Jacob: one year!

My Jacob is a year old. It's gone by so very fast!

When he was weighed and measured two weeks ago Jacob had gained a pound in two weeks! He was up to 19lbs 5oz, and just a hair under 28". Which puts him up to 19th percentile for weight, and 2nd for height! This is the first time since he was a month old that Jacob has been above the 1st percentile for height.

Jacob is always learning new things. Alex is especially amazed by it, as he is so used to animals -who seldom learn much new once they are able to walk on their own.

 Jacob has learned to sign "all done" when he is finished eating now. He also waves "bye-bye" and "goodnight". While I know how smart he is, it's exciting to have an understandable form of communication. So far most of Jacob's learning has been problem solving and physical. Until now he hasn't shown many signs of wanting to communicate with us. A few weeks back Jacob took his pointing a step further too when he was consistently pointing to the correct item when we would ask him "Where is the tree?", or, "Where is the light?" and now he'll even point to "dada". Because of how much he liked his whistle, Alex and I bought Jacob a little kazoo. He quickly figured out how to hum into it to make noise, and for a few days he walked around the house with it. Just today he figured out how to turn a light on using a light switch. We've been letting him turn lights off for a while now, but today was the first time he was able to get the switch up. He was so proud of himself! He started flipping the light off and on just to show off what he had learned.

Christmas was a lot of fun. Jacob got to have his first chocolate covered pretzel, and he made a huge mess! He decided the pretzel was no good once the chocolate was gone. He also got to open some gifts. It took him a few tries to get the hang of it. Mainly because he was so used to us telling him "no" when he messed with the presents under the tree that he got jumpy when we tried to let him open one. By the end of the day he was able to tear the paper off like a pro. It was fun to watch him just tearing into his birthday presents yesterday.



Walking is Jacob's main way of getting around now. He may very well be running in a few weeks, he's almost run a few times now when his daddy is chasing him.

What a crazy, fast, wonderful, exhausting, challenging year it has been. And I wouldn't trade a day of it. I love my little man!

Why I'm a bad blogger

1) I'm not committed to blogging and getting traffic on my blog. I have far too many other things that are a higher priority.

2) I have plenty of opinions, but don't want to come across as "my way is the only way" with everything, and I don't want to seem judgmental. I also don't like posting a bunch of rants. So sometimes I just don;t post anything at all.

3) I read other blogs, but I seldom comment.

4) I'm not confident in my writing. I sort of just do it for me and it isn't a necessity like it used to be (back when I had a detailed daily journal)

5) Sometimes just stopping and enjoying the moments brings far more joy than trying to write down every detail. Though I do love sharing Jacob's monthly developments.

6) I just don't feel like I'm as good at writing things of interest as I used to be.

7) I don't have an "attractive" blog. Not because I haven't read all the tips on how to attract more readers by my page design, but because I'm always too busy to try to change anything.

So, unless I work on changing, it may just be the monthly updates of Jacob and a random thought now and then. And for now, I'm okay with that.

Jacob 11 months

My sweet little man is almost a year old!

On Monday Jacob was weighed and measured. My little peanut is now 18lbs 5oz, and 27 and 3/8 inches tall. He is still in the 1st percentile for height, but his weight went from 3rd percentile, to 12th! I think that having eased him into drinking some whole cow's milk has helped him gain a little weight.

Jacob wears quite a variety of different clothing sizes. He wears 6-9 month pants, 6-12 month onesies, and 12 month pajamas. He is still swimming in size 3 disposable diapers though.

Jacob eats very well, despite the fact that he has started to hate most purees. He does really good eating most normal foods, even though he only has two bottom teeth. He particularly loves eggs and breakfast sausage, dinner rolls, ramen noodles, and stuffing. He had his first grilled cheese sandwich the other day as well, and seemed to enjoy it! As I mentioned before, he drinks milk now too, usually a few ounces with each meal.

After his second haircut. I cannot believe how fast his hair grows!

As for new "tricks", Jacob has learned a lot this month. He blows in his whistle now...which mean he can also blow bubbles in his milk. He makes kissy noises, loves to point at things and be told what they are, and he has started walking! It is so cute to see him toddle his way across the livingroom, and he is so proud if himself. Jacob also knows how to open the toilet lid, pull on the toilet paper, and flush the toilet! Alex and I joke that now he just needs to learn how to tell us when he has to go potty.

Obedience is something that is very important to Alex and I, so we started early on with training Jacob to listen. He understands -and most of the time listens to- "No", and "Come here". We're very proud of him! It has made having a Christmas tree in our livingroom a lot easier than it would have been with a less compliant child. We still have to remind him not to touch it, but it's not a constant thing.

Sleep. Sleep is and has consistently been my biggest struggle as Jacob's mommy. He is just a sleep fighter through and through. I can do everything by the book and he still wakes up 2-8 times a night. We haven't given up though! We're slowly weaning him off of being nursed as often, and no more nighttime pacifier. He has actually started to do a bit better the past week or so, so I'm hopeful.

With each month that passes, and each milestone learned I'm more and more amazed at what a bright, happy, responsive little man we have been blessed with. Jacob is constantly bringing Alex and I joy and making us laugh in delight. I don't know where he got his big personality from, but I love it!