Jacob and his friends

Backing up a bit, Jacob has been very interested in playing with his friends. He knows the names of all the kids in our playgroup, and even learned a lot of names of the kids in our ECFE class. Every time we are going somewhere, he asks which of his friends will be there. It's very cute to see them having fun together! In no particular order, here are some pictures of Jacob with the kids he knows:

Himself, of course. He was kissing himself in the mirror after seeing how pretty he is with a bow in his hair!

This is Jacob with my friend Kelly's son, William. We met in Rochester over Memorial weekend to let the boys play at a park, and to see each other's new daughters (they are about a month apart). The boys were more interested in running around than playing together, but Kelly managed to get them to stand near each other for this picture.

This is with his playgroup buddy, Brody. Sometimes if I don't pay attention, I mistake one of them for the other when they are running around!

And of course, Jacob with his friend Scarlett. This was at the truck display last week. They were splashing in a puddle left by the big water spraying truck. I'm not sure of the truck's actual name.

Jacob's Best Day Ever (part 2)

Jacob has done a great job in his first week of real potty training. He's pretty good about going when we say it's time, and the only thing he's not doing is telling us when he has to go. That should come pretty quickly once he gets in the habit of it.

We had a small incident earlier this week, in which the "deflector shield" of his potty seat was flushed down the toilet. Jacob was pretty concerned, but after a trip to his favorite store, he was in possession of an even better potty seat. This one has Disney's Cars on it! Maybe it was just meant to be. We made sure right away that the same fate would not come to the new seat. This one is better designed so the shield shouldn't fall in. I'll spare you all the picture, but if you come to our house you will surely get to see it. He is extremely proud of it.

Anyway, he's been earning a sticker every time he goes potty. He decided to put them in a notebook. When he gets 25 stickers, he gets to pick out a new toy car (he doesn't get what 25 means, but he knows he needs a lot of them). Today, he reached his first set of 25 stickers! We made another trip to his favorite store, and he chose a set of 4 cars from (surprise to no one) the movie Cars. I let him get it, with the understanding that he only gets one at a time. He was OK with that. Here are some pictures of his excitement:

Jacob with his book of stickers, and his new King car on the right

Even the stickers are Cars! (Notice that he's already well on his way to his next car)

He looks mad here, but it's just his "cheese" face

One other big piece of news: today, for the first time ever, he woke up dry after his nap. I still put him in a diaper for sleeping, but he went to the potty right before and right after nap. It worked. Way to go, Jacob!

Jacob's Best Day Ever (part 1)

Today may have been the single most exciting day of Jacob's young life. We'll start at the beginning. This morning our local library hosted a "Big Rig Show and Tell" featuring large trucks that belong to the city and county. There was no way we could miss this event!

First up was a fire engine. Jacob got to climb inside and check out all the switches, buttons, and equipment.

He looks pretty small standing next to a uniform! At one point during the event, the fire engine got called away and had its lights and siren going. Jacob thought that was very exciting. It blew its horn as it went through an intersection, and now Jacob likes to imitate that in addition to his siren sound.

After that, we moved on to a cherry picker truck. Sadly, they were not giving rides in the best part of the truck, but Jacob still got to "drive" it.

Continuing the tour of trucks that are unidentifiable in my close up pictures, this is Jacob driving a snow plow.

Riding a snowmobile, which I've never seen in use around town but I'm sure has a very good purpose.

One of Jacob's favorites: giant lawn mower

Standing in front of what Jacob calls a "big tractor"

Sitting in the wheel of the above big tractor

After almost a half hour of mostly patient waiting, Jacob finally got to drive the big tractor.

Getting a good view out of that high up window

Photo Slideshow

Mariella's first 3 months in pictures is at the right of the blog. I'm hoping to be able to do one every 3 months through her first birthday, like I did for Jacob.

Speaking of Jacob, he is doing great in these early days of using the potty! He's been wearing pull-ups for most of the day, and they stay mostly dry. He doesn't really enjoy having to try the potty every hour, but mostly because he doesn't want to stop what he's doing. He started a sticker book for his "potty stickers," and I'm sure he'd love to show it off sometime! We even took his seat along to Grandpa and Grandma S's last weekend and he was really good about using it! We know this is a long journey, but Jacob is off to a good start. We are so proud of him!

3 months old and a new crib

Here are Mariella's 3 month pictures. She's growing! We also got the new crib and assembled it. I still really liked our other one, and we almost bought another just like it (and hoped it wouldn't get recalled) but there weren't any in stock. This crib was actually our second choice when we bought the first crib, so we are still happy with it. And now Mariella gets her own fresh, new crib, without all the chew marks that Jacob put into his.

You always have to taste the puppy. And tip over.

Hmmm...not so sure about this new bed

Warming up to it a little

Giving it a good test, and deciding that it's pretty good for rolling

OK, she likes it. We can keep it! She hasn't slept in it yet, but she has been sleeping in the bassinet right next to the crib. Mariella officially has her own room!

My mommy did it (so don't laugh)

Jacob has always gotten very nice haircuts at a place just for kids. However, this summer we thought he would be more comfortable (less sweaty) with a nice short buzz cut. It didn't seem to make sense to pay someone else to run a clippers over his head, especially with all the inexpensive kits at Target calling out to me.

So...tonight we gave it a try. It turned out pretty good, considering that Jacob can't be frozen into place. You'll see the spot where he got a nice close shave because he moved. I'm not afraid to try it again. I even offered to cut Tom's hair next time. He hasn't given me a firm answer yet.

The before - even Jacob seems skeptical that this was a good idea

The aftermath

After a bath, enjoying a snack

This is the side where he moved and got a nice close shave by his ear

The back view

A little photo shoot

The basement of our house is probably the least ideal place to take pictures, but Mariella was having some tummy time one night and was just being so cute that I had to give it a shot.

Hey, what are you doing with that thing?

Look at my cute dimples and my crazy hair!

I have a tongue too. Check that out!

Looking unsure about taking many more pictures

Starting to get a little tired of this

I'm completely done, get me off this thing!