FEAR!!! What is it??

FEAR!!! What is it??

(10/26/08 - 11/1/08)


Growing up I was a kid that was always afraid, I grew up in a very rural (OK the boonies) town where there weren't a lot of houses near mine and my house was in the middles of the woods. You would always get weird noises of animals coming from the darkness, the branches of the trees would cast eerie shadows on my bedroom walls, and the old house would creek and moan with the changing of the weather and temperature.

Was I afraid of these things because they were different? Was I afraid because as humans we are genetically programed to fear them? Or maybe it was because I watched scary movies, or saw my mother or sisters afraid so I LEARNED to be afraid......the truth is I don't really know.

This week with Halloween fast approaching the stores were in full display with there aisles of candy, masks, decorations, and costumes. As parents Paul and I have NEVER EVER scared Jacob. We have honestly sheltered him from anything that would scare him, and have never exposed him to any sort of masks, goblins, spiders, or weird creepy music. So when we were walking through different stores this week the pure fear that went through Jacob shocked Paul and I. It wasn't just a whimper or a quiet MAMA coming from the stroller it was an all out FEAR PANICKED SCREAM with Jacob physically shuttering and then trying to crawl and scratch his way out of the stroller and into my arms!

This happened a few times this week because you can't even go to the grocery store without some sort of Halloween decorations being up. First it was the big furry spider that had blinky red eyes, then it was the skull mask that was haphazardly askew on the under stuffed pillowcase body, then multiple times it was simply masks, or animated candy dishes that would shriek or cackle as you walked by them and set off their motion sensors.

No matter how you sliced it this week has shown me that fear MUST be somehow genetically ingrained in us. How did Jacob know to be scared of these things? Is he the only 14 month old that behaves this way?? Have I been blessed with a scare-dy cat for a child?? I would love to know if anyone else has had this problem? I am just glad that Halloween is over now so that all of these evil creatures can be packed away.......OH NO!!! NOW WE HAVE HUGE SANTA FIGURES TO SEE!!! Say your prayers people!!!!

Last year Jake was only 2 months old for Halloween so I didn't dress him up, I put on his BOO PJ's that his godmother got him and took a picture and Photoshopped him to look like a mouse! This year I have done the same thing because honestly he isn't walking yet, he doesn't eat candy (except for the occasional bite of some chocolate that I have) and he isn't really into anything. He loves the Backyardigan's and the Imagination Movers, but is obviously not asking for them nor will he understand that he would be dressing up as them. So I got him a "Pirate" shirt with the good 'ole "Jolly Roger" skull and crossbones on it and Photoshopped him to look like a Pirate!!!


As the Backyardigans say:

What do you do with a Scurvy pirate?
Load the cannon up and fire it!
What do you do with a Scurvy Pirate?
MAKE HIM WALK THE PLANK!!!

ARGH!! Happy Halloween Me Hearties!!!

Jake's Favorite Things!!

Jake's Favorite Things!

(10/19/08 - 10/25/08)

Jake has always been a very vocal and social little baby. He may not giggle constantly or let every stranger pick him up, but in terms of his "learning" he is ALWAYS watching. You can look at him and see that everything he sees or hears he is storing away for later use. Now that he is getting older (14 months old) and his body is physically able to allow him to form more words and get to where he wants to go or do what he wants to do the whole world is opening up to him.

Here are a few of his favorite things as a little boy growing up in the country:

1) Waving HI! and Bye-Bye! to people or as he likes to say (DIE and DIE-DIE), yes my little boy with all of the excitement he can muster tells you in the nicest way to DIE every time you enter or leave a room! He of course combines this with the ever popular backward baby wave!

2) Making animal noises! He has now up'ed his repertoire of animal noises from just a dog (baaf-baaf) to now ROOOAARRR for a lion, MOW (add an M in front of OW (ow as in a boo-boo)) and you have his version of MEOW for any type of cat!

3) Bringing his mother books to read and then only letting me read approximately 1-3 pages before he rips it out of my hands and gives me another book....this can sometimes happen 20+ times!!! My favorite time of day....NOT!!!

4) Playing with is Daddy, this is always his best time! Paul has the best imagination and can keep even the crankiest of Jacob's happy for a long time!

5) Going on walks outside in his new wagon! (You know the wagon that I was looking at when he got his first boo-boo).......

6) Saying MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA upwards of 1500+ times a day!!! Please kid....go back to saying DADA like you used to!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHH


Those are just some of the things that take up my day, sometimes it can get very monotonous but now that Jake is older he can also play by himself. He has also started to understand the world around him more. Now that he has gotten older he has been able to connect the things around him. We have a fireplace that we have been lighting (gas fireplace, you flip a switch...how convenient) in the mornings when we get up and he has a book that also has a picture of a fireplace. He has been pointing to it and then pointing to our fireplace. He also the other day went and got his "This Little Piggy" animated stuffed animal when I was playing the game on his PIGS before bed.

He still isn't walking but has taken upwards of 4-5 steps by himself and when you are walking him while he holds onto your finger he isn't even using you as support. He is 100% walking by himself, but take your hand away and he falls flat it looks like he is doing the same thing with walking that he did with crawling. He didn't crawl until 11 months but could have weeks earlier and that is what is going on with walking too. It doesn't bother me in the slightest though because I know that he is physically able to walk and that it is all in his head!!! My little scare-dy cat!!