7teen

It seems nearly impossible to keep up with all of the changes with Jadon lately. He is now 17 months old! Holy cow! There is not a day that goes by that I don't look at him, staring intently at this little BOY in front of me, and think about the tiny little baby I used to nurse :( It truly does all happen so fast. My baby is growing up, and though I LOVE watching and enjoying the adventure of each day with him, it makes me so sad that things will keep going in this direction. He will be saying sentences soon...coming up with ideas of his own...he will soon be a big brother, no longer the baby of our house...and one day, he won't want me or Daddy to hold him :( :( :( I'm emotional about this parenthood stuff. What can I say, I'm almost 7 months pregnant!

So let me give you some of the updates that come to mind, when I look at my now 17 month old...these are the things he does and says on a daily basis:

---wakes up and potties :)
---immediately does the sign for milk, quickly followed by the sign for eat (almost always has a banana and cereal...sometimes oatmeal); he does not like the texture of eggs at all anymore :/
---as soon as he looks at us and does the sign for eat (at any snack or meal time), he runs to his high chair and makes his best attempt to climb into it...that will likely be a while, and I'm afraid he's going to pull it over one day
---the other day at dinner, Jadon had already eaten, but since Jamie and I were at sitting at the table, he wheeled his high chair over and grunted for us to put him in it, so he could participate in the family ritual ;) So cute! We never even attempt to leave him out of a meal now.
---he has recently become obsessed with being outside, mainly to push his bubble mower. If the thing had a motor, instead of bubbles, he'd have every lawn in our development cut fresh on a daily basis. He knows we keep it in the garage, which is off of our kichen (next to the laundry room), so lately he's been doing his best to open the door, crying when we re-direct him away from it and tell him "not now...later."
---he is also obsessed with the color green. He can say green, and correctly pulls the green block from his shape bucket and shouts "geen," while proudly holding it up in the air...too cute!
---along with green, he started saying "geen deen" today, while he was eating his green beans.
---he can correctly identify and say apple ("atta"), pear ("dayah"), and of course a banana ("nana")
---he loves playing with real pots and pans, cooking spoons, containers, and cups. He will stir things and then give us each a pretend bite and say "mmmm"
---almost every night, when I lay Jadon down on the couch to go to sleep (10pm sharp!), he first points to my eyes and says "ICE" and then to my glasses and says "gassess"
---recently when he was looking at my ice water, I told him it was "ice"; he looked confused, but then happily confused that there are two things he can refer to as "IIICE"; he now wants to put his hand down in my glass every morning and feel the ice...hehe ;)
---Jadon loves to go bye-byes, but he also loves to pretend to go bye-byes. Almost daily, he will go to the front door, throw his hands in the air and wave and say (in a language only Jamie and I can understand) "Bye-bye. I see you later. I love you," and then he blows a kiss. He does and says the same routine everytime, and he even said it to the table of people next to us at the Outback last week, when we were leaving. Gotta get this on tape too!

Other HUGE OBSESSIONS:
---flowers!!! All things flowers! He loves saying "fladassss" with an elongated "S" sound at the end. This includes smelling flowers, pointing at flowers (in real life and on the TV), and touching flowers (real and artificial). He frequently pulls the chair out from the dining table, climbs onto it, and does his best to touch the center piece of "fladassss"
---LOVES identifying every part of his body; for a while hair was his favorite, happy feet is slowly fading, but the new favorite is ears..."ass" Yeah, that's how he says it ;)
---I'll have to get this one on tape, but if you say, "I said," Jadon will say, "Dada." I will say, "I said...mommy...or Gee...or Ziggy...or Jadon," but he will always correct me and say, "I said Dada."
---He now demands we unlock the entertainment center, when he's ready to watch a video. Of course, we don't always comply, but they are very educational, and he's so darn cute, when he sits on his little blanky we have on the floor, staring at us intently, like he's ready to watch a movie and maybe have us pop some popcorn for him or something. Anyway, it does provide a 20-30 min. break for us to do other things. You really have to see how he lounges now on his blanky and watches his videos. Adorable!
---Daddy and I bought him a new wagon, and he not only pulls it all over the house with him, but he also loves to sit in it, sometimes standing up and laughing at the fact it wobbles and he has to keep his balance. He's just getting a head start on those surfing lessons ;)
---We cannot take Jadon anywhere these days without him playing peek-a-boo, when we arrive at our destination. I have no idea why he started doing this, but even if we make five pit stops, he does it EVERY TIME now. Goofy kid!
---Don't ever think you will use a broom in this house, while Jadon is awake! We really have to get this kid a tiny broom and dust pan. As a toddler, he LOVES to clean the floors for us, and refuses to allow us to do it without his 100% involvement...I'm guessing that will change around...oh 8 years old??? Why do kids insist on doing things in reverse order as the parents would have it done?

Okay, so I feel like I am definitely boring some of you readers. I mean, this is my kid, so I think everything he does is amazing and cute and funny (well except for throwing a fit in the car...ugh!). I could go on forever, I'm sure. Like how he was eating crackers at Gramma's house the other day, and he would take a bite, but then pull half of it back out of his mouth and feed it to Ziggy. What can I say? He already likes to share. Mission accomplished! ;)

OH WAIT! But I really do have to mention one other thing he is OBSESSED with: all things MATCHBOX! This kid LOVES playing with his Matchbox cars! He will do it for hours. He uses his garage that Aunt Lily and Uncle Allen got him for his birthday mainly, when playing with them, but he will also put them on the couch or kitchen floor too. It is his and Daddy's favorite past time, I tell ya. And Jadon certainly does not like to share the elevator of the garage with Daddy's cars, and is quick to let him know his frustration!

So in a nutshell, Jadon is an unbelievable 17 months old, he does or says something new EVERYDAY, he cracks us up, we cannot stop talking about him, and love him more than ever :) Oh yeah, and Halloween is in a few days, so we can't wait to post pics of the little monster in his costume...hint, hint ;)

*Sorry there are no pics with this entry :(, but I will have tons from trick-or-treating, I'm sure! :)