Jared, age 21 months

Jared is such a sweet little guy, and everyday he becomes more of a little person and less of a baby. His vocabulary keeps expanding, and he is putting two words together occasionally, too. He gives wonderful hugs to people he loves. He likes to put on his own shoes and has opinions about what he wants to wear. He is learning color names, and has "orange" pretty much down, with more colors getting there. Amanda usually describes him as the brother who steals toys, but she is playing with him more and is just as likely to be upset at him for not being an obedient puppet as she is for him cutting in when she doesn't want to share something. Jared loves Amanda and Curtis very much. When Amanda was away at Uncle Mike's house, Jared called for her periodically, wondering where his favorite big sister went. The morning is not right until Jared gives Curtis a big hug (and gives Mommy a hug, too). Another one of Jared's favorite people is his Dad (or "Dada!"). Jared likes to play ring around the rosy and knows some of the words. He likes to sing, too, and will sing along during church as best he can without knowing the tune or the words. He just opens up his book to wherever and sings from his heart. Speaking of books, he loves them, too. He also likes to "duel" with sticks and is very good at yelling "On guard!" He is Amanda's fan at soccer, and he has been known to sit on the sidelines yelling "go, go, go!" in encouragement. We love our sweet little guy so very very much and are so grateful to have him in our family.