Some Recent Milestones

Since Jack has been out of the baby stage, I've noticed that I haven't been keeping track of his milestones very well. I think it seems like once they've hit the big ones- He rolled over! He's crawling! He said Dada! He's walking!- that the later ones aren't as noteworthy. But in reality, Jack has grown and developed so much this past year. He simply amazes us every day! Here are some recent milestones and just things I want to remember about him at this age (2 1/2):

• Over the past several months, his language/vocabulary has developed tremendously. We have full conversations with him now and they are always so cute!
• He can now count to 30 (and knows how old we all are- Daddy is 30! Hayley is 24! Parker is 1!)
• He can sing the alphabet in three languages- English, Spanish, and French. As for Spanish, he heard it once or twice on a toy and after that he had it down! I was truly amazed. Then Randy decided to teach him French and about 10 minutes later, he had that down too.
• He can identify all the letters of the alphabet and tell us what sound they make. He can actually read several words. For example, if he sees his name somewhere, he'll say "J-A-C-K...Jack!"
• His memory is just amazing so he picks up on things very quickly and is therefore able to recite long passages. For example, he can say the Pledge of Allegiance, several Bible verses, and can "read" all of his books to us by memory.
• He can trace and draw a straight line. He's learning to write the letters of the alphabet.
• He understands manners and usually remembers to say please and thank you. When he's finished eating, he asks Randy or me, "May I please be excused?"
• He can throw and catch a football, basketball, and baseball and can kick a soccer ball.
• He has become so coordinated. He can climb up the ladders at the park by himself now and is learning how to pump his legs and swing by himself.
• He is learning to dress himself...he's currently much better at undressing himself.
• He loves to set the table!
• His imagination is running wild! He loves to pretend play with us or by himself. He is so creative in the scenarios he plays out!
• He can ride his tricycle now. (Santa brought it to him last year and he's just now figuring out how to pedal! It's very cute!)
• He just loves singing! After he learns a song the "real way," he usually changes it and makes his own version, usually referred to as "the other way."
• He can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano! I'm not quite sure how he learned it, other than watching me play it once or twice, but the other day he just walked up to the piano and started playing it!

Here's a video:

And another rendition:

And singing the French alphabet (please excuse the mouth full of food at the beginning, gross!):

An Afternoon at the Park

Singing and Swinging!

Cousin Charlie

This past weekend, my cousin Toby and his wife were in town along with their precious little guy, Charlie. Jack just LOVES babies and was so excited about this visit. He woke up from his nap just in time to give Charlie a kiss and sing him a song.

Recently around our house...

Jack has been VERY cuddly, as usual!


We've been attempting to organize our baby things and Jack is enjoying pretending to be a baby- his favorite thing to do is sit in the Bumbo chair.


Jack has been wearing Uncle Daniel's old Superman shirt quite a bit! It's his new favorite!


We build a "fort" almost every day and play inside it in the dark with a flashlight. It's amazing how many hours of fun this can produce!

Sooner Bred and Sooner Born

This past weekend, Hayley and Nick came to visit from Texas. They recently moved to the Dallas area from Tampa and were staying in a business hotel while deciding on permanent living arrangements. Well, apparently the hotel was horrendous and unbearable, so Hayley decided to come spend an entire week here in order to avoid going back to it! Nick is going to be out of town for work until they move into their apartment next week. It's been great having Aunt Hayley around for a change!

The four of us made the trip to Norman on Saturday to watch OU play Tulsa. Randy and I hardly ever get to go to the games anymore since all of Jack's baby-sitters (uncles, aunts, grandparents, and great-grandparents) tend to be at the games themselves! But this week, my sweet dad offered to stay home with Jack. We had a blast being in Norman again and baby Biggs seemed to enjoy it as well! He/she can be Sooner bred even before he/she's Sooner born, right?!

Name Nerds!

Okay, I am SUCH a name nerd, but I just have to share this website! It lists the most popular baby names as taken from the Social Security official list. So what's the difference? It accounts for spellings. So, the social security list shows that Aiden is the 16th most popular boy name for 2008. But, if you add in Aidan, Ayden, Aden, Adan, Aaden, Aydan, Aydin, Aidyn, and Aedan, it turns out this is actually the number 1 most popular boy name for 2008! Makes quite a difference. Plus, Jayden jumps from number 11 to number 2 with all of its spellings. And Caden, appearing harmless at number 95, jumps to number 10! Add them all up and I think the "aden" sound must account for half of all the baby boys in this country! Anyway, when you're trying to name a baby and trying to avoid the most popular names, this information can be very helpful. Check it out if you're a name nerd!

Chuck E. Cheese's

Well, it was another rainy weekend around here so we decided to take Jack over to Chuck E. Cheese's for some indoor fun. It's only the second time he's been and he didn't really love it any more than the last time. He enjoyed putting tokens into the machines more than actually playing the game or riding the ride. Oh well, whatever works! We did earn enough tickets to buy a couple of tootsie pops and he was certainly impressed with those!



















And here is a video of Jack grooving while eating his pizza: