18 months and counting with Jared

It's official, Jared is now old enough for nursery. He also sleeps in a big boy bed, either the toddler bed or the lower bunk of the bunk bed, whichever suits his fancy that night. He talks, too, and sometime over the past couple of weeks he learned to say "please" (which sounds like "peas," coming from him). It's so fun being able to communicate with him more. Speaking of which, here's a list of words he knows, with an approximation of his pronunciation in parentheses if applicable:

• shoes ("oosh")
• water ("wa")
• milk ("moke")
• juice ("ju")
• Daddy ("da da")
• Mommy ("ma ma")
• pasta ("da da")
• Amanda ("ma ma")
• Curtis ("kirku")
• mouth ("maow")
• eye
  
• nose
• toes
• go
• Dora ("do do Dowa")
• watch ("wa")
• coat ("co")
• shirt ("shu")
• pants ("pass")
• hi
• bye ("die")
• hello ("hewwo")
• bath ("baa")
• tree ("tee")
• sock ("gock")
• rock ("wok")
• light ("yite")
• no
• mine
• please ("peas")
• thank you ("taygu")
• banana ("nana")
• cracker ("kaakuh")
• fish ("ish")
  

The above list is not necessarily exhaustive, so it will probably be added to as Mom notices more.

Speaking of "wa" as his word for water, it rained this evening a little, so Mom went out with Jared to experience it. He was absolutely fascinated, particularly with puddles. He pointed to every puddle he saw, no matter how small, and excitedly said "wa!" Mom knew such excitement would be hard to follow, but fortunately bath time gave him more water play time. Mom is so glad to be able to spend time with Jared.

Jared in the woods

It's amazing how many places a small person can hide, especially if one's backyard happens to have its own miniature woods. Fortunately, other small people can usually find the hiding ones, and so thanks to big sister Amanda, Mom was able to get this fun clip of Jared at work in his woodland paradise. (Don't know why, but he's intent on moving all the straw out of the thicket . . .)

Working hard to fill Dad's shoes

Happy 1st Birthday, Jared!

The cake, and the eating thereof by the birthday boy.

I think he liked it. :)

Fun at COSI

Our local science museum, COSI, has a section just for kids, basically a huge, science-oriented playroom. They have a water area in the kids section, too, including a little splash table surrounded by baby seats. So, here he is, our little water baby Jared, all decked out in a COSI rain coat and loving it.

Jared's First Big Trip

The day after Jared's baby blessing, Uncle Mike took Jared, Amanda, and Mom out to Virginia to visit his family for a week. On the way out, Jared entered four states for the first time: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia (and he even got in a tiny bit of Washington, D.C.). After we got to Uncle Mike and Aunt Rebecca's house, we enjoyed a meal of Chinese food before crashing for the night after our long drive. Jared even got to sleep in his own bed, since Mom brought the pack n' play bassinet from home. Cousin Bethany graciously lent us her room while we were there, and Mom really appreciated it, especially since Bethany likes the same kinds of books that Mom likes. We spent our time visiting with the cousins (Elizabeth, Joshua, Bethany, Peter, & Naomi) and their parents, and Jared was quite popular with them all. Jared also got to try out the new double stroller on an outing to the park. The pictures for this entry show Jared relaxing in his car seat; Jared trying out the stroller; Jared with cousin Peter; and Uncle Mike letting Jared have a turn at the wheel on the way home. Thanks again for letting us visit!

The First Month (or so)

Jared came home after a fairly brief stay at the hospital. Big sister and Grandmother were very excited to see him. We'd done some Christmas decorating before Jared was born, and as we looked at the stockings on the wall, we wondered whether Jared would fit in his; he did! Good thing we got the picture when we did, though, since he got bigger fast. Our long suffering digital camera gave up the ghost not long after Jared came home, but since Christmas was coming, we decided to get a new one for a family present. Good thing we got it, too, so that we could capture cute moments like Amanda giving Jared loves, and Jared cuteness in general.

We decided to have Jared's baby blessing on the first Sunday in January 2008. No grandparents were able to come, but Uncle Joe and his family came, and so did Uncle Mike. Interestingly enough, Jared's cousin Josie was blessed the same day, and so all of Dad's siblings were at baby blessings that day, since those who weren't with us were out in Utah with Josie. Jared looked so handsome in his blessing outfit. Unlike his older siblings, however, he did not have any diaper explosions while he was dressed up. So, Mom ended up taking the outfit off right after church, not wanting to push her luck, which unfortunately meant that no blessing outfit pictures were taken. (Sorry Jared & grandparents!)