolling around a bit and kicking, but I still can't feel more than the occasional flutter, so that's just a guess.

Jacob is becoming acclimated to the idea of a new baby. When I ask him where mommy is growing her baby, half the time he pulls up my shirt and slaps my belly. The other half of the time he points to my boobs. We talk a lot about how mommies get to grow new babies, which I think he is starting to comprehend.

I've been thinking a lot today about how blessed I am to have my little boy and another on the way, and I'm thankful for how happy our little family is, even when we have a busy or stressful week. It fills me with joy.

I love you, my babies!!!

New toy box

In a small apartment, everything must either break down or serve more than one purpose. So jacob woke up this morning to find a new toybox/coffeetable/footrest in the livingroom. It also is turning out to be a great baby-clubhouse and cat-nap-perch.

Adventurer

Jake goes to happy hour!

Art

Every artist needs a studio, so Jacob has a new Jacob-sized table and chair for doing projects. Or climbing. Depending on his mood.

Welcome, Caleb!

Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Matt brought Caleb Ian Monson into the world at 4:09pm yesterday. He weighs 8lbs, 15oz and is 20.5 inches long, and rumor has it he's a good eater!

Catching Up

I haven't been the most avid blogger recently. This has been for two reasons.

1) I got a phone that can upload photos and videos to the blog very quickly. This is good for single shots, but I've gotten lazy about putting together albums that are more complete and take more time. And VERY lazy about typing anything.

2) We misplaced our camera for awhile, and then our connector cord for awhile longer, so I had a backlog of about three months of pictures that I hadn't even copied to the computer.

But I am trying to resolve these problems and regain my former blogging glory. So here are some catch-up albums of pictures from the summer and fall that you may have missed!

In July we were in Portland and Black Butte Ranch in Oregon. We spent a lot of time with family and enjoying the non-city life. I think it suits us well!

One shot from vacation that was just too good to lump into the whole album:

Some pictures from New York in our long indian summer - Around home, the park, and a quick trip to Long Island.

And a beautiful morning trip to Governor's Island - just the three (and a quarter) of us!

\

Library Lions

One of Jacob's favorite books is "Goodnight New York" which features awesome things like zoo animals, taxis, NYFD trucks, and, of course, the library lions. So while we were in the city this morning we did some sightseeing, book in hand. In addition to the lions, we got to see the hotdog carts, times square lights, and theatres also featured in the book. What a day!

The Birds

They somehow seemed to know that a 1-year-old would be good for lots of crumbs. Once there got to be about 30 of them, we decided it was time to go. City birds are no joke.

Halloween!

This wasn't Jacob's first Halloween, but it was his first time trick-or-treating. In Brooklyn, everyone sits on their stoops or in front of their shops with bowls of candy, and the kids wander up and down the sidewalks in search of treats. Jacob got a ride on Daddy's shoulders for most of the evening, and Daddy earned his share of the candy by bending over at every stoop so that Jacob could grab a treat. By the end of the evening he was quite a pro at grabbing a piece of candy and then holding it out to Mama to put in his basket! We also ran into a lot of our mom's group friends on one of the streets that they had closed traffic off for.

It was a wonderful evening!

Those eyes...