Mejia Family

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.

December 2010 - Jacob 17 months

December was a month full of family gatherings, and we spent more than a week at home together - away from work and day care. Jacob's grandparents visited for almost two weeks, and we had a great time.

At day care, Jacob started sleeping in a cot in preparation for the transition from baby room to toddler room. Finally now that he started walking he is ready for the next step - just in time for the annual rate increase Jacob will no longer be at the highest baby room rate. Wow, day care is quite expensive, but we've been extremely impressed with the curriculum, care, and love he's received in his first year. He loves the art activities, outdoor play, dancing, and of course the food and snacks.

Jacob continues to be a very good eater, but this month 'more' was a word he used quite frequently. It gets confusing because he says the word (and does the sign language) for 'more', but it could mean that he wants anything. We have to be creative to try to figure out what he wants more of - could be a pacifier, food, milk, water. Unfortunately that pacifier is desired more frequently, and we usually give in because we don't want him to scream in public or just in general we like to 'keep the peace' at home. Jacob only uses the pacifier during his daily 2 hour nap at day care, but as soon as he's picked up at the end of the day or first thing in the morning that's what he wants. We need to find a plan to be stronger and NOT give it to him every time he asks.

Jacob also LOVES dogs. 'wow-wow' is another of his favorite words. He got many dog Christmas gifts, and he loved them: pillow-pet, tall Dalmatian (look very real), stuffed animal dogs, musical plastic dog, etc. Jacob had a lot of fun this year opening all his Christmas gifts and he's having fun playing with all the fun new things in his play rooms.

Jacob is becoming a good walker, and he's trying to run. On Christmas day, he tried to chase the kids back and forth across the yard. I saw him sitting alone in the corner - he was taking a break and exhausted. Poor little guy, but the exercise is good. He's maintaining about 30 lbs and he's getting longer. Jacob no longer looks like a plump little baby - he's a tall, slim boy! My baby is a toddler now : )

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Mejia Family reflecting on 2010

As 2010 comes to a close, we fondly reflect upon all the great experiences our family has had together this year. We’ve enjoyed watching Jacob learn to crawl and recently start walking. We had a large gathering of friends and family in July to celebrate Jacob’s 1^st birthday, including Manuel’s family from Mexico.

We’ve had so many blessings and wonderful experiences watching Jacob grow. Jacob is big, healthy, happy and full of smiles. He’s also very observant, intelligent, sometimes impatient, but also very loving. Jacob loves music and he dances to all kinds of music, even classical. He says many words, including: ma-ma, da-da, ball, bird, more, milk, uh-oh, car, dog, wow-wow (referring to a dog or any other animal: bear, cat, etc.). Jacob also uses baby sign language when he wants ‘more’ to eat or is ‘all done’ eating, although he usually grabs one last bite before truly being done.

Looking back on 2010, we remember:

Last year at this time Jacob was just starting to eat solids – single grain cereals, but now he eats almost everything - and a lot of it! Jacob has his three meals a day, plus a morning and afternoon snack. And then he finishes the night with a 10 oz bottle of warm soy milk.
Our week in Cancun during April with Manuel’s parents to celebrate their 40^th wedding anniversary. We discovered Jacob’s love for water while preparing for this trip by taking baby swimming classes.
Michelle’s mom, Maria, moved down from Michigan and lived with us 10 months.
Michelle’s step-dad, Ruben, moved down from Michigan after retiring, and he and her mom, Maria, bought a house in October.
Jacob loves the action and activities at day care. There was a month of transition when he changed classrooms and cried every morning when daddy dropped him off, but now he heads straight to the breakfast table and is ready to start the day with Ms. Janice. We don’t visit during lunch anymore because we disrupt the routine and Jacob has a screaming fit when we leave.
Jacob blows kisses with his hand when you leave, even as he was crying in the a.m. when daddy dropped him off at day care (several months ago – he doesn’t cry anymore in the mornings).
Jacob climbs upstairs to his room every night, and he recently walked all the way back to the living room to give daddy a kiss before going up.
Michelle sits with Jacob to say a nighttime prayer and then rocks him for several minutes, but Jacob is frequently more interested in spreading out in his bed to pass out than being rocked.
Jacob is a good sleeper – about 10 hours at night plus a 2 hour nap during the day. About once a week Jacob wakes after 5 or 7 hours, but after a diaper change he falls right back to sleep.
Grandma Maria babysat Jacob in early November, and he directed her through the evening routine by taking her to the stairs, moving the rocking chair, and pointing to his stack of books for a nighttime story.
Last year Jacob was extremely plump, but now he’s long and slender wearing 3T and 4T clothes.
Jacob recently started walking with arms up in the air and frequent falls. He’s not yet running, but it’s just a matter of time.
Manuel’s parents recently sold their house in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, and they are moving closer to the border to Reynosa. They will be closer to us for visits, but we hope and pray that the violence in Mexico gets under control soon because it’s very scary to think that our loved ones could get stuck in the middle of a gun fight at anytime, even in their homes.
Manuel’s brother, Armando, and his family are moving to California for a great job opportunity at the end of December 2010. Jacob’s cousin Antonio has already been learning English at school, so it should help the transition. We are very happy for them!
Manuel and Michelle have been having parents’ night out almost monthly for the past five months, enjoying dinners, a two family weddings, and they a Shakira concert.

We look forward to many more exciting adventures in 2011. We’re planning for vacations to Puerto Vallarta for spring break and maybe a visit to California. And perhaps we’ll get started on a sibling for Jacob.

Happy Holidays! With Love,

The Mejia Family - Manuel, Michelle & Jacob (17 months)

December family pictures at Mission San Jose

Ok, these were actually taken in late November, but they are our family Christmas pictures. We took them on the grounds of historic Mission San Jose - where Michelle and Manuel were married 4 years ago.