Today, Jacob Andrew Bandi turns 2 years old. He is quite the kid and we love him so much. I don't know that I can capture his spunky personality in mere words, but I will try to paint a picture of Jake as a toddler.
Tidbits Of A Two Year Old Jake:
- Jake loves his dogs and wrestles them down to the ground with love. If you are ever looking for "T" and "Bow," you will find them hiding under the bed.
- Little Bit adores his family and can name most of his family members even if he doesn't see them often. He will tell you that Daddy says, "Hi Buddy," GP says, "Hi Big Man," GM says, "No no," Opa says, "Hi Jake-O," and Oma says, "Pie!" (Disclaimer - GM said no to Jake once when he climbed on her elliptical machine. He imitated her perfectly, GP laughed, and that's all it took for Jake to repeat it over and over.)
- Jake says many words and can repeat anything. He puts together 2-3 word sentences such as: Daddy is funny. Love you Mommy. Bella is cute. Watch Mickey!
- If Jake is being silly, he will call you a "cheeseburger monkey yoyo." No idea why.
- Our big boy can count to 20, although he usually skips 4 and mumbles from 14-18, but triumphantly yells 20!
- He can sing many songs with help such as: ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, 3 Little Monkeys, Bringing Home A Baby Bumble Bee, along with selections from Fresh Beat Band, Spaghetti Eddie, and Laurie Berkner.
- Smarty Pants knows most of his colors and many shapes.
- Jake is a mover and a shaker: He jumps on and off of anything, dances with style, and runs very fast! He imitates his favorite dances from Fresh Beat Band and does a great Mickey Mouse Hot Dog Dance.
- Our book worm loves to read. He takes books into his crib with him and reads before he goes to sleep and when he wakes up. He "reads" me stories using memory and picture clues and has many books partially memorized. Favorites include Once Upon A Potty, Elmo Goes To School, and most of the books that we have read to him since he was an infant.
- Jake loves to play outside at the park and in the backyard.
- He has become a bit of a picky eater. Not much of a breakfast fan (unless it's bacon), and likes the same things without much variety although we encourage him to try new things. Jake loves most fruits, cucumbers, rice, meat, chicken, and anything else we can convince him are one of the above mentioned things. Snacks are another story - he's a fan! Jake has a sweet tooth for cake, cookies, and especially pie! Good thing he's active and brushes his teeth obsessively.
- Jake is a friendly fella who loves playgroup and school. We've come a long way - the other day when I told him goodbye at school, he said, "No kisses. Bye bye Mommy." It didn't even break my heart as I was so proud that he no longer screams when I leave.
- Our toddler is learning to share and take turns. Sometimes he likes to take a bite of dog food and then say, "it's T's turn" as he shoves a handful of kibble into poor Tank's mouth.
- Jake's new fetish (thanks to GM) is cleaning up. When he's done with something, he announces "clean up" and then sings the song. The other day he put an entire bowl of dog food into Daddy's shoe and then ordered the dogs to "clean up!"
- Jake uses the potty to pee pee, but not on his own yet. We'll get there...
- Big Man loves cars! He likes to count them in parking lots and tell you what color they are.
- Thanks to nightly bath time with Daddy, Jake knows most of his body parts and their quantities (including some that would make you blush). Also, thanks to Daddy, he will announce if he (or anyone else for that matter) has "tummy gas" or "butt gas."
- Jake is definitely a sports fan! He will go up to Daddy and say, "Watch football game." He loves to shoot baskets and toss the football. Jake can recognize the Thunder logo!
- Our Jake is a tough guy, but gives lots of hugs and kisses.
I could go on and on but I'm sure it's evident what a cool kid Mr. Jake is and how much we truly love him. He is such a joy!
Stay tuned for more fun this year - Jake's birthday party, first trip to the beach, adventures in potty training, big boy beds, and becoming a big brother.
Shanda
