Jadyn: Toddler adventurer

Jake was a very mellow toddler. He did not go through the typical terrible two's consisting of whining, tantrums, defiance and boundary testing. I am sure he did, but it was just very subtle and kind of came and went quickly. He did however, give us quite the run for our money when it came to eating and sleeping. In fact, we still battle on these fronts, although he is getting much better.

So it is with great surprise that we have our little Jadyn, who at the same age appears to be the EXACT opposite. While we are often greeted with temper tantrums, continual whining and defiance at every turn, there are two things Jadyn can do and that is eat and sleep.

Case in point. In the last 2 weeks Jadyn has sampled onions, broccoli, oranges, lemons and actually picked the veggies out of her fried rice. She does not like everything she tries, but she shows a willingness to sample new foods and we are just so astonished by it. One of the items we recently discovered that Jadyn LOVES is edamame. It used to be something I only got as a treat when eating out. That is until I found microwavable single serve pouches at Sam's Club. Jadyn tried it and loved it and we have even taught her how to retrieve the soybeans from the pod herself. So we had it with our dinner last night and she kept asking for more. We said, "Wow Jadyn you really like edamame". She replied, "Yes I love mommie" and kept repeating it over and over again. So now she thinks the name for me and soybeans are one in the same. I don't know if I retold the story very well, but it was pretty funny.

When it comes to sleep, Jadyn really seems to know her limits and this seems especially true at naptime. Sunday, I started to see the signs of her getting tired a little earlier than I expected so I rushed to get lunch on the table so she could eat before going down. Well, we didn't quite make it and she started whining and asked to get down from the table and started asking for her pacifier. We tried to tell her to hold on as Joe and I were both still trying to finish our lunch as well. She just wandered down the hall muttering something in that famous toddler whine. A few minutes passed and it had gotten pretty quiet so Joe went to check on her only to find her passed out on Jake's bed with a pacifier she had hidden under his pillow. I guess she could not wait for us.

Now my only hope is that in telling everyone this, it does not come back to haunt me. I will be sure to let everyone know if she suddenly stops eating or napping. LOL!

Finally, we had our first summer rain Saturday and it is something that we truly look forward to. It cools us down, even if it means we will be muggy later and there is just something so cool about being able to run outside in the rain and not be cold. Apparently, I am not the only one that feels this way.



Jake usually likes the rain too but on this particular day he had just woken up from an unexpected nap (something tells me Joe kept them up late when I was gone) and Jake takes awhile to snap out of it when he first wakes up but that's okay. I am sure this will not be the last of the summer rain.

And speaking of weather related events, I wanted to update everyone and let them know that my Mom and George are safe and back in their home. It is raining ash and the air quality is poor, but it looks like their neck of the woods is out of danger. Thank goodness for that.