Calling All Cars

As I said, one of Jacob's favorite games is to hide his cars, then turn to you and ask, "Wheresat cah?" He loves these little cars, because they are particularly easy to hide.

Sometimes eating can be so tedious, don't you think? In an effort to not be the world's worst parents when it comes to what we feed our child, we have begun to make whole meals out of vegetables. Jacob still is fond of some types of food that are green, such as peas. But sometimes, it just isn't quite as exciting as macaroni and cheese, or a grilled cheese sandwich (are you catching a common theme for his favorite foods?).
He has added quite a bit to his vocabulary as of late. Maybe it is from hanging out with his girlfriend, Abby, who is quite the accomplished speaker, and is a few months younger than Jake. He now can say car (cah), cup (cuh), shoe (soo), ball (bah), block (blah), Winnie the Pooh (Pooh), no (NO!), mommy (mommy or Mom!), daddy (dada), cheese (sounds kind of like shee, but we are confident it is cheese, because he holds up a piece of cheese when he says it). I may be leaving out a few things, but that is a pretty good list. He also understands toes, even if he will not say it, because if you ask him where his toes are, he will reach down and grab them. He can also correctly identify his bath toys, which are boats, a walrus, a shark, an octopus, and a lobster, and if you ask for each one, he will pick them out of the water and toss them at you!
Finally, what collection of children's pictures would be complete without one of your child walking around in your shoes. Jacob now enjoys taking my shoes and putting them on. It has been fairly difficult to catch him in the act with a camera, but Leigh Ann was finally successful.
Not a lot of news to report. August has been a mixed bag, weather-wise. We had a week where it was miserable, both hot and humid, but we seem to have kicked the humidity, which makes it a little more pleasant. Leigh Ann has been battling a dual bacterial and viral infection, and has temporarily lost her voice. Ever the active one, having to spend a couple days at home with nothing to do is almost worse than the illness itself. I come home to find her bored out of her mind.

A month of Potter

The month of July ended up being dominated by Harry Potter. Leigh Ann and I were able to go see the newest movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the day after it opened. We saw it on the IMAX screen, with the 20 minute action scene near the end in 3-D. This ended up not being quite as good as we had hoped, as the action got very jumpy and hard to follow.
On the 21st, then, our copy of the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, arrived in the mail, and Leigh Ann began at once to read it. She was done within a week, and I then quickly read it. So now he have the whole story. On the whole we both enjoyed it. Leigh Ann has now decided to reread all of the books, while I have decided to go back to my old favorite, J. R. R. Tolkien. I've started reading the Hobbit (I don't know how many times this makes for me).
Jacob's vocabulary continues to grow. He enjoys pointing out cah (car), cuh (cup), stih (stick), and ball (which he uses interchangeably for both balls and rocks) wherever we go. Of course, his favorite word is "no." He has lately taken up saying it 2-3 times whenever he says it. Thus, when you ask him if he wants to go to bed, he will usually reply, "No . . . no . . . no!" I can't imagine how he has picked up this word.
We continue to believe our son has been blessed with an overactive sense of humor. While he can now say both "Mommy" and "Dada," he seems to enjoy switching them. While with me, he will call to me, saying Dada, and whenever he hears the phone ring, he will look at me and ask "Mommy?" However, when Leigh Ann appears, instead of calling out "Mommy," he will yell out "Dada." We are convinced he does it, not because he doesn't know the difference, but because he knows it will get a good laugh.
He currently has a few favorite games. One is to throw the ball around and chase after it. Another is to take some object, usually a ball or one of his cars, hide it, and then go up to you and ask "Where'sit?" This is great fun for him, and he gets a huge grin when you discover his hiding place (which is usually always the same place). His final game is hide-and-go-seek, which he especially enjoys playing with his friend, Abby. He will hide around a corner, and then shriek with delight when she comes around the corner and finds him. Jacob really loves playing with Abby, and loves it when he goes to her house to be babysat (I usually have to drag him out to the car, with him kicking and screaming because he doesn't want to leave). From time to time, though, he can get pushy with her, and we are trying to teach him not to push other children.
Otherwise we are continuing on as usual. Summer hot weather has hit us here in Columbus, although we have had quite a few days thus far where the weather was really pleasant.