Life Continues...

I really feel like I have no reason to post a blog...however, for the few of you who actually read it, you might like to hear what's been going on the past month or so.

Jacob is now sixteen months. This is a bit about him:
-a week before Christmas he got hand, foot, and mouth disease--which is not as bad as it sounds. He had tons of blisters on his hands and feet as well as a rash on most of his body. He also gave it to his cousin Matijs. We have no clue how Jacob got it.
-he keeps saying more words--at least I think he's saying it. Here are some I think he can say: uh-oh, momma, dada, dog (da), more, ball (ba), Beppe (Larry's mom), bye-bye (with the cutest wave of his hand), hot (everytime he sees the fire or the oven), and one or two more.
-he also will occasionally meow, bark, moo, or baa when asked about the corresponding animal.

Larry is back to work as of January 3. He does get January 17 off and a WHOLE week in February around President's Day. Maybe we'll get to make a trip somewhere then (or we'll wait until April when he gets another week off).

That's about it with our family. Living in Los Banos isn't the most exciting place. I do get out of town on Tuesdays for Bible Study at my mom's church in Ripon, and we still attend our church in Modesto.

Here's some of Jacob's latest pictures: (remember, you can click on them to see them bigger!)

Christmas socks from Auntie Rosaline


Future rock star


Uh-oh, I made a huge mess!


I love mommy's Christmas present. I can't wait to help!


Bath toys from Grandpa and Grandma--and a view at how solid Jacob is (33.5 inches, 31 1/2 pounds!) Oh, and I LOVE his hair!

And a video:

passing on the family legacy

Jacob has discovered that he can turn on the CD player on our alarm clock. What surprised me was what came next...it's no accident he loves Bon Jovi....he's a natural dancer, too! In the first video he expected the music to come on, but it never did. However, his best moves are on that video.




one more...


I can't wait for the next VH family wedding when Jacob can join in the circle on the dance floor when "Living on a Prayer" comes on.

Fifteen Months!

I know that Jacob has actually been 15 months for over a week now, but today is the day he goes to the doctor. We are trying out a new pediatrician--his old pediatrician is about 45 minutes away. If I hate this doctor I may go back to his old one...Anyway, we haven't gone to the doctor yet, but I wanted to get started on this post.

First of all, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We had two Thanksgivings (Thursday and Friday), and we were all pretty tired out from the whole thing. We even spent the night at my sister Cindy's house the Wednesday before so we could go to our church service. Here's a picture of the whole Zylstra family for Thanksgiving--well, not the whole family because my sister-in-law is currently in labor right now with the newest addition.


Jacob's stats:

Height:33 1/3? I think--this new doctor doesn't give me the printout with the growth chart and percentiles, so I had to remember and then check on his old chart. He's around 95%
Weight:31 pounds, 6 oz--they had the old school type where they had to move the weights, so I'm not sure how accurate...from what I can tell he's way over the 95%. I don't understand because he looks thinner than last time...maybe they messed up on the height last time?

Head Circumference:I guess this doctor doesn't measure.

New Skills: Jacob can say "da" for dog and will sometimes make a barking noise when asked, he's learned how to open almost everything and gets into everything. He's starting to learn that things have purposes--daddy's deodorant goes on his shirt on his chest, the comb and brush are for hair, the squirt bottle is for the hair, the shaver is for the face, etc. When he sees me put on shoes, he says, "Ba" and points to the door. I could list lots of little things, but I am REALLY starting to see this language thing take off. Not that he's saying much, but he's understanding so much more. Yesterday I told him to go get his shoes, and HE DID! Maybe I'm just a doting, overinvolved mom, but I was pretty impressed with him.

Likes: keys, being outside, balls, cars, music, animal crackers, juice, baths (he splashes so much!), opening and shutting things, nursery, smiling, and being the center of attention!

Dislikes: mashed potatoes, diaper rash, going inside, shopping, and most likely getting shots.

He's a pretty good kid; I don't have a lot to complain about although I think he's going to be pretty naughty. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh when he disobeys because he looks so cute.
Overall, I really enjoy staying home with him and seeing how much he is changing.

Here are some current pictures:


Jacob is giving his cousin Tijs a hug.


Jacob also loves to ride on his daddy's shoulders. Here he is hugging daddy's head.



Here's our latest family picture.

14 months!

Although it's not an official update, I thought I'd just post a few recent pictures of Jacob over the past couple of weeks. He sure is growing up; he's hardly my little baby any more!


He's still pretty cautious when it comes to steps. He still does all steps backwards unless I am holding his hand. (That's why we wear pants at the park--I put these on over his shorts!) He also still loves to swing, but I think he'd rather be exploring around the park or chasing bigger kids.





After the park sometimes we come home and eat Popsicles. This day was pretty hot, so we ate them outside. He loved eating them, although I think he thought it was funnier to put his Popsicle in MY mouth!



He also LOVES toothbrushes. I brought one in the car for him to play with, but I'm not sure how the other one got in there, too!



The other night he fell asleep on the way home from the dollar store. He's starting to only take one nap during the day, and apparently he was pretty tired (it's a seven-minute drive home!).

A few cute videos:


If you listen REALLY carefully, it sounds like he is saying, "Hi, Dada" on the phone...





Jacob LOVES dancing and music...I guess he takes after me!




I call this one "Too Fat to Fit." Sorry about the frontal nudity but I thought it was so funny. It's like he thought if he removed the clothes from the chair he could fit?!?

Fall(ing)!

Now that Jacob walks very well (and since the weather cooled down to play outside), I have finally let Jacob play in the backyard and go to the park. He LOVES walking around outside, but he definitely needs to learn to hold my hand when I tell him to. He HATES to walk next to me or go in the direction I am walking. I see some discipline in his near future!

Anyway, here are some pictures of Jacob exploring the world outside our little townhouse!


He had a little bit of trouble going from the cement to the bark--but he figured it out. That's all the backyard is--cement and bark, plus a willow tree that I am trying to get them to remove because it is leaning on the fence and covering a large part of the backyard.

He LOVES playing ball. He's pretty good and throwing it, and then he'll chase it down to throw again. He rarely waits for me to roll it back to him.



It was also a challenge to get from outside to inside. He learned pretty quickly how to do it, though, and if I let him he'll do it like five times in a row!



We also have a park about ten minutes walking distance from our house. It's a great walk for me and he really enjoys it! I do make him wear long pants, though, because he still falls sometimes and he has to crawl over big concrete steps, too. My camera ran out of batteries, so these are the only two pictures I was able to take.

Total Randomness...

A couple of weeks ago (9-26), Jacob got sick and threw up on the way to church all over himself and his carseat...I also found some in his crib! So, I called my sister Cindy (the nurse), and she said to give him popsicles. He had tasted them before, but he had never eaten one of the stick before. Here he is:

At first he thought it was very cold and wasn't quite sure what to do!

He also got a little confused as to which end to suck on!


He was very happy when it was all gone! I think it really made him feel better, and it made me feel better to know he had something to help him not get dehydrated!


Jacob is also trying out several Halloween ideas:


Surfer Boy....


Toilet Bowl Boy...


and Veggie Boy, who encourages children to eat their veggies!
(He'll only do this one if his parents go as Larry the Cucumber and Barb the Tomato!)



However, I think we'll just settle for him being Jacob, Daddy's Boy!

The best thing since sliced bread...

is actually still sliced bread!

Yesterday, Jacob went into the fridge, pulled out the loaf of bread, opened it up, and took out several pieces of bread. I quickly went to clean it up, but he held onto one piece--the butt end! I decided to see what he'd do with it. Here are several pictures of a little boy's journey holding a piece of bread (and eating it!).



First he walked down the hall toward the family room..


and started eating the bread.


Then he took the bread into the garage to follow his dad.


Then he went back into the house and decided to climb onto his lion toy and sit backwards to eat his new grainy friend.


Finally, the bread was left behind on the couch and several crumbs on the floor! It was a pretty funny ten minutes or so for me. What can I say? I don't get out much...