This Boy Is Better than a Mouse

People. Remember that mouse I told you about? Well, that was nearly four months ago and we STILL haven't been able to get rid of him. The professional exterminator just stopped calling and since we hadn't had any sightings for a while, I decided to pretend the mouse was gone again . . . nope. He's not. He reappeared when my parents were visiting a few weeks ago, and my dad, who has never met a mouse he couldn't catch, set out the traps with fresh vigor. Nothing.

THIS MOUSE. We just can't catch him. No matter how many traps we set out or what's on them or where we put them, he just doesn't care. And Dave has seen him so many times lately that I just can't pretend he's not there. And rather than think any more about the mouse, which fills me with chills every time I do, I want to think about the adorable little man you see above. Jacob. Unlike the mouse, he actually has the right to live in my house and I adore every inch of him. He is so so so kissable and fun. He turned one last month; what a great age!

Jacob is still so easygoing. Although he spends plenty of time in my arms when I'm trying to cook, he also spends a lot of time just wandering around exploring. And he definitely has his favorite haunts; it still cracks me up that such a little baby can have favorite spots. He loves our toy kitchen, and he loves to open the toy cupboard and pull out the cars or musical instruments. He also spends a lot of time in the corner of our living room with the toy basket. He likes to climb into a box of wooden blocks and just sit on them while he plays with other toys.

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He got his first real haircut last week and looks so sharp with it. His hair is really curly but you can't tell as much now that it's not shaggy. He has a million teeth; I don't even know how many. Um, eight already in and four halfway through. He was always a super enthusiastic nurser but decided he was over it right around his birthday (first one of my babies to do that). Rude, but he gets points because he's also the only one of my children who will currently eat anything and everything I put in front of him at dinnertime.

Jacob also started saying "bye bye" and waving very enthusiastically. He's been able to wave since June, but wanting to do it all the time is a recent thing. And he says mom and dad and hi and makes funny animal sounds. He's especially good at quacking; he seriously sounds just like a duck. He picked it up (with absolutely no prompting from me) when we took him to see some ducks a few weeks ago, and now he likes to walk up to people and start quacking as a way of saying hello.

Right now he's sick, but even when he's a sickie he's just so pleasant and wonderful to be around. I'm not saying he never cries or fusses. But he's just so dang cute, and he's also super good at dealing with all the craziness that comes his way via his loving older sisters. I love him.