Catch

And here are pictures of Jacob's face when I played this video for him a few minutes later.

I'd say he's in awe of himself :-)

**Update**
Extra video! Watching himself again later that afternoon...

Alexander age 4

Stats:
Ht: 3' 1.5"
Wt: 29.25lbs

Alexander's Favorite Movies/Shows:

• Kung Fu Panda!
• Ratatouille 
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Dumbo - (Specifically the "Pink Elephants" part. You know, the part where Dumbo and the mouse get drunk and start trippin out? Yeah, that part.)
• Beauty and the Beast
• Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales
• Abby's Flying Fairy School from Sesame Street
• Dinosaur Train
• Anything animated of course!

Alexander's Favorite Activities/Quirks:

• Climbing
• Jumping (on trampolines, couches, beds, floors, people, etc.)
• Swings
• Trains
• Dinosaurs
• Snuggling! - This leads to an explanation of one of our nicknames for Alexander. We call him "Wedge" or "The Wedge" because he has the uncanny ability of sensing when Mom and Dad might be hugging or cuddling and he will seek us out and squirm his way between us. He just loves snuggling! He will also climb on a person's lap and physically lift his/her arms and wrap them around himself to make himself snug and secure. It's one of the sweetest things ever.
• Sticking his fingers in the vacuum hose (that's where Jacob learned it)

(We always have a really hard time getting cute things on video because whenever Alexander sees the camera come out, all he wants to do is hold it himself, which we don't allow. So he gets kind of bummed and his energy is somewhat lower than usual at the start of these videos. He really does love this stuff though!)

• Water! (baths, his water table, using the sprayer on the hose, dropping things in the toilet during potty training!)
• "Feet" - This is what we call/say to him when we want him to lay down and put his feet up to get clothes or shoes on. This is one of a handful of directions he follows consistently.
• Kisses - Alexander will give people kisses if they ask him and then pucker up. Mommy spends half her days asking "can I have kisses?" :-)
• Both boys really like to mimic certain scenes during their favorite movies. Neither one says real English words yet but it's really cute to watch them jumping around shouting with all the proper inflections. :-)

(I'm fully aware that I look like a total dork in this video. That's because I am one. My boys think I'm awesome. The end.)




School and Therapies:

• Alexander is going back to preschool this school year! 5 days a week from 8:30 to noon. He's going to have the same teacher and parapro that he had last year. He'll also have speech therapy at school throughout the week just like before but the SLPs switched schools. His IEP has lots of good goals for him to work on this year!
• Occupational Therapy - 45mins twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays
• Speech Therapy - 30 mins twice every two weeks, every other Monday and Wednesday
• Feeding Therapy - 30 mins twice every two weeks, alternates every other Monday and Wednesday with Speech Therapy
• ABA/VB (Behavior) Therapy - This is actually a course Mommy is taking once a week for two hours on Thursdays. The therapist/instructor comes to our house, trains Mommy, plays with Alexander (and Jacob) and helps set up specialized home therapy plans. 

Oh, sweet boy, we love you so!

Jacob age 2

(I'm skipping the scrapbook page format for now, going with a regular entry. It's better to be able to include video anyway...)

Stats:
Ht: 2' 8.75"
Wt: 24.75lbs
HC: 19.75"
He's in the 8th percentile for height and weight and the 98th for his head circumference!

Jacob's Favorite Movies:

• WALL-E!
• Lady and the Tramp
• Monsters Inc. - He runs and hides around the corner for the first 3 minutes of the movie. I guess he doesn't like the shadow part.
• Bambi - He loves any part with Friend Owl. Friend Owl makes funny faces.
• Baby Signing Time 1-4
• (Really he loves any animated show/movie that he's seen more than once, Wall-E really does seem to be his fav though.)

Jacob's Favorite Activities/Quirks

• Slides!
• "The Mini Wedge" - This is one of our nicknames for Jacob because he has followed in his brother's footsteps of wedging himself between Kevin and myself anytime he sees us hugging or cuddling.
• The Nap Chair - He has a little rocking/reclining chair that he loves to nap in. He sleeps in his crib at night but his one daytime nap is taken most days in that chair. Sometimes I'll move him to his crib once he falls asleep but generally I live by the axiom "If it's not broke, don't fix it."

The Nap Chair

• Running, Running in place (it's the cutest little wiggle dance)
• Spinning and plopping on his bottom on the floor
• Movie commentary gestures
• When Mommy asks for kisses, sometimes he will pucker up and give her a kiss. Most of the time, he just presents her with his forehead. He can also blow kisses.
• Sticking his fingers in the vacuum hose while Mommy is trying to use it. (She takes breaks to let both boys do this.)
• OUTSIDE! - As soon as Kevin gets home from work, Jacob grabs his hand and drags him to the back door and does his sign for "outside". More recently we've made him add "please" and "Daddy". It's ridiculously cute. While he's outside, he likes to run back and forth pushing his big truck around, and up and down our hill. He also likes to pick tomatoes out of Daddy's garden without permission. It's so hard to get mad at him though because he's always so proud of himself!
• Water! - Sprinkler, Pool, Drinking Fountain, Beach!

Jacob's Signs and Sounds -

Jacob isn't talking quite yet and is in Speech Therapy through Babies Can't Wait. They work with him on all kinds of communication. Most of the following he's actually picked up in the last month and a half (since his 2nd birthday).

(This video was taken more recently than this post was originally written, so you can see that his sign for Mama has evolved ever so slightly)

• Mommy/Mama - Index finger/fingers tapped to mouth/chin - "Buhbuh" (The "M" sound is hard for him.)
• Daddy/Dada - Fingers tapped on side of head - "Dehdeh" "Dehdee"
• Milk - Squeezes his hand in fist (actual sign) - No sound
• Outside - Squeezes his hand like the sign for milk, but up by his head - "uh iiide"
• More - Index fingers and thumbs squeezed together and tapped together in the middle - No sound
• Please - Strokes his hand over his chest/shoulder - "eeeeease" "geeeease"
• All Done/Finished - holds hands up and twists (close to real sign) - "uh uhn"
• Pacifier/Binky - Index finger/fingers tapped to mouth - "Beebee" Not to be confused with "Buhbuh"
• In - "eee"
• Up - "uh"
• Bye - Waves - "aye"

We sure do love our Jacob Boy!

Waiting Room

I've been wanting to get some scrapbook pages made with 2nd and 4th birthday updates for the boys but I haven't even gotten around to starting them yet. So I figured I should get something posted on here for people to look at. Therefore, for your viewing pleasure -

a typical late morning/early afternoon with Jacob - in the waiting room at Alexander's therapists' office

Lunch

Mess!

Toys!

Can I help it if I'm really, really ridiculously good looking?

Answer me! (attack of the nap time rage)

And now I lost my ball under the couches! (AGAIN!)

Do I get my lollipop now?