Part 19: Jacob is One, Come Join the Fun!

It’s hard to believe, but Jacob is already one year old. We celebrated his first birthday by having lunch with another expat family that moved here around the same time we did. And, of course, we ate cake! Jacob had his first taste of cake and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Later that day, we had a Skype party with family and friends. We were able to talk with and see many of you back in the States. I think Jacob had a unique birthday celebration.

Now for a one year Jacob update:

He is crawling and cruising all over the place and keeping Mommy on her toes! He’s getting braver everyday. He now lunges between furniture that is just out of his reach, but he still hasn’t taken that first step. He stands for a few seconds on his own, and I think he surprises himself every time he does it. It won’t be long before he takes off running.

Jacob also loves to dance. Whenever he hears a catchy tune, he starts bouncing up and down to the music. It’s adorable!

He has a few different toys where he has to put balls into them to get music to play. He has figured those out and now puts everything in them, not just balls! I’m constantly digging out his blocks and fish and whatever else he has found to stick in these toys. He has a shape box as well. So far, he has only been able to put the circle in (with some guidance). The other shapes present a bit more of a challenge.

Jacob loves books! He’ll sit and entertain himself flipping through the pages. Touch and feel books are his favorite.

He finally started waving back to people on his birthday, and he loves giving himself applause. He also loves to share his toys with Mommy and Daddy. And somehow, he has figured out exactly which household items are NOT toys: like the TV remote and phone and dishes. He really doesn’t like it when we take those away.

I’m still working on teaching him how to give hugs and kisses. Sometimes I think he knows what to do, but he doesn’t do it consistently, so we’ll see.

He’s saying “mama” now (in actual reference to me, we think). And, he just said “dada” for the first time when Dustin walked into the room. Very exciting! He also says a gamut of other sounds, but we don’t think he’s matching sounds to objects just yet.

Jacob is officially off of formula, bottles and baby food. He pretty much eats everything that we do and drinks milk or water from a sippy cup. It’s nice to not have to do the bottle thing and buy formula and baby food, but now I have to worry about preparing well-rounded meals. It makes it easier that he’s a good eater and doesn’t turn his nose at much (not yet anyway).

He is just getting over his first illness. I got a cold and successfully passed it to Dustin and Jacob. It’s taken some sleepless nights, but I think we’re finally kicking it. We know we’re lucky, though, having only had to deal with a sick baby once during the whole year.

I think that takes care of the update. Jacob is a joy and doing well!