Steve's cousin Kristin had a little boy yesterday, and named him Hayden. He joins Kristin, Dad Mark, and Big Bro Chase. Congratulations!
Jared has nesting cups that he sometimes puts on his toes while sitting down. So cute.
He also has a play parking garage that is lots of fun. The three cars that came with it have magnets on the front and back, so they can form a train if you want to. Jared was frustrated the other day, because the cars wouldn't stick together like he wanted them to. I figured that he was too young to understand magnet polarity, so I just let it go. :)
Jared also will not just go up or down the steps now. Since he can go both ways, he like to go about halfway up, then start down again, or vice versa. This makes traveling between floors a long process. If I get impatient and pick him up, he'll scream if I don't let him put his hand on the handrail for the journey. Sometimes that doesn't even work though.
My friend Lisa visited us from Cincinnati last weekend. She left her husband at home with the two kids, so it was quite a treat for her (although she missed them a lot.) Lisa has been my friend since 4th grade, so I think it is one of life's miracles that we've kept in touch so long. After we see each other for a little while, it's like we haven't been apart. Jared warmed up to her very quickly, and made her read all of his books to him many times. Just Lisa and I went out to lunch, which was a nice little getaway for both of us. Luckily, she was also here to watch Jared while Steve and I took care of the water in our basement...
We were very lucky. We only had about 1" of standing water, and it was mostly in our laundry room that has a cement floor. We had just showered, so the water was soapy, but not smelly or gross (thank goodness!) Steve called the county water's emergency phone number and they sent a guy out in about an hour to check it out. Luckily for us, the blockage was somewhere between the sewage cleanout valve in our yard to the street, which means it's the county's problem. The guy cleaned out the blockage, and we didn't have to hire a plumber - yeah! Our nice neighbors let us use their shop vac to suck up the water. Then we dried out the floor with fans and ran the wood stove for a while, which worked nicely. The next day, Steve mopped the floor with some water and bleach to disinfect. We got off pretty easy for our first home emergency.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Happy 18 Months to my big guy!
Jared is turning into such a big boy! At his 18 month Dr. visit, Jared measures 32" tall (very tall) and 22 lbs., 11 oz. (skinny), so no change there.
He tried raisins for the first time the other day, and he loves them! He has a fun project using his little fingers to get the ones stuck down in the bottom of the little box. He's so proud of himself when he gets one out, and gets to eat his reward. How adorable!
Jared saw me throwing items from my nightstand into the middle of the bed (Blistex, ear plugs, sleep mask, etc.), and now he does that too. The ironic part is that I was throwing those items into the middle of the bed so he wouldn't mess with them, and now he does that job for me! :)
Jared loves to scoot down the stairs on his belly. We have a lot of stairs to between floors, so I have to slow him down, so he doesn't gain too much speed. He gets to the bottom of the stairs and pulls his pants cuffs back down to his ankles and then shuts the gate at the bottom of the stairs.
Jared has learned the he can scoot his high chair and exersaucer across the floor by throwing his body back and forth. I had to put the bathmat underneath the exersaucer when I shower, since he was coming over to the tub and pulling back the curtain - brr!
The little guy just woke up from his nap, so I'll continue this again (hopefully) soon.
He tried raisins for the first time the other day, and he loves them! He has a fun project using his little fingers to get the ones stuck down in the bottom of the little box. He's so proud of himself when he gets one out, and gets to eat his reward. How adorable!
Jared saw me throwing items from my nightstand into the middle of the bed (Blistex, ear plugs, sleep mask, etc.), and now he does that too. The ironic part is that I was throwing those items into the middle of the bed so he wouldn't mess with them, and now he does that job for me! :)
Jared loves to scoot down the stairs on his belly. We have a lot of stairs to between floors, so I have to slow him down, so he doesn't gain too much speed. He gets to the bottom of the stairs and pulls his pants cuffs back down to his ankles and then shuts the gate at the bottom of the stairs.
Jared has learned the he can scoot his high chair and exersaucer across the floor by throwing his body back and forth. I had to put the bathmat underneath the exersaucer when I shower, since he was coming over to the tub and pulling back the curtain - brr!
The little guy just woke up from his nap, so I'll continue this again (hopefully) soon.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Pretty Jared
Jared has been all about skincare now that it's gotten cold. He likes to be like his Momma and get lotion rubbed on his face. He is also really good at letting me put Chapstick on his lips. (When he is not trying to grab the tube away from me and eat it.) He also likes putting his face in the (cold) mist of our humidifier. It's really cute.
Jared started sitting in our laps for storytime. This started all of a sudden, and with no instigating from me. He looks so funny backing up and sitting down on your lap without looking. He also lets you read a little bit off of each page before he flips it. He used to flip the pages so fast that there was no story to be told. Then he jumps up and picks out another book. I love that Jared loves books!
One of my mom's group friends brought over her daughter and their sled the other day. We got about 1-2" of snow, which is a great amount for little kids to play in. Our backyard slopes quite a bit, so it was nice that the kids were able to sled in our fenced-in backyard safely. The next day, I went out a bought Jared a sled (actually the same sled), but the snow was too melted to really have fun with it. I bet that me buying Jared a sled prevents us from getting any more appreciable snowfall this winter, just so we won't be able to use it. You're welcome, Maryland! ;)
New pictures are up too - probably the last under the 15-18 month link. He'll be 18 months old on Tuesday!
Jared started sitting in our laps for storytime. This started all of a sudden, and with no instigating from me. He looks so funny backing up and sitting down on your lap without looking. He also lets you read a little bit off of each page before he flips it. He used to flip the pages so fast that there was no story to be told. Then he jumps up and picks out another book. I love that Jared loves books!
One of my mom's group friends brought over her daughter and their sled the other day. We got about 1-2" of snow, which is a great amount for little kids to play in. Our backyard slopes quite a bit, so it was nice that the kids were able to sled in our fenced-in backyard safely. The next day, I went out a bought Jared a sled (actually the same sled), but the snow was too melted to really have fun with it. I bet that me buying Jared a sled prevents us from getting any more appreciable snowfall this winter, just so we won't be able to use it. You're welcome, Maryland! ;)
New pictures are up too - probably the last under the 15-18 month link. He'll be 18 months old on Tuesday!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Oh, there's more
A few things that I forgot to write about before...
*We still haven't cut Jared's hair yet, and it's getting quite long. I've trimmed his bangs when necessary. The back gets curly, and looks so cute. I think he's inherited Steve's straight hair, so this might be the only time in his life that he has curly hair.
*He now used the ottoman to climb up onto the couch. Oh joy. If I move the ottoman away from the couch, he just stands up on the ottoman, which is actually worse.
*He has a good enough throwing arm to throw smaller items (his clothes, wash cloths, etc.) into the washing machine. Many times, he uses the lid as a backboard, and only sometimes misses.
*He really enjoys eating clementines.
*After the Grandparents went home, we hosted a bunch of friends at our house over the next week. It was great catching up with people, and showing off our decorated house.
*We still haven't cut Jared's hair yet, and it's getting quite long. I've trimmed his bangs when necessary. The back gets curly, and looks so cute. I think he's inherited Steve's straight hair, so this might be the only time in his life that he has curly hair.
*He now used the ottoman to climb up onto the couch. Oh joy. If I move the ottoman away from the couch, he just stands up on the ottoman, which is actually worse.
*He has a good enough throwing arm to throw smaller items (his clothes, wash cloths, etc.) into the washing machine. Many times, he uses the lid as a backboard, and only sometimes misses.
*He really enjoys eating clementines.
*After the Grandparents went home, we hosted a bunch of friends at our house over the next week. It was great catching up with people, and showing off our decorated house.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Happy 2011!
Jared is changing so much lately - he really is becoming a little boy.
*He had a great Christmas with both sets of Grandparents. He liked ripping open the wrapping paper on the gifts, but wanted to play with the toys right away. He didn't understand he had a small mountain of gifts to unwrap. :)
*Jared got a play tent with a tunnel for Christmas, which is lots of fun. But the opening in the tent is just a little small for him. Jared hasn't really figured out that he needs to duck down to walk into the tent, he just kind of pushes through, which makes his hair look all funny.
*He LOVES the Christmas tree - the tree, the lights, the tinsel, the ornaments. He will be very sad when it's gone. I will too! It was a beautiful tree, and I was so excited to finally be able to decorate our house for Christmas.
*Our local fire company drove Santa around all of the neighborhood streets before Christmas. On our scheduled night, Santa never came, because he had a real fire to attend to. But two nights later, we all heard a huge amount of sirens and ran outside. Steve and I were expecting Santa on the back of a fire truck. Instead, we got every truck in our fire company driving through the streets with all of the lights and sirens going. You definitely couldn't miss it. Santa was in the back on his sleigh, getting pulled on a trailer. We took video of it, and the whole time I'm laughing for the absurdity of it all. It was really cool though.
*Jared loves turning lights on and off. He also still points out lights and ceiling fans all of the time.
*He gives kisses when he is in the mood, no hugs though.
*He gets very excited about laundry. He pushes the laundry basket into the laundry room. Then picks up some clothes, and I pick him and the clothes up, and he throws them into the washer. Then, I hand him the wet clothes out of the washer, and he throws them into the dryer. Later, he unloads the dryer, and shuts the door when he's done. What a big helper! Now I just need to teach him how to fold!
*He will stop everything and run to a window or point up in the sky whenever a plane flies overhead, which is all of the time.
*He loves to dig in the dirt with his hands. I will never understand boys.
*Jared is still just babbling, no real words yet. He knows how to get his point across though. He points a lot, and does a few sign language signs, mostly for eating.
*Jared got a book of pictures with the word name on each picture. He can point out certain pictures to you, like banana, fish (which is in there 4 times for some reason), cheese, tree (then points to our Christmas tree), etc. I am amazed how much he understands.
*He loves feeling like a big strong boy. He will pick up wide objects (his highchair tray, a big package of toilet paper), and walk around with it, very proud of himself. We went out to dinner recently, and he kept hugging the end of the table. I think he was pleasantly surprised that his hands reached to both ends.
In some non-Jared related news... (so you can stop reading now if you'd like to)
Steve and I bought a new car! The Passat wasn't doing so well, and we wanted to turn it in before it randomly died sometime. We also wanted to take advantage of the end of the year deals. After much consideration, we ended up with a 2010 Mazda 6. Since it's a 2010, we got a good deal on a nicely equipped one. And it's red! I never considered myself a red car person, but it is such a pretty shade of red, that we couldn't pass it up.
*He had a great Christmas with both sets of Grandparents. He liked ripping open the wrapping paper on the gifts, but wanted to play with the toys right away. He didn't understand he had a small mountain of gifts to unwrap. :)
*Jared got a play tent with a tunnel for Christmas, which is lots of fun. But the opening in the tent is just a little small for him. Jared hasn't really figured out that he needs to duck down to walk into the tent, he just kind of pushes through, which makes his hair look all funny.
*He LOVES the Christmas tree - the tree, the lights, the tinsel, the ornaments. He will be very sad when it's gone. I will too! It was a beautiful tree, and I was so excited to finally be able to decorate our house for Christmas.
*Our local fire company drove Santa around all of the neighborhood streets before Christmas. On our scheduled night, Santa never came, because he had a real fire to attend to. But two nights later, we all heard a huge amount of sirens and ran outside. Steve and I were expecting Santa on the back of a fire truck. Instead, we got every truck in our fire company driving through the streets with all of the lights and sirens going. You definitely couldn't miss it. Santa was in the back on his sleigh, getting pulled on a trailer. We took video of it, and the whole time I'm laughing for the absurdity of it all. It was really cool though.
*Jared loves turning lights on and off. He also still points out lights and ceiling fans all of the time.
*He gives kisses when he is in the mood, no hugs though.
*He gets very excited about laundry. He pushes the laundry basket into the laundry room. Then picks up some clothes, and I pick him and the clothes up, and he throws them into the washer. Then, I hand him the wet clothes out of the washer, and he throws them into the dryer. Later, he unloads the dryer, and shuts the door when he's done. What a big helper! Now I just need to teach him how to fold!
*He will stop everything and run to a window or point up in the sky whenever a plane flies overhead, which is all of the time.
*He loves to dig in the dirt with his hands. I will never understand boys.
*Jared is still just babbling, no real words yet. He knows how to get his point across though. He points a lot, and does a few sign language signs, mostly for eating.
*Jared got a book of pictures with the word name on each picture. He can point out certain pictures to you, like banana, fish (which is in there 4 times for some reason), cheese, tree (then points to our Christmas tree), etc. I am amazed how much he understands.
*He loves feeling like a big strong boy. He will pick up wide objects (his highchair tray, a big package of toilet paper), and walk around with it, very proud of himself. We went out to dinner recently, and he kept hugging the end of the table. I think he was pleasantly surprised that his hands reached to both ends.
In some non-Jared related news... (so you can stop reading now if you'd like to)
Steve and I bought a new car! The Passat wasn't doing so well, and we wanted to turn it in before it randomly died sometime. We also wanted to take advantage of the end of the year deals. After much consideration, we ended up with a 2010 Mazda 6. Since it's a 2010, we got a good deal on a nicely equipped one. And it's red! I never considered myself a red car person, but it is such a pretty shade of red, that we couldn't pass it up.
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