Happy Half Birthday!

Jacob is two and a half today! Where did the time go?! Jacob, you are such a joy to be with every day, and I love being your mom.

(This is totally a mommy-brag post, but I don't write these things down anywhere and wanted to keep a record. To be honest, I'm not quite sure where his baby book is even at right at this moment. So, this is a long post of me bragging on my kid - I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa will enjoy, though!

You love...
- Cheese
- Bread, breadsticks, garlic bread, rolls, etc.
- Picking out your own snack
- Holding onto my ponytail
- Playing outside
- Playing with friends
- Doing things all by yourself now
- Brushing your teeth. You go in the bathroom and get on the step stool at least four times a day.
- To read! I am so glad you love books so much. You have at least eight or nine books memorized, but what I enjoy most is when you want to read a book by yourself that you have never heard before. You look at the pictures and actually make up a story that makes sense. Adorable.
- Thomas the Train
- Cars
- Shopping

You know...
- All of your colors. You have known the main colors (like the Crayola 8 pack) since around 15 months. Now you are starting to say dark and light with colors, know gold, silver, grey, etc.
- When things match. You have been in a huge matching stage lately - you match things by types and by colors. You will say two cars match, or that two things that are red match, etc.
- Your ABC song - this was about in September that you started singing it all the way through without help.
- All of your letters by sight
- Numbers 1 through 9 by sight
- The sounds about 3/4 of the letters make
- How to count to 12
- How to count backwards from 5 (thank you, Team Umizoomi)
- The shapes: triangle, square, heart, circle, star...and sometimes others, but these are the ones that are always right for you
- How to put together simple jigsaw puzzles
- How to sing the following songs all by yourself: Jingle Bells, On Top of Spaghetti, Hickory Dickory Dock, Thomas and Friends theme song, Sesame Street theme song, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (this one is shocking, and an older lady clapped for you in Meijer when we were walking around and you sang it)
- How to spell your name
- How old you and all of your friends are
- The concept of making words plural. Tonight at dinner you pushed two pieces of rice on the ground and said, "dropped those rices." You talk about having two trains or one train, and understand when to use the plural word (even if it is the made-up plural like rices or mices)

Your speech amazes almost everyone we meet, and most people think you are nearing the age of four when they hear you talk. Your sentences amaze me, and you love to talk. My mom and I were shocked at a sentence in the car with you, and counted that the sentence you said had 11 words - shocking! You speak in complex sentences most of the time, combining two steps into one sentence, and being able to make a list of things in the order you want them to happen. Meal times are my favorite. I love hearing you do something silly and then say, "I'm tricking you, Mommy." When we ask you not to do something, you sometimes tell us, "But, I'm just..." and gives us an explanation of why it is okay. Unfortunately for us, normally your reasoning makes sense, haha. Like when we ask you not to touch an ornament because it might break, you told us, "But, I'm just putting my hands on it." Well, can't argue with that.

You are starting to really put major concepts together, and link lots of things together that normally shock me. You have an amazing memory - you must get that from your daddy. It's nice to see that you are understanding things though, and not just memorizing the. You understand what numbers stand for (when we ask you how many things are in front of you, you understand how to count and give us the answer). You LOVE to read boos, and we read for probably a total of two hours a day lately. Your attention span is incredible for things that you enjoy. We have been doing some holiday crafts, and it's nice to see how you like to interpret your paintings and drawings.

You have such an amazing imagination. I love hearing you make your toys talk to each other, make up games, and play for a while by yourself.

Really, there's not much you don't like, which makes our days really super easy. As long as we explain things to you, we are good to go. The only time you truly get angry and have a fit is if you are caught off guard with something.

Still not potty trained, but I haven't actually tried yet. I wanted to get our travelling out of the way, so maybe we'll do that soon, depending on when your little brother arrives. I'm not worried about it though - it's not like you are going to kindergarten in diapers or anything, and you are only two and a half for goodness sake!

I love you, little man! Thanks for filling my days with laughter and smiles.