Jake is learning to eat with a spoon now, and it has been interesting. He is doing really well for being at it for less than a week. We have tried with cereal and yogurt. Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes not. His biggest problem is that he can scoop up the food and bring it to his face with all of the food still on it, but then has the tendency of turning the spoon upside down to put it in his mouth (I guess he thinks that it should lay with the bowl of the spoon on his tongue, as it seems to fit better that way), and spilling most of the cereal and milk onto his tummy. We have typically been stripping him down to his diaper to do this, so we don't go through too many outfits a day.
He has definitely gotten more picky in his eating, and will change his tastes from day to day. One thing that he still loves, though, is french fries. He especially loves them with ketchup. Ever since a recent trip to Wendy's, he also prefers to have his ketchup in a little cup, so he can dip the fries in the ketchup. Sometimes he just prefers the ketchup, and will dunk the fry, lick the ketchup off, then put the fry down and do it again with a fresh fry (you see, the old one is now used).
Leigh Ann and I went to see the newest Harry Potter movie last week, and we loved it. While the book was not our favorite, we really enjoyed the movie. We saw it in IMAX, with the 20 minutes of action near the end in 3-D. We would have preferred seeing it on the normal screen. Maybe it was because we were too close to the screen, but with all the action taking place, the 3-D was too jerky, and the image didn't always match up, so it wasn't a great experience. Oh well, live and learn. We have already pre-ordered the last book, and are supposed to have it delivered to the house on Saturday. I'll have to suppress my natural impatience while Leigh Ann reads it. That is why I recently went to the library and got some books I thought would occupy me for a while. If not, I'll probably just reread the 6th book.

More Fun With Friends

We're hoping our friends, the Bevans, don't get too sick of us. After staying at their house until 11pm on the 4th of July, we were there until almost midnight celebrating Maury's birthday (hope I spelled it right!) on Saturday. Jacob wasn't quite as happy this time around, until we determined that he was hungry. You would think that sooner or later we would catch on to his various signs. Maybe one of these days he'll just actually tell us that he is hungry.
We had burgers and sausage, again grilled outside, and enjoyed the sunny evening (wishing that the 4th could have had that good of weather).
Jacob and Abby again played together, and their budding romance continues to blossom. Yesterday at church, Jacob was acting up (we are not big fans of church from 1-4 pm, since Jacob doesn't get his proper nap, and so is really cranky at times), but when Abby came up and put her head on his shoulder, he became silent and looked at me as if to say, "What's this all about?" It was really cute. We watched Abby for a couple hours yesterday evening as well, and they took turns laying their heads on each other's shoulders. In addition, they had great fun climbing up and down the stairs and playing hide-and-go-seek.
Leigh Ann and I are excited for this week, because I have already ordered our tickets for the IMAX showing of the new Harry Potter movie. We're going to see it on Thursday. We have mixed emotions about this movie. It is Leigh Ann's least favorite of all the books, and made her so upset when she read it, that she had to throw it across the room a couple of times when things got so frustrating.
Here are a couple new pics of Jake. He enjoys putting a little wicker wastebasket on his head and walking around the living room. Every once in a while he will do it, and I finally got a picture of it. So . . . enjoy!

4th of July

We had a thoroughly enjoyable 4th of July. We didn't see any fireworks, but we still had fun. Both Leigh Ann and I had the day off. We took the morning to do some shopping and get out of the house. Unlike California, we weren't in a short supply of rain, and we made sure we had our umbrella ready in case we were caught away from the car when the next storm would hit.
Jacob decided to not take a nap, and instead spent about an hour in his room tugging on the curtains from his crib and talking to himself.
We headed off to spend the evening with our friends, the Bevans, where we had a great dinner grilled in their backyard (of which we are jealous, as Jacob loved playing in their backyard). We feasted on burgers (provided by the Bevans) and bratwurst and knockwurst (from our favorite, or at least my favorite, German restaurant, Schmidt's), along with various side dishes. Their daughter Abby (who is adorable, and we are thinking of planning an arranged marriage between her and Jacob when they get older) obeyed her parents and went to bed at a decent hour, but Jacob, in keeping with his refusing to take a nap earlier, refused again to go to sleep at their house. So for the rest of the evening, he alternated between sitting on their bean bag watching "Cars" and playing with toys. We were really surprised how well he behaved, and let us play two full games, one of Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, and one of a new game (for us) called Time's Up (at least I think that is what it was called). We finally got home by a little after 11pm, with a very tired little boy who tried to pretend that he was awake as I carried him from the car to his crib.
So although we didn't see any fireworks, we had a really good time. I hope the rest of you enjoyed your holiday.

Ball!

I have been a bit delinquent with my postings, and I am sorry.
Jake has been growing and getting into even more mischief (if that is possible). His favorite pasttime continues to be playing with balls. He has also learned to climb up and down stairs, which makes it a lot easier not having to climb over a gate anymore to go up the stairs. I don't know how many times I have banged my knee trying to get over that stupid thing. Just in time, as well, as Jake, with all of his hanging on the gate, yanked one of the bolts for the gate out of the wall, so it hasn't closed right ever since.
Summer is upon us here in Ohio. While it has gotten pretty hot in the last couple of weeks, today it is actually fairly pleasant.
We had to deal with a pretty sick little boy last week. With fevers in the low 100's and a lack of appetite, Jake was not a happy camper. Before the fever subsided, he also developed some congestion, which means he also wasn't sleeping well at night, so there were a couple of times we were awakened in the middle of the night. But he is back to his hungry self, and all is now forgotten.
Life continues on here in Columbus. This month we are awaiting the arrival of the newest Harry Potter book and the newest Harry Potter movie. Leigh Ann got me hooked on the books, and I have to admit that they are really entertaining reading. I still cling jealously to my love of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that will never change.

June 11

I know, I know, what an imaginative title for this post. To be honest, not a whole lot of new stuff has happened, but I felt an obligation to put something up. I haven't taken any new pics of Jake since the last ones I posted, so I can't fill up space with those, so you'll have to be content with my ramblings.
Jacob continues to entertain and frustrate us, all at the same time. As his skills increase, so does the level of mischief that he can cause. Lately he has discovered climbing, and has even attempted to climb the book shelves on either side of our TV (much to his mother's dismay!). Right now he has discovered a wonderful invention - balls. He has at least 6 that he is fond of, but each morning he arises he calls out "ball" looking for one very specific one. It is a rubber bouncing ball that has a plastic eyeball in it. It bounces the best of all of them, so it is his favorite. If he can't find it right away, he'll look at you and ask "Wheresit?" The search will continue until he finally obtains it, at which point he will yell out triumphantly, "ball!"
His vocabulary and speaking skills are increasing as well. Unfortunately, he has now successfully learned how to say no. Just last night Leigh Ann asked him if he wanted to go to bed, and he looked at her and said no.
My brother Richard moved from Kalamazoo, Michigan back to Salt Lake City last week, so now our nearest relatives are Leigh Ann's family about 8 hours away in Chattanooga. We did get an opportunity to go up and visit Richard once while he lived in Michigan, and we were able to drive over to see Lake Michigan (you can see it in the background of the picture of the three of us on the side of the blog). Unfortunately, Jacob developed two ear infections and a sinus infection, staying up all night crying and forcing us to head home early so we could get him in to see his doctor.
Summer seems to have finally come to stay, and we have been enjoying the sunny days. We try to cook on the grill at least once a week, and Jacob loves going outside to the point that you have to drag him kicking and screaming back into the house (literally).
Otherwise, life goes on. We are still working, still working hard to keep up with the exercise and diets, and still constantly searching for new ways to entertain ourselves.

Fun With Food

Not that he has ever been the cleanest little boy when it comes to eating, but I thought I would show some of his dirtier moments when it comes to eating. The worst is usually when he has macaroni and cheese, or sweet potatoes. In fact, mac and cheese is the regularly scheduled meal on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which also happen to be his bath days. So far we have refrained from taking any bath blackmail pictures.
While he is not yet the biggest speaker, he is starting to make more sense. He now says dada regularly, but unfortunately uses it for both mommy and daddy. His other favorite word is ball, and it usually refers to one specific ball that is currently his favorite toy. When he can't find it right away, he will usually turn to one of us and ask, "Where is it?" And then, if you call for him, he'll usually turn to you and ask, "What?"
He particularly gets cracked up when you fake a really big sneeze. Just tonight, he started doing them himself. He would get himself all worked up, and then do his biggest sneeze, which mainly consisted of him spitting, but it was hilarious. This is what typically passes for entertainment now that 24 and Lost are done for the season.

First Haircut

We finally decided that Jacob's hair had just gotten too shaggy, so we broke down and took him to get his first haircut. Not that we didn't think that his bushy mop top wasn't cute, but it was just sticking up in every direction all the time and was starting to hang over his ears and into his eyes. So we got him an appointment at Cookie Cutters, a place that specializes in little kids' haircuts.
They get to sit in a little car that can be raised and lowered, and there are TVs for them to watch some movie. Jacob enjoyed watching "Cars" while he got his hair cut. At first he wasn't too excited about it all, but when the girl that was cutting his hair brought him a sucker, he decided maybe it wouldn't be so sad after all.
Below are a series of pictures from what he looked like before the haircut, a couple during the haircut (including my favorite with his hair put up in a mohawk), and the final product at the place, as well as a picture with him all cleaned up at home afterwards.
Jacob did remarkably well and did not complain at all during the whole ordeal. All in all, it was a pretty good experience, and he looks like a cute little boy again, not some homeless child.





Not much else new has come our way since I posted last. Work continues. Leigh Ann is starting day one of her three working days which will include Memorial Day. Such is the life of one who works in the healthcare industry. Sometimes you have to work a holiday. I am taking the opportunity to get caught up on John Wayne films (May 26 would have been the Duke's 100th birthday, so they have been showing a lot of his movies on AMC and TCM).