Jake is just changing so quickly and learning so much every day. It really is amazing. He turned 14 months a few days ago, and I am just more and more in love with this kid each day. I think he really is going to be Mr. Personality. He usually is pretty happy, but when he's mad, he sure lets everybody know about it! Another Drew, perhaps?? When something isn't going Jake's way, he starts flailing his arms around, throws whatever is nearby (his cup is a favorite thing to throw), and can be known to swing at whoever's face is closest. Lately he also has started a little tantrum maneuver I like to call the "slow fall." He gets mad and does a sort of sit-down-and-fall-backward move, which often results in conking his head on the floor or whatever is behind him, which then makes him even madder than he already was. Hopefully soon he'll figure out that that move doesn't really work for him.
Aside from the mini-tantrums, Jake is great. He loves to sweep, be it with the broom or the Swiffer.
One annoying thing Jake likes to do occasionally is put food in his hair. It's silly and funny, but also gross. I'm on the verge of getting his hair cut for the first time. It's cute, and I love the curls, but when it's not nice and curly, it's kinda ratty and frizzy looking. It can also be tough to comb after a bath or a hard sleep. So, when he does things like put cottage cheese (first picture) or carrots (second picture) in his hair, it makes me lean towards cutting time, because clean-up would be a lot easier with really short hair. But I just can't do it yet.
And tonight he tried a new trick- putting food on his nose. I remember a picture of my nephew Myles exploring how food sticks to his body. I wonder if he somehow taught Jake all of this...
Jake, of course, still really loves his brothers. Whenever Zach and Drew get to watch something on TV, Jake is right there, joining them on the couch. He doesn't care at all about the show they're watching, but he loves just being one of the boys. Zach and Drew are pretty tolerant of him, though sometimes they do get annoyed. I just loved these pictures of him snuggling up with his big brothers on one such occasion.
On Jake's 12 month questionnaire for his well-baby visit, one of the questions that I checked the "not yet" box for said something about hugging a stuffed animal or doll. That item can definitely be changed to a resounding "yes," as Jake has discovered a big love of my old Cabbage Patch Kid preemie, which Drew affectionately renamed Bird-Duck last year. Jake loves that baby, and carries him (really it's a girl, but when the baby became Drew's, she apparently also underwent gender reassignment) all over, hugging, patting, and kissing him. It's very sweet. And Drew has been great about sharing him with his baby brother.
To keep on schedule on weekday mornings, we have a series of alarms we live by. There are different alarms to remind Zach and Drew to get their shoes and jackets on, and an alarm to tell Zach it's time to head out to the bus stop. Each alarm has it's own sound. At 8:16 every morning, when the little footsteps alarm tells Zach it's time for shoes, Jake follows me to the fridge and waits for me to get Zach's lunchbox out. Then he excitedly takes it from me and carries it down the hall to the mudroom so he can help Zach put it in his lunchbox.
In addition to Jake being helpful when Zach is getting ready to leave for school, he also loves to give his biggest brother a kiss before he goes. In fact, the first time I ever saw Jake initiate a kiss, was one morning about 4-6 weeks ago, when Zach was about to leave for school. I suppose he always sees me give Zach a hug and kiss right before he leaves, so he figured he should, too. I was holding Jake, and Zach was finishing zipping his jacket, and Jake was leaning toward him going, "Mmmmmm." I realized he wanted to give Zach a kiss goodbye, and it definitely was the highlight of my day.
Jake generally wakes up from his afternoon nap around 3:30/3:45. Zach's bus drops him off pretty close to 4:00. So some days we wait at the front door for Zach to get home. Jake gets pretty excited to see Zach coming up the walkway.
I tried to get a video of both the morning goodbye and the afternoon hello. It's not great, but it should give you the general idea.
For words, Jake says banana (nana, or neh-neh), uh-oh, Mama, Dada, ball (bah), more (moe), and eye (pronounced with a little southern accent, like aye- it's very cute). Maybe there are more, but I can't think of them right now. Today I think he was trying to say Maggie, but I don't know. He also makes animal sounds for dog and elephant (along with a little arm raise for the trunk), and maybe some others, but again, I am not sure. He definitely shakes his head for no, but that's not a new trick. He also knows certain body parts, like his hair, his eye, his nose, his mouth, and his belly button. And he's learning other basic things, like if I ask him to put something away, he generally does. A couple of weeks ago he suddenly walked to the cabinet where the trash can is and tried to open the lock on it. I walked over there to see what he was doing, and he had picked up a piece of paper off the ground and was trying to throw it away. It's those little things that he learns without being taught that just blow my mind. I really think raising children and seeing their minds learn and grow has to be the most amazing thing in the world.
So here's another video, or rather 2 videos put together. I filmed it just a day or two ago, while Drew, Jake, and I were playing Jake's new favorite game, "I'm Gonna Get You," not to be confused with the 80's movie I'm gonna Get You Sucka. This game consists of me chasing the boys around the track (also known as the kitchen-dining room-hallway) in our house. Jake has an absolute ball with this game. Anyway, while playing this game, I also tried to get Jake to show some of his tricks. Add that to the fact that Jake is a 1 year-old who doesn't stand still very well, and that makes the video very, um, active. And, my voice is really high-pitched and annoying, so sorry for that, too. At least Jake is cute- that makes up for it a little bit.
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