Jaden Singing and Dancing to Thomas the Train

20 Months

Today, Jaden is 20 months old. He's growing and communicating more and more everyday and today he completely amazed me. He was drinking water from a water bottle (by himself, he insisted) in my lap, facing me, when he stopped drinking to point out and identify the features of my face. He touched my nose ("noose"), my mouth ("mouf"), eyes ("eyesh") and hair ("haiu"). Then he continued drinking from his water bottle. I almost cried.

Here's a list of what Jaden has accomplished along with some of his quirks:

- Saying multiple words together "Hi Daddy," "Bye Bye Daddy," "Bye guys, "Nonono...is mine!" and my favorite: "Wuv yooo"
- Counting to ten (he skips Seven and Eight usually but can say them and loves saying Nine)
- In the mortal words of the Wonder Pets, he says, "this....is....SEEWEEUS." (translated, 'this is serious')
- Assembles his step stool in front of the sink and washes his hands
- Leaves his toys in the car when I instruct him to
- LOVES school and waves "byebye" to me as I'm leaving
- Is afraid of spiders (he knows how to say spider too)
- Knows what monkeys are and can say "hi monkey!" (I don't know where he learned this)
- Walks around with his hands in his pockets (I think it's cute)
- LOVES to jump and DANCE!
- Can distinguish cars between trucks and will point and say, "cahhh" when he sees one
- Knows what flowers are and calls them "peety"
- He has headbutted me on numerous occasions and when I say, "ouch, Jaden!" he says, "sowwwy"
- He finds the word, "eyebrow" hilarious

I ran out of steam so I hope that my list entertains you for now... :)

Jaden's First Day of Soccer

Cookie Monster

Here's a short video of Jaden this morning...enjoy!

"Up"

We felt it was time to move on from Jaden's favorite movie, "The Polar Express," to something different. When you memorize the dialog in a two-hour Christmas movie, that's a pretty good indicator that it's time to retire it. So, Mike took Jaden to Best Buy today and picked up the movie, "Up." I had not heard about it until today, but I guess it was the #1 animated movie of last year. The movie includes everything that Jaden loves right now - balloons, dogs and birds. He was wearing his backpack on and off all day today, which was cute.

Here's a video of a part in the movie that got him really excited:

15-Month Wellness Checkup

Mike and I took Jaden to his 15-month wellness checkup yesterday - he's a little less than a month late due to his initial H1N1 shot that required that we wait a month for the accompanying booster.

Here are his latest stats:

Height: 33" - 89th percentile

Weight: 25.15 lbs. - 62nd percentile

Head Circumference: 49.4 cm. - 98th percentile

I'm not surprised that his head is still in the 90's as far as percentage goes. Big head means big brain! I AM surprised about his height - while the percentages tend to fluctuate as they grow, he did have a growth spurt of three inches between his first birthday and now! That's 3/4 inch per month! So his percentage shot up from 57% in September to 89% in January.

Here are some other words to add to Jaden's list:

Bat

Two

Three (can't seem to figure out "One")

Snack

Hello again...

December was obviously a very busy month given the lack of posts (sorry) - work-wise it was the busiest month for both Mike and I. We had a great Christmas and New Year's - Jaden received a gazillion new toys, we are both employed and Dad came out of his operation unscathed (and cancer free!) so we have a lot to be thankful for.

Jaden's growing by leaps and bounds - he learns new words every day and isn't afraid to practice during car rides. His hair is thicker like a little boy's head should be (still unruly, but we're working on it) and he's getting two more molars - this time on the bottom. When I ask him if his diaper needs to be changed, he'll run to the other room to retrieve a diaper and his wipes, although it's like wrestling a pig trying to actually change him. Although once done, he'll take the wipes and put them back in the drawer. Today, when I finished a bottle of water, he took it and it put it in the recycling bin, and said "thank you!" We all have colds, so he took some tissue, wiped his hands and nose, and ran to the recycling bin and threw it away. He's learning!

Jaden is increasingly affectionate as well. Out of the blue, he'll run up to you, pucker his lips up to yours and hum "Mmmmm" and give you a kiss and hug before resuming his play. Needless to say, we melt.

Here are some newer words that Jaden can (or tries to) say:

- Dog

- George (the new baby in daycare)

- Lucy (the dog in daycare)

- Water

- Bagel

- Lights

- Nice

- Truck

- Bird