I Want To

"I want to" has been the theme at our house over the past several days. Jake wants to do everything himself. Whether it is feeding himself with a spoon, pulling up, pushing buttons on toys, eating big boy food...he wants to do it all himself!

I WANT TO FEED MYSELF: Meals have become almost a mini tug-of-war between Jake and I for the spoon. Half the time, when I move the spoon towards his mouth, he tries to grab it and do it himself. The problem with that...he grabs the end with the food on it and it goes everywhere. When I do let Jake attempt to feed himself, he can get the spoon in his mouth perfectly...it's removing the spoon that is the problem. He will leave the spoon in his mouth until I attempt to pull it out and the then he puts the death grip on it :) By the time I get the spoon out, whatever food was on the spoon is also all over his hands and face. I think it's good for him to try to feed himself with the spoon so I don't want to stop letting him try, but it sure is a mess. I've tried giving him a seperate spoon to "feed himself" with, but then he sits with that spoon in his mouth instead of letting me feed him.

I WANT TO EAT YOUR FOOD: Jake has also started paying lots of attention to us when we eat "grown up" food. He will stare and mash his gums like he is taking bites. It is very cute. Lately at lunchtime he has been eyeballing my food big time. I have given him tiny bites of bread when I have a sandwich and he does well eating them. A couple of days ago he kept reaching for my apple wedge. I knew he liked apples because he eats applesauce all the time, so I let him try gumming one of my apple wedges. He loved it! I didn't think he'd be able to get a bite out of it, but since he has 4 teeth now, he did manage to get a couple small bites. He swalled them fine so I think when we will have an easy transistion to table food when it is time. We also tried some strawberry and peach, but he made a disgusted face when we let him try!

I WANT TO STAND UP: Jake wants to stand, ALL THE TIME! He tries to pull up on any big toy or Stephen or I. The only toy he can successfully pull up on for now is his sing and stage, and only if he is sitting on my leg to start with. Even so, he pops up like a champ once he is in that position. At first he was wobbly, but now he is solid once he is in position, so much so that I felt comfortable stepping back to take a picture. The only drawback to his love for standing is that he is not of fan of being down on his tummy anymore, which is kind of important for learning to crawl!

I WANT TO SHOW OFF MY TEETH: Jake now has his two top and two bottom teeth, and loves smiling and showing them off. He loves clicking them together, clicking his tounge, and making lots of new sounds. "Da" "Na" "Ffff" "Thhh" all seem to become clearer each day.

I WANT TO READ THE MAIL: When ever I check the mail, Jake is always grabbing for whatever piece is in my hand. Today we got mail I knew he would love! Jake loves looking at pictures of babies and we got a little ad for a baby store today with lots of baby pictures. He was in heaven checking out all the babies.

it started out in good shape...

...but then he realized it made a cool noise when he crumpled it...

...and that it tasted good when he ate it! and now that he has teeth, I have to watch close for little pieces getting torn off in his mouth!

I WANT TO PUSH THE BUTTONS: Lately, Jake's fine motor skills have started developing more and more. He can spin, twist, and push all the doo-dads on his toys. Here is a video of him playing with his radio.

I WANT TO CLAP: Jake is working on clapping as well. Right now he claps things together when he holds them in his hands, almost constantly. He does it with links, blocks, and rings. Lately, he will also reach over and take my hand to clap a toy against it as well. He also likes to hold my hands while I clap them. I have a feeling his hands will be clapping on their own soon.

I WANT TO DO IT: He loves playing with his pop-up Sesame Street toy. He can close the "lids" to the characters very well, which I have been trying to catch on video for a long time and finally did today. It was close to naptime so he wasn't playing with his usual excitement, but he is still showing off his skill :)

I have a feeling there will be lots of "I can do its" in our future as Jake gets older :)