The first thing that comes to mind is how much he's like Curious George. He LOVES George. He has an magic shirt that's 18 month size but still fits great. I think we'll have to actually pack it away when he grows out of it because he'll get mad if he sees Gus wearing it. Luckily, Bryan's mom just bought him a new George shirt, so we'll be able to get rid of the old one easier. Jacob doesn't say many words, even though I know he can say a lot of words because he'll say them once or twice, but there's only a few he uses often. The rest of the time he makes noises like George and grabs our hands to bring us to where he wants to go, just like George. His other absolute favorite is Toy Story 1 and 2. If I need him to sit still for an extended amount of time, Toy Story is the preferred choice. There's a few other shows he'll watch (luckily for him, Phineas and Ferb is one of them. Otherwise Bryan would disown him), but we have to spread them out and only watch them occasionally for him to like them.
He's a pretty good help and a fantastic sharer when it's his decision to share. For instance, whenever I give him a banana he'll always break off a piece and give it to Gus. Always. On the other hand, when I give him orange slices, he'll eat off the orange and then "share" the peel with Gus. Always with a happy "Here you go!". I'd say he shares really well 85% of the time, which is great for a 2 year old. He loves helping. I guess in nursery they sing the Clean Up Song so whenever I ask him to pick his toys up, he'll start mumbling the song while he's doing it. He loves helping me with dishes. It took a while, but I finally figured out if I just have a few dishes in one side of the sink, then wash them and let him "rinse" them, it works out really well....as long as his shirt is off.
He loves making Gus smile. If there's a bottle around and Gus is crying, he'll run over and grab the bottle and bring it to him, even if Gus doesn't want it. He makes sure Gus takes the bottle. In the car if Gus is whining, he'll play Peek-A-Boo or make weird noises so Gus will laugh. Some of my favorite moments are when they're both laughing in the back seat and I look back and they're holding hands and laughing. He LOVES wresting with Gus and tickling him. We have to stop him at least a couple of times a day from tackling Gus or pulling him down by grabbing him around the neck. If they're apart for a few minutes (seriously, it only takes a few minutes), when he sees him again he yells "GUDDY!" and runs over to him. Then he usually tries to tackle him. But his greeting is cute. When they take naps and Jacob gets up first, he'll usually hear Gus before me and run over to his door saying "Uh Uh! Guddy! Guddy!" to get me to come open the door. They've started actually playing together and it's FANTASTIC. They'll occupy each other for a good 10-20 minutes, usually laughing the whole time.
Jacob's learning fast. He walks around counting stuff and LOVES finding the letters O, E, D, C, and A. If he's upset in public, I'll ask him to find O and he'll start looking around trying to find it. He's getting really good at matching stuff and putting things in order...maybe a little OCD about it sometimes. He's always been a block guy and loves stacking things and putting things in containers, so I'm not really surprised about this. He loves books and remembers them really well. We'll go through his books and I'll pull one out and he'll say "Ummm, no" or "YEAH!" depending on his mood that night. We're working on emotions and he mimics them all the time now. It's awesome when he gets mad about something but now when it's not really a big deal instead of throwing a tantrum he makes a sad face. There was a picture of a bull dog on the tv and he drags me over to the tv and points at the dog, then makes a mad face. It was hilarious. Old McDonald and You Are My Sunshine are his two favorite songs and when I sing Wheels on the Bus to Gussy he joins in, especially on the "all through the town" part.
He's starting to play pretend more lately. He has a couple of animal figurines and he likes making them talk or act stuff out. It's fun to watch him observe a situation, then act it out later. If I want him to eat something and he won't give it a chance, if I pretend to feed whatever toy he's carrying around at the moment he'll usually take a bite afterwards. He really likes making whatever toy he has do whatever he's doing too. He was playing with the salad spinner and made his Curious George push on the salad spinner too. We were watching Mary Poppins and he was dancing, then he grabbed his dog and made him dance around with him.
He's so sweet. He loves snuggling and if I'm sitting on the floor or couch, no matter where he is he gets up and sits on my lap. He's started giving real kisses and likes giving kisses, as well as making whatever toy or stuffed animal he's holding give me kisses too. He tends to snuggle with me more than Bryan, so anytime Bryan can get him to snuggle with him is a victory. If he comes in our room before it's time to get up, Bryan will get him to lay on the bed and snuggle with him for a little while so I can sleep. He'll run over and give me a big hug a couple of times a day, just for fun (sometimes I think it's because he's playing pretend and doing something weird, but I'll take it).
So all the previous stuff makes him sound like he has no faults. However, he is super weird. Like, super weird. He carries rocks around in his mouth. He has a few favorite rocks that I'll find around the apartment and the other day when we went for a walk he found a few more and I only let him keep one. He carried it in his mouth the rest of the day. (He's only gotten sick enough to go to the doctor once, so I'll let him keep eating dirt as long as it's keeping him healthy). I love watching him with older kids because he thinks he's playing but really he's just running around in circles and usually getting in the way. We went to the park and some kids were rolling down a hill. One girl got on her scooter and rode it down the hill. Jacob attempted rolling, then just sat on his butt like the girl did on the scooter and scooted his way down the hill, yelling "Whee!" the whole time. Me and Bryan just sat there laughing at him. He likes shaking his head from side to side as fast as he can - I think it gives him the same feeling as spinning in circles. He does it in public and I'll admit, it's embarrassing. If we don't catch him in time, he has been known to run up to random little kids, yell in their face, then run away. He also assumes any little kid is talking to him and will yell across grocery stores if he hears another kid.
Overall, it's been a very busy year. I think it's hard for any little kid to adjust to another sibling and Jacob really has done great. While he's definitely 2, he really tries super hard to be a good kid and while some days are harder than others, he never really has a full bad day - just moments throughout a day. He's a great older brother and I'm super excited to see how he and Gus interact as they get older. I'm also really excited to hear the weird things he has to say when he can talk better.
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