Previous answers

Oh yeah, the answers from the previous Jake-speak were computer, tuba, and octagon.

Cold Winter Days

It's too cold to go out and do much, at least it has been these past few days. Plus Jake and I have pretty yucky colds right now, but Jake is doing a great job using the inside of his elbow to cover up his coughs. If he's got to be sick, at least we can learn a little about infection control, right?

We've had a fun few weeks. Last week, we went to the children's museum with our friends Ms. (or Dr.) Danita and Alex (who is not a baby anymore!). With her CHW ID badge we were all able to get in free, saving me $20 so thanks D! Jake and Alex had fun running around and trying out everything. The next day was our buddy Luke's birthday party. It's hard to believe he's three years old!! He had a Thomas-themed birthday party (you know Jakey loved that) complete with goody bags a la Thomas. Carla really threw together a great party, and she's on the most challenging rotation of medical school! Since then, we've mostly been sticking around home. For Christmas my mom got me this neat little calendar with one activity idea per day for preschool aged kids, and it has some great ideas. A few days ago we made snowball cupcakes (white cupcakes, white frosting, dunk the top in flaked coconut) and delivered some to our friends. Yesterday we made oatmeal cookies (Jake actually likes them!). We might just take it easy today, or maybe we'll make play dough. Ben is doing pretty well. Those stubborn bottom teeth are coming in but they haven't broken through yet, and he's pretty uncomfortable - poor guy! But he still has slept well the past two nights, and is even sleeping in the crib now.

So I'll leave you with some pictures. Hope everyone out there is staying warm!

Ben taking a quick snooze during playtime. I think he's going to be a blankie boy just like his brother.

The boys hanging with their dad on a Saturday.
Ben sporting his Yankees onesie from Uncle Matt. Later he peed on it. I don't know if that's indicative of his feelings on the team or not.
Jake and his EXTREMELY spikey hair. I'm pretty sure he's got about fifty cowlicks. When he woke up like this, he said "Hi Mom, I've got spikey hair today!"

More Jake-speak

Bring me your guesses..

1. Tooter
2. Tooga
3. Octopus

Previous answers:

1. Presents
2. caterpillar
3. elevator
4. zoo
5. Emily

Ping Dong

That's the name of Jake's latest game. Yup, Ping Dong. Or sometimes Bing Dong. Ryan and I still don't really know where the name came from or what it means, but apparently the game goes something like this:

Jake says "Ping, Mom, PING!" and I'm supposed to hold out my hands with my palms facing him. Then he proceeds to punch my palms (we convinced him gentler is better) and start dancing, complete with butt-shaking. Then he runs off, finds his big soft foam yellow ball and starts kicking it around yelling "PING!" It seems like some bizarro boxing/soccer hybrid.

So I was relating this all to my mom today when I realized where the heck it came from. During our trip out there, we spent some time with my parents' neighbors. We went over to their house, and they were playing Wii Sports, and Jake was totally engrossed. As it turns out, he watched them play the boxing part of the game, and the immediately thereafter they played the soccer portion. The only logical conclusion I can come up with is that he thinks boxing and soccer are supposed to go together.

Now where the name "ping dong" came from, I still have no idea.