Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, dear Jacob,

Happy birthday to you!

It’s impossible, but there it is. Friday, Jacob turned two, and we celebrated with our dear friends the Laughlins and Gayle. There was cake, fingerpainting, presents, wily antics on the part of the little ones, and a lot of laughter. It was so nice to capture a relaxed and wonderful birthday weekend, after the stress of last year. (We arrived in CA the day before Jacob’s first birthday.)

Jacob is nothing if not ready for the twos. Talking, doing simple jigsaw puzzles, singing, dancing, running, playing games, imagining up a storm, demanding book after book after book. In some ways, I’m much less suited to being the mother of a toddler–nothing much bothered me about baby care, but whining gives me a headache within the first 0.02 seconds. On the other hand, this is such an exciting and wonderful time that I can’t imagine missing it.

I’m sure I’ll feel that way about every age, though.

It will be the first time I’ve been away from Jacob overnight since his birth almost two years ago. He’s changed so much over the last two years I can scarcely contain it all in my head. He’s still my little baby, in my head. Here in the real world, though, he’s absolutely becoming his own articulate and capable person.

We’ve been preparing him for the weekend the way we prepare him for everything, by talking about it endlessly beforehand. The other day, out of nowhere, he looked up from his trucks and said:

“Mommy fly Maine in airplane for weekend… funeral?

Um, hello? Was I ever really worried about him speaking late?

Pfeiffer falls itself is beautiful and tranquil, even on a busy Sunday.

There are also some big trees there. I think Dad was most taken with the smell, which is wonderful and fresh.

After that hike, we were all getting pretty hungry so we had a great lunch with a view at Nepenthe, and then motored on home. Where, of course, there was more fun to be had. Pop-pop is the best at playing telephone.

And today, Dad firmly established himself as Jacob’s Hero by taking him to the local fire department to visit some engines.

Jacob was a little afraid of the loudspeaker announcing local incidents, but was extremely impressed by both the five fire engines at the station and the firefighter who showed him how everything works. I found it pretty interesting too, I must admit (and not just because the firefighter was thoroughly and completely hot himself). He spoke most lovingly about a very nifty flamethrower they use to clear out areas in brush fires. While I found the discussions of their gear and what it does the most interesting, Jacob only had eyes for things with wheels.

I bet we’ll be going back.

Then, the babysitter let him into the magic closet and he found a tricycle.

Then, Mommy let him help her take some pictures of her new sweater:

And today, Pop-pop arrived. Seriously, what could be better than that?

Jacob lost no time in showing Pop-pop the most important features of the house.

It’s really, really great to have Dad here. Even if he is already scaring away the neighborhood deer. :)

Jon and I have spent most of the week trying to catch up on work, and it finally feels like we’re (almost) on top of things. Today, while Jon did some consulting work, Jacob and I played in the front yard. It was fun, and he let me take some pictures of him actually playing, which was nice. (Often, he just wants to play with the camera himself–it sure was a lot easier to get great pictures of him when he wasn’t so dexterous. :)

All of the books on childhood development told me that months 18-24 were marked by rapid brain development, which excited me in the abstract. But as it turns out, I was really unprepared for the reality. Dont’ get me wrong–it’s very exciting! But I’m continually awe-struck by Jacob and what he can do, in the true sense of that word: both wonderful and somewhat frightening.

The kid just started talking two months ago, for crying out loud! These days, he continually uses two- and three-word sentences; he knows all of his colors, all of his letters (!!), and can recognize and say about half of the digits. He can actually count to and understand amounts up to three. He picks up several new words each week–it’s like living with a parrot, sometimes. He plays pretend, he makes up silly games, he sometimes wants to “read books to himself”, puzzling out the letters and babbling about the pictures without help. He runs, jumps, bounces along to songs, does the little hand motions to a few songs, turns somersaults, and “helps” me do yoga. He has a sense of humor, and is starting to realize what makes things funny to other people. He can recognize hunger and thirst and, rarely, when he needs to go to the bathroom.

One of the things I have most enjoyed about being a parent is that I’ve gotten a chance to ease into things. When babies arrive, they can do so very little that you get a grace period to figure out what you need to do before the next thing comes along. I’m starting to feel like things are moving a little too quickly now, though. I don’t always get a chance to process and fully savor one miracle before 5 more come tumbling out behind it. Sometimes I just want to grab Jacob into a great big hug, hold him tightly, and drink in this surprising, glorious little person.

But that would just make me miss out on the sidewalk chalk.

Challah. Jacob and I make it together every week. I get all teary whenever I think about how his childhood will be anchored and woven through with the smell of baking bread, the feel of flour and dough on his hands.

Asparagus-morel-gruyere bread pudding. Made with fresh, local ingredients.

Of course, life has a way of reminding me of my true place. Tonight, while reading books with Jacob, we had gotten halfway through “Where the Wild Things Are” when he started whimpering. He gave me what I can only call a dirty look, grabbed the book, climbed down out of the chair, and scampered over to where Jon was web surfing. He pulled on Jon’s pant-leg and whimpered “Dada! Dadaaa…” in the most pitiful little voice. You’d think I’d killed all four of the Teletubbies and the Baby Einstein turtle to boot.

As it turns out, I don’t roar my terrible roars, gnash my terrible teeth, roll my terrible eyes, or show my terrible claws quite as well as Daddy can. In fact, I wasn’t allowed to read him any book after that.

The little stinker.

When Jacob asks for a walk these days, this is what he means:

Of course, there’s a fair amount of running the stroller into the weeds, but he seems to have a great time and it’s unbearably cute, so we humor him.

The only thing that will get him to leave the stroller alone for a few seconds is a truck. (GUCK! GUCK! BUUUUUUE GUCK!)

Now that he can ask for what he wants (and open the door to the garage and climb into his stroller), we’re getting a lot more exercise, which is fun. In fact, it’s a lot of fun to be with Jacob all around these days. He’s reasonably obsessed with colors and letters these days, and knows a handful of each. He’s starting to play pretend games, for example “cooking” with play-doh in the kitchen or crawling around meowing like a cat. He’s even started singing along and making hand-motions for our favorite songs (Little Bunny Foo-Foo and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider rank the top of the list currently).

As badly as I want another baby, and as badly as we generally want more children, sometimes it’s terrifying to think about. What if this disruption takes away the joy and happiness with which he approaches life?

In the course of the 12 days we were there, we saw bitter cold (4.1 degrees, baby!), relative warmth with accompanying rain, and a blizzard. Fun times! Jacob loved the snow, and on the whole loved the trip. Even the airplane rides weren’t so bad.

One of the most rewarding things about this trip was getting to see Jacob’s interaction with his grandparents. He started talking in earnest while we were in Maine, and managed to call Nancy “Neenee” (Nanny) while we were there. I really felt, for the first time, that the visit gave Jacob a big benefit, in addition to being great for those he was visiting. It was a wonderful way to mark his transition into a communicating, highly autonomous person.

I snapped this picture of him at my maternal grandmother’s house. I loved seeing him next to his one-year-younger self. He looks so much older, so much more like a little boy, in the pictures from this trip.

He’s really sounding like a little boy, too. Jacob jumped from being nearly silent to speaking in two-word sentences in the course of about two weeks. When we hopped on the plane, he wasn’t saying much other than “Mama”, “Dada”, and “Bye”. Today, the favored game was to run around the house admonishing me to “Mum-mum, tickle!!! Tickle tickle tickle, Mum-mum!!!”

As he gets more able to meet his basic needs without our help, our thoughts are turning more and more to the next baby. We really want at least one more, and I’m starting to feel like if I get too far past the baby stage I just won’t want to go through it again.

So what’s the holdup? Me, really. I hated pregnancy so much that it’s tough to contemplate going through it again. Add in the 20 pounds I’m still carrying around from the first pregnancy, and I just can’t deal. Since the fall is my internal deadline for the next pregnancy, Jon and I are both back on the South Beach diet. Today is day one, and we’re both suffering through the requisite sugar-crash and zombie-like fascination with all things baked.

On the bright side, and this is why I’ve tagged this entry “Gloat”, there are worse places to start South Beach than CA in the spring. Our dinner tonight was white fish freshly caught in the bay this morning, along with a fresh salad and the season’s first asparagus. Spring has totally sprung here, and I hope it’s not too far in coming wherever you happen to be.

Another day, not long after that, Jon decided to get his outdoor herb garden started for the year.

Today, the high in Pebble Beach is 65 degrees. It’s already 50, and sunny, and beautiful.

Today, the high in Portland ME is 17 degrees, and currently it’s only 2.

Wednesday night, Jacob and I will fly from our warm, sunny paradise to a frozen tundra. The things we do for family. :) I’m a little ashamed, honestly, at how quickly I’ve adjusted to the great weather we have here. Jon and I were talking last night about what we’d do in ME, and at least the first 5 ideas tossed around wouldn’t work in a cold, snowy place. I’m sure we’ll have a great time, though, and Jacob is looking forward to seeing his grandparents.

Honestly, the thing I’m most apprehensive about is the air travel required. It’s the first time I’ll be flying solo with Jacob, and I’m pretty uncertain that 2 arms will be sufficient. I ordered an attachment to our carseat that turns it into a stroller, and hopefully it will arrive today or tomorrow. Then at least I could contend with “only” a suitcase, a backback, a carseat, and a toddler (theoretically) riding in the carseat.

Aah! It sounds insane when I write it that way. Wish me luck!

(Oh, and I upgraded the WordPress version that powers this blog. Hopefully, for those of you with problems commenting and viewing extended entries, this will take care of things. Please let me know if you continue to have issues with the site.)