We have a WALKER!

BIG NEWS: Jake is FINALLY WALKING! It's a Christmas miracle :) I tried several times to upload the video, but Blogger sucks when it comes to adding video. You can see it on Facebook though! I am so proud of my little man. We have been waiting so long for him to walk that when he finally did it, I was actually pretty emotional. I now have concrete proof that my baby is no longer a baby. He is officially a toddling toddler. Makes me happy and sad at the same time.
Jakey turned 15 months old yesterday and he had his check up today. He is still a tall one at just shy of 34", and he now weighs 24 lbs. He is long and lean (probably part of the reason it took him so long to walk!) and looks even taller when he's walking! For now, he walks with his arms up to help him balance. It's so cute!

He is constantly asking "Dat?" and pointing to things to find out what they are. I only have to repeat a word a couple of times and then he remembers where/what it is. I feel like he is learning at such a rapid speed now! He is also trying to repeat more words lately. He says "tee" (tree) and "ba" (ball) and "wo, wo, wo" (row, row, row your boat) to name a few. I am still surprised at the amount of words he understands - we were in the grocery store yesterday and I always let him hold the list. This time I asked him if I could see the list and he handed it to me. At the doctor's office today I showed him the dolphins painted on the wall and he was able to point them out on both walls when I asked him later on. He is beginning to become a good helper and we are working on the "putting our toys away" concept. In Kindermusik, Miss Mary (the instructor) sings "toys away" when it is time for the toys to be put away, so we have adopted this method too. It works well!

Jakey received an adorable PBK wooden fire truck in the mail this morning from my mom's friend Jean, and he was obsessed with the cardboard box that it came in! He played with the box all day! And I couldn't resist the "Jake in a box" photo op:

Thanks Jean for 2 gifts in one! :)

This has been a very busy and a very rainy week. Rumor has it that "the sun will come out tomorrow" and I sure hope it's true. We are looking forward to seeing our friends Jackie and Geoff and their little cutie pie Kyra tomorrow afternoon/evening! We also have Joe's office Christmas luncheon tomorrow so that should be fun...and then Friday is Christmas Eve already! I am almost done with wrapping presents and hope to finish that up tomorrow night. I even managed to squeeze in a little Christmas baking this year! Two kinds of cookies and 4 batches of fudge (I'm very impressed with myself, can you tell?) Now I just have to watch White Christmas, and my pre-Christmas rituals will be complete.

We can't wait to see how Jake reacts on Christmas morning this year! He already loves the Christmas tree so it will be so much fun to see what he does when there are toys and presents under the tree!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!