recent adventures

Jakey showing us his awesome hair!

chillin' on the couch

pics from our recent zoo trip:

my little skater dude at the park:

Jake will be 16 months old on Friday. Holy crap! Where did the time go? At his age, pretty much everything we do is an "adventure" for Jake. And we have been having lots of outdoor adventures lately because the weather has been incredible! You gotta love California when it is in the 80's in January! We have spent tons of time playing at some of the MANY parks near our house. I never realized just how many parks there are in this town until I had Jake. I can count at least 10 parks off the top of my head that are nearby - and at least 5 within walking distance! Most of them have newer playground equipment and many have the "cushy" ground which is brand-new-walker-friendly. I'm so glad we live in such a kid friendly place! Jakey's favorite things to do at the park are: practicing his mad walking skills, climbing up and down the playground stairs, and going down the slide. He is not a fan of the swings lately but I'm sure that will change in the future. Now that he is walking well the park has been so much more fun - for Jake and for us. And I'm getting a much better workout chasing him around!

We also had an outdoor adventure at the SB Zoo on Saturday. Joe's mom was in town so we took a trip up there and also met up with Joe's Godmother and one of her daughters. We had a blast and took Jake on his first train ride! This was Jake's first trip to the zoo since he became a walker, so it was a lot of fun to let him walk around and get his energy out in between rides in the stroller. The weather was very warm but I LOVED feeling warm in a tank top in the middle of January! Such a nice break from the cold. And it was so clear that we could actually see the Channel Islands on the drive up. We arrived a little while after the zoo opened, and for a Saturday, it wasn't too crowded. I think everyone was at the beach!

Mr. Jake is officially down to one nap now. He has adjusted amazingly well, and is way more consistent with his sleep patterns now. He even sleeps longer at night! I am still adjusting to the new schedule though. It is nice to have one larger block of time (an hour and a half ish) to get things done, but I still miss using his morning nap time as my shower time. Now I have to shower either before he wakes up in the morning and forego my exercise (our morning walk) or keep the walk but wait until his nap at 1pm to shower! Decisions, decisions! :)

Jake's favorite word is still "apple" but lately he has been saying "taco" a lot. I think it means he has the Taco Bell gene! Actually, I think he is trying to say other words and it just comes out as "taco" because it is easy for him to say. Too funny. He tries to repeat a bunch of words now, and usually he is pretty close. He loves to make animal sounds too - his faves are "woof, woof" for a doggie, "rooooaaar" for a lion, and "ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh" for a monkey. He also loves to point out big trucks that drive by, and gets so excited when he sees/hears them. Boys will be boys!

We have been staying busy with our weekly Kindermusik class and our 2 play groups. Jake's music class is for newborn babies up to 18 months, and it is so weird to me that he is the oldest one in the class! When he first started last Spring, he was only 7 months old and couldn't even crawl. Time flies. I can't wait until this Spring and Summer when we can start taking our big boy to the beach (he has never been!) and the pool. He loved the pool last Summer and I'm sure he will love it even more this year. This warm weather is fooling me into thinking that pool days are just around the corner! I guess they kinda are.