The Picker Family: February 2020

The past few months we've seen more and more of Jace's personality emerge. A couple months ago he started more giggling and dancing and he continues to add more words to his vocabulary. This past month, I'd say we are learning more and of his preferences. And, his preference is to be a "big kid" or adult like everyone else in the house. He's been showing off his climbing skills and is often found sitting on a chair at the kitchen table waiting for someone to join him or to bring him food 😊 He also likes to reach up to put things on the counters since he can reach them now while on his tippy toes. I often have to remember: "Did I put that bowl out to use or did Jace put it there???" He's also tall enough to reach the door handles on his tippy toes so he really enjoys opening and shutting doors. (This could be interesting if we figures out how to pull open the exterior doors 😨) He knows what doors we typically keep shut (to keep him out) and will say "shut" then proceed to take care of the task.

This boy knows what he wants. We were at our local grocery store where we walk through the produce area first. He LOVES strawberries and blueberries so he pointed and squawked because he wanted them...right now! He got over it once he was given a can of soup to toss into the cart, but the minute we got home, he found the strawberries in the bag and put them on the table. He happily and quietly ate strawberries while Luke and I put away the groceries 😊

Jace is also mastering more words. He says "blue" for Go Blue (for Michigan) and for blueberries, he started calling Brent "daddy" which sounds more like "da-he", and is clearly saying "bu-bye" and waving. He started a routine of telling me "bu-bye" when I drop him at Papa and Gma's house in the morning then he and Gma wave to me out the window. I guess he also does it when cousins leave for preschool. He's also a total sweetheart when we ask for kisses. He will go around the room in the evening giving kisses to everyone before he goes to bed. They tend to be wet, but they're oh so sweet 👄

I mentioned in a recent month how he had showed his opinion about going to bed by falling to the floor and rolling away from Brent. Well, he's showing us his preference in even more ways now. He will pull his arms to his sides when we want to pick him up and he doesn't want to come and he will continually squawk (like at the grocery store) when he wants something. The joys of learning communication 😵

Jace continues to be very busy around the house. He continues to push the limits with wanting to walk on the stairs with his feet (instead of on his knees/tummy) and loves to help me with laundry. He puts clothes into the washer, from the washer to the dryer, and loves to get into all of the clothes I'm folding. This is a lesson I continue to teach: You do NOT mess with mom's laundry piles! (I've always enjoyed doing laundry and I've taught the other kids young to steer clear of my piles 😏). Another fun thing to remember about this age is that Jace calls anything in a big jug or in a cup "milk". When I'm doing laundry, he points to the detergent and fabric softener, calls it "milk", and wants to hold it before I'm done with the process. He also calls my diet cokes "milk" 😊

This past month he has been working on getting his canine teeth. At least one of them has poked through and he's chewing on his pacifiers and drooling like crazy! He also graduated from his high chair to a booster seat at the table this month. He was starting to try to wiggle out of the high chair that didn't have good straps so we moved him to the booster chair with good restraints! Nora has also been proud of his ability to put together a few toddler puzzles. She would claim he's a genius 😉

This past week Jace got to spend some extra time with Great Grandpa Green. Gpa was staying with my parents while he had some appointments at Mayo and Jace saw him several days. It's so sweet to see them together and see how much Gpa enjoys watching Jace and all of his antics.

All in all, we really don't know what we're going to get with this boy...thank goodness we have 4 sets of eyes on him most of the time! He makes us laugh (and pull our hair a little 😉) every day 💓