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My boy is as many months as I am years.

That's strange to think about. I guess there was a time when he was as many days as I was years. Or weeks. But months is big time.

I switched to the every-other-month monthly reporting when Jake turned two because he seemed like such a little man who was all grown up and hardly making milestone changes at all. Now he really seems like a little man and it is even harder to pin down the things to write about.

I can't list the foods he eats because he eats just about everything. Or nothing. It depends on how he is feeling that day. I can always get him to eat some raisins and sunflower seeds, carrots and hummus, or beans and rice. He will say no to cookies but he won't say no to any of that stuff.

I can't tell you what he is saying because he says it all, and I'm pretty sure he is speaking clearly enough for everyone to understand about 90% of what comes out of his head.

I wish I could list the things he knows, but he's got his letters (and their sounds) and numbers and colors and animals (and their noises) and symbols and shapes completely down pat. He even says things like "dollar sign" and "octagon" and "turquoise". It's adorable. He can read a few three and four letter words, plus fivers like Mommy, Daddy and Jacob. And even bigger ones like Barack Obama and Chuck E Cheese's.

I used to be able to tell you what he could do with his tiny little body, but now I could probably list what he can't do. That kid is everywhere. He loves soccer and baseball, and has some mad impressive skillz.

Jake has backed off the Thomass obsession a bit, but still loves trains. Fireman Sam holds a special little place in his heart, and we are constantly playing fire rescue. "put onyer helmet, we hafta go save sumpin!". What we have to save is rarely made clear. McQueen and Sally still reign supreme. Every night we tell stories about "mommy n jacob n mcqueen n sally n george n damannin da lello hat go to the park and the pizza pie place and the water ice place and fer ice cream cones".
Ask him if Daddy can join us. NNnooOOoo! Mommy n Jacob are the only two people in the world lately.

Bedtime is still my favorite time. We take turns telling stories and singing songs. Jake likes to hear Dream a Little Dream, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Goodnight, and another song that I made up when he was really little that is basically just me singing "close your eyes, close your eyes, close your eyes, baby Jacob" to that regular old "lullaby" tune while I tickle his face. I really try not to fall asleep in Jake's bed, but I do it at least once a week. It is just so nice and relaxing and he curls right up against me and begs me not to leave. "don't go, mommy. let's lay down together. just one more minute. sing to me. you sing so beautiful. i like your music. you're so pretty. i wanna look at you." It goes on and on. How is a girl supposed to walk out on that?

Jake likes to paint and color with his crayons, but prefers to "make lists" with a pen and lines paper. Not that his lists look like anything but big inked circles, but he thinks he is making great organizational progress with them so I just let him go at it and I put my very important lists of nonsensical items on the other side of the paper.

Jake hates when I call him Jake, by the way. I don't know why I type it that way. When I talk about him I call him Jake. When I talk to him I call him Jacob. He is okay with you calling him Jake. Just not me. I'm allowed to call him Jacob or Baby, or Buddy on the days that he doesn't want to be a baby. There is hardly anything baby about him anymore. But he still does that thing sometimes where he will pretend to cry and ask me to hold him and pretend to give him a bottle. It is usually only when he is tired or overwhelmed, so I usually play along because I know he will only let me for so long.