Ra, Deeyan, Mannin, hattoos and terrible twos

Kyra R. and Jakey playing "ring around the rosie" after swim lessons

too cute, right?

Dylan and Jakey chillin' on their favorite bench after "stretch, wiggle and roll" class

Jake and Gavin playing with Gavin's dinosaur train!



Gavin and Jake eating dinner in our backyard



Jake is a very social little boy these days. He has finally started to play and interact more with his friends (now they play with each other instead of just near each other), and tries to call them by name. It's pretty cute. He calls Kyra "Ra," Dylan "Deeyan" and Gavin "Mannin!" He also has a little girlfriend at play group named Avery and he calls her "Avee!" He loves running around with the other kids thinks it's hilarious when they chase each other!) I love that they are getting to the age where they can actually keep each other entertained! Jake and Gavin played in our backyard last week for hours - they were nonstop! So much energy, so much running, and so much laughter. It was adorable. He had such a great time at the park with Avery and his other buddies at our Thursday play group. There happened to be a day camp nearby and Jake kept running over to the big kids because he wanted to check out what they were up to! My child is not even 2, going on 8 years old.

Did I mention he doesn't sit still? Except to watch a movie or a cartoon, that is. His latest fave is Finding Nemo and even though he has only seen it in its entirety once, he LOVES it! He even knows what I'm saying when I spell out N-E-M-O. My mom was telling Jake about her friend who was going whale watching and Jake says "Nemo!" because there is a whale in the movie! Jake is picking up on everything these days. He even had a conversation with me the other day. It went like this:

Jake: nana?

me: You want a banana?

Jake: Yes.

me: Momma has to brush her teeth first and then we can go downstairs and get a banana.

Jake: Ok.

I'm not sure if he just had lucky responses (one of his favorite words lately is "yes!") or if he actually understood the conversation and was responding accordingly. Maybe a little bit of both? It is so crazy to me that he can actually give me correct responses sometimes and not just repeat what I say. Jake overheard another mom at play group telling her children "5 more minutes" and Jake said "bye bye" because he knew they were about to leave. How does he know this stuff?! I got him up from nap the other day and said "someone's here to see you" and he replied with "PaPaGran?" Pa Pa and Gran are my parents, but Jakey usually calls them by one word "PaPaGran!" And he is usually shouting it so more like "PAPAGRAN!" He gets very excited to see them and usually does his little happy dance. This kid has happy feet, and they are constantly on the move.

Around our house there are two exciting topics of conversation lately. One is Jake's upcoming birthday, and the other is Halloween!!! And they both have countdowns. We have a digital Halloween counter that my former bosses had given me and it starts from 99 days out. Since we have 84 days until Halloween, we have had 15 days of counting down so far. Jake loves numbers, and he loves to point to and say the numbers each day. He know it is for Halloween and he loves to say "Happy Halloween!" And he can say "Halloween" quite clearly. Ok, it's more like "Howaween" but pretty good, nonetheless. Not sure if I mentioned this on my blog already or just on FB, but he picked up an orange and black sand bucket at play group a couple weeks ago and said "Halloween!" Is he my kid or what? Insert Joe rolling his eyes here :) We have also been listening to Halloween music on Pandora lately, and Jake loves the "This is Halloween" song from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Can't wait until we show Jakey that movie!!! (And now all I can think of is Gloria in the Modern Family Halloween episode saying "Welcome to your Nightmare. Ho ho ho ho.") We also have a countdown to Jake's birthday on our chalkboard in the kitchen and Jake likes to say these numbers too. Since Jake was born exactly 40 days before Halloween, the chalkboard currently says "44 days until Jakey turns 2!" Very exciting times, let me tell you.

We were at the mall earlier this week to see the free movie, and of course I had to check out The Children's Place which has become one of my favorite stores to shop 'til I drop for Jake's awesome wardrobe. They are always getting new things in, so I have to check this store every time we are at the mall, just in case there are some articles of toddler clothing that we just can't live without. On this trip though, I was in search of Halloween shirts. Gotta make sure he is stocked up for the month of October! They had some for older kids, but none yet in Jakey's size. Anyway, the clerk was really nice and gave Jake his first temporary tattoo. It happened to be Halloween themed (a skull and crossbones!) Jake carried it around the mall and all the way home and was calling it his "Howaween hattoo." I told him that we could put it on his arm when we got home and that's just what we did! He loves it! And I do too. What can I say? It goes with his look :)

Jake's first tat



extreme "hattoo" close-up

Jakey has been very terrible two-ish lately! He just came down with a cold, and has been teething (I think he is getting his 2 year molars), so that could be part of it, BUT he has been so naughty! His new thing is to scream at the top of his lungs if he gets mad/doesn't want to listen - and he will continue to SCREAM while in time-out. Not crying screaming, but yelling screaming! On Friday, he had 5 time outs in one day! They obviously were not working! And we hadn't had to give him one for several weeks before that. Let's hope this screaming phase passes quickly. He only had one time-out yesterday, and none today, so hopefully Friday was the exception, and not the new norm. I can't take days like that all the time! Serenity now :)