14 Months, Sledding, and More!

Ok, so I couldn't come up with a good title for this post, but I wanted to share some videos, some pictures, and some of the new things Jakub is doing and saying right now.

We had the Keens over today for some shared family fun and it was awesome! We took the kids sledding behind our home (Jakub's first time!) and they had a blast. It was frigid outside, so we were out for only a 1/2 hour, but it was an enjoyable time. Jakub has no fear when it comes to things like this and so he loved it from the beginning. There was a lot of screaming and laughing going on amongst these boys. Their smiles were so big and so contagious. I LOVED seeing the Dads and their sons having fun together. I'll remember this day forever. I'll also remember the cold as I think it was about 17 degrees with a freezing fog all around us, but that didn't stop us! We always have a great time with the Keens and their kids. They have definitely been family for us here, as well as wonderful co-workers. I'm thankful for the passion they have for God, for life, and for family. They've been such an encouragement to me through the years.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, videos, and stories!







Here are some of the things Jakub is doing right now:

- Learning to brush his teeth and not loving it too much. We dance and sing a lot to help him out!

- Feeding himself very well with a spoon, though he still equally loves to use his hands and make a mess. :)

- New words: "oh..dude!" thanks to Daddy. :) Also saying: Bible, Hi while waving, Nanana (banana), Grrr for bear, Brrr for cold, and Humm humm for I'm hungry or yummy food. :) He does a lot of pointing and talks all day with gibberish, but still doesn't say a lot of different words.

- He's started trying to sing or hum along with me. It sounds like "woo, woo, wooo." It's sweet though, and definitely some kind of "singing" along.

- He's started trying to jump- on the ground, on the couch, on the bed, and very successfully on the trampoline at the play-center I took him to on Friday afternoon. He did a great job bouncing and balancing without falling! I was so proud. :)

- He's dramatic. He makes big, extravagant faces and noises to get his point across. He also loves to scream and hear his own voice. He likes to watch himself make faces and then he gets shy about it. I think he'll be a big talker when he finally figures it all out.

- He loves to take everything out of a drawer or cabinet and then put it all back or rearrange it into other drawers. He's good at helping me clean-up right now when I ask him to put his toys away. I'm sure that won't last. :)


He loves to bring you his toys so you can play with him. With that sweet face coming at you how could you resist?



Yummy spaghetti!



Dramatic face.



Rearranging- it's tough work!



He still crosses his feet when eating, just like he did from the beginning while breastfeeding. It's still funny to me. He also does it when he kicks back to read a book with me at bedtime.




Another dramatic face. He likes his scream. I hope the neighbors find it as charming as he does.


Now, on to the videos. Enjoy!



This first one is old, but so cute. :) I love watching the two of them play together! I think this one is from early December. My favorite part is when he lays over on the side of the bed to watch Josh, before I distracted him. :)

The following are from our time of sledding today. (Please excuse all of the giddy giggling :)

Happy 13 Months!

I am way behind on the many posts I would like to share with you, which I have already written and re-written in my head several times (usually around 11pm, when I'm too tired to get a pen and paper, or turn on the computer, or get out of bed..).

So, Jakub has passed 13 months now and is changing so quickly these days! He seems a lot taller to me, and he still has his cute, chubby leg rolls, so I'd say he continues to gain weight. He is slimming down in the middle some, as he's more mobile now, too. His pants are best at 18-24mo length. We've been to the doctor a few times in the past month, but not for normal check-ups. So, my guess is he's around 33 inches and 24-25 lbs.

He's growing quickly out of his shoes and the ones that fit now are size 5. I don't think they'll make it much longer! Also, now that he's older, it's culturally appropriate for him to have his own pair of house shoes (look like normal kid shoes, or keds, but a little thinner made and cheaper since they stay inside) to take with him to other people's homes. Just a little cultural tid-bit for you. :)

He's found a pattern of cold-catching about every 14-16 days, usually with a one-to-two day high fever to start us off well. So, we've been doing that a lot, but hopefully it all goes towards the building of a healthy immune system and nothing else. I'm thankful he handles it so well and tends to play and smile right through it. Occasionally, he ends up in our bed around 2am, but that is when you know he's really not feeling well or the fever is high, because otherwise he sleeps 12-13 hours straight a night, even through illness. I know we are blessed and I do not take it for granted. He's always been a good sleeper at night, and it continues now. He's even on a kick of sleeping until 9am right now. I'll take it!

That all started around Christmas time, as did his WALKING! :) Yes, he's a walker- when he feels like it. Crawling is still his transportation of choice, and why wouldn't it be when he can do it so quickly I can't even catch him sometimes. He is getting braver by the day, though, and will walk willingly from one toy to another, or one room to another, even when no one is watching him, coaxing him, or taking pictures of him. :)

Wow.. I think I spewed all of that in one breath. Sorry if it's not coherent. I'm trying to think of everything I want to remember about this time in his life. Christmas was such a blessed time for us. We had snow, a warm home, some time off as a family, and around that time Jakub began walking, tickling feet, pointing at everything demanding to know what it is or to touch it, feeding himself from a bowl with a spoon (with quite accurate aim on most attempts), drinking milk better and better, ceasing breastfeeding, trying new foods like salsa and loving it!, sleeping in until 830 or 9am, saying new words like "boo," "duck" and "baby," dancing with even more rhythm, and gaining 3 new teeth. There are 3 more teeth on the verge of coming now, which will make for 8 total when they all arrive.


Here are some of him eating... he's so proud of being able to feed himself.


Yes, the following pictures represent a hereditary trait. We couldn't believe it when it surfaced for the first time. He comes by it honestly and without any prompting on our part. I am not ashamed of passing this on to him. Papa, you'll be able to ridicule him all you want when we next return home. :) And yes, there is licking going on in there....




:) He's such a good eater.


Here are some pics from Christmas time that I never officially posted.

My Grandpa gave him this precious outfit while we were in the states. I just love it and the train on it.






My sweet boys.


He is really starting to love Daddy time, and that is very special to see. When I go to get him in the mornings sometimes the first thing he says is "da-da." He looks for him when we come out to breakfast and is sometimes still asking for him during breakfast if Josh isn't home. They have a great time together!

He loves to give hugs and kisses and sometimes he looks at you in such a mature way and then snuggles against you like he knows it's just what you needed. He's very physical in this way and others. He wants to touch and taste and explore every toy/object to figure it out, he does this to his food, to furniture and also to other kids. :) He's constantly going up to children around him and touching them, pushing/pulling on them, and wanting to play right beside them (or steal their toys from them). He's just very physical. He seems to think babies younger than him are baby-dolls instead and he can be as rough as he wants with them. We're working on the "be gentle" concept. Here, you say "mala-mala" when you want a kid to be gentle with others and touch them kindly.

He loves to laugh and sometimes will just look up at you, then fall over laughing with a big open mouth. I love it. It's a deep, hearty laugh and it's catching! Here's a blurry pic of that sweet laugh...



Oh, and when he walks he puts his arms straight up in the air to balance and he looks like a monkey. It's hilarious. He's actually already balancing better and not always doing this, but in the beginning I couldn't get enough of it. :)

He still loves music so much and is constantly rocking or jumping or dancing to a beat when he plays with his musical toys and he gets the biggest smile on his face. Sometimes, when the t.v. is on, and music starts to play, he'll stop whatever he's doing, look for us and smile, and then start dancing. It's awesome. I like playing the piano Josh gave us, with him, and seeing the joy on his face as he makes the music. I hope he'll continue in this. We recently had some friends over and we let our kids make music together. Awesome. Thank you God for these memories.







Before bed he likes to go to his bookcase and pick out 1 or 2 "new" books to read before bed. He likes to snuggle against your arm while you read together, and after he gets into position he crosses his feet (also still does this while eating). It's so cute and my Mom said I used to do the same thing (so does my Dad:).




We're brushing teeth now and he likes it a lot! It's neat to watch him watching us and then he imitates it. I'm hoping to take him to a dentist for the first time soon.



That's probably enough for now. I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this. So many new things! Life with him is great!