Happy Birthday Jake!

We cannot believe that Jake turned 1 today. What a fast year it was. Jake had a pretty busy day. Last night, he spent the night at G & G Deters. Joe and I both had plans, and Jake doesn't get to see the Deters very often. He went to watch Haley's dance competition at Northrup and went to watch Ben's baseball tryouts. He had a busy night! Joe picked him up this morning. I was so excited to see them come into the door...but Jake was exhausted! We all ended up taking naps before I could even say Happy Birthday to Jake. After Jake ate a WHOLE chicken patty for lunch, we gave him our gift. He loved the Elmo balloon. He also has his very own dog stuffed animal, that looks like Kirby. We have to be careful that Kirby does not take the animal for himself. We also gave Jake a Little People Bus. Recently, Jake has been playing with a car (part of a set a friend gave me-after her daughters out grew the Mega Blocks) that had a princess on a horse. Joe did not really like that he was playing with a "girl" toy. I actually found the princess in the garbage a few weeks back. I thought it would be good for Jake to have a more "boy" toy. He'll play with anything, but it made Joe happy.

Later in the afternoon, we went to G & G Bien's house. Jake's Great Grandparents were there, along with Uncle Dan and his girlfriend, Charli. We had a very filling dinner. Jake ate a little bit of it, but he was pretty full from lunch. Jake did not really care much for opening presents. He received a lot of books, a couple of toys, a Baby Einstein DVD and CD, and an adorondak chair (with an umbrella). Joe's mom made an AMAZING Mickey Mouse cake. She had her house decorated with Disney Characters, which Jake loved. Unfortunately, Jake was so tired by the time we had cake, that he did not want anything to do with it. He was really crabby. We hope we can get him to eat some cake this week, to see what he will do with it!

It was a fun day for Jake. It is back to the normal work/daycare routine this week. I am sad I won't be with Jake all week =(

Zoo

A trip to the zoo!

Today, Jake and I met a friend of mine and her daughter at the MN Zoo. It was the first time for Jake to go there. He went there when I was pregnant, last January, with my kindergarten class. I LOVED being able to go without 25 other students. It is much easier to keep track of just one child. Jake had a fun time watching Ava run around. He called most animals dogs. He wasn't too far off when we were on the Minnesota Trail, when we saw the Artic Wolves. He enjoyed watching the dolphins and the fish in Discovery Bay. The coral reef in the Tropics Trail was very calming for him. He sat in front of the glass and watched the fish swim by. We hope to buy a pass and go back this summer. We hope the weather is better nest time, so we can see the Grizzly Bears!

New Obsession!

Jake is completely obsessed with dogs. He is able to say "Daa", which yes, is different than the "Da" for daddy. He constantly points at Kirby and says Daa. He sees the Lab calendar, the treat box, the pupppies in his book, and any dog on TV and says Daa. It makes sense that this is one of his first words, as he is surrounded by dogs. He sees Kirby here, Goose, Bella, and Jager at my parents, and Cookie at Cheryl's. He is not afraid of any of them. This weekend, I thought I would try teaching him to say "Woof". He can't say it perfectly, but he definitely is trying. It is so cute. He is also really into clapping. He figured out that last week. So entertaining!

Getting Healthy

It has been a rough couple of weeks for us. We have all taken our turns at being sick. Jake went to the doctor twice in two weeks. The first doctor's visit ended up being an ear infection. The following week, he developed this rash on his tummy, back, and face. It did not seem to bother him, but it started to get worse. We were wondering if it was because he was on Amoxicillin. The nurse line said to bring him in. A friend at work, Laura, thought that was what it sounded like. It ended up not being an allergic reaction, rather a viral rash. Thankfully, it started to go away. The day after visiting the doctor, Jake came home early from daycare (Thanks Daddy and Grandma Dee!) because he got sick to his stomach. When I got home from school, he took a nap, got up, and had a little snack. That all came back up as I was waiting for the Sheridan girls to arrive for our weekend in St. Cloud. I was also waiting for Matt and Katie to come. Matt and Joe were going ice fishing and Katie was going to stay home to watch Jake. Joe and Jake hung out at home for the weekend while I was away. It was so nice to relax, read, snack, chat, and watch movies with good friends. We barely made it outside all weekend. It was perfect! I felt bad when I heard that Katie was really sick Saturday and Sunday. We were using her parents' cabin and she took care of our sick boy. They thought it was food poisoning, but we later realized that was probably not the case.

I came back on Sunday and Jake was feeling much better, just not eating very much. When I got home from work on Monday night, I was not feeling well. The flu hit me so hard. Jake also got sick during the night. So, no work for me, and no daycare for Jake. Thankfully, my mom was able to watch Jake.

As the week went on, my mom, my sister, and my niece all came down with the same bug. I feel bad because we were the first to pass it on.

Let's hope this all passes from the Knutson/Deters family!!

Sledding and Applebee's

Whee!!

A few weekends ago, Joe was up north skiing. Auntie Jamie hung out with Jake and Mommy. Jamie's friend, Nini, spent Saturday with us. Jake went bowling with us. He even pushed the ball down the little ramp they have for kids. He had a gutter ball =(. Then, we went over to my parents' house and took Jake over to the hill by the school to go sledding. He used Hailey's little blue sled. The hill was very slippery, so we took Jake up the hill only a little bit. He had a blast! Here are some videos of the sliding!

Last weekend, we went to the Gopher/UMD hockey game. John and Sarah came with us. We met them at Applebee's in Dinkytown. Joe gave Jake a lemon, to see what he would do. He loved it! At one point he made a sour face and shook his body. He enjoyed eating some of mom and dad's food. Jake is trying out table food more and more, and is liking it! I cannot wait for him to be off baby food.