A, B, C and 1, 2, 3...

Jacob is a smart little guy, and being the bologna in the Irving sandwich has short changed him in some ways. He had to stop being a "baby" when we were ready, not when he was ready. We got him off of the pacifier well before Hannah's arrival so that we wouldn't have to worry about weening him while she was here, using her own pacifiers. I had to resist picking him up as much as possible toward the end of my pregnancy, and of course, could not pick him up after for quite a while. He was a month shy of turning 2 when Hannah was born, so the poor little guy lost some baby time. And of course, he gets stuck in the middle of Samuel, being old enough to do the "fun" stuff and Hannah being so little that by defautl she gets special Mommy time - Jacob is somewhere in between. I cherish those special moments where we do get to have time with just the 2 of us.

One of the best times is first thing in the morning. He wakes up each day, and toddles quickly downstairs to our room. He climbs in bed and snuggles with me. Sometimes Kevin will try to give me a break from being woken up early each morning, but Jacob will have none of it. Morning snuggle time is reserved for me, only me, and no one else. I'll take it - I love every second of it!

With Samuel, I did a lot of learning stuff. Whenever he and I were alone in the car, from the time he was very, very little, I would sing the ABC song, count for him, teach him things by repetition so he knew his ABCs and how to count very early. With Jacob, it was not the same. He did not have that same time with me, and I didn't make the time to start teaching him things as early...second child syndrome. He is learning his ABCs now. He has been able to sing the song for a long time. With his strong willed personality, he only sings it when he wants to and on his terms. We have been working with him on identifying the letters, and here he is posed in front of his letter door that he and Miss Haley have been making. He is solid on A-F and we're ready to move on G this week. He has been doing this for the past couple of weeks, and does about 2 letters a week. He catches on so quickly, as I figured he would since he quickly learned his colors and shapes over the summer.

He's so bright and so sweet. He has a streak, but he really, desperately wants to make those that he loves, happy. He asks me all the time, "Are you happy Mommy?" How can I not be, looking into those sweet blue eyes?

I'll be happy as long as he knows that he is intensely loved...and that sometimes, the best part of the sandwich is the bologna....