I am toddler, hear me roar!

"What to expect, the toddler years" (yeah, I've got the whole set...it's basically my baby instruction manual) assures me that it is normal for babies to run wild and have a short attention span...my baby does NOT have ADHD, he's just a toddler. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. This weekend we went visited the butterfly garden and picked out some plants for our own yard that will attract butterflies. We picked out flowers that have lots of nectar for the butterflies to drink. When we got home Jacoby was eager to help me plant the flowers.
He rolled up his sleeves and got right to work on digging a hole!
I got him a trowel this week (total impulse buy, those end-cap items get me every time!) at Home Depot this week and he put it to good use.
Just a little taste to make sure all the nutrients were in balance.
Time to stop taking pictures and start stopping this kid from eating dirt!

After a good tooth-brushing and a long drink of water, we decided to take a bike ride around the neighborhood while dinner finished cooking. Experimenting with the video, so be patient while we work out the kinks...click the "play" button to see Jacoby sitting in the rickshaw attached to Robert's bike.

Looking for adventure...

In anticipation of Jacoby's first birthday party, we got out in the yard today to tidy up a bit. Jacoby and I took a trip to Home Depot this morning and picked up some half off plants that looked like they'd seen better days, but at least if they die now I won't feel like it's ENTIRELY my fault. This whole gardening/taking care of a yard thing is new to all of us. While I was re-potting the plants Jacoby drove his wagon around the yard, collecting sticks, pine cones and leaves. Every chance he got he'd zip by my sack of soil and grab a handful to shove in his mouth.
Our new favorite game is hide-and-go-seek. It works like this:
Step 1: Jacoby runs into the bedroom while one of us hides.

Step 2: Jacoby comes barreling back out of the bedroom to "seek" his missing parent
Step 3: Tackle aforementioned parent

Happy Valentine's Day!

As you know, Jacoby's been fighting a cold the last couple of weeks and had spiked a temperature of 101.7 at one point. At the start of the week we had a couple of rough nights - the kind where we both would give the other a little "nudge" to say "get up, it's your turn" at 3 AM. Then on Wednesday night/Thursday morning Coby woke up SCREAMING and absolutely would not go back to sleep. At work Thursday morning I asked my friend Melissa (she has 3 boys) what she thought about it and she recommended a doctor's visit and guessed it would turn out to be an ear infection. Well, she was right. And although Thursday and Friday were pretty much like this:
the antibiotic worked it's magic and he was back to his usual self by Saturday. We even got to go to the Butterfly Rainforest.
The butterflies were pretty docile, it's still FREEZING here in Florida!
But Jacoby kept busy identifying the butterflies we did see floating around.
Maybe we have ourselves a budding entomologist on our hands?
Or maybe he'll use his buggy knowledge as a Crime Scene Investigator?!?

This morning I got up bright and early (think 5:45 AM, just as early as I would on a week-day!) and joined the rest of my 5-member marathon relay team for the 5 Points of Life Marathon. Mind you my training consisted of pushing all 21 pounds of Jacoby in his 30 pound jogging stroller 3 miles around our neighborhood. I was definitely counting on it being so much easier to run without that stroller bogging me down that my 5 mile leg would fly by...and it did! I think I've caught the running bug! It was cold, but so much fun, and as long as my little running buddy will fit in the stroller, I think I'll stick with my current training methods :o) To celebrate the finish, we had a mini-marathon around our block, Jacoby in the lead.
He loves his radio flyer wagon! I've started keeping it in the garage and he goes out there whenever he gets a chance to drag it outside. He pushes it all over the yard and down to the street all by himself.
We got him some "big boy" shoes last week so he could comfortably walk around outside. And boy does he love being outside!
We absolutely cannot wait for Grandma and Grandpa to come and visit so we can go wagon walking with them!

Chinese New Year Celebration

A student in my class invited me to a Vietnamese New Year Celebration this Sunday, so Jacoby and I headed to A Man Temple to check it out.
We saw Baochau and her friends take part in the ceremony.
And discovered that Jacoby was born in the year of the ox.
Here he is getting a little tired, and I have to admit that I was too, mostly because I was a John Mayer concert last night!!!
My friend Melissa won tickets on the radio for his performance in Jacoksonville and I got to be her lucky plus one!