a little talkin' and walkin' at 14 months

Time for another Jacob update- he turned 14 months today! Here's his most recent picture- big smile, lot of drool.
So I've been keeping a little journal for Jacob since he was born, kind of like a little baby book and would just write little things that he does, so I figured I'd share the latest changes since he turned one.

Right after his birthday was when I noticed that Jacob was starting to say more words and that it wasn't all nonsense babble. Here are the words or sounds that he'll say so far:

"hi"- hi: He has had that one down since February and loves to say hi every time I answer the phone and while I'm trying to continue to have a conversation on the phone. He'll even say hi to pictures/videos on the computer, but mostly because we use Skype to talk to my family so he often thinks there's people at the computer screen to say hi to. And he'll smile and say hi to strangers, especially other kids. Oh and my favorite is when I go to get him out of the car, the second I open his door he'll shout hi! Haha that one always makes me laugh.

"dada" or "dad" - Dada/Dad: Has said dada for a long time but a little before he turned one was when I knew he was talking about Dad and often tries calling "dada" on the phone throughout the day :)

"mmm"- milk/more/drink/food: Basically this is how Jacob lets me know that he's hungry! And I've realized that if I ask him, "Are you hungry?" or "Do you want more?" he'll understand because he'll respond with "mmm". So this one is a little more general but it's still a way that he communicates that to me in a way I understand.

"bye" or "bab"- bye-bye: He will wave when he says bye, other times he'll only wave- and usually it's a minute after the person has already left! He used to say "bye" in kind of a whisper and now it comes out more as "bab" as in "buh-bye" which is what I guess I usually say.

"a-ba" or "ba" - book: Loves when I read him books before nap/bedtime and will often say "ba!" as soon as we go to his room, meaning he wants me to read him a book! And he'll say it like a question sometimes too which is cute!

"bah" - ball: Sounds close to the way he says book but he says them differently and obviously in reference to a ball he's playing with. He usually gets excited when he says "ball" too and loves pushing his big bouncy ball around and laughs hysterically when he can keep it away from me or rolls it down the stairs.

"gog"- dog: He picked this up right after his birthday and this one was a little more surprising than the others because I never really taught it to him- and we don't even have dogs! But our neighbors do and he'd hear them barking a lot or see dogs when we go on walks and just starting saying "gog" when he'd hear a dog bark! And he does love to play with little dogs- very precious, but I hope he doesn't get his hopes up at a young age because we have no plans in getting a dog!

"kaka"- cracker: This one cracks me up! I was a little surprised when he started saying this one too and at first I thought maybe I was imagining it until my friends heard him say it when they offered him a cracker one time and they were pretty taken back since it sounds just like cracker! And even if he'll be crying, I can just hand him a graham cracker (his favorite lately) and he'll immediately stop crying and say "kaka!" all excited and happy! Crackers are the new pacifiers :)


"mama" or "mom"- Mama/Mom: Yes Jacob finally started calling me mama! Or he'll say "mom" very distinctly, which is what he said the first time when I knew he was talking to me-trying to get my attention while I was shopping! I feel like he knows that's my "name" but it seems like he refuses to say it! Even still it's rare, but he does say it more now!

"a-da"- all done: At first Jacob was just doing the motions for "all done"- which for me is putting both hands up when he's all done eating. I'd ask him if he was all done and then he'd put his hands up and smile, and so now sometimes he'll say "a-da" along with it.

"up"- up: He started saying "up" last week and did for several days in a row but haven't heard it as much recently. But he would shout "up" over and over to either get out of his seat at the table, or he would tug on my leg for me to pick him up!

Ok and the last one I think I might be imagining, but I swear sometimes he says Kara! He says it more like "kaya" and sometimes he'll look at me when he says it but other times he won't. So this one is still under investigation...

So besides all the new words, since he turned one he's also been doing a lot of practicing on his walking! I still can not say that he's completely walking yet- he still likes crawling more. But he has gotten better. Before our little trip he was doing well, was getting about 10-13 steps at a time, but then being in the car a lot, around a lot of new people, and being sick on our trip basically was enough to have him quit for a bit. But once we got back from our trip he saw all his friends had already mastered walking and so he started trying again and he's back to about what he was before we left. So he can walk across a room but he's just not very confident when he does, so he's still a little shaky and will give up and crawl.

And he seems to do a lot better when Luke is home because then he can walk between the two of us. Unfortunately though, this weekend we kept laughing when he'd fall, because it always seemed to be on the 3rd step, so then he started falling on purpose just to make us laugh! But he's getting there, I'm sure it will be in this month that he'll give up crawling for walking.

So maybe once Jacob does start walking he won't be so clingy to me! So many times in the little baby book have I written how he just wants me to hold him and I feel like he's still too much of a baby! I know everyone thinks that this should be a good thing and I should take advantage of him wanting me, and sometimes it is nice to cuddle with him but in public it's pretty annoying! Especially if I'm trying to get something done, or have him play with someone, or on the playgroud, or have someone else watch him, it's hard because he'll just fuss (and whine!) for me to hold him. And with Luke traveling so much lately (he's now on week 4 of being out of town) it's been hard to catch a break with Jacob needing so much attention.

Poor Jacob does miss his dad when he's gone though. Before when Luke would come home every night Jacob would just shout "dada" over and over and get so excited to see him! And now when he sees him on the weekends he clings to him and tries to spend as much time with his dad as he can, which is great. But now anytime that Luke has to leave (anywhere), Jacob kind of has a melt down- he's realized that any time Luke leaves, it's for a long time! At least after this week there's only 2 more weeks to go of him traveling for work!

So although Jacob can be tough at times, he's still such a sweetie, and he really has a sense of humor! One example is a few days ago I was sitting on the floor trying to get Jacob to walk to me. So he took one step towards me and then he smiled and quickly turned around and practically ran away from me! And he cracked himself up laughing- he seems to love to try and make me laugh too!
He is a lot of fun to play with and I love watching him play and interact with all his friends and other kids too!

And I love this smile that he's showing off here!

He's also been doing excellent at putting himself to sleep and going to bed (anywhere from 8-9:30, but usually 9), sleeping through the night, sleeping in (usually until 9ish!), and taking good naps (at noon for 2-3 hours) and has been leaning away from taking a 2nd nap lately.

And here's us together on Mother's Day last week. I couldn't ask for a better little boy!