running through the "rain"

We spent Friday morning cleaning out our garage, which is possibly the worst chore ever. But long overdue, so we manned up and got it done. Jake was a trooper and stayed fairly busy on his own while we schlepped and cleaned, and as we finished up he made the best of a boring situation and had the time of his life running back and forth through the "rain" (aka Deric spraying the hose). It took him a few minutes to warm up to the water but eventually he would just stand there while Deric sprayed him from head to toe, water dripping off his little nose while he just smiled away. He looks like such a big kid in these pictures, I can't believe it. And he's lucky to have a fun dad who ran around in the water with him!

Running through the Hose from Ashley Skinner on Vimeo.

January recap

Let's run through the photos snapped throughout January that didn't make the cut for Instagram but are good memories nonetheless. January wasn't exceptionally exciting--no major milestones for Jake or fun trips or whatnot--but as I think back over the month it was full of quality time at home, lazy weekends (a nice change from our usual "weekend warrior" attitudes in better weather) and rearranging a lot of areas in the house to make every room more useful since we can't be outside.

Deric is the master of forts around here and in the mornings when those two are up before I am (which is often), I can almost guarantee a new fort will be set up somewhere. This fort was on our bed to keep Jake occupied while we both got ready. Jake loves to climb on our bed.

Deric spent a long weekend in Gatlinburg with the students and while he was gone, I got desperate enough for two uninterrupted minutes that I actually put something from Pinterest into play. It was almost not worth it....all that corn was outta the pan in no time. 

I've started stockpiling puzzles because Jake's finally able to complete them without throwing pieces in frustration. They're a perfect activity for us to do together since I lack the imagination it takes to play pirates for more than one minute. Also a very easy way to reinforce colors/numbers/letters and its funny to hear him answer "What's this color?" with "boo", usually before I can even finish the question.

Killing time at a car dealership while a friend dealt with car repairs. Jake won't be fooled anymore, he knows good things come in brown and white cups.

Bathtub fingerprints from the dollar store provided us with exactly one dollar's worth of activity. Worthless paint, but toddlers aren't exactly art critics.

Shopping for new books at McKay's. Even with rotating books in and out, and with frequent trips to the library, Deric and I are still so tired of all the books we own. How is that possible?

Breakfast with a view, as mentioned in the last post. That was the quietest breakfast we've experienced in a while. Snow is definitely magical!

A perfect platform for a tiny climber, and never neglected on our treks to and from church.

 Finally, some decent help around here! I don't know if its normal for toddlers or not, but Jake loves to help with chores. He gets mad at me if I start to vacuum without him, so I gladly pass it off and let him wander around the house vacuuming. I found him vacuuming under our nightstands so I pulled the furniture back and let him really get at the dustiest corners of the house. He also gets (too) excited to throw things away in the trash and to wipe off his tray after eating. He's also enthralled with the sponge so I've showed him how to wipe off the cabinets. You better believe we're riding this train forever. Toilets are up next, bud.

19 months young

Clean freak in the making--always wiping down the table, his tray, his face.

Obsessed with drinking from Dad's cups.
Latest words include "help", "told" [cold], "oc ball" [soccer ball] and "ask ball" [basketball].
Slowwwwly learning to obey when I ask him to "Come here". (Fingers crossed that Christmas with grandparents doesn't set this new skill back, cause everyone knows grandparents are softies.)
Loves to perch on the counter next to me as I make sandwiches, cut up fruit, etc.

Still no sign of sideburns, as evidenced by the wavy-bowl-cut look. 

Moves fast enough that the wavy bowl cut is almost not noticeable (almost). 

Sweet enough to comply with my incessant requests for hugs and kisses, because who doesn't love an open-mouthed attack of drool?!

my two favorite guys

Blurry, but perfect. A perfect capture of the blur that is a toddler boy, and his dad steady and still behind him.

"winding down"

Beds are not for sleeping, didn't you know?

a limited vocabulary

We (already) regret teaching him that "no" is funny…

IMG 2961 from Ashley Skinner on Vimeo.

18 months

I started reading the book "Raising Your Children With No Regrets" on a friend's recommendation, and I'm only halfway finished but one piece of advice has stuck with me over the past few weeks. The author said to "Become a student of your child"-- to study them and learn their mannerisms, their moods, their reactions and personality traits-- because parents teach their children about themselves. Parents help children begin to understand themselves and we may misguide our children if we only see what we want to see in our children, or if we only see their shortcomings and the things they do that drive us crazy. Our perception of them affects their perception of themselves, so we want to understand them well!

I've reminded myself off and on throughout the days of this advice and tried to really observe Jake, rather than coexist with him and make it through another day. I watched him last night before bed as he flipped through his Bible, moving his head left and right to study the pictures on each page before flipping to another page and I thought, "He is thorough". I've realized that he is very cautious outside because he motions for my hand as he steps over roots or down uneven ground. He can do his own thing for a while, playing with toys or books in the living room, but he always comes back to me and gets involved in what I'm doing. If I'm in the middle of cooking I do my best to get on his level for a minute and give him a hug, but a hug usually isn't enough so up he comes onto the counter to watch what I'm doing. Jake loves to help me unload the dishwasher or put clothes into the dryer, and he brings me things from all over the house which I have to take from him (and keep, there's no fooling him). He either talks or he doesn't, and it takes some coaxing to talk if he's feeling quiet. I'd guess he'll be an introvert because he rarely talks to other people until he's spent some time with them. Last night we were at church and I watched Jake wander through the room for quite a while, but he resisted every person's attempt to pick him up and I saw a little of myself in him: I like to be around people, but I don't always need to interact with them. Based on how many times throughout the day he sits in my lap while we read books, I think one of his love languages may be quality time.

You're our favorite kid in the entire world, J. We love you too much!

fall at its finest

We've lived in this house for three years and last night was the first time I've ever raked our yard (I didn't even realize we owned a rake!), and Jake's face in these photos made my sore shoulders worth it. He wasn't interested in jumping into the piles but loved to kick his way through all my hard work, and of course he loved to throw the leaves every which way. Kids make everything better, even already good things like crisp air and crunchy leaves.

17 months

Still stops to pick up every stick outside

Always pushes me to get in between my legs and the kitchen cabinets when I'm cooking

Says and identifies horses in books

Loves to bring us shoes from the mudroom (even the baseball-dirt-covered shoes, so this is a great habit)

Usually puts just one Croc on, on the wrong foot, and limps around the house

Shakes his head "no" when I tell him "no"

Recently taught himself to spin in circles on command

Starting to get a more...defined...palate.

Says "Mom" when referring to me or Deric (ha HA!...except not, 'cause its usually at 6am.)

Hyperventilates from excitement when the bathtub's filling up

Still throws his pacifier across the room as soon as he's awake from naps

Doesn't differentiate yet between "hug" and "kiss", so we get kisses for both, complete with "mwah!"

So long, summer

I've thoroughly enjoyed this summer, spending our mornings at the park, visiting the zoo with friends, and floating around friends' pools. Jake's changed so much from his birthday at the beginning of the summer to now, from a baby to a 'kid'. But man am I anxious for fall to really hit so we can spend both our mornings and afternoons outside, rather than biding our time indoors until the afternoon heat waves pass (plus, Jake's got some seriously cute sweaters once the temperatures drop enough!). We braved a not-quite-so-extreme heat wave the other day to "celebrate" the first day of fall at one of our favorite parks. 

16 months and the first fall day

I feel a bit like a traitor for wishing away summer after I about died waiting for it to come after last winter, but once that first fall-ish breeze comes there's no looking back. This Saturday was an honest to goodness perfect early fall day. Deric spent the morning at the golf course and Jake and I spent our morning in the backyard, coloring the patio (and ourselves) with chalk, cleaning up the garden beds and collecting sticks. We had the windows open, I baked chocolate chip cookies and fall decorations started to make their appearance. Of course, this week the temps are nice and high again but I have hope that fall is only weeks away! 

A little about Jake at 16 months:

These past couple months have been some of my favorites. He's such a perfect mix of baby and kid now, still cuddly before bed and babbling away,  but also putting on his own shoes (okay, just his Crocs, but still!) and becoming semi-successful with a fork. He mimics everything Deric does; I've even heard him mimic the cadence(?) of an entire sentence that Deric said. Jake walks with either one arm swinging wide or with  hands behind his back, belly stuck out to balance that big noggin of his. Just this week he's started to give me real kisses when I ask (which is every five minutes, poor kid) and he can pronounce "but(t)" as clear as day. We're so proud. 

little reader

Jake's interest in books has really taken off in the past few weeks. He looks at books more than he plays with any of his toys and will bring us books all throughout the day, grunting "uh? uh?" to us as he throws them in our lap and then tries to climb into the chair with us. Its interesting to see which books he becomes absorbed in, without turning the pages on us mid-sentence, and which books don't hold his attention past the first page before he's sliding back out of our laps to find a new book. Honest disclaimer: I filter any books that come in our house before Jake can read them, weeding out the annoying ones and any that have tons of animal sounds (except for Mr. Brown Can Moo, because from day one he would laugh out loud at that one) because I'd rather not have to make animal sounds 100+ times a day. Mother of the year.

A couple of his favorites: Hibernation Station, our first library book to suffer a casualty; The Snowy Day; Mr. Brown Can Moo; Little People Farm lift-the-flap; First 100 Words; The Pig on the Hill, and Lucy's Red Wagon.

Since we make up all our own signs for words around here, I taught him one for 'book' and he's semi-mastered it, which is good enough because I'm really the only one who needs to understand what he means. See below..(I tried to teach him to put his hands together and fold them out like a open book, but he just does the second half of the sign. Like I said, good enough!)

Proud of himself after learning to standing the book upright...

I hope Jake's love for books sticks around (for obvious reasons, like earning those college scholarships) but also because books are wayyyy cheaper than toys. But most importantly, I sincerely hope he inherits my love for the Harry Potter series. Seriously. He'd better.

coming in at two-foot-six

As you can imagine, trying to not only measure Jake but to take a picture of measuring Jake was a two-person, fifteen minute ordeal..but we were successful! I made this growth chart last summer and waited patiently to measure Jake until he could stand there on his own. My family has recorded our heights on the doorframe of the Port Hope kitchen and I love looking at how much we grew each year. But since we won't live in this house forever, the chart comes in handy because we can take it with us, ensuring that I can bribe Jake to stand still and take a picture for years and years to come. (He'll thank me one day.) I envision having a handful of these photos as he grows up, with the last one being his eighteen-year-old self standing a few inches taller than the chart (which is a six foot board set six inches off the ground, so you do the math...and Deric's 6'7, so there's a really good chance that picture will happen). According to our chart (and confirmed by the measurements at the doctor yesterday), Jake is a whopping 2'6. Two down, four feet to go!

summer time

Jake and I have had a lot of quality time together this summer; first as Deric spent a few days at a golf tournament with his dad, then as we went to South Carolina while Deric was at camp last week. We sure kept ourselves busy with daily trips to the park, lunches with friends, a day at the zoo, plus trips to the beach with Aunt Foo. Jake's rockin' a farmer's tan and his blonde hair is getting blonder every day. He smells like sunscreen more often than not and he's taken to the water (both pools and the ocean) like a fish, which I'm happy about! We've had a lot of adventures together but I'm thankful that the rest of our trips this summer will actually be with Deric!