31 months

Today is Jake's 31 month birthday. We're not the parents that normally remember that sort of thing, and I think we were both happy when Jake turned two so we could stop answering the "how old" question in months. But, it occurred to me tonight, and I thought it'd be fun to look at a picture from a year ago. Here's Jake, in his "grrrr" face heyday, helping stir some pancake batter (take that, Maria Montessori-- we had him doing practical life activities a year before you would have).

A year ago, Sadie was still warm and cozy in Ali (sometimes I think she's still trying to get back in there), Jake was in diapers, in a crib at night, and eating his food from a highchair. He hadn't climbed a playground ladder yet, he hadn't learned to swim with just water wings on, and he hadn't learned the power of "no!" yet. But, there's a lot that hasn't changed. A year ago, we could already tell that Jake had a sense of humor. He still loves to laugh and to make other people laugh. And he's still curious and observant and independent.

Sadie is often the object of his developing personality, and I think their relationship has been good for both. He's shown his caring side (nice for Sadie) and his curious, playful side (often dangerous for Sadie), but as often as she's gotten her head bonked when they play, she seems to really look up to him, and he loves the attention. We talk to Jake a lot about his responsibilities as an older brother, and I think 2 or 3 percent of it might be sinking in. I don't think he'll ever be a doting older sibling, but we see glimpses of a protective older brother that will keep an eye out for his little sister. Of course, she's just starting to want to play with his toys, so my assessment may change over the next year.

Happy 31 months Jake!

Update to Big Boy Bed Update

Last night went a little more smoothly with Jake and his new bed. It still took a few tries to get him to stay in bed after story time, but Ali finally hit the jackpot with: "If you don't go to sleep, the sun won't come up tomorrow". We didn't hear from him again until about 7am, when he came running into our room and said "The sun came up!" Then he ran back into his room, and back and forth a few times, and then to the potty. He's still a little delirious with this new freedom of movement.

Here's a fuzzy cell phone picture from Ali and the kids' trip to the DC car show yesterday. Jake's favorite part was the off-road Jeep track they had set up. Here it is going through the fake water hazard.

Happy Friday!

Big Boy Bed Update

Wow, Jake is SO excited about his "new" bed. He can climb right in and out all by himself! The only problem is: he can climb right in and out himself. OK, it didn't go too badly, I guess. It took about four tries to get him to stay in bed after we finished reading stories last night, but he eventually fell asleep and we didn't hear from him again...........until 5:00am. He was wide awake and more excited than he was on Christmas morning. "I got out of my big boy bed!" After a couple of tries, he went back to sleep at around 6:00am. And then Sadie woke up 15 minutes later. Ah, sweet coffee....

Big Boy Bed

Ali just sent me this picture of Jake in his new "Big Boy Bed". His crib is somewhat convertible, in that the front side can be removed. It's a brave new world, Jake!

Big Surprise

This morning as Ali and I started to wake up, we looked at the clock and it was 7:20 and we realized we hadn't heard from the kids yet. Normally Sadie is up around 6:30 and Jake usually calls for us to get him out of his crib around 7:00. But, sometimes they sleep in, so we were just enjoying the peace and quiet while we got ready for the day. All of a sudden, I hear some quick little footsteps coming towards our door. It happened so quickly, but the image of a tiny cat burglar did cross my mind for just a second. Before we could react, our door opened and there was a grinning, pantless Jake! "I pooped and peepeed in the potty Mommy Daddy!!" I think our combined looks of shock might have scared him a little, but he has never climbed out of his crib, and on top of that, he hasn't gone to the bathroom by himself since we started potty training a week ago. We followed him to the bathroom and I think he didn't flush on purpose because he was so proud of his achievement. I asked him how he climbed out of his crib and he just threw one leg up in the air and made a funny motion with his arms and said: "like this, Daddy". All of a sudden, Jake seemed much older. Looks like we'll be moving to a big boy bed so he doesn't have to perform acrobatics to go to the bathroom in the morning.

Jake and the Lake

They may have 80 years between them, but Pop and Jake both have good taste in hats. We had another fun weekend down at the lake. Even with the sub-freezing temperatures, we did some sled-riding, hot tub relaxng, and swimming in the indoor pool. It was the first time in four months since Jake had been swimming, but he remembered his kicks and did great in his water wings. Sadie was a little apprehensive, but after a couple of minutes she was having fun in her little floater too.

Today Ali and I had to act like responsible parents and start thinking about preschool for Jake. Three-year-old preschool starts in September and registration starts next month for most schools. Ali had visited several preschools last fall, but today we were going to look at two Montessori schools. Maria Montessori was an Italian scholar/educator who developed a new method of learning in the early 20th century based on child directed activities. In the classes we observed, the kids were all busy working at their stations, while the teachers observed and guided as necessary. The classrooms combine kids aged three to five, and encourage the older kids to mentor the younger kids. Instead of the standard toys, there are "activity stations" where they can work on geography, math and reading, as well as household activities like cutting flowers and washing dishes. We both really liked the look and feel of the classrooms, which replaced plastic with wood wherever possible, and created an environment that encouraged the kids to be independent and learn at their own pace. But, all that warm and fuzzy turns out to be pretty expensive. Let's just say it's the difference between an iPhone and regular old cell phone. And of course you want your kid to have the iPhone when it comes to education, but then you have to think: "that iPhone is pretty neat, but they'll still be able to make calls and check their voicemail with that regular cell phone." Ok, full disclosure: this is coming from someone that really wanted an iPhone but couldn't justify the cost.

So, after long discussions with Ali, we came to the conclusions that Jake is such a fun, inquisitive, smart, friendly kid, that these schools should pay US to let him go there. We're in the process of working on that sales pitch. We'll let you know how it goes....