Jacob Lately

So I just realized that I have a ton of random pictures of Jacob from the past few months that I've never posted, and I might as well do an update on what he's been up to since it seems he's dramatically changed and grown in the past few months as well. The pictures are all really random but seeing them together is kind of amusing to me since you kind of get a feel of what he's like through the day- or at least these past few months- some of these pics are a little older.

Out of laziness I never moved this swing out of our family room (well I have moved it to the basement by now) but Jacob still liked to play in it and rock like he was a baby. Just playing with a stick outside- always will find something to play with. Likes to wander to our fence to check out the nature I guess... Now sitting at the fence AND playing with sticks trying to walk in daddy's shoes

playing peek-a-boo with his blanket
giving his bear a big hug and pretending to go "ni-ni"

playing at some girls' house and found ALL their necklaces and he just kept adding them on! He loved them so much they let him take a couple home and he still wears them all the time!
it's not girly, its gansta :)

This was a few days before Halloween, and was the first time that I realized Jacob knew how to say prayers. I had never "taught" him how but after seeing us always pray before eating dinner, and seeing everyone pray at church he somehow caught on! After we said our prayer for dinner that night I looked over to see that he was praying with us :) And not only does he fold his arms, but he will bow his head and mutter nonsense words quietly while we pray so that he's praying too, haha. We're trying to at least teach him "amen" but he hasn't quite caught onto that yet, but we're happy to see he's trying!

can't go up the stairs when you're stuck in a chair :)

We got Luke this cowboy hat for Halloween and ever since, Jacob loves to pull it out of our closet and try it on! He thinks it's so funny! Oh and notice he's also wearing one of his necklaces too, haha.
smiling, looking at how cute he is in the mirror

I love this smile of his here- he was having so much fun just letting the hat bounce on his legs while he walked around- such a funny boy :)

After bath time I was trying to get him dressed but all he wanted was to put on his shoes and get "going!" And he picked out the shoes himself :)

Playing out with the leaves and rocks- we've had so many nice fall days.

Not the best picture- but Jacob alwaaaays finds these hairbands someone made for me and he loves to pull them out and wear them. This is how he puts it on by himself.

helping me rake the leaves :)

This is the first time I noticed he started taking care of Elmo- he was feeding him some olives for snack! And if you know how much Jacob loves olives this was actually very sweet of him to share with his little friend :) (Now his new thing is trying to brush Elmo's teeth before we need to brush his own, haha)
trying to stuff them in Elmo's mouth, haha

good job Elmo! mmm

So overall, yes Jacob likes accessories, to try things on, and to try and do things by himself- that seems to cover it all! Also, ever since Thanksgiving when we had family in I feel like his vocabulary has exploded again. I have a hard time even keeping track of all his new words, especially since he's gotten better at imitating and repeating words that we say to him. But it's kind of fun since I feel like we communicate quite well now that we can understand each other.

And Jacob is very good about following commands and helping out when we ask him to clean up, or put something in the trash, or to go play in the other room, or sit down at the table, or turn down the radio, etc. Oh, and I even can get him to empty the clean clothes out of the dryer for me and put them in the basket, haha.

It's also cute how he knows his routines so well, like for bedtime, he tells me what to do- he'll ask for his milk, go up to the bathroom and make his noise signal for brushing teeth (he makes like a swishing sound with his mouth), and when we get to his room he'll get his books and show me which ones he wants me to read. And I love that while we read he'll say several words with me, or make hand motions or noises to go along with the story, it's one of my favorite things! Some of these things he's done for a long time but it still makes me happy that he understands our routines and it makes me hope he'll continue to be a good boy as he gets older.

We just love our little Jacob! :)