First steps (caught on video)!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jacob has been experimenting with walking. It's been challenging to catch it on video, since he is, at times, reluctant to perform. But I finally managed it. Here it is:

In this video, Grandpa is sending Jacob over to his Mama. Jacob is getting really good with these steps. I'm not sure what will motivate him to walk on his own, but at least I know that when he wants to, he'll be able to.

Traveling Fool

Well, Jacob has kept a busy calendar for the month of July. The first week of July was spent in Cumberland, Maryland where I was working. Caroline and Jacob explored Western Maryland and really had a good time (pictures forthcoming).

Then last week, Grandpa came to town and we promptly headed to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Here's a picture of Jacob and Grandpa at the beach.


Jacob's favorite summertime activity has been swimming. We go to the pool almost daily. And when we're not at the pool, we've taken him to the lake or beach.

Jacob enjoying a dip with Mama in the kiddie pool.

Jacob and Grandpa snacking poolside.

Unfortunately, our Rehoboth trip was cut short when Jacob came down with a mad fever. We have just discovered that Jacob was suffering from Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. It was at its worst on the day we took Jacob to visit Mom-mom and Pop-pop (Jack's parents). He was quite sick, but it was good to see them. We will surely visit when Jacob isn't suffering from a fever.

I'm saving a juicy video of walking for my next post.

"Hi Kitty Cat!"

Jacob said his first full sentence today, "Hi Kitty Cat!" It was so cute. Jacob was climbing the stairs to the kitchen and Jack (the cat) was waiting for us. Jacob is growing fast! We are proud to announce that Jacob took his first solo steps on Tuesday. He still prefers crawling when he's doing it on his own, but at least he's working on the walking. Unfortunately, he refuses to cooperate when I'm taking a video of this remarkable feat, so that will have to wait. I do have some fun videos and pictures for today. The quality isn't great because they are from my phone, but still enjoyable.

You've seen him eat avocado, but have you seen him eat it with a fork?

At our favorite playground, climbing around.

Today, we went to the Maryland Science Center. They have a huge Kids Room, and Jacob had a blast. Here's a video:

There was a fun water-play area in the Kids Room that Jacob adored. It was all we could do to pull him away.

More adventures ahead!

"Hi!"

Jacob's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds this week! He's extended his first word, "cat" into "kitty-cat" which he says all the time. He loves chasing our cats around the house and he loves to pet them too. He's also added "up" and "kiss" and his newest favorite, "hi" to his vocabulary. After saying "hi" to him twenty times a day since the day he was born, he's started saying it back. Now he says it whenever I come into his room at night. It melts my heart. Here's a picture of us at the Baltimore Pride Parade.

Jacob continues to make progress with walking. He actually loves to walk all over, but still insists on holding on to something or someone. We're hoping he'll soon get tired of needing us to get from here to there and will just take some steps on his own. Here's a couple of videos:

More Adventures in Feeding Myself

The stats are as follows from Jacob's 15 month check up - 30.5 inches tall, 23 lbs and 2 oz. (I could have sworn he was at least 25 lbs!) He's only gained about a pound since his birthday, but he's grown about 3 inches if my memory serves me right.

Okay, today's pictures are going to be backwards, but they are all from the last couple of weeks, so no big deal. The warm spring days have given us a lot of opportunity to play outside. We've been spending a lot of time at our favorite playground. Today we went to Honfest. Jacob really enjoyed himself and even wore Caroline's Orioles cap for a while. It got him a lot of looks.


Jacob's fork and spoon skills are getting really good. Unfortunately, he's still not great with feeding himself yogurt and things like that. This leads to often frustrating mealtimes with foods that still have to be fed to him. Sometimes we abandon it and go for the finger foods he feeds himself. The result can be seen below. That's Jake after a half of avocado, self-fed.

Our flowers are blooming on the front lawn. This was just a perfect picture of playtime in the late afternoon.

Caroline is back at Community Mediation one day a week and we couldn't stay away. We went to visit Mama last Friday and Jacob was fascinated with the view.

Here we are at our favorite playground. Here's Mama and Jacob on the see-saw...

... and me and Jacob going down the slide.

Recently, we had an opportunity to visit North Point Park with our friends Amy and Scott. It was a very lovely park and we had a great time. Scott carried Jacob all around and gave Caroline and I a much needed break. Jacob really enjoyed himself and so did we!

Well, that's all for now. Sorry I haven't been able to keep up with the blog. I will definitely make it once a month but still try for once a week. Last bit of news, Jacob is teething again! This time it's his canines. I hope they go better than his molars!

Sunny Days?

We have been craving some sunny days here in Baltimore. Lots of rain has kept us indoors but Jacob is ready for fun in the sun. Check out this picture of him in his mama's sunglasses. We had a bite to eat at Denny's on Memorial Day.

Passed out after swim class.

Jacob is getting ready to walk any day now. He loves moving himself around on this own two feet. He's cruising around all the furniture. When he's on all fours, it's tough keeping up with him. He's always looking for stairs to climb. That's his best event right now!

In a bit over a week, he'll go back to the doctor for his 15 month check-up (15 months!!!!). I'll let you know his stats then. What I can tell you now is that this guy loves to eat all kinds of things. He's off baby food and on table food. Sometimes we fix him a special meal, but he's happiest when he's eating what we're eating. Some of his favorite foods include spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, scrambled eggs, avocados, pizza, and pasta. He's recently started eating strawberries and clementines. We're happy that he's fond of vegetables. Hopefully he'll keep up the trend.

Another fun development for Jacob is that he's playing with other children more. Before, he played in the same area as other children. Now he wants to interact with them. It's great to watch him grow and develop.

Well, the sun unexpectedly came out today so after his nap and lunch, we're heading for the playground!

Connoisseur of Playgrounds

We were in New York City last weekend for a fun Mother's Day trip and a visit to Pappa. Most of the weekend was spent sampling the many playgrounds the city has to offer. Here's a few pictures from our trip:

Along the East River at Carl Schurz Park.

Tasting his roots, aka, eating a bagel. He loved it.

Crawling around the Met.

Swinging in Central Park. (across the street from the Met.)

Climbing in Carl Schurz Park.

Sliding with Mama. He would try to climb back up the slide every time.

We had a great visit. We spent time with friends and met new friends. I highly recommend Two Little Red Hens. It's a great bakery that Jack recommended. I had the best scone I've ever eaten - an almond cherry scone. Yum! And we indulged in a red velvet cupcake that was also the best I've ever eaten. Totally worth the trip from any part of the city. Luckily we could walk there from our hotel. We met a great local couple who told us about Carl Schurz park, which was our favorite of the trip.

Now that Jacob is crawling, his days of sitting still are over. It's so much fun to watch him explore everything he can get into. He's cruising around and walking while holding the furniture, etc. He'll be walking soon enough! It's a good thing because he's getting big!