Jacob - 24 months

Where do I even begin with you, my sweet little boy??

Let's start with the obvious- how much your daddy and I love you. There are no words to accurately express the love we have for you, but let me just say that you are easily my greatest blessing and I cannot thank God enough for you. You are the greatest joy I've ever experienced and I thank you for that!

As you get older, your personality is really starting to blossom. I'll do a quick breakdown on your personality.

60% rambunctious boy - you're always playing with trucks, cars, planes, trains...anything that "goes." I often find you crashing your cars together, or lining them up for a race. It's wild how boys really are wired like that! You love being outside in the dirt, but you don't like your hands to be dirty for too long (totally get this from your mom). You also love animals, the movie "Cars", singing and dancing, and you've recently started bringing us books to read to you (this is new to us, as you usually can't sit still long enough).

20% goofy/silly/funny boy - you are always making us laugh! You do the silliest things, and are now saying the most hilarious stuff! Where you get some things from, I'll never know? If we laugh, or someone on TV, you instantly throw your head back and crack up. Which is just the cutest! 

10% compassionate boy - as silly and wild as you can be, you're also very quick to apologize when you hurt someone, and you offer kisses and hugs allllll the time. It really melts my heart. You hate to see people sad or cry, and will often give random kids hugs at the park if they get hurt. I just love this part of you! You've also started saying "luv you", which is easily the sweetest thing I've ever heard!!

10% terror/turd boy - you rarely throw a tantrum, when you do it's because we won't let you have or do something, and that's usually because it's dangerous or not good to eat cookies for breakfast. ;) We find the best way to deal with your tantrums is to talk you through it and let you know that we understand your frustrations. You quickly bounce out of it. There are, however, those occasions when you just won't stop doing something and that usually involves some tears and timeout. But really, I cannot complain in this department. 

You're also getting so so smart! It really amazes me! You learn something new every day and are always very proud to show it off. You know all your animals, sounds, colors, shapes, etc. You also love to tell people that you're "two!" You remember everything. If I tell you something the day before, I can assume you'll remember the next day now. Your speech is growing by leaps and bounds lately, too. You actually repeat things I say, which is making learning a lot easier! :) 

In terms of physical activity, you can RUN, like fast. You also love throwing balls, kicking soccer balls, hitting baseballs, hitting golf balls, swinging on BIG boy swings, climbing up ladders and sliding down slides. All of these things you can easily do on your own. You don't care too much about arts and crafts, and don't really like to color. Which I'm kinda ok with, because it ends up being a mess. :) You do like sidewalk chalk though!

At the end of the day, you are absolutely perfect in our eyes and we seriously couldn't love you any more than we do. You will always be our little baby boy, even if you have a younger sibling and even if you're taller than us.

We love you, Jacob Monroe. Thank you for being you, and thank you for letting us be your parents, and thank you for loving me.

Age: 24 months

Height: 37.25" (100%+)

Weight: 32lbs 8oz (92%)

Milestones: I listed a lot above

Sleep: Still really good! He generally goes to bed around 8-8:30 and wakes up around 8-9. Depending when he wakes up, he takes a nap around 1-2 and sleeps for 1.5-2 hours.

Eating: He eating better now. I guess my expectations of how much he should be eating were a little off, so we just let him eat as much or as little as he wants, and leave it at that! He still doesn't like vegetables (which I hear is quite common at this age), but he loves most fruit, especially strawberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, pineapple. He likes chicken and hot dogs, and will sometimes eat red meat. He also loooves all kinds of pasta, bread and cheese.

Clothes size: 3T

Diaper size: Size 5 Cruisers, although we will be moving up to size 6 with his next box.

Teeth: 16 total- he got his 2 top canines!

Favorite toy: He is SUCH a boy- he loves all his trucks, Jeeps, tractors, etc. He also still loves his mower when he's outside. He also really loves the swingset we got him for his birthday. He can swing on the big boy swings, climb up the wooden ladder and go down the slide...all by himself! It seriously blows my mind!

Personality: I talked about this above

Best Moment: this month has been really fun, I can't think of one thing in particular.

Worst Moment: nothing, really...

Looking forward to: so many things- next week he starts a new level at swim class, which does not require me to be in the pool. Also in the fall, he'll be going to pre-school twice a week at our church. I'm sure lots of tears will be shed at both, but I'm so so excited to see him grow his independence!!