Summer updates

I can't believe it's already August -- the summer has flown by. It's still been a tough adjustment being back at work, and I'm definitely sad that a busy, hellish project has kept me away from Jake. Dave's been a huge help, taking him to day care in the morning, but that means even more time away from my little man. So today I snuck out of work at 4:45 to get him and have some extra time with him. I showed up at "school" to find him just being released from timeout after pinching two of the other kids (one being his cousin Sabrina... he better watch it, Sabrina's a tough cookie).

But who cares, right? He's still the cutest kid there and I can't help but love the little spunk he has. I can also see how frustrated he is that he knows what he wants, but can't communicate it to me. He's saying more words now: Cracker (kaka!), Kitty (ditty), Car (cah), and Banana (nana) - Yes, I do swing a banana in front of his face and when my grandmother (Nana) gets on the phone with him to get him to yell "Nana!". Let's see, he's running now and he's pretty steady. I think he even jumped the other day. He's a champ at swimming lessons and I think genuinely has the instructor impressed by how long he can hold his breath. He's off of bottles during the day, but I still give him one at night (or two, or three - depending on how often he wakes up). I don't want to jinx anything, but he's been sleeping through the night!

We did Maine in June and have been trying to get in some day trips with him. The zoo earlier this summer with little O, Gilroy Gardens (our local, horticultural-themed amusement park), and just recently pier 39 in San Francisco, but we're quickly learning that he's just as happy (if not happier) going to our neighborhood playground and taking his routine evening walk in his litte car. The best part is we're meeting neighbors since we take the same route every night... and we've met some neighbors that let their dogs out so Jake can say hi. He gets SO excited. Just last night our neighbors let their old Golden Retriever, Freddie, out to say hi to Jake. As our neighbors yelled in unison "no licking, Freddie - no kisses!" Jake leaned over and full-on licked Freddie's head. Hey, better that than pinching!