1/1 Jake: Mom, don't worry about me; I'll just be in my room reading books.
1/8 Jake: I look just like an alien except I don't have a green face.
1/12 Jake: I don't need a bath! I'm not dirty; I didn't even toot today!
1/14 Jake: Do you need help cooking dinner?
Me: Sure
Jake: Chef Jake is in. The. House. (Puts on chef hat.)
1/15 Jake: Sure means yes and maybe means no.
1/16 Jake: Sometimes kids follow directions and sometimes they don't.
1/20 The lady speaking in church today said she didn't have Netflix or even TV to avoid distractions. Jake looked at me, and with all sincerity and with great sadness said, "She doesn't have Netflix? That's so, so sad!" Who knew he was even listening?
2/22 I was at a restaurant with Jake. When he was done eating, he said, "Now I'm going to walk around and smell all the good smells." And then he did a lap around the restaurant with his nose in the air, sniffing.
2/24 Sometimes lately when I ask Jake to do something, he'll say, "My pleasure!" or "With pleasure!" Lest you think he is always obedient, just as often he'll scream, cry, run away, or do all three. You just never know what you're going to get.
2/29 Jake: Do aliens have Family Home Evening? I think they do.
3/7 Jake: I'm good at messes.
3/19 Jake: I love this song!
Me: Do you want to dance?
Jake: Just my head and eyebrows want to dance (bobs his head and wiggles his eyebrows).
3/26 Jake: Where is college?
Me: They're all over the world
Jake: I already know where I want to go.
Me: Where?
Jake: Auntie Lianna's house. I'll learn to be nice there.
3/27 Jake: Remember that worker? His name was JASON! Like OUR DAD!
Me: You're right. There are probably lots of people in the world with the same name as our Dad.
Jake: There ARE?!! ... Wait! Are there other JAKES?!
Me: Yes
Jake: (Mind blown)
4/2 Jake to me: I'm glad we're both alive today.
4/17 One of the ways the older kids can earn extra technology time is to play with Jake. I was afraid once he got old enough to understand this that he would feel used or offended. On the contrary, often he will ask the room at large, " Who wants to play with me for extra time?" or rather than ask me to play with him he'll sometimes say, "Mom, do you want to earn extra technology time?" and reminds me to set the timer!
4/22 Jake: All my things are important to me.
Me: My things are important to me too, but the most important thing to me is my family.
Jake: The thing that's most important to me is Snowy Toy.
Me: More important than your family?
Jake: Well...yes.
4/26 The kids were guessing my age and added ten years to the reality. That lead to a conversation about where they would all be when they were 22, 20, and 15. When we got to Jake we mentioned that he'd be the only kid left at home and he immediately burst into tears. Poor baby! The other three rushed to tell him all the great things that would come with being 15 and promised to visit a lot. See, they do like each other!
4/29 I wanted to remember the way Jake says some of his words: zizzors (scissors), Yogan (Logan), snores (s'mores), McDominos (dominos), and cock-a-dackle-doo for what a rooster says. Also, when he talks, he holds the vowel of the last word he says, like a drawl. He reads so often and so far beyond his reading level that he uses words like" multiple" instead of "a lot " and frequently uses the phrase "for example."
5/6 Jake: I want to look at pictures of me, but not when I was a baby, when I was a human.
5/7 Jake: I want to go places. I'm tired of staying home. Will the Coronavirus EVER be over?
5/18 Jake: I'm exhausted. Do you know what that means? It means I'm REALLY tired.
5/21 Jake to me: I like that you're my friend.
5/23 The fact that Jake has a great duck voice is further proof to me that he crossed paths with his Grandpa Eldredge somewhere up there in the few weeks after Gary passed and before Jake was born.
5/24 Jake (blowing bubbles in his drink): It's like the water is talking back to me!
6/3 Me: If you get married in the temple you get to be married forever.
Jake: Ugg, I don't WANT to be married FOREVER!
6/9 Jake cleaning up: I did all the bags and boxes once by a time. I'm like...incredible guy!
6/28 We drove to Mt Rushmore on Friday and then drove home on Saturday, spending 28 out of 40 hours in the car. Here are some of the best things Jake had to say about it:
He told everyone we were going to Mt Everest and was squealing when we got there about how cool Mt Everest was.
When we were only about half way there (about 7 hours in), he said, "I think we've driven all the way around the wold by now!"
When we got home he was telling someone about it and said, "It's these four faces all carved out of stone, and they're all APOSTLES!"
7/10 Jake: I know all about vampires, more than you mom. Actually, I know about ALL monsters. Yeah, I'm a cool kid.
7/22 Jake: Things are getting complicated (His commentary on COVID restrictions).
8/14 Grandma: What animal is this?
Jake: Oh, I just call that a cantaloupe (it was an antelope).
8/18 Jake: Did you know there are three big boys we can't see of hear? Jesus, Heavenly Father, and Santa.
8/28 Jake: Are you ready to pop out of your eyes (be surprised)?
9/3 Jake: Are you even listening? Do you even have ears?
9/11 Logan: Jake, if you do your writing practice I'll count to 200 for you!
Jake: How about you just give me $200?
9/17 Jake: Do you want to play a game with me? You can say yes, maybe, or sure.
9/22 Me: That is the dental hygienist.
Jake: Oh, I get it! The Hi Dentist!
9/25 Jake: Mom, do you want to play with me? We haven't played anything in like an HOUR!
9/26 Jake: (He's crying and I'm coming to see if he's ok, Jake just stands there) Don't just walk; RUN!
10/7 Jake: Hot chocolate makes me feel good when I feel sad.
10/13 Jake: A week?! A week is like a hundred days, even a million days!
10/16 Jake: Your reflection is like a ghost on the wall in front of you.
10/18 Jake: Grandma and Grandpa Quillen are coming in a week! I am so excited! The Quillens are coming.
That's what I call them, the Quillens. Isn't that funny?!
10/20 Jake: I don't know who's right, but it's probably me.
10/22 Jake's teacher (remote, via chromebook) I have some friends not following directions.
Jake: I think that's me.
10/31 Jake: Mom, I love you more than skittles, toys and stickers (all of his MOST favorite things!).
11/5 Jake counting something for a math problem: There are nine
Me: Try again. I think there are eight.
Jake: Yeah, but in my imagination I see another one, so that makes nine!
11/6 Jake: I think I discovered what I'm allergic to.
Me: What?
Jake: Zombies.
11/15 Jake: This game has only one rule, and here it is: THERE ARE NO RULES!
11/17 Jake was describing a game he played at a friend's birthday where they tried to sneak the dinosaur eggs away from the sleeping mamas. She told them to be quiet so the mamas didn't wake up or they would be "a piece of toast!" (I imagine she said they'd be "toast," but not knowing that phrase, he morphed it into something he did know!)
11/23 Jake: Dad, what do you do for your job?
Jason: Well, I make sure people are doing what they're supposed to be doing (he's an auditor for a bank)
Jake: Wait! That's what Mom's job is!
11/27 We set up our Christmas decorations today and Jake called all the needles that fell on the ground "tree hairs."
11/28 Jake: People don't really have birthdays once a year! Mine only comes, like, once every TWENTY years!
12/2 As you go about your holiday season, remember that Jake calls candy canes "candy kings."
12/3 Jake: Whatever the very last day of school is, I can't wait for that day!
12/14 Jake had to be sedated for some dental work (LONG STORY), and in trying to prepare him for it we told him the medicine he drank would make him very sleepy and that he might even take a nap while they worked on his teeth. Apparently, he never did fall asleep, but he was chill enough to let the dentist do her work (thank goodness), even interrupting her sometimes to "tell her something" (a very Jake thing to say). Afterwords, he was very woozy and couldn't walk, let alone hold up his head or body very well for about half the day. This was very frustrating to him and he told me, "I think they gave me the wrong medicine! It didn't even make me fall asleep, it just turned me into, like a baby who can't even walk!"
12/17 Jake's class was talking about their favorite toys and someone mentioned light sabers. Jake said, Light sabers?
Me: That sounds like fun (thinking, great, now he'll have another toy to wish for from Christmas).
Jake: No! That sounds DANGEROUS!
12/17 Jake: (With the saddest face you've ever seen, lip quivering, tears in his eyes) I don't want to miss you when I grow up! I don't want to be away from you!
Me: (All sorts of assurances that such a time is a long way off, that he'll be excited about what he's doing, that he'll have a phone he can call me on...none of which comforted him at all.) You can just choose to live right by me.
Jake: But how will I know where you live? Will you still be in this same house? Who gets to pick where I live-me?
Me:...Yes.
Jake: (Takes a deep, shuttering breath) OK.
12/23 Jake: How does the skeleton inside my body blink?
