A Baby No More...

Our baby is no longer a baby. Early last week I got a "promotion" note from daycare. I was excited for a couple of reasons.
1. It was past time! Others that were not as advanced (in my opinion) as Jake were moved a couple months ago.
2. We have a biter. Not our Jake - but the new kid, Jacob. Our Jake was the first victim and I was anxious to get him out of that room before Jake picked up on the habit.
3. He now gets to go to the Play Room and their days are a bit more "structured". I'm hoping this will help with Jake's communication and learning to follow directions/commands. (More on this in a minute.)

When I received the letter last week, I didn't really read it. I saw he was being moved up and just assumed it would be to the next room up the hall because that's how it's always been. I was wrong. Jake skipped TWO rooms! They must have finally learned what we've known...he's a genius!! I walked into Jake's new room and learned that he's a bigger boy than we thought and we had more to be excited about.
He will now take his naps on a cot and eat his snacks and lunch at a little table - not in a highchair! Jake was a little upset to find out that his friend Peyton didn't move up with him. Peyton did move to another room - but still with baby beds and highchairs.
Peyton is six weeks younger than Jake, but maybe they'll be back together soon. If not, at least he'll be our neighbor in two weeks! We're so excited about them moving to our neighborhood!

Now, about Jake's vocal skills. He seems to be picking up a new word or sound almost daily. And the facial expressions just crack me up! I must get a picture of the latest. He raise his eyebrows and looks up at you like, "Seriously?". It's too cute!
Here's just a few of the latest words:
no-no (he looks @ you and shakes his head while saying it and doing whatever he's not suppose to be doing
ta-da (complete with arms stretched out)
more (complete with ASL)
MeMe
Mamaw (but adds and extra "my" or "ma" on the front)
be (he's said this a few times when playing peek-a-boo, so I think he's saying "boo")
and he can roar like a dinosaur

I'll have to update when my brain un-thaws. I started listing the words and my mind just went blank. (Thanks, Terry, but we don't need your comments on that.)
Here's a few words/phrases that he's been saying for a while:
Da-dee
Mama
Bye
oo-oo (that's what a dog says)
flower (but the "fl" is silent)
ball
baby
balloon
Sophie (the neighbors cat - it doesn't come out as Sophie, but we know what he's saying)
Ba-Ba Black Sheep
aaaaa, beeee, seeee, E!

He can also say his vowels - not that he's knows what that means - and (somewhat) spell his name. I'll have to try to get that on video.

Jake is also learning how to follow simple commands and we are learning to follow his - ha!
He's been knowing what "Let's go outside" means. For that reason, we can't say the words "go" and "outside" unless we are indeed ready to go outside.
We know that when Jake screams and hangs on the refrigerator door, that he probably wants something to drink. That's when we beat him politely tell him how to not act like a fool ask for his drink.
He's got the bedtime routine down pat. When I say, "Let's brush our teeth", he runs to the bathroom. When I say, "Let's read a book", he runs to his room and gets a book out of the basket.
Once we sit down to read, I just want to read all night because that's usually the only time my sweet baby boy big boy will sit and cuddle in my lap.

Why do they have to grow so fast?