Jacob turned TWO this weekend! My intense, fearless, cuddly, jovial little bundle of energy has sure changed a lot in the last two years! And I have the pictures to prove it!
These pictures were the last “belly shots” of Jacob’s pregnancy. They were taken at 37 weeks, just one week before our handsome little guy arrived.
And here is our baby boy just after he was born. We named him Jacob Dwight after his Grandpa. His sweet Grandma was in the room when he was born. He was 6 pounds 6 ounces, our cute little pumpkin born just two days before Halloween.
All cleaned up and in Daddy’s arms
Here are all the kids just after we got home from the hospital. How little they all were just two years ago!
He was such a serious, observant baby
But he had the best smile too!
And I have always loved those big brown eyes! They melt me!
Jacob, just before his first birthday:
This is Jacob last spring because I think it’s worth noting how much he has changed since then:
And here’s Jacob on his second birthday:
Jacob is an amazing little guy. He thinks he can do anything the big boys can do- and he’s usually right about that! He loves to run, climb, jump, and wrestle. He is completely fearless. He uses the playground in ways that is was not designed for.
We were at the park recently. Jacob was up to his usual playground antics. He was climbing outside the play structure, swinging on safety rails, dangling his legs out off the high platforms, climbing the slides from the bottom and then going down backwards, maneuvering himself out onto a horizontal pole and then hanging on with one hand six feet off the ground, leaning as far as he could out of the very top of the play structure and then yelling, “Hey, look me!”
I was busy too as I followed him around, reminding him to “be careful” and always poised in my ready-to-catch position.
There was a dad there with a girl about Jake’s age. She sat quietly on the platform and watched the kids play. Then she slid down the toddler slide. Then she watched again. There was such a contrast in these two toddlers!
The dad noticed it too and commented, indicating Jacob who was still climbing like a fearless monkey, “Wow, he really gets around, doesn’t he?”
Yup, he certainly does!
Jake is an intense little boy. It’s such a dominant feature in him. He is intensity defined. Everything that he does, he does with intensity and determination. He is one of my most physically affectionate kids and even his constant snuggles and hugs are very intense. He snuggles like he’s trying to win a wrestling match.
Jacob is a helper. He loves to help and he’s very obedient when I ask him to do something. He doesn’t stop until the job is done.
He’s the obedience police around here too. If I ask Joshua to put his shoes away and Josh doesn’t move, Jacob grabs the shoes, drops them in front of his big brother, and sternly commands, “Shoes, Shosh!” (Shoes, Josh!) He bosses all the older kids around with great authority. He dotes on Drew lovingly and is a good big brother.
Jake loves to read. He is still delayed in language, but he’s talking a lot more now. He makes everything plural so Daddy is Daddies, baby becomes babies, puppy becomes puppies. He comments on everything and repeats everything I say with perfect inflection. He surprises me daily with a new word that he has learned. And he says thank you (ank oo) frequently.
Jacob’s actual birthday was a busy day so we held off and celebrated the next evening instead. We kept it simple like we always do when our little ones are too tiny to notice the difference. Jacob was absolutely delighted by every single thing! It was very cute.
Jake helped me bake his own cake in the morning before church. The entire process delighted him. He loved smashing the butter with a fork, he loved dumping ingredients in himself, and he screamed with glee every time I cracked an egg and added it in.
I gave him some frosting to sample afterwards. Yum!
He loved his balloons:
And his presents:
And he loved his cake:
Happy birthday, Jakers!! We love you, darling boy!!
