The Picker Family: March 2020

Our sweet, smiley guy is a year and a half!

He brings so much joy to our days with his bright eyes, infectious smile, silly energy, and sweet snuggles. I feel like this past month Jace has become a little person. He's repeating more words every day and understands so much of what is happening and being said around him. He's doing better following simple commands...most of the time...of course, we get opposition if he feels strongly about something.

The new year of 2020 has been all about teething for Jace. He pushed through one eye tooth last month and it appears the two canines on the bottom have broken through now too. I'm hoping this minimizes the drooling he's been doing and helps him eat a little better again. This winter he's been more opinionated about what he eats and refusing foods we know he loves. He has tended to want softer foods when he's teething (more like baby food again), but I'm also not sure how much is just toddler-hood opinions and independence developing more too. His favorite foods are still fruits, yogurt, cheese, and bread. Getting the protein and veggies can be tricky some days.

Jace and I started a parent-child ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) class in Stewartville last week. It's a class for 0-5 year olds and parents where we spend half of the time together and half of the time apart. The evenings we go to these classes really make me feel like Jace is becoming a little person of his own. He thrives in the classroom when we play together, sing songs, and listen to story and he sits adorably at a mini table for snack when the parents leave. Tonight, we came back to the classroom and he was totally into the song they were singing and dancing to and was happy to see me but also wanted to finish the dance 😀 It was a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e! I wish I had gotten a video! It's been super fun to have this dedicated time with Jace and to see him enjoy it so much.

I think one of my favorite things with Jace recently has been how he calls out to Brent and I. He spotted Brent coaching in the middle of Luke's basketball game and started yelling "da-he, da-he" and he will get a big smile and yell "momma" when I come home too. He even yells our name when he hears the door open from the garage. Tonight he knew that Brent was the last one to get home, so he yelled "da-he" when he heard the door open, even though he can't see who came in.

Nora can get Jace laughing the easiest of the entire family...unfortunately though Nora is the only person in the house he doesn't have a name for. We've been trying to get him to say "na-na" for her but it hasn't stuck. He points her out when we ask, but he doesn't call her anything.

Jace's current favorites are balls and throwing (especially basketballs), buses (real or toy), books, playing the piano, and climbing chairs/furniture. He keeps us busy and is really just so much fun.