It is getting more and more bizarre each year that we celebrate Jacob's birthday. I can't imagine how all babies wouldn't bring about radical change in a person's life, but geez, Jacob really surprised us, and by God's perfect grace, used that little one to realllllly radically change the hearts of Jeff and me. We will forever be able to say that the Lord used Jacob in doing great things for us, and WE ARE GLAD! (Psalm 126:3)
So, 6 years ago today, things changed for a lot of us! Jacob's 6 short years of life have seen all kinds of things: 6 moves, residency in 3 states, the marriage of his parents, the answer to prayer of a baby brother, the loss of a grandfather, the beginning of homeschool, and this year, moving into his first house...that wasn't a rental:) He's a busy guy!
As I look back at this year, I want to remember fun things, and I also want to remember that this wasn't the easiest year, child rearing wise...just so I don't freak out when Thomas gets older and maybe we have a similar year!
Jacob is SMART. School is a breeze with him. He is still fairly compliant, although he is beginning to be quite an arguer, or maybe I should say "questioner"...which he unfortunately comes by honestly! He can read quite well on his own, but still prefers to be read to, which is fine by me! His favorite books this year have been non-fiction. He has probably read every animal book our children's department at the library carries. He has also gone through every sport our library has. He got a really neat Shark book from Grammy for his birthday and that has been his constant companion. The other day I was doing something and he said, "Hey Mommy! Did you know that 'A Portuguese Man-O-War looks harmless from above, and can be missed among the waves, but below the surface it's another story."? He had read that sentence all by himself!
He LOVES to dress up...which has also caused some issues when I have gone upstairs and found like 8 pairs of jeans in the dirty clothes because he wore each of them for 5 minutes...but he will go someplace and see a worker or something that interests him, come home and recreate the outfit with what he has (and thankfully he has basically everything one could imagine). Examples: after a trip to the firestation he was a fireman...as in, he put on his navy blue pants, black hiking boots, a belt, navy polo with white undershirt (because he notices these things-for real!), and then had his khaki cargo pants ready to go for his fire suit, as well as a dress up fireman's coat and hat. After visiting Grandma Judy at work (she works in the office at a lumber company), Jacob came home and put on his wrangler jeans( because he obviously knows these are work jeans thanks to the commercials), a shirt and his carrhart jacket with orange hard hat, to be a "lumber worker" like he had seen wander through the office. When we were in Hilton Head, he took a real liking to this one restaurant where he discovered he likes fish, and so he and Grandma spent a good bit of time talking about how he could go home and open up his own "Old Oyster Factory" back in Ga. Well, today, as a bit of a birthday miracle, I finally got around to making him his black apron so he could complete his waiter outfit. When he put on his khaki shorts, red polo shirt, new tennis shoes, apron with 3 pockets, not 2 like I had pushed for, filled those pockets with napkins, straws and a pad of paper, and last, but not least, stuck the 2 red napkins which Grandma had MAILED him (so he would really totally look the part)...I was kind of REALLY impressed at how well he had recreated the look! He's something else! I hope that one day his attention to detail will be a blessing to his wife and family! He notices so much he could certainly make his wife feel very special!
At one point in the year, Jacob was VERY into crafts and spending lots of time at his craft table in the playroom. We have been constantly trying to get him back into it with all sorts of crafty things, and he enjoys them when we do them, but he still hasn't gotten back to just wandering in, grabbing some paper and drawing or gluing to his little hearts delight. He can follow instructions very well. If you give him an example to go by, he will pretty much nail it. I think that that perfectionism is probably a piece of what's holding him back in some ways from diving in again with art. We'll see though, I plan to keep on trying and keep coming up with ideas for him to try.
But Jacob's two favorite things right now...and for most of this past year, have been sports...football and baseball and basketball mainly...and hunting. He plays hard when he gets outside. Jeff has worked with him and taught him a few different routes to run when they play football. Jacob, as mentioned earlier, gets all decked out in full pads, helmet, etc. when he plays...it's never just a leisurely tossing the old pigskin in the backyard. No sirree. If he's going to do something, he's going to do it all the way. That's kind of his life's theme I would say.
I don't know where the whole hunting thing came from- Jeff shoots squirrels in our backyard as a form of pest control, but I think he was into it before that. He went hunting with Uncle Calvin when we were in Pageland and just stood in the deer stand for an hour. Although he didn't shoot anything, Jacob is still a fan of hunting. I'd say he's sold on this idea! He is getting a hunting themed something from us for Christmas...so hopefully this will all work out!
I probably shouldn't mention his past year without adding in that all spring, summer, and the parts of the fall that we weren't on the sofa sick, he was outside. He loves being outside. In the summer we went to the pool at least 3 days a week and he would just swim and swim.
Jacob also begs and begs to play games on the ipad...all the time. I really don't like that, so we have unfortunately not been very consistent with all of that, but he got to play today because it was his birthday. Otherwise, I've pretty much nixed all game playing because I notice a direct correlation between time behind a screen and bad attitudes. Might not be this way with all kids, but it seems to be so far with Jacob.
Jeff does a nightly Bible study with Jacob and he seems to soak up a lot from that. Jacob really seems to think hard about the things of God and he is quick to make connections from daily life with the truths that they study in the Bible. I find lots of teachable moments with Jacob because half the time, he's the one pointing it out and teaching! While I don't think that Jacob has a new heart necessarily, or has turned from his sin, I think that he does believe that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. While I'm not sure he's a believer, I do think that he has a beautiful child like faith and trusts just as much as a 6 year old can, so who knows, I guess the Lord knows all of that! I just pray that this next year, the Spirit continues to work in his heart and in ours to help us to keep this communication about the God of the universe wide open!
Jacob loves his little bro A TON. He still says, and this makes me a little teary whenever I hear it, that he is so thankful to have a baby brother because he can't imagine what he used to do all day without him! Just to think that the Lord not only knew the desires of Jeff and my hearts, but also knew the desire of little 3 year old Jacob...that is amazing and beautiful. They don't always get along, and honestly, most of the time it's because Thomas does something to initiate the fussing. Jacob doesn't, for the most part, mind sharing his toys. He loves playing
alongside Thomas...like they had a grocery store yesterday where each of them had their own cash registers and groceries, and Jacob helped Thomas figure out how to announce that his register was open, how to use the credit card swiper,etc. That's his idea of a good play day. Jacob can't stand for Thomas to be upset. I had to drag Jacob out of the corner yesterday at the doctors when Thomas was getting ready to do his first breathing treatment. He kept saying, "But he won't like it and he'll cry and I don't want to see him cry!".
Daddy has probably pulled ahead to number 1 in Jacob's eyes at this point. He is still very sweet to me, so that's not like he is all attitudey and stuff with me, it's just that you can tell he wants all of Jeff's attention and approval. Daddy knows everything about sports there ever was to know, according to Jacob and so he really loves that about him. Anytime he has a question that I don't know the answer to, he says, "I'll just text Daddy, he will know". This fall we had a little situation with Jacob deciding to participate in choir at MK's church, and then when Wednesday night rolled around, he would be so undone about going. I finally kind of realized that him leaving before Jeff got home from work and being back in time to go to bed was hurting Jacob's heart. He cries every morning that he sleeps so late that Jeff is gone when he gets up:( He
needs time with Daddy every day. (Side note, seeing this has made my own heart hurt for the little ones who grow up without a father in the picture- I can't imagine what Jacob would do without Jeff!) So yea, he thinks it's mighty special to get to ride in Daddy's car and run an errand, just the two of them. Anything spending time together works for them! This weekend, to celebrate both Jacob and Jeff's birthdays, they are heading to Clemson for a basketball game and trip downtown! This will surely be a highlight of the month!
Jacob is growing up, that's for sure. He's 6 now, and I can't imagine that in 6 more years he'll be 12...and beyond that...?? There have been some growing pains I think in the house, as he is trying to figure out being a bigger-little boy instead of just a little kid. We're working through it, but boy, we have a fantastic little guy to work with! He loves us and loves being with us, and we love him and love being with him, so I think we'll make it!
Pictures from birthday:
Popular boy on the phone today:
His birthday request: the hit of Cartersville, the new Dunkin Donuts:
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