19months!!!

It's mid-July... summer's finally here, weather-wise, J is 19 mo old, and things are picking up speed!

I think he's gaining 5+ words per day... not all of them are understandable by anyone but me, but they're consistent and have similar consonants/pitches/rhythm to the "real" word... fun ones like olive, almond (ah-mn), oranges, juice (from the mandarin oranges that build up), apple (app-oh), apple-dada (pineapple, because i told him once that pineapple was dada's favorite fruit), pizza, jean, virginia (ginia), amen, baby, charger (sounds like zia zia gabor minus the gabor part), isth is still cord, in, vacuum, on, off, off (referring to a light), papa and uhma still are BIG, ralph (waowph), poo poo, elk, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, tongue is still "mmmmm" (the sound i make when i stick out my tongue), bikes and motorcycles are the "pbbbbththth" sound followed by papa and reeree (since they both have motorcycles), he can say a toddler version of tz and kz cousins' names, and of friend rm here in eugene. etc.

he's putting some "sentences" together sometimes... "charger in... vacuum"... "nooo hana"... etc.

dogs are "woooh" (a growly bark), kitties are shiauhwoo woo woo (yeah, of course), horses are "neigh" which sounds like a laugh/whinny, he has good bird sounds that mimic their calls somewhat (we have 2 resident killdeer in our parking areas which has been super cool as they must have a nest nearby, so they do their broken wing dance and divide and make racket to draw you away from the nesting area very aggressively = soooo cool!), they have single handedly increased the octave of his squeals by 2 or 3. he makes the usual monkey noise (hoo hoo) and owl sounds, cow moos, etc...

he's getting goofier and goofier faces, showing off more once he's totally comfortable with who's around (which still takes awhile... 15-30min)... he's still a studier, and likes to observe what's going on before diving in... but once in, he really tries to communicate and contribute... cute!

he's climbing more... walking faster, tho not running... getting better getting off 1/2-2/3 size curbs but still requests help for full curbs or down stairs. at the park getting on and off the stairs on the little kiddo play structures, he climbs up fine, then says "bum" and sits on his bum to come down. :) i LOVE that... like he's verbally reminding himself at each step. he wouldn't go down stairs for the longest time, increased by taking quite a fall once where wood pillars on the railing were involved... so i'd say "sit on your bum and scoot off the stair"... hence... "BUM!" :) love it.

we play legos every morning and 1-2 more times in the day... i must sit by him (he sits, clears a tiny spot for me next to him, pats the floor and says "ut ut up".... ut and now finally up mean up or down... depending on the context. :) but he's correcting himself on the t and p, so that's exciting!

he still gets a serious white boy groove on to all sorts of music... but he's been on a HUGE kick with the dr. seuss cd... especially the waltzing with bears... he has his trampoline dance to the putamayo european playground song, as well... and he sings wah wah wah wah wah with the waltzing song... and the shush shush hush hush song... too... which is SOOOOOO FUN until he wants to debut his singing talents in mtg... during prayer. oopssiiieeeeeeeee!

we spent 6 days with all of sz's bros and fams at gpa/gma jlz over the 4th... nice weather... GREAT times watching the kiddos all interact... we had special arrangements to stay with great gpa rz and it was sooooo fun. j really has always had a special place for ggparz in his heart... and it was no diff... gparz is one of the first names j really said that most can understand... and he'd yell it at the top of his lungs (save me, waowf!) when i was trying to change diapers, put him down for a nap, etc. hilarious! and j asked where he was frequently if he couldn't see him/find him. j had his first boat ride while there... wasn't too keen on it for quite awhile, but uncleaz took it nice and easy until j seemed to loosen up.... then he got to watch daddy ski for a bit... then it was naptime as he was almost falling asleep on me in the boat. he also got to watch the cousins shoot off a few little firecrackers with daddy. it seems he didn't inherit my mortal fear of such sounds, which is great.

we've also had the sister workers with us the past few days, which went really well... he LOVED them... they played with him, talked to him, showed him things, etc etc... really was just great! he was sooooo sad when they'd leave during the day to go visit folks... so we're extra excited for sunday's gospel mtg... i'm just hoping he doesn't yell their names in excitement when we walk in or when they stand up individually to have their part. ;) wheeeee!

gma and gpaj are arriving this sat for a week! YAY!!!!! gonna be a blast! during that time sz has a work trip, so it will doubly nice for me! gonna have to show them the splash/spray parks, the FREE toddler wading pool with lifeguards and chlorine and fountains and the works, our favorite swing and sand at the local park, the paths, the ponds with geese and ducks, the rivers, the coffee and bakery places, the market, etc etc etc... maybe we can even get to the coast!

j continues to be OBSESSED (that's putting it extremely mildly) with cords (electrical, of any type, but also hoses, etc)... ohmygosh... i can't even begin to describe... and he discovered our little shark rechargeable vacuum for quick hard floor easy messes... it's has a tall handle like the old restaurants with the felt looking carpet always had... but it's electric (via the recharging)... anyway... it's his new favorite thing cuz he can run it himself and look for "dots" on the floor to suck up... the day before the workers came, he ran it out of it's charge 3 times, and let me tell you, it's not a super fast recharger... the first time he sat by it watching it recharge for 15 min, i kid you not, before i was able to pull him away with other distractions.

his eating has been weird lately... definitely like the books say where they're just too busy to eat... so my usual large quantity eater has been picking at things and then "all done''... but he does make up for it a meal or two later... or a day or two later, but you just never know... so it's been challenging on that front... i think he's losing a bit of his giganto-belly... but it still expands and contracts with ea. meal... and especially over nite... i think what calories he has been taking in are going to his feet... :) we're in size 6's and i bet into 7's (toddler) by later fall... and we started the year-may/mid june in size 5.

we had our first "family hike" using a borrowed kid backpack (for hauling the kid in)... 1.5mi up and 1.5mi down, about 1000ft of elevation gain... jakob was all gungho for the first 150meters... truckin' along, stopping occasionally to pick up a cool rock... khaki hat from rei, super cute brown cargo shorts and an oshkosh air show shirt, his camo keens... cutest patootest ever... then he stopped, looked at us, "all done," turned around and barrelled down the trail... sooooo... the rest of the hike was a bit challenging... he wasn't super keen on being packed in a pack... he hiked more towards the top... and back down a bit... got to see 3 different horses... drank lots of water... and we sang lots of wah wah wah waltzing as well as the 12 teeth song from dr. seuss... but we made it... and swore not to do that again... in the heat... overlapping with naptime... etc... for a long time. :) i'll just take him on "toddler hikes"... no agenda... no time frame... plenty of snacks for me and for him... fluids... and cooler weather.

i'll add a post with the pics... but they're not all off my camera and phone yet... so will try for that before this weekend's up.

on my end, my hip flexor pain finally appears to be gone... maybe for a month now? it's still not as strong as the other side, and i don't have hills right out my door to strengthen it up the way i'd like to right now, but i'm getting at least one hilly run per weekend... what this translates to, is that i hope to survive my 13.1mi hill race aug 7... all uphill, perhaps 5700 feet or so... my kinda thing, but usually i'm better trained. :) such is the life of a married mama. can't wait for the race!!!!!

cheers!
kz