leenaok

Jacob’s 12th tooth (upper right molar) is coming in. I think after this comes the canine teeth. Perhaps now is the time to have his pictures taken. Yes, I know I take pictures of him every week, but I'm talking about quality studio pics. I figure it's been almost a year so I should take him to Portrait Innovations before he loses his adorable 4-toothed-smile.

Today Jacob blew his first kiss! It was very sweet. He might not say any words (that count) but at least he can show love and affection. On his terms, of course!

Here are Jacob's stats from his 18 month check-up.

Height: 31" or 12th percentile (from 30.5"/16th percentile)
Weight: 22 ½ lbs or 9th percentile (from 21 lbs/4th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.5" or 25th percentile (from 18.27"/20th percentile).

Jacob's head circumference is still his strongest area! I know at this age you can't predict how tall they will be but they way it's looking right now, Jacob is going to be a short kid with a big brain. That is, unless his height kicks into overdrive at some point. Doubtful, but possible!

The Waldenbooks in the local mall is going out of business. The good part is everything is 40-70% off. The bad part is, despite the discount, I still spent a lot of money buying books for Alisha. What can I say, I LOVE buying things for my kids! The one thing about Alisha is that she reads her books several times each, so at least I get my money’s worth. Hopefully Jacob will be the same way, but I wouldn’t bet on it! Speaking of Jacob, I actually bought him a book too. It was probably a bad idea but we’ll see what happens. Currently he only enjoys books if he can rip pages out of them. He’s even torn up board books! I’ve tried reading to him in the past, but I feel like it’s just a waste of time. I know I shouldn’t give up so easily. I remember how much Alisha enjoyed hearing “Good Night, Moon”; it’s such a sweet, classic bed-time story. Now she’s reading 300 and 400 page books all by herself!  How quickly they become independent! 

Today Jacob got a hold of a piece of colored chalk and scribbled on the wall. No big deal, in the grand scheme of things, but it is a first in the Kurian household. In her 7 ½ years, Alisha has never colored or drawn on the walls! The closest she ever got was probably when she was around 3 or 4; she spilled a few drops of bright pink nail polish on our off-white couch while attempting to paint her nails. She felt terrible about it afterwards and it never happened again. I know I shouldn’t compare Alisha and Jacob but it’s hard not to. I just realized I should have taken a picture of Jacob's masterpiece before wiping it off. I'm hoping it won't happen again but ya never know.

Last night Sanjay bought fireworks and lit them up right in front of our house.


 
Alisha and I enjoyed it, but Jacob was scared of the loud popping sounds so he ran to me and held onto my leg every chance he got. This year Alisha was given permission to stay up and ring in 2010 with her parents. At midnight, when she made the phone calls to our parents and siblings, everyone was surprised to hear Alisha’s voice on the other end. Alisha LOVED staying awake until after midnight; she felt like such a big girl! It’s hard to believe her 2 week vacation is over and it’s back to school on Monday!

And the kids are back! Alisha says she missed us but I know she enjoyed her mini-vacation from her parents. No chores, no bed-time, mac 'n' cheese every day; it was the life!

My in-laws gave us a glowing report about Jacob's behavior so I am sure they won't hesitate to have him stay with them in the future. I won't hesitate to let him stay with them either :) Hey, it's not easy spending 24/7 with Jacob. Errands take longer, you can't go shopping (except online) and the house never stays clean. If I do go shopping, I try to plan my outing during Jacob's nap-time (which doesn't always work). If Jacob's awake all he wants to do is walk around and touch everything he can. I don't blame him for that, he's a toddler and they are very curious. The problem lies with the word NO, that's when the tantrums kick in. And if it's a choice between going out and dealing with tantrums or staying home, then I'd rather stay at home. I basically go all day without speaking to anyone over the age of 1 1/2, until I pick up Alisha from school. People assume that the stay-at-home life is glamorous and fabulous but I really find it isolating and quite lonely at times. I know I'm supposed to enjoy my kids while they are young and everything, but I really can't wait for Jacob to get a little older. Like, 4 is a fun age. On the flip side, Jacob getting older means I'll be getting older too...

At least I have my never-ending home organization projects. And my website. And my blog. And Amazon.com :)

Sooo, back to Christmas.  Here's our Christmas tree. You'll notice no ornaments on the bottom other than bows.  We had some unbreakable ornaments on there but Jacob started removing them, one by one, so I moved them to higher branches.  Fortunately, he wasn't too interested in the bows (which is why there are still some left).  He is totally the opposite of Alisha, who always asked for permission before touching any of the ornaments.
  
Alisha had a wonderful time opening up and digging into all of her Christmas goodies. Jacob had fun just playing with wrapping paper and anything else he could get a hold of. Jacob’s presents included a whole slew of musical instruments and some clothes. Alisha’s presents included books, clothes, musical instruments and some games. I haven’t bought toys or dolls for Alisha in a couple of years. Why bother, when she gets plenty of them for birthdays? Nowadays I've been buying Alisha more gender-neutral activities that Jacob can enjoy when he gets older. It’s all about hand-me-downs!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! This year we spent Christmas in Tampa. It was an interesting Christmas because Alisha, who is now 7½, is starting to wizen up. As always, there were a pile of presents under the tree when we arrived in Tampa.
 
We opened our presents on Christmas Eve, which is okay except when you have a kid who expects Santa to deliver presents on Christmas morning. So, after Alisha opened up all of her presents, she wondered aloud what Santa was going to bring her the next day. She knew that the presents under the tree were from her grandparents; for example, there were Indian clothes that she knew they’d bought from their trip to India. I told her, “I don’t think Santa is going to be delivering any presents to you in Tampa, I think he’s just going to be visiting Fort Myers this year.” Alisha had all these questions, like “Why? He brought presents to New York when I was there [last year]?” My mother in law was disappointed that Alisha didn’t believe that it was Santa who brought the presents for her, so, on Saturday (mind you, this is two days later), she told Alisha some story that Santa delivered the presents early for her this year. Alisha repeated the story to me in front of her Ammachi, but told me later on that she thought Ammachi just made it up. I told her it was fine and not to worry because I was sure Santa had brought presents for her in Fort Myers.

Whew! I want Alisha to believe in Santa for years to come, but this could prove to be a lot of work! I mean it’s never been a problem in Fort Myers, since we have never actually been at home on Christmas day; we are either celebrating the holiday in New York or Tampa. So next year I have to keep this in mind when we’re in New York. There’s something really sweet about a child who believes in Santa. It’s part of their innocence, you know? And once they don’t believe anymore, then that’s it; that stage of their life is over! 

 
Steve was visiting from NJ, so we enjoyed a Honey Baked Ham Christmas dinner, with Cajun turkey and ham. It was good, but I actually would have preferred chicken curry and fried beef, Kerala Kitchen style (a South Indian restaurant in NY). As for Honey Baked’s Cajun turkey, it was good but I still prefer Sanjay’s Thanksgiving turkey :)
 

So, Alisha and Jacob are spending this weekend in Tampa with their grandparents. This is the first time Jacob is staying over with my in-laws, so we’ll see how it goes. There’s a reason they haven’t requested him to stay with them until now, at 18 months (versus Alisha at 2 months), and it’s because he can be a lot of work. In the meantime, I’ve been luxuriating in kid-free time which has been very nice indeed. I’ve been going from store to store, checking out the after-Christmas sales. You forget how quickly you can get in and out of a store when you don’t have a toddler in tow! Anyway, the kids will be back in a couple of days and Alisha will finally get to open her Christmas presents. She can’t wait to get back home because I told her there were a TON of presents waiting for her and Jacob under the tree!

Hooray, Jacob’s cast came off today, in time for Christmas!!! If I thought Jacob was wriggly when they put the cast ON, it did not compare to the way he screamed and squirmed while the ortho tech sawed off his cast!!! Jacob’s worn the cast for so long that he probably considers it part of his body, so I guess it’s understandable that he react to the way he did. Fortunately the saw itself is not sharp; it can only cut through the cast. Poor Jacob, I felt bad for him, but I am happy that he is now cast-free! He can finally take a normal bath again. And boy, his foot really STINKS from being in a cast for a month; it could take a FEW baths to totally get rid of the stink of old cheese.

So, did the cast work? Well, not 100% but his foot is definitely straighter. The orthopedist suggested a follow-up visit in a few months, at which time we may have to re-cast Jacob’s foot for another month (!) Hopefully it won’t come to that, but if it does then I will probably go with a different cast color, maybe blue or red?

So, a few weeks ago Alisha shut the back door on Jacob’s thumb. There was a little bleeding around the cuticle area and there were a LOT of tears from both Jacob and Alisha. Fortunately Jacob’s thumb did not suffer any damage. Alisha blamed it on Jacob, because, “He’s the one who put his hand there.” I reminded Alisha that she she’s 7 years old and Jacob’s only 18 months old so SHE needs to be careful to look out for Jacob’s fingers when she closes a door! Oh, the responsibilities of a big sis!

Anyway, today I discovered that Jacob’s thumbnail has lifted off of his nail bed! Jacob was playing around with the nail, so I cut off as much as I could. Hopefully it will grow back normally.

BTW Jacob’s lower left molar is coming in now. This is his 11th tooth!

It’s already been 2 weeks since Jacob first got his cast. I don’t know why I thought the cast would slow him down, but it hasn’t. Jacob's back to his old self, RUNNING around the house and CLIMBING on top of whatever he can!

 

BTW Jacob’s upper left molar is coming in. This will be tooth number 10 so we’re halfway there!

Jacob got a cast today. His left foot has had a slight curve (inward) since he was born. I’ll admit I was sensitive about the topic when my in-laws first brought it up, but can you blame me? I think most parents (especially moms) are offended when people point things out about their children that aren’t perfect.  Anyway, kids with a curve in their foot usually grow out of it after they start walking. In Jacob’s case that didn’t happen so it had to be addressed. After a two month wait for an appointment, we finally met with the pediatric orthopedist. He suggested either a special shoe or a cast. Knowing that Jacob doesn’t like to keep shoes on his feet for more than 10 minutes at a time, we opted for the cast. Once I realized they were going to put on the cast then and there, I wished I had my camera to take a picture of his foot. I know, I’m strange like that. Although I LOVE my dSLR, it is NOT a portable camera. I tried to take it on some of our outings (to the mall, dinner, etc) but it was kind of a hassle because it takes up SO much space (especially in its case). Now I understand why most dSLR owners have a compact camera. They say the best photo is the one that is taken. So, having a compact camera would be better than having no camera at all, especially because it’d mean I could have a camera on me all the time. I ran my thought process by Sanjay and he was not exactly overjoyed at the thought of getting another camera. However in my mind, it’s a matter of when, not if.  After all, doesn’t Sanjay deserve his own camera (one that I can borrow anytime I want)? :D

Right. So, back to Jacob. They offered us a choice of cast colors, and we chose green (more accurately, highlighter green). Poor Jacob did not know what was going on. He was wriggling around so much that it took three of us (me, Sanjay, plus the medical assistant) to hold him still. And now our almost 17-month old has a cast that goes from his foot almost up to his knee. He also has to wear a little boot on his left foot (to keep him from slipping), which means he needs to wear a shoe on the right foot to keep him balanced. So, we’ve got 4 weeks of this. I’m sure bath time is going to be fun. Either I have to keep his foot out of the tub, or I have to put a plastic bag over the cast and secure it with a rubber band because it cannot get wet. 4 weeks. At least it’ll be out by Christmas. And I’m sure Jacob is gonna get a lot of sympathy from his grandparents, who will all be here this week for Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, my parents are already in town!

Jacob has been drooling quite a bit lately. I checked his gums and discovered his first molars are coming in! First one up is the lower right molar.

It’s amazing how a 6 year age gap between kids can make everything seem like it’s happening for the first time. :)

Yesterday was Jacob’s 15 month check-up. Jacob is now 30 ½ inches tall (16th percentile), and weighs 21 lbs (4th percentile). Yes, he is small for his age but I’m not surprised; the kid doesn’t exactly have "tall" genes. He’s still wearing size 6-9 month shirts and 9-12 month tops and bottoms. 12-18 month clothes are just too big on him. As it is, he doesn’t have enough butt to keep his 9-12 month pants up! I guess I should be happy that we’ve gotten our money’s worth out of Jacob’s clothes, however he’s been wearing the same outfits for a year and I was hoping by now he’d be sporting some new looks. Despite this, I’m still buying new clothes for him. I know, I can’t resist a good deal. Of course, nothing beats shopping for girls’ clothes. I usually leave Childrens’ Place or Gymboree with several items for Alisha, and maybe one item for Jacob. Good thing he’s not old enough to care. There’s no doubt that girls’ clothes RULE!

In the lead is Jacob’s head circumference (18 ¼”) which is in the 20th percentile. It probably means he’s got a big brain; that doesn’t surprise me either. Jacob has definitely got a mind of his own. It’s either his way or he throws a fit.  Why did the terrible twos have to start so early??  Alisha was such a model child; she did not prepare me for Jacob at all! Dealing with Jacob's shenanigans makes me feel like a first time parent. I knew my second child was not going to be as easy as my first, but I didn't realize just how challenging it would be.  Oh well, I suppose I had to pay the price eventually. *sigh*

Didn’t I say it wouldn’t be long before Alisha started talking about contact lenses? Well, guess what she brought up the other day, after just 7 months of wearing glasses! I told her we could talk about contacts when she was 16. That’s how old I was when I got mine. That’s fair, right??

In JTK news, he has officially moved into his own bedroom, yay! We had to do some rearranging, so now the treadmill is in our room and the crib is in the guest bedroom next door. I wonder if he’ll even notice he’s in a different room. I thought 16 months was a good age for him to be moved, although I would have been AOK with it happening sooner, like at 12 months. With Alisha we waited until she was 18 months, but we really didn’t have a choice back then. We lived in a 2 bedroom apartment and our guest bedroom did not have enough space for both a crib and a queen-size bed. As for decorating Jacob’s new room, it is the last thing on my never-ending "to-do" list! Speaking of my baby boy, he just started turning on and off the light switch. Fortunately he needs out help to get to the light switch, but once he's tall enough to reach it, I can see his new skill being really annoying!

I taught Jacob how to count from 1 to 5. Okay, so he doesn’t actually SAY the numbers but he does hold out his hand and wiggle his fingers, like he's counting along with me. What comes out of his mouth is more like, "zih, zih, zih," I’m not in any rush for him to start talking; I actually think his babbling is really cute. I wish he would stand still long enough for me to do some video-recording of his babbling because I know his grandparents can’t get enough of listening to their grandson "talk".

Jacob may not have any spoken words but he is finally starting to understand us. When we say, "Bedtime," he will cry, grab his blanket and walk to the stairs.

This weekend we went to Port St. Lucie to celebrate (Sam & Sonya’s daughter) Jasmine’s first birthday party. It was a good weekend to be out and about. The weather was perfect for outdoor water play, not a cloud in sight! Alisha was concerned that only babies would be at the party. Fortunately she had nothing to worry about; Alisha made friends with another 7 year old girl and they had lots of fun together. Jacob, the social butterfly, ran around, ate plenty, and slept well. What more could you ask from a 15 month old?

I’ve registered Jacob for a couple of programs to get him used to socializing with kids his own age. We go to Music Together class on Thursdays, and Playtime Pals (aka Mommy & Me) on Fridays. The classes are held at the Learning Tree, a preschool located in the local Jewish Temple.  The best part is the location, just 5 minutes from my house! 

The Music Together class has a lot of singing and dancing.  I figured it would be perfect for Jacob, who loves shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.   Unfortunately, he hasn't enjoyed it as much as i thought he would (or maybe he's just not showing it). I think it’ll just take time; he needs to get used to transitioning from one activity to another (and he hates to put his instruments away).

Alisha had no school today so she went with me and Jacob to his playtime class. Boy, did she love it! I’m pretty sure she was just happy to be included in snack-time, during which they had graham crackers.


Jacob really enjoys his playtime class!


It’s nice to have a space where Jacob is free to explore pretty much everything.

So far his favorite activities are going down the slide and "cooking" in the play kitchen. It makes me hopeful that (soon) one day I can enroll him in the Learning Tree.  The school offers a program for children beginning at 18 months.  It's only 2 days a week for 3 hours a day but something is better than nothing, and I could really use a break from him! 

I really wish Gymboree Play & Music hadn’t closed last year. I remember how much Alisha enjoyed it when she was around 2 and I’m positive I would have gotten my money’s worth with Jacob. Now the closest location is in Naples, and it’s not worth traveling a half-hour out of my way just for that.