Bigger

We think Jaydon's going through a growth spurt. He has eaten so much food over the past two days and is sleeping very well (although he's usually a good sleeper). Real or imagined, we look at him and think that he is literally changing overnight. We noticed tonight that his belly almost peeps out of his pajama top. In general, his shirt sleeves and pant legs are shorter. His shoulders fill out his broader shirts. He easily takes the steps up the stairs by himself. When Brian puts him on his shoulders, Jaydon has to duck really low to get under our doorways.

Last night Jaydon requested pancakes for dinner. It was leftovers night anyways, so Brian happily obliged and, in the end, Jaydon ended up eating:

4 pancakes
1 yogurt
1 rice cake with soy butter
1/2 cup blueberries
frozen peas (Jaydon prefers them frozen)
soy milk (he usually just has water with dinner)

It's quite an odd hodgepodge of food, but we just kept offering different things, and Jaydon kept accepting. Brian and I could not eat nearly that much. And these were not small pancakes either. When we have pancakes for breakfast, Brian and I eat at most 3.

Besides getting physically bigger, Jaydon says things that are so grown up. He's been saying "yes" as a response, as opposed to "yep" or "uh...yeah" (his old staples). We can thank Brian for the "uh"...long pause and giggles..."yeah" response. Brian says that more than you would think. Jaydon talks and responds in very complete thoughts/sentences like..."No, Mommy, that's not a helicopter, it's an airplane" (and he's right, of course). And he makes requests like..."Let's go see friends", "Let's go to the museum", or "Mommy, not over there. Put it over here." As you can probably guess, he's good at giving direction. He's particularly "bossy" with Ellie and uses a very effective "tone" with her. On a sweeter note, he's taken to calling her "Ellie-bean". Brian and I change up Ellie's name all the time..Ellsworth, Ellybelly, Ellie-copter. "Ellie-bean" has stuck with Jaydon, and he calls her that all the time. He makes jokes all the time, too, either by making up words or knowingly giving a response that is wrong. For example, when asked what sound a cow makes, he'll say "meow" or he'll say green means stop - then he'll just laugh and laugh (and we do too). For awhile, he kept saying Brian was "Mom" and then he would just laugh and laugh about that.

He also helps me remember my grocery lists, and reminds me of the places I told him we would go (just so I don't forget - and I do forget!). He often says, "Mommy, go to the grocery store. Buy banana chips." Banana chips are his latest obsession, so we have to restock often.

Lastly, he's been calling himself a "big boy". When we choose clothes, he says, "the big shirt, Mom" or "the big pants, Dad". These are pictures from earlier this week of Jaydon eating breakfast. It's much easier to catch photos of him at meals since he mostly sits in his booster seat and can't get away.

I wish we could capture every moment of what's happening now. He's so much fun to be with. It's amazing watching him, listening to him, simply being with him.