Jake Ryan: TWO

(smoothie popsicles & a driveway playdate with friends)

In the few months leading up to his second birthday, we began to notice some minor changes to Jake's  easy going temperament as he began to develop some strong opinions about well, almost everything. He's very determined that we go "ish way!" in the car (which is always the opposite direction we're heading) and he'd prefer we never stop at red lights. Jake is pretty serious the majority of the day but usually just before bedtime he becomes a total goofball, doing gymnastics across the couch and running around the house on his "tic toes". His trains are still the first thing he heads for every morning, but his car track is becoming a close second. He plays hard from the minute he wakes up and lately has been crashing just as hard--we're going on almost two weeks of consistent 3+ hour naps to balance out the earlier and earlier "MOMMY ARE YOU!" wake up calls in the morning.

(checking out his birthday gifts)

(better than toys = tissue paper used to wrap the gifts from Grandma & Grandad! he buried it all behind the pillow.)

Jake's still very cautious when he tries out new things and definitely needs time to warm up to people, but he's made himself at home with our neighbors, often leaving our backyard to go talk to them in the driveway or climb up their porch steps. Most of the time though, he needs me or Deric to "tome" with him to explore. Thankfully his "No!" stage passed quickly and we love to hear him say "otay" after we make a request of him. There have been quite a few times lately where I've noticed Jake kind of take care of me: I've carried him on my hip and he drooled or something on my shoulder and made sure to brush it off, and today at the park he spilled sand on my foot and was very diligent in wiping all the sand off "Mommy's soot". Small instances like those make me so proud of him for taking care of others without any prompting. But he may also just really prefer that everyone be "fesh and teen" (fresh and clean) like he prefers to be. He hates to get sand or dirt in his shoes and gets frustrated quickly if he gets a lot of food on his hands. 

(testing out his bubble blower from our neighbors) 

Jake loves when Deric makes "tow-nels" (tunnels) out of pillows for him or his trains to go through. He loves to throw a blanket over his head and ask "Where Jake? He hiii-din'". He refers to his Bible as the "shish book" (fish book) because for a few weeks, the only story he wanted us to read was the story of Jonah. Just in the past few days he's discovered money (pennies only, everything else is hoarded for Sonic runs) and carries them around, tightly held in his little fist.

 (chucking chalk across the patio)

("wook, Mommy! I time the tree!")

Probably my favorite part of this age is listening to him talk. I can't get over his cute pronunciations of words, plus I love to hear what he's thinking about. These past two years with him have been the best, we can't wait for so many more! Jake Ryan, we love you so much!