Happy 3rd Birthday!

So I know it had been a while, but I didn't realize that it had been THAT long since I did a Jared-specific blog!  Oh my!

Three years ago today you came into this world in grand style and have been amazing us ever since.  We've all heard the Jared birth story (how fast it was...how goofy your mommy was...etc), but every birthday I look back and laugh and smile, remembering the day you were born.

Well...since the last post, you've become a big brother!  You're practically old hat at this, since your baby sister, Kaitlyn, just turned 7 months last week.  So I guess moving backwards, here's what you've been up to...

You've picked up on things so quickly...you learn so many things from your brother, and figure others out yourself.  You use our computers like a pro, navigate tablets (the iPad and Nexus tablets) easily, and you are decisive about the things you want to do.  You know all of your ABCs (have for a while!), identify numbers, can count to 20, all colors and shapes (again, that's been for a lonnnnnng while).  You love to play ball, whether it be basketball or soccer, or even throwing a baseball.  You love to sing songs, and you do a pretty good job of repeating what you hear.  You ask for what you want, and you do a good job of listening to what we ask of you.  You're getting the hang of potty training (even though you don't want to wear real underwear...you keep saying "no, it's Daniel's...it's Daniel's!".  And you still love Mickey Mouse, although you will switch to anything on Disney or PBS.  You're afraid of haircuts, but not much else.  You sleep in the bottom bunk of a set of bunk beds that you share with your brother, switching pretty effortlessly to a twin sized bed.  You get up in the middle of the night sometimes and show up in our room...you've fallen asleep on the floor on occasion, and other times woken up Daddy to bring him to your room to help you get back to sleep again.

Quirky things as of late...you love to hold the door open to the infant room for me and Kaitlyn at daycare.  You love to wave to everyone at daycare, and you ask to have your window down in the car.  You still need to nap, and you still need to cuddle.

You've traveled a bit since the last time we did a catch-up.  Over Christmas time, we drove all the way up to Reno (your first time there!).  You got to play in the snow a little bit and meet a bunch of people!  Before that, in October, we flew up to Montana.  And before that, while there was no massive distance traveled, but there was quite a bit of time spent in hospitals before Kaitlyn was born.

Coming up I'm sure there's going to be more exciting times!  Summer is coming quickly, and hopefully you'll get plenty of swimming time in as it starts to warm up.  I can see you picking up more and more things, and I can tell that you might be reading soon!  Potty training is coming along, as I mentioned before, and you're learning things so fast!

Well...here's hoping that it's not another big gap in time before the next update!  Happy Birthday, kiddo! :)

Jared's Adventures in Catching-up!

It's your turn little buddy...it was so long since I blogged in general, and I figured it's time to dedicate a little time to my cuddle-buddy!

The last entries were around the time we went to Disneyland!  So much has happened, importantly your birthday!  So let's see here...

The holidays were good, Thanksgiving and Christmas were low key and fun.  You got sick and ended up at the doctor on Christmas Eve, but luckily with nothing major, just the fever and ear infection.  It was a little scary for a while because when the nurse put the pulse-ox meter on, you freaked out a little bit and your oxygen levels plummeted.

The other big news around Christmas was that you're going to be a big brother!  I'm sure you're going to be a great one, just like Daniel was for you...and you'll have Daniel to lean on whenever the going gets rough :).

March came along, and it was your 2nd birthday!  Even as it stands today (the 22nd of May!), you haven't had your 2-year well check at the doctor (reprieve on shots, right?!) since you've been sick on and off with something.  Right after your birthday, you had pneumonia to go along with your ear infection (Daniel's ear drum burst the same day, so you guys had tandem appointments).  After that was clear for a bit, Daniel came down with strep/Scarlet Fever and managed to pass that on to you before weeks end!  Just now are things settling down.

So in other things, you are in a learning and language explosion time!  You are so talkative!  You know all of your basic colors, identify all of the numbers up to 10 (and you can count), and you know a few of the A, B, Cs.  You love to play on mommy's iPad (Elmo Sesame Street games) and you still love Mickey Mouse.  You want to do a lot of the things that Daniel does, and you guys do share pretty well, most of the time.

Right now, the phase you are in is saying NO a lot.  You do get your feelings hurt, and tend to pout a bit more than usual.  It's hard to remember these things with Daniel, but it is a phase you'll get through.  You started in the 2 year old room right after your birthday, which took a little while to get used to going there, versus the toddler/1 year old room.

And...most recently...you love swimming!  You can float around pretty well on the steps of the pool, and you love having either me or your dad whoosh you around the pool.  You don't want to go into the little mesh boat thing from last year too often, and the floats we have for you are a bit of a pain to get on...but I think once we figure out something to get you a little more independent, you'll be free floating around the pool!

So last, but not least...your most adorable school pictures.  Daniel was absent that day, so it was all about you...

To Disneyland!

As a last minute thing (as in, it was officially planned two days before we left), we finally took our trip to California and to Disneyland!

In the interest of time and pictures (you'd much rather look at pictures, right?), I'll just mention the basics.  We drove to California on a Thursday night, spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at either Disneyland or California Adventure, went to the beach on Monday before driving back home.

Needless to say, it was a busy, yet still fun and relaxing trip.  Only wishing that we'd had more time at the beach...it was the perfect way to end the trip!

A Chatty Little Jared

Rolling up on almost 18 months old (eep!), you're becoming quite the chatty little guy!  Even back when you were closer to a year old, you had the starts of conversations going on with us and the people at daycare.  You would say something resembling "whatssat?".  From there, you went into the "da-da", but not so much the ma-ma, even though you'd say that sometimes.

Now your vocabulary consists of not only daddy and mommy, but also Daniel!  Perfectly clear and enunciated!  You've also got the appropriate use of "uh oh" and "ta-da!" down.  Recently, you've also picked up "no" (and the head shake to go with it), even though you often say no when you really mean yes.  You tried to say "papa" (for Grandpa) and "gama" (for Grandpa) over the weekend too.  And, of course, kitty...we have three, so that makes sense, right?

Even what you don't say perfectly clear, you manage to get across what it is that you want.  Handing us your cup or bottle to get milk.  You LOVE yogurt, so often times you'll lead one of us to the fridge and wait until we open the door (and try to climb up to get at the yogurt).

You're growing by leaps and bounds!  You weren't a baby that long ago, and now you're really turning into a little boy, keeping up with your big brother without any problems!

Mobility

One of the major milestones in a baby's life is...drumroll...walking.  Mobility.  It isn't like you weren't mobile before, but now you're REALLY mobile.

Your history with being mobile seemed to start early...and we even figured that you might be an early(er) walker.  You rolled over earlier than Daniel (which isn't saying a whole lot, considering that he never cared to roll over).  You did an army crawl, you crawled fairly early and you sat up on your own earlier than your brother.

So your birthday rolled around in March, and no walking.  You could pull yourself up to standing and cruise a bit around the couch, but even that was limited just as you were turning 1.  We were patient though.  April rolls around, and you turn 13 months.  Still, no walking (as a side note, Daniel was walking, officially, a week or two after his first birthday, and definitely before he turned 13 months).  But, again, we were patient.

April 28th rolls around.  Maurice (friend from Reno) comes for a visit passing through.  The weekend prior, you were taking a step here and there, mostly stepping and falling into me or your dad.  But on that day, you were standing up, and taking a few more steps on your own (and not the falling kind!).  As Daddy takes Maurice back to the airport, you and I are playing on the floor in the living room and you take off on a voyage to the kitchen.  About 20 steps later, you look back and realize that I wasn't behind you...but you keep going until you hit the middle of the family room and sit down!  You're walking!

You keep practicing through the week, and on the following Saturday (May 5th), I manage to catch you walking down the hall.  After that, it's like you are walking like a pro!

Now that you've mastered the walking, they started really working with you to eat more table food at daycare, and now you're officially in the toddler room!  Such a big boy!  As I type, you're just over 15 months old...and on your way again up to Montana with us next week!

The latest and greatest of all things Jared...

I couldn't think of a good title, so I went with that.  I really couldn't think of a reason in particular to post today, other than I just wanted to.  So without anything in particular in mind, let's see where I go.

You turned 13 months on my birthday (April 11th), which puts you at 13 1/2 months right now.  I'm not sure if I've updated since your actual birthday, but you had your 1 year visit about a week after your birthday.  You were 18lbs, 8oz, which put you a bit on the smaller side of things (<5% for weight).  That earned you a re-check sometime next week (6 weeks out from the appointment).  Unfortunately, you also had hand-foot-and-mouth again at your appointment.  Ahh!  So your shots were scheduled for later.

Moving on...you're still working on walking.  You love to walk around while someone is holding your hand (you only require one!), and you can take a few steps on your own.  The walking will come, I'm sure, and then you'll be running everywhere!

They're working on transitioning you to the toddler room, and yesterday you were over there for about 3 hours, even taking a nap on the cots!  Walking, drinking out of a sippy, and eating "table" food 100% are the factors affecting your transition.

We went swimming last weekend (your first time in the pool!) and you LOVED the floatie that we got you.  You had a lot of fun sitting on the step and playing with rocks from the yard too.  We thought it might have been too cold for you, but you had no problems (you wanted to go in!).

And that's about all for now!  Getting so big, little buddy!

Happy Birthday!

I know it's almost the end of your birthday, but I wanted to make sure I snuck in a post to wish you a very, very happy first birthday!!!

I'll elaborate a little bit more later on, but you had a very busy weekend, culminating in your actual birthday today (complete with smash cake!)

I still can't believe you are ONE!  Love you, little dude!  And your daddy, big brother, grandmas and papa's love you too!!!