Tuesday, April 5, 2011

March pix - Puerto Vallarta Spring Break

I tried to pick just a few of the 800+ pictures we took on spring break:
Jacob watching his Wiggles music DVD on the plane to Puerto Vallarta
 




Captain Morgan? It was a nice restaurant and thank goodness we were the only early diners. Jacob decided he didn't want to wear shoes or socks, and he wanted to put his foot on the table.
Getting ready to head out to the Malecon (boardwalk) for dinner.  Enjoying our nice resort, the Krystal.
Jacob didn't like the water in his face, but he didn't want to move either.
Iguanas
 

February pix

Yes, snow in South Texas.  There was a light coating on sidewalks, streets and trees, leading to a snow day in San Antonio on 2/4/11.

Manuel's battle to dress Jacob after his bath
Go Spurs Go!  Jacob's first NBA basketball game.
Jacob at Spurs game

Jacob's meal table
Go Rampage go!  Two games in one weekend - this time hockey.
Another feast at his table.

March 2011 – Jacob 20 months


We celebrated spring break in Puerto Vallarta.  Manuel, Jacob, my step-mom Elsa, my sister Socorro, and I spent a relaxing week on the beach, at the pool, and sleeping!  We didn’t encounter any large spring breaker crowds at our resort, the Krystal, but we saw the typical mix of families and young people.  Nothing crazy, especially early in the mornings when we were out at the playground, at the beach or at the pool with Jacob. 

Jacob had fun swimming and running around the cobblestone streets inside the resort, kicking his beach ball as if it were a soccer ball.  We took turns chasing after him, and he had a great work out every morning and afternoon.  Jacob constantly tries to open doors, and it was quite easy for him to open the doors in our suite due to the long flat handles – I saw him open the exit door and step outside in about 15 seconds, so I had to start locking that door!

Jacob has a great friend at day care, about his age, but that blond boy likes to bite.  According to the teacher, they are best of friends and at the same time worst enemies because they want the same toys or space to play.  Supposedly the biting is unprovoked, but after a month of increasingly frequently bites, either daily or twice every other day, we demanded that Jacob get moved away from that boy.  Jacob ended up at the class that shares a common kitchen and changing area, and he was already familiar with the teachers and kids so it was a fairly smooth transition into a new environment.  Although, there are two teachers and ten kids instead of one teacher and four kids.  At least that biter can’t prey on my baby anymore!

March words: please (high pitched baby talk sounds like ‘peas’), shoe, baby (referring to self and other babies), ah-pooh (referring to pacifier – no idea how he came up with that one), no-no-no-no-no (copying mommy and sometimes using his index finger pointed up, moving side-to-side), outside (although it doesn’t quite sound like the real word he’s trying).

Jacob let’s you know when he’s happy or not happy. Typically he is happy, but when he’s not he might let out a low grunt or growl.  It’s funny and he’s been doing it for some time, but it’s not very frequent.  But it’s definitely a noticeable sound.

Jacob loves to be outside.  He spends time every day outside playing at day care, and he constantly wants to play in the back yard.  Of course he gets dirty, but that’s what baths are for.  We started to get out the sprinkler, but it’s still not completely warm yet.  Soon enough it will be.

February 2011 – Jacob 19 months


Jacob now has 12 teeth including 4 molars, one at each corner of his mouth.  His mouth, flat chin and two slightly crocked front teeth come straight from daddy.  Above the mouth he’s pretty much a mirror image of mommy. It’s funny to see someone who has similar looks as yourself.

Jacob is constantly practicing his jumps and trying to say new words.  He said his first Spanish word, otro, another way of saying his favorite word ‘more’.  More words Jacob has been saying: baby, banana, up, balloon, woof (…referring to a dog), pee-pee (at the potty), da-da, ma-ma, milk (…although it sometimes come out sounds like ‘more’…don’t ask me how it can sound the same but it does), fruit, spoon, mee-mee (referring to pacifier, this is a word I use to reference sleep).

Jacob loves variety in his food and his passion is definitely fruit.  At day care, his lunch initially doesn’t include all the complete fruit serving because that’s all he will eat.  He loves bananas, strawberries, pears, grapes, watermelon, melon, honeydew, blueberries, etc.  But he frequently has a different favorite fruit each day.  Jacob has slowed down on his desire for avocados, so we’re taking a break and very sporadically adding it to his meals.  Jacob is quite skilled at using a fork and spoon, and he loves eating his bowl of cereal with milk.  Every evening Jacob now sits at his little white table next to the adult dinner table in the kitchen.  He is already used to eating at a small table at day care, so he’s happy.

Jacob is doing well at day care.  He still likes to be carried in and out, even though the other younger kids are walking by themselves in and out.  Jacob knows the morning routine and loves to wash his hands upon arrival to his class, but he cries for a few minutes when daddy leaves.  He’s a daddy’s boy and a mommy’s boy, and he likes to get his way.  We experienced several evening tantrums during dinner, and we did our best to ignore the screaming.

The only challenge we’re concerned with at day care is a blond boy.  They exchange shoves, and Jacob pushed the boy down by the face one day.  But that blondie likes to bite – he bit Jacob twice and Jacob bit him once.

Jacob loves his nightly evening bath, but getting him dressed can be a battle.  That little boy is strong.  And he loves to try to get away.  Unfortunately, one night he went so far across the master bed that I could not reach him and he fell off the bed.  Poor baby, it was his first fall and he was scared so we hugged for a few minutes.  But his diaper was not yet on, so I had to get back to dressing fairly quickly because I didn’t want to risk my bed to get wet.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

January pictures - Jacob 18 months

Jacob with his Grandma Elsa looking at the gibbons at the zoo.
Jacob with his grandma Elsa, daddy Manuel, and cousin Reyna at the San Antonio Zoo.

Jacob's aunt Sonia, grandma Elsa, cousin Reyna, ma-ma Michelle, and monkeys at the zoo.


Jacob peeking at the prairie dogs
  

Jacob trying to run off..

Jacob and friends with Mrs. Rebecca during nap time at Valero Day Care

Jacob fast asleep during nap time - he usually sleeps for 2 hours after lunch.

Jacob with daddy enjoying his first Rampage hockey game



Jacob had fun, but it's been a long hockey game!

Jacob's battle wound - bit in the cheek at day care today : (

Happy snacking on soy yogurt and apples

Time to brush those teeth and two new bottom molars


Jacob likes to play on the laptop with daddy


Fun day at the neighborhood park with daddy


Another warm and fun day - at the La Cantera playscape

Let's Rodeo!

Jacob, Mommy, and Daddy had a great time this past weekend at the Rodeo.  We saw lots of animals - goats, chickens, cows, bulls, and a real pony ride.  And we sampled lots of great food: Asian BBQ chicken on a stick, turkey leg, (Manuel and Jacob ate a) hot dog, and warm chocolate chip cookies.  Jacob really loves his protein.  He couldn't get enough chicken or turkey....he wanted 'more', 'more', 'more'.  That baby can eat!

Jacob didn't want to pet the goat

Big dairy cows

Jacob content watching the pony ride and eating a cookie
Jacob was interested in the big bulls

Otro! Jacob's first Spanish words.

Jacob has been expressing himself with more words lately, especially because the pacifier isn't in his mouth as much.  His favorite word still 'more', and he usually uses it to refer to wanting more food, but I started hearing him use another version of the word this past weekend.  His first Spanish word = otro = another one.  Jacob and I were playing upstairs on Sunday and I heard him say otro several times, and then again yesterday at dinner he was asking for more of something on his plate.  And I swear today I heard him say hola when daddy joined us in the bathroom after Jacob's bath.

Monday, January 31, 2011

January 2011 - Jacob 1.5 years

Jacob is now 1.5 years old!  He's so much fun and he loves life, especially eating, playing, and laughing.  He's starting to laugh out loud at different situations.  Jacob laughed at one of his favorite cartoons on the Sprout channel when the main character, Kipper the dog, hiccuped.  He's also very ticklish so it's very easy to get Jacob to laugh.

Jacob says a lot of single words and he still very frequently says 'more' and 'da-da', but this month he's also saying 'book' and 'poop'.  Jacob loves to read his books at day care, and he also frequently reads evenings at home before bed.  This month Jacob had a successful standing pee into the potty, although I must admit I had to re-position him to face the potty.  The next day, I put a dark purple foam target in the potty and Jacob smirked and said 'pooup'.  Jacob continued to laugh the following nights saying 'pooup' again, but he did sit on the potty as well.

There's been a lot of biting at day care lately.  This month Jacob moved to a toddler room with older kids, and he has been bitten twice due to conflicts with toys.  First Jacob was bit in the wrist, but it was a minor mark that faded before bed that evening.  But the second bite was an ugly one on his left cheek and the corner of his eye that left a bruise and many red marks. Unfortunately or fortunately, Jacob bit a kid the following week, and hopefully it was the one that bit him!  Manuel thinks it was a blond boy who wanted to take a toy away from Jacob, but that boy wasn't successful and bit instead.  Manuel hasn't seen the blond boy in Jacob's class, so hopefully he's moved elsewhere.  This was the second time Jacob bit another kid - the first time it was his friend Phillip in October, which we discovered at Phillip's 1st birthday party when the topic of biting came up.  In the report from day care, they explain the situation but don't include the name of the other kid involved in the confrontation.

Jacob weighs about 30 lbs and is almost 34" tall.  He wears a size 3T in clothing.  Two molars started coming out on the bottom, one on each side.  Jacob's pediatrician recommended we stop giving him his nightly 10 oz bottle of soy milk.  We stopped giving Jacob his nightly bottle in early in January, and we're slowly reducing usage of the pacifier to the nap hour and night time.  The bottle removal was quick and easy - he didn't even really ask for it after we had a few late nights away from home one weekend and the routine stopped including that step.  The pacifier, however, is another story.  There were several days of crying and wining, and we still give in when we're in public, but he's doing much better overall and asking for the pacifier less.  It's mostly when Jacob starts getting tired that he starts getting fussy and begins asking for the pacifier.  But we've all made a lot of progress the past few weeks.

Jacob is imitating many things.  He saw mommy turn off a toy with her foot, so he gave it a shot.  It took a few tries and holding onto a bench for balance, but Jacob was successful in using his foot to press a button on a toy.  Mommy also frequently moves Jacob's hand through books that have textures to touch, and tonight Jacob grabbed mommy's thumb and he was moving it though a few pages of his book to touch those textures!  Every day we observe and try new things - it's so much fun!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Jacob 17 moth pix - December 2010


Jacob wasn't too excited the first time he met Santa at the Valero Day Care.



Jacob enjoyed climbing the play gym and sliding with daddy at La Cantera shopping center.

Jacob and mommy after an afternoon shopping, playing and dinner at La Cantera.

Jacob con Abuela Lolita y primo Antonio en McAllen.

Jacob enjoyed his first Chuck-e-Cheese outing with his abuelos, Tio Armando, Tia Anna y primo Antonio.

Jacob's abuelos and daddy at the oldest VFW post off the San Antonio Riverwalk.

San Antonio Riverwalk

Jacob passed out after a long day at the San Antonio Riverwalk and missed the pretty lights.

Jacob practiced daddy's new hobby.

Menudo lunch at Grandma Eva's house.

Jacob played with Emmy and Sammy and his new puppy at his Great Grandma Eva's house.
Jacob on Christmas Eve before church.  He didn't remove anything from the tree!
Christmas Eve at Jen's house - Jonas, Kayna, Michelle & Jacob.

Christmas Eve with Jacob's Aunt Sonia, cousin Reyna, mommy, and cousin Isaac.

Jacob opened a few gifts on Christmas Eve
 
Jacob playing in the back yard on Christmas Day.


Jacob enjoys another dog gift from Richard and Rosario on Christmas Day.

More gifts to open on Christmas Day evening.
Jacob celebrated daddy's birthday with his abuelos at Dave and Busters
Jacob threw pretty far in his first skee ball game at Dave and Busters.