Lately he's been noticing certain things he didn't before, like the sound of a train in the distance. When he hears it, he will turn is head around and point in the direction it's coming from to make sure I also noticed. Same with birds flying by, he gets really excited and will follow them through the sky with his eyes until they're out of sight. When there are ducks in our backyard you'll find him pressed up against the window screaming "du! du!" and pointing frantically for us to look too. Whenever we're on a walk and he hears a dog barking in the distance he sits up twisting around looking for it, and yelling "doggie!".
At storytime we sing songs each week and one that is almost always sung is "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"... Jace always watches everyone doing it but will not participate. I know he knows where those places on his body are so I tried turning the song on once we were home without doing anything myself, just to see if he would recognize the words. Wouldn't you know it, he immediately got excited and started doing the motions, starting with his head and bending over to touch his toes. (He sort of skips over "shoulders" but I think that's a hard one...)
With this observation phase he's started to take an interest in TV shows. He never watched many before, but now I use Nick Jr whenever I need a minute to cook dinner or something like that. I love Nick Jr because there are no commercials and alot of the shows are very similar to reading a book.
He still loves reading books, but likes to be in control of what page we read and when we're done with one book and on to the next. He loves to point to things on the pages of books now that he knows (like balloons) or point to things he doesn't know and ask "this?". He also does this with his alphabet blocks, he loves to hear what color each block is and what letter is on it and then points to the picture to quiz us on what it is... I think he knows what alot of them are but likes to make sure we know. ;)
A few other Jace related things...
- He eats fruit like its candy, popping it in his mouth as fast as he can. He loves all of it, but mostly bananas, grapes, blueberries and mandarin oranges. He had his first bites of ice cream from the ice cream truck the other day, a Reese's ice cream bar that we all shared. He thought he was in heaven and I'm sure he'll get excited next time he hears that music playing from the next street over. He has been eating better but maybe because I've been giving him his favorite foods more often like: PB&Js, spaghetti, oatmeal, waffles, cheerios with milk, green beans, carrots, baked beans... he also shared a pile of nachos with us the other day. He loved the cheesy meaty chips. One thing he definitely won't eat is cottage cheese, he gagged and spit it out when he tried it. I think he thought it was ice cream, but was sadly mistaken!
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| Mouthful of PB&J |
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| Bowl of Cheerios for breakfast |
- He's drinking whole milk more than half the time now. He has about 15 oz whole milk, and 10 oz soy per day. (That's a total guess, I don't really mesaure.) He's doing really well with the whole, but I haven't switched him completely because a patch of eczema popped up on the back of his leg, behind his knee, when I had almost completely eliminated the soy. He doesn't seem bothered by it, and it could be unrelated to the whole milk since he's prone to eczema anyways and this is a common spot for him to get it. But, it just made me slow down a bit on the cow's milk transition.
- After a recommendation from our neighbor we tried switching him from Luvs to Parent's Choice diapers (Walmart brand). She has a 21 month old son who she switched when the Luvs size 4s didn't seem to be working for him anymore. I had switched Jace to size 5 Luvs after the 4s were leaking everynight even though he's on the small end of the weight recommendation for them. We decided to try Parent's Choice in a size 4 instead of Luvs size 5. Amazing! I guess they recently re-did their diapers and they are imitations of Pamper's Baby Dry which are almost double the price. So far we've been really impressed with the Parent's Choice, Jace hasn't leaked at all and they fit much snugger and seem to hold moisture away from the skin better than Luvs. Oh, and they're even cheaper than Luvs, which is always a good thing! We save about $3 per box compared to Luvs since with a smaller size you get more diapers.
- Jace is becoming much more aware of when he's going to the bathroom, and he's actually pooped on his potty chair, too bad he had his diaper on when he did, ha! He ran to the potty chair and I wasn't quick enough to get the diaper off before he started. When he was done he got up and grabbed toilet paper, which was hilarious! Not much progress, but at least he knows what he's supposed to do on the chair... sometimes. I know we're still a long way off from potty training, but I figure the earlier we start the awareness of it all the easier the switch will be.
- No matter what he always seems to find my cell phone, unlock it, and start dialing people...
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| Pushing the unlock key |
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| Calling his girlfriends |
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| Something was funny I guess... :) |
- A week or two ago we were at the park and Jace was up at the top of the steps of the slide and there were several big kids running around him. Somehow he lost balance or jumped or was shoved or something and flew off the top step making a full revolution in the air and hitting the top of his head on a step before his legs flew over and he landed near the bottom. I think I had a heart attack, but the stairs were plastic and he wasn't hurt. He was a little shaken up from it, but didn't cry for more than 10 seconds or so. I think he was just having an off day, because he did several other things like that... jumping off the tire swing mid-swing, jumping off the top of the tower, expecting me to catch him... which I did, just barely. We haven't been to the park much since that morning. :)
- Our friend Eunjee was so thoughtful and gave us the book "Go Local Charleston: A Parent's Guide to Children's Activities in Charleston". I've been reading the book and coming up with some great ideas of things to do. It's been a great resource for me being the organizer of a moms group, but also great for planning family activities to do on the weekends. I think this weekend T,J, and I are going to go hiking with our hiking back-pack carrier that we haven't tried yet. I think the weather will be perfect since it will only be in the upper 70s this weekend. Great weather for hiking, can't wait! I think Jace will really like seeing wildlife too.
- Jace loves playing soccer and "catch" and just throwing the ball around the house and chasing after it. He still loves his alphabet train and riding it around the house and playing with the blocks. He loves hugging and just last weekend said "love you" (uhg-oo) to both Tate and I seperately while giving hugs. He loves being pushed in the stroller, which is awesome because I'm trying to go on more walks these days. He also loves brushing his own teeth and cries hysterically when it's time to put the toothbrush away.
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| Multi-tasking... ;) |
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| I want that toothbrush back NOW! |
- He's still in his crib, but the switch to toddler bed will be soon. We're buying and installing wall restraints for the shelf in his bedroom this weekend, just in case he were to try to climb it during the night once he can easily get in and out of bed by himself.
- This week it was raining alot so we went to the mall and played in the play center with a couple of friends... It took Jace almost half an hour to go play by himself. Like I said... he's definitely becoming a little bit more aware of his surroundings and observing before doing. The fact that he's teething again doesn't help much either, he's always much more clingy when he's cutting a tooth.
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| Climbing on the frogs tongue |
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| Climbing on some dominos... |
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