Jacob: An Update On Our Boy

I typically post pictures and short tales of recent happenings in our life, but, as my night winds to a close, I am sitting thinking about how my Jacob is doing in terms of development, milestones, language, etc. I want to blog it so, some day, when I make a blog book - I can add this to his baby book stash. 

It's amazing how much he's grown since we started this pregnancy journey in January. I *blinked* and he went from being my baby to my toddler... it is SO very bittersweet being a Mama... I love seeing him learn, grow, change... and yet it hits me, "he'll never be that 5 month old again (or that 3 month old or that 11 month old...)!" A couple in our Life Group at church had their son (about 4 or 5 months I think) with them on Sunday morning and he was ADORABLE! I looked at him and them and thought "oh I have a little boy too!" and realized, in my inner dialogue, that MY little boy is MUCH older than this little guy... wow... the time DOES fly! So, here's the latest on our boy-becoming-a-man:

LANGUAGE:

Jacob is still picking up signs and words like a sponge! He started wanting to hold my keys and try to unlock the car door (or anything else the key looks like it might fit in) and so I would sign "KEY" and give them to him - probably 2 or 3 times. Then, one day, he looked at me and sign "KEY" and said "EEEES!" (he signs "KEY" with his non-dominant hand in the appropriate "5" handshape but his dominant hand is in the "1" handshape rather than the "X" - it's adorable and totally linguistically appropriate for his age). He just amazes me! Those little hands and fingers are so eager to tell us what he's thinking! Even when he doesn't know a sign, he'll be "babbling" one of his longer stories and gesturing all over the place, then laugh - he cracks himself up! 

Here's the ASL signs he knows and uses regularly:

1. PLEASE
2. THANK YOU
3. NO THANK YOU
4. YES MA'AM/YES SIR (he just signs "YES" for these - but it's the demeanor and his countenance that conveys the respect)
5. BINKY
6. WATER
7. MILK
8. MORE
9. CRACKER (he made up a sign for this when he was just about 14 months old from the signs GOLD and FISH that I used and then he generalized it and uses it for all crackers - and sometimes to mean fish)
10. BANANA
11. APPLE  (what he calls pretty much all round fruits - almost all fruits other than banana)
12. CAR
13. BATH
14. BRUSH-TEETH/TOOTHBRUSH
15. CUP
16. KETCHUP (in honor of his cousin, Taylor ;-) )
17. MAMA
18. DADDY
19. GRANDDADDY
20. DELICIOUS/YUM (his version is TOO cute)
21. DOG
22. BALL
23. OUTSIDE (he signs this MANY times throughout the day!)
24. HOT
25. SWALLOW
26. NIGHT-NIGHT
27. EYES
28. NOSE
29. EARS
30. MOUTH
31. CHIN
32. NECK
33. HEAD
34. HAT
35. FAN
36. LIGHT
37. BOOK
38. SWING (this is one he made up himself and no matter how much I show him the *right* sign, he insists on using his - but hey - he's communicating!)
39. I-LOVE-YOU (the ILY sign - he does it with his pointer and thumb out, but can't quite get his pinky to stand out yet)
40. DOWN (pointing down - to get out of his high chair/car seat/your arms/ etc.)
41. ALL-DONE
42. PICK-ME-UP (raises arms up and looks at you intently and sometimes will say "up!")
43. PLAY (he signs this with the right movement, but with "10" handshapes - can't get that pinky extended yet)
44. SHOE (rather than with "S" handshape fists, he simply taps the top of his hands together - touching the right place and the making the right movement, but he can't seem to keep those little fists closed yet)
45. EAT
46. BUBBLE (he uses a sign that looks like "balloon" to mean bubbles that we blow)
47. BALLOON (he signs this one handed)
48. MUSIC
49. POTTY
50. CHEESE
51. COOKIE
52. AMEN
53. HELP

Here are the English spoken words he uses regularly 

(he understands more, but these are the ones he expressively will use):

1. Please
2. Yeah (hence the reason I am working on the "yes ma'am/yes sir" - he has started answering yes/no questions with "yeah" and my Mississippi upbringing does NOT love this)
3. No (he's got this one DOWN - and I have been SO perplexed - I have worked hard to use more specific ways of saying things other than just "no"... so I was wondering WHY he uses this so much... and my husband told me, "oh! I tell him "no"!" AND I started listening to myself throughout the day - I tell my dogs "no" all. day. long.)
4. Nana (banana)
5. Bink-bink (binky)
6. Nilk (milk)
7. Moh (more)
8. bapple (apple)
9. pbllllt (car - sound made while signing CAR)
10. bath
11. eeeeeth (brush teeth - said while signing "brush teeth")
12. Mama
13. Daddy
14. Duh-daddy (granddaddy)
15. Nanny (Granny)
16. dog
17. UMMM (yum/delicious - said while signing it)
18. ball
19. 'sigh (outside)
20. eeeeees! (keys)
21. hot
22. night (night-night - said while signing it)
23. eyes
24. ears
25. nose
26. cheek
27. doh! (door - he is obsessed with keeping doors closed - wonder where he got that from??)
28. back! (used to mean "put something back" or to tell our dogs to back up when he is eating - he is  bit OCD like his Mama about picking things up - I LOVE it!)
29. ite (light)
30. book 
31. eeeeng! (swing)
32. down
33. up (always said with arms raised)
34. pway (play)
35. shoe
36. eat
37. bubble
38. booon! (balloon)
39. yay!
40. kick-kick (this is what his word for "music" sounds like right now - it's a new one he's working on)
41. didy (the word he is working on for "baby" when we talk about the baby in Mama's tummy and pictures of babies or babies we see)
42. teeeze! (cheese)
43. cook-cook (cookie)
44. hep (help)
45. knee

He is definitely stringing 2 words together at a time (ie - "Mama, pway!" - said from the moment he wakes up in the morning!) and 2 signs (MORE PLEASE). We will model 3 word sentences and he can then say or sign them back, but he self-generates the 2 word phrases more and more consistently. 

LIKES/LOVES

1. Dogs
2. Balls
3. Outside
4. Swinging
5. Playing in water
6. Playing with his Daddy
7. Having his Mama and Daddy both home to play with
8. Cars
9. Did I mention dogs and balls?
10. Riding in the car
11. His Mr. Monkey and Mr. Gorilla that he sleeps with
12. His bink-bink for sleeping
13. Closing doors
14. Feeding the dogs his snacks (why we crate them when he eats) - I see his Mamaw and his Daddy in him ("but they look hungry!")
15. BOZ (a video we use for when he takes a breathing treatment - that he asks for ALL THE TIME now - so we limit it to only when he needs a treatment - we have already seen from how often he was taking breathing treatments that tv/videos can make him cranky)
16. His granddaddy, grandmother, and granny!
17. Any time Mama is making a loud noise (vacuum, blowing hair dry, etc.) when I finish he says "YAY" and claps!
18. Books/reading
19. Music
20. His various supplements - multi-vitamin, probiotic, omega-3 chewable... he asks for MORE of each daily :-)
21. Riding in the car
22. Playing with a ball - throwing it back and forth - he has great hands that are really good at catching a ball!
23. Laughing - if you tickle him, he'll ask for more - cracks me up!
24. LIVING! He wakes with energy ready to go every day!

DISLIKES

1. Not getting what he wants right away (who likes that? ;-) )
2. Having to stop and change his diaper ("Jacob - do you have poop in your pants?" (we can smell you across the room!) - ALWAYS now he gets this "guilty" look, shakes his head furiously and says "NO!" LOL - yep - potty training will be a sloooow process at this rate)
3. Having to stop to go sleep - once we are in his room and starting our routine, he settles and loves the time with Mama or Daddy, but when I tell him we will be going night-night in 5 minutes, I usually get a "no!" at first, then he gets the Mama "look" and signs "YES MA'AM" :-)
4. Going to any doctor-like place (ever since he ate that bee before his 1st birthday... doctor's office, chiropractor's office, etc... if he THINKS he's the patient - we have melt-down begins!)
5. Riding in the car longer than about 5 hours - he gets restless and will start saying "DOWN!"
6. When the dogs try to get a snack he doesn't want to share (cheese, wheat thins - he will point his finger at them and say "NO!" and "BACK!")
7. Being left in the nursery at church :-( BUT, now that our church home search is over and we've joined - we are hoping that consistent attendance will lead to him knowing his teachers and the kids in his room/class and developing a sense of belonging and "home" there so that the drop-off meltdowns diminish. 

Overall - he's a really happy kid who loves to laugh and make us laugh!

SLEEP

Because he was SUCH a sleepless newborn/infant and it took us SO long to get regular naps (we just started getting something of regular naps when he was about 7 months and he would sleep through most nights starting between 10 and 11 months... then we travel and have some setbacks, or he gets sick, etc... we thought he'd be swaddled to sleep until college and that nursing to sleep was the only way he'd ever find rest, lol - both were awesome for a season, but we were SO unschooled and had no idea how normal these things were nor that he would one day figure out sleep in other ways and how night-time parenting is crucial - forever! (yes - I do like Dr. Sears)... Anyway, where we are NOW compared to a year ago is AMAZING)... I have to include sleep updates! It encourages my soul as we prepare for a new little one to join us in just over 3 months AND  is just an amazing testimony to God's guidance and how patience, time, love, routine, and consistency can lead to a child who is a great sleeper that gives this Mama peace knowing her boy is getting the sleep his body needs! I never thought I'd see the day!

Jacob takes one nap a day (he transitioned from 2 naps around 15 months as this pregnancy was really in its hardest season... it turned out to be a blessing as we moved in with my parents for 5 weeks to get through my 1st trimester - scheduling around 1 nap was easier and he started taking this one, longer nap and I could see how his sleep was benefiting).  He usually goes down between 1pm and 2pm and sleeps 2 to 3 hours - usually closer to 2, but several times it's been 3 and this Mama gets a good 2 hour nap herself!

His bed time is still between 6:30pm and 7pm, though with traveling as we've done recently or illness (that has plagued us a lot the past 6 weeks), this sometimes is more like 7:30pm and a few times after 8pm! I would have NEVER had him up past 7pm until the past couple of months when circumstances (travel or illness) necessitated it - and I found that he is now flexible and will still fall asleep, though he still wakes at the same time, which means sleep deprivation and a bit more cranky the next day - but often he'll take a longer nap, which seems to help him be more rested. For months he has slept all night and for a while he was sleeping until 7am or, often, 8am! With his recent illness that hit his upper respiratory system pretty hard, he was waking 2 or 3 times a night because he couldn't breathe well or had a high fever... and started waking more like 6am... once he got better, it had been well over a week and a half of fighting illness, so his sleep pattern had become waking for some Mama/Daddy time throughout the night, and we've still had some of this the past couple of weeks. A few nights lately he is only waking once, usually asking for water, then going back to sleep... but several nights, it seems he just needs to see me or Josh for a moment, then he can return to sleep. We know he'll get better sleep if he doesn't wake, but just like every other part of our night time parenting journey - I believe that these night wakings will decrease and cease in the right time and God will show us if we need to help "wean" him off of them... for now, when he wakes crying for Mama, I go in, reassure him, and tell him to lay back down with Mr. Monkey - my presence seems to calm him instantly and off to sleep he goes. One day, when he's grown and own his own, I'll miss those sweet moments when my cuddly boy just wants a moment of love from his Mother! Overall, he is an amazing sleeper! As I watch and calculate his total sleep, he is in the range of all the charts I can find in the various sleep books for his age - around 14 to 15 hours total day plus night sleep, so I'm a happy Mama! and he is a happy boy - so something is working! And he'll look at me and sign "NIGHT NIGHT" and now say "night" - meaning he wants to lay in his bed and go to sleep - W.O.W.!! Love my little buddy!

SUMMARY

As my husband often says when watching him, "I just love this boy!" He amazes us - and we know we love him like no one else - just as it should be for parents :-) We pray and believe God will open his heart to Jesus. He folds his little hands when we pray - and sometimes initiate prayers before meals when Mama gets tooo busy with dinner preparations. Sometimes, he'll start "talking" to God then excitedly, when he's done" sign AMEN! He's very smart - definitely keeps me on my toes! When he wants to go outside, he'll ask for shoes, then ask for outside... and find my or Josh's shoes if we aren't wearing them - because he knows, if we put shoes on, we're probably going to take him outside!

I'm SO grateful for MOPS and awesome speakers like Nell Bush who gave great tips on guidance and discipline - I use the word "consequence" when I'm not sure WHAT to do when he's doing something he shouldn't... and "do you want a time out?" is proving VERY effective now that he's had several time outs! He really is awesome at listening and obeying... not always immediately, but we work on that day by day. I can't wait for MOPS to start up at Normandale this fall!!

And he loves his Mama! Sometimes, he'll just run up to me, throw his arms around my neck and say, "Mama! Mama! Mama!" and give me a big kiss! 

Yep - I love being Jacob's Mama!

~ Mama Bruffey

Wife of One, Mother of Two