Can it be that so many years have passed so quickly? That my baby is going to be 12 in a few short days?
I never thought the day would come that I'd have zero kids in Primary at church...or zero kids in elementary school. Or that ALL my kids would not only be old enough to stay home alone, but to be left responsible for other children and get PAID for it! But here we are.
Jacob is the only one of our children who came as a complete surprise. To tell you the truth, we really liked the 3 year space between Patrick and Coree, and planned on doing at least that much time again if we had another baby. I had just been discussing contraception with some friends at a Pampered Chef party. (That last sentence was such a stereotype, it was actually painful to type.) They were laughing at the concept of counting days on the calendar...dismissing it as bunk. I was quick to defend it, saying, "I don't know, I think it's worked pretty well for us." Here's the double irony...as I stood there defending our reliable rhythm method, I was (a) unknowingly pregnant and (b) with our 5th pregnancy in 6 years. Figuring in how many months of those years I was either pregnant or nursing...then, yep...pretty "trusty" family planning, I'd say.
Anyway, I would dare say Heavenly Father knew best, and we are so grateful He saw fit to send Jacob to us, even though it meant having 4 kids in 6 years while I was Primary President and talking college classes and Cliff was a full time Marine and full time grad student, too. (Those were the days!)
My goodness, Jacob was such a sweet baby! He was so good. They say the 4th one has to be, right? He was the only baby I delivered in a military hospital, and that part of it was completely miserable (although I hear it's gotten better, at least at stateside hospitals, anyway).
Well, in our 2010 birthday tradition, here are 12 random facts or embarrassing stories about Jake, in no particular order:
(1) Jacob got so snug in one position in the womb, that even after he was born, his neck muscles had strengthened so his head turned to one side, even when he was upright. Because of this, his head started to shift, causing the back of one ear to align with the front of the other, one side of his forehead to protrude and the side of his head to flatten into the back of his head. For this, he had to wear one of those cool, head-shaping helmets. It was not a fun experience. The thing was sweaty and miserable, required weekly, hours-long, medical appointments for adjustments, and Tricare didn't cover it, so we had to hold a garage sale to come up with the down payment on the thing. If this post were about anything else, I'd say something about how we've seen the government run insurance that is in our country's future... and you may want to think twice about it. But I won't. Anyway, who knows if it helped, but unless he joins the military (or a cult), probably no one will have to see his bald head to find out.
(2) On Memorial Day weekend, when Jacob was barely six months old, he contracted infantile botulism and spent two weeks in the pediatric ICU. It would be a long post on its own, so I won't go into it here, but just know that by the time they figured out what was wrong with him, I thought he was on death's door...but that looking back over the events of the two days between signs and diagnosis, it was easy to see God's hand in what transpired. Luckily, they were able to get him onto a ventilator before he stopped breathing, as this neurotoxin spread and paralyzed his body. We will forever be grateful to Dr. Stephen Arnon at the Infantile Botulism Treatment and Prevention Center in Berkley, CA for making this orphan disease his life's work. There are less than 100 cases in the US per year...so not exactly big money to be made in a field like that.
(3) Jacob was (and still is) such a good sleeper! Too good sometimes. We have to check and recheck to make sure he's up and getting ready for school or church. Kindergarten used to wear him out. He'd come home from school, and after a snack, sometimes he'd say, "I'm gonna go take a nap." What kid seriously says that? Even as a baby, he'd just randomly fall asleep wherever he felt like it. I love him for that.
(4) Jake was my only thumb-sucker...and I LOVED that he sucked his thumb. I didn't see a big deal about it at all. But...when it didn't stop after he started Kindergarten, I thought I needed to intervene. I talked to our awesome dentist about it, and he handled it so well. He brought in a mirror and showed Jake how one of his front teeth was starting to push forward. He told Jake it was because he was sucking his thumb, and that he needed to stop or it would get worse. Jake looked SO sad and said, "But I just can't...it relaxes me down." But he did stop. After that, I only saw him suck his thumb during the night when I'd peek in on him, and soon after that, not at all.
(5) When Jake was in preschool, he had major shoe issues...putting on shoes that were not his, that is. Only, this rule went for anyone. If I had him with me in Target and I wanted to shop for shoes, I'd better not even think of trying them on. Sometimes, I'd do it anyway and he'd pitch a fit and scream until he cried...until I put them back in the box. We actually had to seek a behavior intervention over it. A behaviorist from the school district made him a social story, came over to our house and read it to him...and traveled with us to the shoe store. He cried at several points, and whenever he did, she'd stop and say, "Let's see what the story says is going to happen next." This story got us all the way through trying on new shoes up to the register to pay and out to the car. It was like magic...and he never had the issue again.
(6) Jake is the only one of my kids who did not like bedtime stories, or to be read to in general. He would start bouncing up and down in my lap, slapping the book. He never read (or wanted to be read to) for the enjoyment of a good story. All of this changed in Kindergarten, when he discovered that reading allowed you to gain information. Then he was hooked. He always headed to the nonfiction section of the library (picture books? Pssshhh!) where he could learn useful things like the how different WWII planes were armed, or how many chambers are in a scorpion's heart. This is still true today, although we have been a little more successful in getting him to read some of the more adventurous children's illustrated versions of classics. He still prefers to carry around books of facts in various themes.
(7) Jacob also was not a big toy fan as a preschooler. He much preferred mechanical things, from the time he was very young. [I came down the stairs one morning when he was about 18 months old to find him walking down the hall, holding a loaf of bread in one hand, dragging the toaster by the cord with the other, looking for a plug to make himself breakfast. He didn't ask for help solving problems...he just went about trying to solve them.] His most favorite "toy?" The vacuum cleaner. He used to have his own snuggle time with the vacuum in the laundry room, where he would stroke the attachments and ridges of the hose while sucking his thumb. When we'd go to Walmart, he wouldn't run to the toy section like most kids...he simply wanted to visit the vacuum aisle. He'd put away any stray attachments or hoses, and even question the other patrons, "Which one you like?"...probably hoping he'd met another vacuum-phile. They'd give him sideways looks, probably thinking, "I'm just here for some bags, kid." The closest Jake came to playing with a toy? The cream and lavender vacuum that went to Coree's Little Tikes dollhouse. It fit right in the palm of his hand for traveling vacuum fun.
(8) Jake was a climber. He could scale the pantry to get whatever I had hidden in the top, no sweat. Ditto for the top of the fridge. For this reason, if I didn't get a shower before Cliff left for work, I'd have to either (a) Lock Jake in the bathroom with me or (b) wait until Cliff came home for lunch, if that happened. One day, when Jake was 1 or 2, I came out of the shower to hear Patrick screaming, "MOM! Jake's face is bleeding!" Not only had Jake climbed up the drawers to the bathroom counter and pulled a razor down from the top shelf AND shaved himself with it...he got the door open and got out anyway. I had to hold him down and use a towel to apply pressure to the 15 or so little cuts on his face to stop the bleeding. He resented this completely and cried until he passed out. It's amazing this kid has survived for 12 years.
(9) Jacob is always willing to help. I'm not exaggerating. And if it involves tools or problem solving? Even better. He's always quick to lend a hand bringing in groceries, cleaning up a mess (he's my go-to guy for using the little Bissel carpet cleaner). The words I most associate with him? "I'm on it." I love it when he says that. Part of this is his personality, but I think part of it is also that I let him do so much from an earlier age. He started cooking at age 8. If we're having pancakes, it would be weird for Jake NOT to cook them. Same with stir-fry...that's his dish. I think there is a LOT to be said for letting kids try things out and not criticize their methods or results...just give positive suggestions for next time, if needed...or let them figure it out, if possible. And always just insist they clean up the mess. It only took me 4 kids to figure this out. So while Jacob is confidently solving his own problems and cooking his own meals, at least the others will have plenty to tell their therapists about.
(10) When Jake was two and three, his obsession with the military began. Especially pilots. On days when we'd meet Cliff for lunch at the North Island food court, he'd look for the flight suits. Every single one he saw, he'd point and say, "He pilot, too, Dad?" And Cliff would nod and say yes. And Jake would stare at them intensely, until the next one caught his eye. I don't remember exactly what it was that clued us in, but we figured out that when Jake would ask about the pilots, he was asking Cliff if they were pilots like him. He was really disappointed to learn that chaplain and pilot were not the same thing...and that his daddy merely got to ride on the airplanes that took off and landed on the aircraft carrier...he didn't actually fly the planes. At three, Jake could rattle off every ship in the destroyer squadron Cliff was stationed with...to the delight of the other guys in the wardroom...especially the Commodore.
(11) This obsession with aviation has taken him far in his short life. Since Cliff went from being stationed on an aircraft carrier, to a Marine Air Wing, to a Naval Air Facility (which was the winter home to the Blue Angels) to another Marine Air Wing, Jake has had ample opportunity for exposure. While he was at El Centro, not only did he get an up close and personal look at the Blue Angels, but got a personal "behind the scenes" tour of his favorite P-51 Mustang. Not to mention getting to sit in a Red Bull stunt plane, and then stand with the announcer at the airshow while the Red Bull pilot performed a new maneuver he named the "Jake Roll" in his honor. He's been able to go listen to speakers at Navy League meetings, and was even invited to be the personal guest of one speaker at the Gillespie Field airshow, and invited to fly with him in his Cessna around San Diego County the next day. All that poring over books of aviation facts (and all those hours of the History Channel) really paid off!
(12) Jake is obsessed with Nerf guns. He has an arsenal that is a little embarrassing. We removed the bottom bunk of his bunkbed to turn it into a loft bed. We had in mind, putting a desk under there to maximize the space in his room. He had in mind, gorilla chests full of Nerf guns and ammo. A few months ago he told me he thought Dad needed to bring home another one of his gorilla chests to accommodate his ever-growing stock-pile. (Gorilla chests are big, black, plastic chests with locks and wheels which are very popular for shipping gear back and forth from military deployments. Cliff has six of them, mostly at work.) I told him I drew the line at two...otherwise, it was time to start culling the collection. How many Nerf guns can one use at a time, anyway?
(2) On Memorial Day weekend, when Jacob was barely six months old, he contracted infantile botulism and spent two weeks in the pediatric ICU. It would be a long post on its own, so I won't go into it here, but just know that by the time they figured out what was wrong with him, I thought he was on death's door...but that looking back over the events of the two days between signs and diagnosis, it was easy to see God's hand in what transpired. Luckily, they were able to get him onto a ventilator before he stopped breathing, as this neurotoxin spread and paralyzed his body. We will forever be grateful to Dr. Stephen Arnon at the Infantile Botulism Treatment and Prevention Center in Berkley, CA for making this orphan disease his life's work. There are less than 100 cases in the US per year...so not exactly big money to be made in a field like that.
(3) Jacob was (and still is) such a good sleeper! Too good sometimes. We have to check and recheck to make sure he's up and getting ready for school or church. Kindergarten used to wear him out. He'd come home from school, and after a snack, sometimes he'd say, "I'm gonna go take a nap." What kid seriously says that? Even as a baby, he'd just randomly fall asleep wherever he felt like it. I love him for that.
(4) Jake was my only thumb-sucker...and I LOVED that he sucked his thumb. I didn't see a big deal about it at all. But...when it didn't stop after he started Kindergarten, I thought I needed to intervene. I talked to our awesome dentist about it, and he handled it so well. He brought in a mirror and showed Jake how one of his front teeth was starting to push forward. He told Jake it was because he was sucking his thumb, and that he needed to stop or it would get worse. Jake looked SO sad and said, "But I just can't...it relaxes me down." But he did stop. After that, I only saw him suck his thumb during the night when I'd peek in on him, and soon after that, not at all.
(5) When Jake was in preschool, he had major shoe issues...putting on shoes that were not his, that is. Only, this rule went for anyone. If I had him with me in Target and I wanted to shop for shoes, I'd better not even think of trying them on. Sometimes, I'd do it anyway and he'd pitch a fit and scream until he cried...until I put them back in the box. We actually had to seek a behavior intervention over it. A behaviorist from the school district made him a social story, came over to our house and read it to him...and traveled with us to the shoe store. He cried at several points, and whenever he did, she'd stop and say, "Let's see what the story says is going to happen next." This story got us all the way through trying on new shoes up to the register to pay and out to the car. It was like magic...and he never had the issue again.
(6) Jake is the only one of my kids who did not like bedtime stories, or to be read to in general. He would start bouncing up and down in my lap, slapping the book. He never read (or wanted to be read to) for the enjoyment of a good story. All of this changed in Kindergarten, when he discovered that reading allowed you to gain information. Then he was hooked. He always headed to the nonfiction section of the library (picture books? Pssshhh!) where he could learn useful things like the how different WWII planes were armed, or how many chambers are in a scorpion's heart. This is still true today, although we have been a little more successful in getting him to read some of the more adventurous children's illustrated versions of classics. He still prefers to carry around books of facts in various themes.
(7) Jacob also was not a big toy fan as a preschooler. He much preferred mechanical things, from the time he was very young. [I came down the stairs one morning when he was about 18 months old to find him walking down the hall, holding a loaf of bread in one hand, dragging the toaster by the cord with the other, looking for a plug to make himself breakfast. He didn't ask for help solving problems...he just went about trying to solve them.] His most favorite "toy?" The vacuum cleaner. He used to have his own snuggle time with the vacuum in the laundry room, where he would stroke the attachments and ridges of the hose while sucking his thumb. When we'd go to Walmart, he wouldn't run to the toy section like most kids...he simply wanted to visit the vacuum aisle. He'd put away any stray attachments or hoses, and even question the other patrons, "Which one you like?"...probably hoping he'd met another vacuum-phile. They'd give him sideways looks, probably thinking, "I'm just here for some bags, kid." The closest Jake came to playing with a toy? The cream and lavender vacuum that went to Coree's Little Tikes dollhouse. It fit right in the palm of his hand for traveling vacuum fun.
(8) Jake was a climber. He could scale the pantry to get whatever I had hidden in the top, no sweat. Ditto for the top of the fridge. For this reason, if I didn't get a shower before Cliff left for work, I'd have to either (a) Lock Jake in the bathroom with me or (b) wait until Cliff came home for lunch, if that happened. One day, when Jake was 1 or 2, I came out of the shower to hear Patrick screaming, "MOM! Jake's face is bleeding!" Not only had Jake climbed up the drawers to the bathroom counter and pulled a razor down from the top shelf AND shaved himself with it...he got the door open and got out anyway. I had to hold him down and use a towel to apply pressure to the 15 or so little cuts on his face to stop the bleeding. He resented this completely and cried until he passed out. It's amazing this kid has survived for 12 years.
(9) Jacob is always willing to help. I'm not exaggerating. And if it involves tools or problem solving? Even better. He's always quick to lend a hand bringing in groceries, cleaning up a mess (he's my go-to guy for using the little Bissel carpet cleaner). The words I most associate with him? "I'm on it." I love it when he says that. Part of this is his personality, but I think part of it is also that I let him do so much from an earlier age. He started cooking at age 8. If we're having pancakes, it would be weird for Jake NOT to cook them. Same with stir-fry...that's his dish. I think there is a LOT to be said for letting kids try things out and not criticize their methods or results...just give positive suggestions for next time, if needed...or let them figure it out, if possible. And always just insist they clean up the mess. It only took me 4 kids to figure this out. So while Jacob is confidently solving his own problems and cooking his own meals, at least the others will have plenty to tell their therapists about.
(10) When Jake was two and three, his obsession with the military began. Especially pilots. On days when we'd meet Cliff for lunch at the North Island food court, he'd look for the flight suits. Every single one he saw, he'd point and say, "He pilot, too, Dad?" And Cliff would nod and say yes. And Jake would stare at them intensely, until the next one caught his eye. I don't remember exactly what it was that clued us in, but we figured out that when Jake would ask about the pilots, he was asking Cliff if they were pilots like him. He was really disappointed to learn that chaplain and pilot were not the same thing...and that his daddy merely got to ride on the airplanes that took off and landed on the aircraft carrier...he didn't actually fly the planes. At three, Jake could rattle off every ship in the destroyer squadron Cliff was stationed with...to the delight of the other guys in the wardroom...especially the Commodore.
(11) This obsession with aviation has taken him far in his short life. Since Cliff went from being stationed on an aircraft carrier, to a Marine Air Wing, to a Naval Air Facility (which was the winter home to the Blue Angels) to another Marine Air Wing, Jake has had ample opportunity for exposure. While he was at El Centro, not only did he get an up close and personal look at the Blue Angels, but got a personal "behind the scenes" tour of his favorite P-51 Mustang. Not to mention getting to sit in a Red Bull stunt plane, and then stand with the announcer at the airshow while the Red Bull pilot performed a new maneuver he named the "Jake Roll" in his honor. He's been able to go listen to speakers at Navy League meetings, and was even invited to be the personal guest of one speaker at the Gillespie Field airshow, and invited to fly with him in his Cessna around San Diego County the next day. All that poring over books of aviation facts (and all those hours of the History Channel) really paid off!
(12) Jake is obsessed with Nerf guns. He has an arsenal that is a little embarrassing. We removed the bottom bunk of his bunkbed to turn it into a loft bed. We had in mind, putting a desk under there to maximize the space in his room. He had in mind, gorilla chests full of Nerf guns and ammo. A few months ago he told me he thought Dad needed to bring home another one of his gorilla chests to accommodate his ever-growing stock-pile. (Gorilla chests are big, black, plastic chests with locks and wheels which are very popular for shipping gear back and forth from military deployments. Cliff has six of them, mostly at work.) I told him I drew the line at two...otherwise, it was time to start culling the collection. How many Nerf guns can one use at a time, anyway?
Happy Birthday, Jacob! You are such a blessing to our family...the best surprise we ever got. We love you!
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