Jake 2.5

Well I have not kept this blog as up to date as I would like. So it goes. Anyway Jake hit the two and a half mark last month. With this age come some changes.

First off he has officially been out of dippers for about two months now. Mr. Budget (Erik) is very happy to not have to spend money on dippers. With this comes Jake’s ability to pull down his own paints, even in the middle of restaurants. That’s right the Hehl family is all class.

Jake is really coming into his own person these days. By this I mean he has developed a sense of independence, which is good but means that getting undressed could take 20 minutes. I am truly amazed by the amount of persistence, perseverance, tenacity, and well lets just say it…… the stubbornness a two and a half year old can have. The one thing Jake is figuring out slowly is that those are all qualities he inherited from his Mom and Dad! So maybe the joke is on him.

Last week Jake had his first run in with another boy over a girl. Who knew this would happen at such a young age. I believe Jake has a crush on this girl Abby in his class as he talks about her every day. So back to the story…..Abby was playing with a toy and another boy in the class (who is known to play a bit rough and take toys away from other kids) tries to take a toy away from Abby. Jake defends Abby by pushing the other boy and telling him that he may not take the toy away from Abby. The other boy’s response was to scratch Jake’s cheek and bite Jake across the nose. Jake received his first wounds over a girl. I am still not sure how I feel about the whole incident.

In in the end all the little trying moments are so worth it because one hug or an “I love you” from Jake just fills us with true joy that can’t be explained. Jake makes us laugh every day, especially when he is being a budding rock star. And boy does he have the hair of a rock star.

First Time Skiing

Anyone that knows me knows what a freak I am about skiing. Skiing is my favorite sport and I love to just bomb the hill. I actually don't remember learning how to ski but I am told I was doing it at three. I know Jake is only 2 and a half, but crazy me thought lets give it a try, and Erik was with me on this idea. I know it could have been a total disaster, but it so wasn't. We went to this really little ski hill call Four Seasons about 5 minutes from our house. Plus Erik has won two free lift tickets so Mr. Budget was game for taking this chance as it was economical. We rented Jake equipment. I knew he was a natural when as soon as I got his boat on he got right up and walked like he had sneakers on (well almost). He even navigated stairs on them. Anyone that has spent anytime in ski boots knows this is no easy task. Then we took to the hill and Jake loved the "magic carpet" that took us up the lift, as he thought it was a train. We ended up taking four runs down the mountain and I think he would have gone more. One of our trips down I stopped for a minute and Jake yelled "No stopping Mommy! Go fast now!" We plan to take him out a few more times this year. By next year at this time he will be bombing the mountain. Body Miller - Who is that? Jake Hehl has arrived!

Best Buddies

Jake's two BFFs are Feduch and George. Each morning both the dogs are waiting for me to open the door when Jake wakes up so that they can put their noses through his crib to wake him with their cold noses. The other morning Jake said he wanted George in his crib with him so Erik pick George up and put him there.

Rock Star

Jake is very into music and loves to play his guitar and sing. Do we have a rock star in the making?

Loving the Winter

We have had a wonderful winter with lots of snow. I think winter is magical time of year. I enjoy getting the snow and cold. Yes I know many people think that is just plan crazy.
Jake seems to have inherited some of my love for the winter and snow. He really likes to help shovel the driveway. Lets home that desire to help shovel stays with him through his teenage years. This morning we got out to Mill Run Park for a little cross country skiing. Feduch had a great time in the snow and George seems to even like it.

How to Eat Pie

One of Jake’s favorite things is blackberry pie. He is lucky that my father is a very good pie maker and has tons of blackberries on his property in the summer. My father picked all the blackberries he could and froze them. Just about every time my Dad sees Jake he brings him a homemade pie. Within the first few bits of his first blackberry pie, Jake decided that eating it with a fork just wasn’t fast enough so his solution was to pick it up and eat it like a piece of pizza.

The Revival

It has been well over a year since I last posted. Lets just say that the first year of teaching leaves very little time for anything other than work and family. Good news is that I seem to have a bit of handle on the teaching thing and can now try to keep this blog up again. I am afraid I have lost all my followers but maybe some will come back and there might even be some new ones. I promise some good stories based on our crazy lives and the life of a middle school teacher. Jake is at a really fun age so I am sure I will have plenty to post. And lets not forget about the dogs, especially George, who opens a locked sliding glass door at will and jumps our new five foot fence without having to take a running start.

This Christmas was the best ever. Santa was very good to Jake and brought tons of presents even though he only asked for two puzzles. Not surprising the puzzles are the favorite gift that he plays with the most. It took Jake two days to open all his presents for two reasons: 1. He is a bit of neat freak and carefully put all the wrapping paper from each present in the trash bag as he took it off; and 2. He played with each present for quite some time before moving on to a new present. He also ran over to the statue of Santa and said “Thank you Santa Clause” after opening each gift.