Finally, an update! (With pictures, even!)

October has flown by. Is tomorrow really Halloween already? We've been busy with parties and appointments and playdates and Apartment Life events, and Jacob has survived all the commotion pretty well, considering the amount of time he has been strapped into a stroller or otherwise restrained. Speaking of being restrained...

On Tuesday, I took advantage of the Advance Voting here in Georgia and cast my ballot. However, I apparently chose the wrong site, since it opened late and I waited over 3 hours. Jacob was with me, and he was very good for the first hour, calmly sitting in his stroller, unlike the other toddlers near us in the line. Then the meltdowns began. I almost left at one point, but I had already been in line in the cold for an hour and a half. Thankfully, there were some very patient parents near me in the line, including one who turned out to be a fellow BSC graduate! They watched the stroller for me while we went on extended walks, shared exciting new toys and crackers, and were generally understanding, considering. Next time, I'm finding a babysitter. As a fellow sufferer commented, "To make it this far, we all must REALLY want to vote!"

I'm just thankful I live in a country where I can vote for whomever I like, especially since they happen to be third party candidates! :)

Okay, enough about that. Here's what you guys really came to see--pictures!

At the beginning of this month, we celebrated Emily Jane's 2nd birthday. Here is Jacob mischieviousy hiding in her new play kitchen:


That same week, "Aunt" Jennifer returned from Brazil! She's getting married to David on January 10th, and has been planning like crazy. We were so excited to drive over to Carrollton to see her one Thursday morning. Our time was short, but sweet! We are so excited to be able to visit with her again soon.

Here they are together--Jacob took to his mom's maid of honor quite quickly:


And here's a shot of the three of us, courtesy of Jen's long arms. I hope those aren't gang signs Jacob is making. I was hoping he would be immune to the influence of high schoolers while in utero! ;)


Jacob also spent quality time with his friend Judah, who turned 2 this month, as well. We attempted to get a picture of them together, but, well, you can see the result. Jacob is clearly not amused.


That day at the local park, Jacob decided to be adventurous and climbed up to and went down the slides all by himself. Here's a picture just before he lets go:


He's actually becoming quite the independent little dude. He wants to do everything himself, include buckle his stroller/highchair straps and open doors. Tonight, he didn't want me to read to him, he wanted "Ja-bah" (his name for himself) to read to me!

And, in case you haven't had enough, here are more Jacob tidbits from the last few weeks:

When he gets overly tired, sometimes he shouts "Run!" and toddles very fast through every room in the apartment, from the corner of our bedroom to the front door to his bedroom and back again, all while giggling maniacally. We've got quite the little crazy boy.

He's also gathering a prolific vocabulary for a nineteen-month old. (I bet if I said "prolific" he'd probably try to repeat it!) I credit all the book-reading we do, but I guess I'm only glad his latest stretch of TV-watching while sick hasn't stunted him in some way. A few samples of his latest words:
sun, moon, stars, circle, Why?, tree, party, mouse, Bible, color, markers, crayon, Tyl-nol (Tylenol), temp-ture (temperature), ther-ter (thermometer...Can you tell he ran a fever all last weekend?!), hurt, an-mal (animal), bird, goose, frog, goat, rooster, wrench, crash!, tractor, plane, monkey, school, and, of course, slide!

He said his first sentence on October 16th: "Caden eat cracker." Way to go, little guy!

We've noticed Jacob's also very sympathetic. Whenever we look at this one picture in his ABC book of a boy who got too close to a porcupine, he always says "Ouch!". And while at the doctor's office on Monday, he heard a little kid crying in another room and said "Sad baby!"

There is never a dull moment around here, and I hope to update a bit more regularly in the next few months just to capture all these mini-milestones before his little brother arrives and steals the spotlight. ;)

|