Jacob's new room

We moved Jacob into his new big boy room last week. We decided to move him early so that he wouldn't blame his sister for kicking him out of the nursery. I'm sure he'll find other things will give him cause to put the blame on her.

His new room has a toddler bed, which is about one foot high and has the same mattress as his crib. The first night he slept in it he woke up a few times and stood on the mattress as if he couldn't get out. He never could before in the crib, thanks to the bars. After a couple of daytime naps, he figured out that just because he is on the mattress doesn't mean he is stuck in bed. He can get in and out of it readily on his own now. He is super-stealthy about it as well. We often don't know he's up until he accidentally slams his door open or bangs on it when it is fully shut and he can't open it.

He has two new bookcases from Ikea for his books and toys. The books take up almost two shelves. Luckily, part of the stock is from the library so it will keep rotating and he'll always have new stories to look through. Lately, he flips through a book, puts it back on the shelf (!?!), makes the "again" sign language sign, gets the book back off the shelf and starts reading again. If we are lucky, he doesn't make us read it to him over and over.

His toys are neatly shelved for now. He has not spent a great effort in spreading them all over the room, but I am sure the day will come. We are hoping to find a train set for him to play with. Thomas the Tank Engine is one of his favorites, so we are on the watch at craigslist. Also, we think he is ready for Duplo blocks, so we'll keep an eye out for those as well. I went to a couple of garage sales and a flea market yesterday, but only found a toy elephant and a toy saxophone.

The next thing we need to work on is the wall decorations. We've already moved the picture of us into his room. We need to decide where Aunt Gertrud's quilt will hang and where to put his National Geographic map (thanks, Aunt Helen!). Plenty of wall space is still available, so we will hang some other items too. Angie heard on Pregtastic (a podcast by, for and about pregnant women) that it is a good idea for siblings to have pictures of each other in their rooms. Of course, the only pictures of #2 are ultrasounds. I don't think he will comprehend who's in the picture.

I would attach pictures of his room but the little guy is napping. Once the walls are looking good, we'll create a montage.

Play Date at Our Home Again!

We had another play date here at the home of the Reningers. Last time, we ended the play date when toddlers starting crying left and right. Today was a new story.

We had a new mom, Elana, with her daughter Justine. They joined Sharon and Chloe, Terri and Caroline, and me and Jacob. We had a good time in the family room playing with a variety of Jacob's toys.

Chloe loved to climb on the rocking horse. The only trick was the rocking horse has wheels, so he doesn't rock back and forth. This didn't stop Chloe. She figured out how to go forwards and backwards since her legs were the perfect length. Then she turned the horse around and Justine came and helped to push her forward. It was so cute, if only we had caught it on video. Maybe next time.

Everyone was great at sharing the toys, especially a little inflatable ball that was handed back and forth several times. I left Jacob's Easter basket out. They played with the plastic eggs which were empty. After several disappointed openings, we parents started putting items in the eggs, which made them into rattles as well as containing surprises. The other thing they shared from the Easter basket was the purple shredded paper that was the grass. The tots were a little too good at sharing that, as the carpet rapidly became strewn with grass! As we (the parents) tried to clean up by sweeping the grass into piles, the children would spread the paper grass around again. Eventually, we won out.

Jacob started to get really tired and was only a little whiny. But he definitely made the signal to go. He led the way out of the family room and was ready to climb the stairs to bed. I made him be polite and say good-bye to our guests. A good time was had by all. Next week, we meet at Elana and Justine's!