I intended to do a post featuring each of the boys back to back, after I posted that first one with Thomas a couple months ago. Well, THAT obviously didn't happen! This is the long awaited Jacob post.
Jacob has grown and changed a lot this last year. Most of it for the good:) His personality does not seem to be as cut and dry as Thomas'. He loves his brothers A LOT. He has a really big heart for little kids and it seems to only be getting bigger as we've added James to the mix. He soooo desires more little brothers or sisters. I mean, he really just loves babies and little people! He has so much patience with both James and Thomas, and he takes his "responsibility" as the big brother very seriously. He can't stand to be apart from Thomas. They would play together all day long if I let that happen...there would be a few scuffles along the way, but even with all that, he still only wants to be with Tom!
These oil pastels are a perfect display of Jacob's desire for order. He loves a chance to dump out the drawers in the playroom art stuff and reorganize it all! He likes to organize art supplies, toys, books, clothes...you name it!
Jacob has been very into the Hardy Boys lately. We have read a LOT together in the past 2 months, and he has started reading some on his own too.
Although Thomas likes to help these days, Jacob actually has some responsibilities in the house and has to help:) He doesn't always like to do some jobs, but he usually finds his groove and as long as he can chat, doesn't seem to mind a little hard work!
Thomas waits patiently for Jacob to finish reading.
Jacob lovvvvves the great outdoors. He doesn't mind a quick ride down the back hill on a toddler toy to clear his head.
Jacob takes great pride in his gardens. He has an edible garden with blueberries and a chocolate mint plant. He was very into that chocolate mint plant...I think since it had the word chocolate in it, he assumed it would be sweet! We have used some leaves to make a tea, which he and Thomas both enjoyed! He has one flower garden which he carefully monitors for buds. This fall he enlisted the help of his GREAT grandparents in making bark mulch for this particular garden. He pulled the bark off a dead tree in our yard and then had Grandma and Papa stand over his wagon and break the bark, by hand, into small enough pieces.
Jacob is strong. Stronger than me, that's for sure. He can do like 5 pull ups, 8 gazillion push ups (he always likes to point out that my push ups are "so easy" and "not real push ups"). etc. But all of that strength leads to a lot of activity outside! He's like a little monkey everywhere he goes.
If only I had a video camera to capture the interaction between Jacob and James throughout the day! Jacob turns into a goo goo gah gah kind of fella whenever he sees James. He seems to not be able to hold himself back from running up and squealing at him and hugging him and kissing him...truly every time he sees him! The picture above was just the three boys reading on the bed, but Jacob can't sit next to James for too long before he must come in for a kiss!
Jacob's always interested in holding James...here he is testing out a little baby wearing.
Here is Mr. Snappy Pants. This is his best attempt at a 7 year old attitude!
More kisses for James. One of the cutest things I think I have ever seen/heard is Jacob LOOKING at pictures of James. When he sees pictures of James, he starts baby talking to it and saying "awwww, you are so cute Jimmy, yes you are!". I laughed the first time he did it and he kept telling me he just couldn't help it, James was so cute in pictures that he just had to talk like that! Hahah! That is one SWEET HEARTED little boy!
Here he is landing his jump from the playhouse. Jacob is a jumper. He jumps off of anything tall. He likes to jump off our 6 foot fence (which is how he landed himself in a boot back in the winter), off the top part of the playground, off parts of the deck, out of trees, etc.
Photo shoots in bed are ok too
I laughed because when picking the pictures for this post, I noticed a commonality. Everytime I took a picture of the 3 boys, right after those are always pictures of just Jacob and James. I'm telling ya, he loves that baby!
Jacob used to only like to wear underwear...like I think this lasted for about the first 4-5 years of his life. He doesn't mind clothes as much anymore, but if he has to wear them, he does prefer pjs. When outside, I don't care if they wear undies, because, let's be honest, this is less clothing for me to wash, and less clothing to potentially be ruined! This picture also reminds me of one of the silly things that Jacob likes to do. Thomas has his belly, and Jacob has his bottom. He likes to run up to you and stick his bony little behind out and wiggle it at you/on you. I think he mainly likes to do this to me because I think it's so weird and awkward...and he likes both of those things:)
More uncontrollable kisses for James
Our first (big) baby has no idea just how big he is now!
Enjoying the mud
Jacob caught 3 fish the other day at the little fishing hole in Pageland!
Fishing with Papa
Jacob is quite talented when it comes to handicrafts. His newest thing is the rainbow loom. He has taught himself how to do lots of different types of bracelets, as well as little people (which he and Thomas use as football players to have little mini games). He even invented his own bracelet and it is so complicated and truly amazing. He had this idea and started placing the bands and kind of weaving it, but at the end when he would have to pop the bands off, there were all these loose ends which wouldn't tie into anything, and would have caused the bracelet to fall apart. I would just tell him he would have to figure out a way to weave them all back into the bracelet and so that's just exactly what he did. He worked for an hour or so and eventually came back and had figured out how to complete his bracelet! We made a video tutorial of this and I have been trying to get it on youtube, but can't seem to do it because of it's length...I'll keep trying because the whole thing is really amazing, especially when you think, "wow, Jacob came up with this on his own!"
Jacob seems to gather a flock wherever he goes. The little ones love him for sure! Here he is showing some of his cousins how he does his bracelets.
Three generations of Williams boys!
Jacob was thrilled to be back in the pool again yesterday! He didn't miss a beat and jumped right back in, ready to be a scuba diver:)
I think that right now, one of the things that I want to remember about this age with Jacob...most of all...is his love of his little brothers and his desire for more of them! He talks sooo often about how wonderful it would be and how much he would love it if he had a little sister...or better yet 3 little sisters (so there were 3 boys and 3 girls)! As we've talked about this, I always tell him that I love how much he loves his brothers, and my goodness, he must really love them a lot to want so many more! It's one thing to be OK with what you have, but it's another to want to keep adding them in. And he's the oldest, so he actually helps me with James (and Thomas a little too). So again, he even knows that babies are a bit of work, and they cry (he's definitely seen that with James), and he STILL wants more! But, one thing that came to me the other day was the idea of my 7 year old wanting Jeff and me to have so many more babies. I don't know what the future holds for me...or for him...but isn't it amazing how God has created his little heart with such a deep love for children? Maybe we will have more kids, or maybe we won't. But maybe JACOB will have lots of children. Maybe God is cultivating a heart for children in Jacob at such an early age and then maybe that love will be realized when he is grown and has a wife, and then babies of his own? Who knows! But for now, I am thankful for him and the sweet and nurturing and loving personality that the Lord has made him to have, and I will continue to pray that these traits are used for God's glory in Jacob's life!
