19 months

This month brought the introduction of some new temper tantrums for Mr. Jakob.  Jakob wears his heart on his sleeve.  And it's a really big heart!  I am continuously amazed at how generous Jakob is towards others.  This is especially true with his brother.  All we have to do is ask Jakob to share a toy with his brother and 9 times out of 10 Jakob will oblige without a second thought.  Jakob will also put up with Mr. Bully Alex on most occasions.  But because Jakob feels his emotions so strongly it makes for an occasional temper tantrum.  And I think because Jakob is such an emotional little guy these temper tantrums can become extreme.  They can be set off for any reason.  But the good news is they usually pass quickly.  I think more and more Jakob wants to be able to communicate his feelings with us and this is the only way he knows how to do so.  And the tears!  That boy can turn on the waterworks in an instant.

We moved the boys from highchairs to booster seats right around Thanksgiving.  And Jakob can often sit at the table for a long time just eating away.  That boy does not miss a meal.  We now have to be really careful with the dogs too because if food isn't being tossed to them then a boy is handing food to them.  Alex is hit or miss with the booster seat but typically does just fine when I'm not around.  We are still trying to figure out this obsession that Alex has with being held by me ALL THE TIME!!  So there are times on the weekend that Alex will end up sitting on the bench next to me during dinnertime.  And of course eating is still hit or miss for our little string bean.  We have been giving the boys those pouches more and more just to be certain that Alex is getting some sort of nutritional value during the day.  We have also learned that Alex is just a really slow eater.  So as long as Alex is not fussy we just let him sit at the table a lot longer to finish his food.  We will also sometimes put the dogs out of the room and just let Alex roam around the house and finish dinner.  We really do whatever we need to to get food into his belly.

Jakob is babbling up a storm.  It's amazing to watch him have conversations with himself, with us, and with his toys.  I love when Jakob will come up to us and babble a complete sentence and then look at us waiting for a response.  He is like, "What?  What part of that did you not understand?"  I think there might be random real words in some of the babbling but it is often hard to tell.  And of course we continue to work with Alex on talking too.  We have gone to our first speech therapy appointment and I think it will be beneficial.  Alex did not have any new words this month but there have been moments where the babbling has increased a bit.  This typically happens when Alex gets excited about something or if Alex is playing alone and doesn't really think we are paying attention.

Jakob

Words: "Mom", "Hi", "Bye", "What's That?", "Woof", "Bottle", "Dog", "Vroom"

Alex

Words: "Mom", "Bye", "Woof", "Vroom"

But can we talk about receptive language.  It amazes me everyday with how much the boys understand.  It actually shocks me quite often when I will tell the boys to do something and they immediately go do it.  I often will speak out loud and ask them to do something not thinking they know how to do it.  It's also neat to watch them have certain jobs each day.  For example, Alex will turn off the upstairs light every morning and Jakob will turn off the Christmas Tree lights every night.  And they know to put their sippy cups on the kitchen counter after they have finished drinking them.  But then there is the stuff they know how to do that drives me crazy.

They can turn on the dishwasher.
They can unplug the television (no way to baby proof that one because of big plugs).
They can flush the toilet.
They can climb on top of the kitchen table.
They can throw items down the laundry shoot.
They can pull out drawers and stand in them.
They can climb anything and everything!

Alex is also learning from our dogs.  They are such great role models! (insert eye roll)  It is hilarious to watch Alex run around with a stuffed toy in his mouth.  He is also obsessed with wanting to drink water out of a bowl just like the dogs.  Please tell me that Alex will realize one day that he is not a dog and also please reassure me that Alex will not start to eat his poop!

The boys still sleep from 7:15pm - 7:00am.  We had some rough sleep nights the past month but I think a lot of that can be attributed to teeth.  Alex has a mouthful of teeth and I think Jakob is destined to have 2 bottom teeth for his entire life.  Though we finally see another tooth coming in on the bottom.  The boys take one nap during the day at 12:15pm.  They will sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours.  We never let them sleep longer than 3 hours.

So what do I want to remember about month 19?

Alex
* He loves to play "hide-n-go-seek" in the house.  The more you can scare Alex the better the game.
* He is obsessed with reading books.  Alex will sit with you for hours and point out pictures in books.
* We now scream our head off during bath time.
* Alex is really starting to like stuffed animals.  He will often carry one around the house.
* Alex loves cars.
* We have a new play fort in the playroom that has a slide.  Alex loves to go down head first!
* Alex has no fear (with the exception of strangers).

Jakob
* Jakob is still obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba.
* He gives Gretel a kiss and hug every morning when we come downstairs.
* Jakob loves to dance.  This includes twirling around in circles until he gets dizzy!
* Jakob is a big flirt!  And I'm afraid he will end up with a ton of girlfriends.  All a woman needs to do is smile at Jakob and he will melt into a puddle of nothing.  I'm serious.
* Jakob loves puzzles and legos.
* Jakob is obessed with milk and his sippy cup.  And he knows we keep the milk in the fridge!
* Jakob still gives open mouth kisses.

Mary