Young dog = new tricks

I don't know why men like to teach kids silly tricks.

For instance, Mark let Jacob sit in the front seat of his car the other day and Jacob got the biggest kick out of honking the horn (don't freak out -- it was parked away securely in the garage). So, naturally, when we were driving in the car today, Jacob kept making his "HONK, HONK" sound. It was cute until he started to throw a fit in the back seat because he wanted me to actually honk my horn. I can just picture this...I'm driving along honking my horn for no good reason (other than to entertain my 20 month old) and Mr. Road Rage next to me gets mad that I'm mindlessly honking at him and drives me right off the road.

Yesterday, Grandpa showed Jacob how to stick play dough stars on his head.

Now Jacob wants to stick play dough stars on MY head.

Why I ask you? Why????

Warning: Elmo might be made of crack

We've known for a while that Jacob is a fan of Elmo. Melissa and Maya have a few Elmo's at their house that do crazy dances and sing silly songs. I even think some of them cook dinner and take out the trash.

I am astonished by how much Elmo can do. Did you know that he goes to school, speaks French, delivers pizza and even does somersaults and laps in the bathtub??

Jacob could learn a lot from Elmo.

Which is why we decided to buy him one at Toys R Us this weekend. I didn't want to get him one that danced or did some crazy stunt because that would be just a little too "lifelike" for me. So instead, I decided to get him the "Learn to Dress Elmo" which would help Jacob learn how to zip, tie and button Elmo's clothes. Jacob LOVES him. He loves him so much that he wants Elmo to throw balls, climb up slides, read books and chase cars. All weekend, Mark and I have had Elmo in tow making Elmo do the most outrageous tasks at Jacob's request.

I'm wondering if we made a mistake inviting Elmo into our lives. As I type, Jacob is curled up with Elmo in his crib. I'll just say this...the minute Jacob wants Elmo instead of Daddy or Mommy, that red piece of fuzz is gone. GONE I tell you!

Welcome to the Jungle

Jaemie and I decided to take Owen and Jacob to Jungle Island in San Jose today for some indoor playground fun. They've got all kinds of climbing structures, tunnels and slides for the little ones and have arcade games, bumper cars, and laser tag for the big kids. Germ-phobic mommas out there, please do not flame us. We were just trying something new!

Jacob has recently started displaying his affection for his friends by giving forceful hugs (remember when he knocked Ali down on my birthday in a previous post?) My favorite point of the day today was when Jacob decided to give Owen a hug from behind and just wrapped his big arms around little Owen tightly. Owen started yelling "Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!" and Jaemie and I just about lost it. I was laughing so hard I could barely contain myself. Poor Owen. He didn't even know what hit him.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Owen while he was "stuck" but I did get a cute one of them in the ball pit.

Who ever said TV was bad for toddlers?

I get really stressed out when I read all these articles about how much TV time (or non-TV time) a toddler should be exposed to. Not because I like to sit Jacob in front of the television for hours upon end, but mostly because he has one love in this world that is just downright impossible to deny him.

Ladies and gentlemen, our son is obsessed with The Wiggles. I used to think these colorful, middle aged men singing and dancing was nothing short of creepy, but now Mark and I find ourselves dancing along with them belting out the tune to "Fruit Salad, Yummy, Yummy" and "Big Red Car" without hesitation. I will even admit to singing a few choruses of "Hot Potato, Hot Potato" and humming "Brown Girl in the Ring" completely on my own in my car while headed to bootcamp at 6 am in the morning.

I don't know what it is about these guys, but they really know how to entertain a toddler. Jacob does his Wiggles sign (he points his index fingers and shakes them up and down) and can't WAIT for them to come on TV. Admittedly, we don't have to fulfill this request, but man is he cute to watch as he dances and sings along with them. How could this be harmful to our little man??

Another year gone

Today is my 32nd birthday. I don't really know what to say about that other than that the years are going by too quickly and I fear that if I take too long to blink one day, I'll be 33 and will not have known where the next year has gone.

First of all, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of my friends and family who called me, sent me cute text messages and left funny facebook wall posts on my account. I really do miss you all so much! Second of all, thank you to everyone who came to our fun, kid-frenzied barbecue this afternoon! We had a great time and hope you did too. I must say, one of the highlights of my day was watching Jacob chase around the older kids all day long. He never stopped trying to "keep up" with them and would have gone all night if he could have! I'm always amazed at how much energy he has when other (specifically older) kids are around for him to look up to.

Our neighbors across the street have 3 little girls and Jacob adores them. The youngest, Ali, is 22 months and man does Jacob love her. See for yourself -- hopefully you'll get as big a kick out of it as we do.

"I love you stinky face"

I absolutely adore this picture because it's actually capturing Jacob with a genuine smile (as opposed to his newly adopted 'say cheese' face). Those are the cheeks I want to smother with kisses and love bites (don't worry, I'm still refraining) and squeeze until I can't squeeze anymore! He's starting to say "wuv ooo" (love you) and when I hear it I just want to inhale him!

Viewer discretion advised

If you are at all anxious about toddlers being tossed up and down in the air by their fathers, do not watch this video. But man does Jacob love it!

My, what big limbs you have!

Since the backyard is done, we decided to tackle the side yard this weekend. We (I mean, Mark) dug up all of the dead rose bushes and weeds and replanted some pretty sarcococca and flaming silver. Don't ask me what the heck these are. They are pretty and can stand shade. That's all we know. Being the black thumbs that we are, we don't have any gardening gloves so I found Mark digging through our ski bag for some ski gloves. Ha. They were a great alternative. Jacob got a hold of a pair and sported them around the yard for a good while (and a good laugh.) That's our boy -- always trying to entertain us.

By the way, does Mark really have sasquatch-size hands? These gloves are huge!!





If our shoes are ever lying around, Jacob is quick to hop in them. This ensemble is quite fetching! (By the way, if you haven't already noticed, Jacob cracks himself up.)