We took photos of ourselves to send out with our Christmas letter by using the self-timer on the camera. We started with some photos outside in front of a fence in our yard and then tried some in our house. We ended up choosing the photo above, but we got a real laugh from some of the other photos we ended up with! How does a two-year-old boy know how to make faces for the camera? It must be something they come with!
This week's story falls under the category of "what was I thinking?" It started on Monday. Jonathan and I needed to get out of the house, so I decided to take Jonathan for a walk. The problem was that Mac learned that since he is small, all he had to do is dig a little around our chain link gate and he could wiggle out. I knew that if I left Mac behind, he would eventually come and join us. So, I put Jonathan in the stroller and put a leash on Mac. I didn't stop to think that I'd be training two things: a boy and a dog, because of course, Jonathan wanted to hold the leash. It was kind-of a fiasco, but Jonathan thought it was the best thing ever and laughed out loud the whole way down the street!
Chris and I decided that Jonathan should help us decorate the Christmas tree this year. I don't know what we were thinking! We let Jonathan hang up some bells on the tree, which was fine, but then we got to the other decorations. Jonathan really liked the candy canes that were made from pipe cleaners and pony beads and started carrying one around with him. And then...............he disappeared. When Jonny came back, he had a funny look on his face. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that he had taken a bead off of the candy cane and stuffed it UP HIS NOSE!!! Luckily, it hadn't gone too far so I squeezed his nose and it popped out! Ahh, two-year-olds!
Jonathan found the hard hat in his daddy's pickup the other day and wanted to play with it. Chris let him but then Jonny ended up leaving it outside. He found it again and came into the house wearing it. It looked so funny that I just had to snap a photo! (And yes, that's a squirt gun that Jonny is playing with in December!)
When I made popcorn balls last week, Jonathan watched me set these two bowls of popcorn on the table. He climbed right up in his chair, delighted that I had put that popcorn there just for him! He even ate a whole bunch of the dry stuff!
This is how Jonny helped Chris carry in the Christmas ornaments!
We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family this year. Jonathan had a great time. He spent some time pretending to cook and eat with Grandma's mini cookstove and pans (above).
The grandkids spent some time outside and all climbed on the park bench swing together!
Grandma bought some popsicles on clearance and of course, kids will eat popsicles at any time of year and at any temperature!
This bench served as a handy dessert table for the grandkids!
Well, Jonny doesn't take naps anymore. I haven't put him down for a nap for a couple of weeks now. It was a tough transition because he would get tired and grouchy and act like he needed a nap, but I couldn't keep him in bed. He discovered that he could climb out of bed and then if he stayed quiet then I wouldn't see what he was doing and put him back in bed. This picture above shows one of those "quiet" things he did instead of napping: He took all of the knobs off of his dresser, except for the two that he couldn't reach. Then he carried them out to show me what he had done! Another day, he went into my bedroom and got the Vicks Vaporub and smeared it all over the mirror on his closet door! Now, when he needs a little "quiet time" in the afternoon, I let him watch a movie. His favorites are Despicable Me, Toy Story 2 & 3, and Cars.
My sister brought us some chickens a couple of weeks ago and they are a complete novelty to Jonathan. He's never been around chickens before. When they are out of their coop, he can't leave them alone. He especially likes to chase them and I'm trying to teach him to NOT chase them. These pictures show our compromise. Jonathan discovered that he could carry his chair around to watch the chickens and he wouldn't get in trouble! Doesn't he look so innocent, sitting there on his chair?
This little dog is quickly becoming Jonny's best friend. My sister got it from her mother-in-law, so it's kind-of a "hand-me-down" dog. He's about a year old and has some pug in him and I don't know what else. Chris and Jonny have decided to call him Mac. I don't really care for little dogs, but Mac has grown on me. He's really good-natured and lets Jonny try to ride him and pull his tail. Jonny has always liked to play outside but now that Mac is outside, Jonny would spend all day outside if I let him. Jonny's favorite thing is to run across the yard with Mac running behind and then turn around and zip the other way.
This is Jonathan's real Halloween costume. He picked it out when we went costume shopping. We tried it on at the store, but he wasn't too sure about it when we put it on Halloween night. He just stood there with his head, eyes and arms hanging down for a while--truly a "hang dog" look!
It didn't take his daddy too long to get him laughing though and he wore his costume without trouble for the rest of the night.
We went trick-or-treating with Aunt Shannon's family and her friend Kendall's kids. Jonny understood trick-or-treating a lot better this year, especially after watching the bigger kids. Jonny carried his treat bucket all night long and wouldn't let anyone touch it, even when it seemed like it was getting too heavy for him.
We walked around the neighborhood for about an hour so when Jonny got too tired for walking, he rode on his daddy's shoulders.
My mom's ward had a Harvest Dinner Saturday night, followed by games and a Trunk or Treat for the kids. I forgot to take Jonathan's costume with us so we dug through the box of costumes left over from when my brothers and sister and I were small. That's why Jonny ended up being a little red devil. The costume was too big so we just used the cape and hat. Jonny wore the cape all night but he didn't really like the hat so he pulled it off pretty fast.
Jonny with cousins Rowdy, Kassidy and Mary and below, with Tucker.
My laundry basket has become Jonathan's "nest" or so he calls it. I'm not sure where he got that from, unless it was from watching Dinosaur Train on PBS. It's about a family of dinosaurs and they live in a nest. Jonathan drags the basket all through the house and either sits in it or plays under it with his toys. Jonathan has invited us to join him in his "nest", but alas, we don't fit!
The nest is good for eating snacks in. (Jonathan is eating one of the last cucumbers from our garden.)
The nest is even good for watching Sesame Street!
Whenever I get out the mixer, Jonny thinks it is his job to drag over a chair and take over control of the speed. When we were mixing up some cookies at Grandma's house, Jonny needed to help, of course. The only problem was that Jonny wasn't used to Grandma's mixer so he turned up the speed all of the way and we ended up with flour everywhere! Jonny wasn't quite sure what to think!
Yes, Jonny has learned how to climb out of his crib! He doesn't usually let me watch him climb out, but I finally caught him. He puts a leg up over the side, lifts himself up and over the side, then rests his feet on the mattress and gets down. Let me tell you, this climbing out thing is definitely making naptime and bedtime troublesome! It used to be really easy to get Jonny to go to sleep at night, but now we spend an hour or more playing the game of Jonny climbs out of bed and we put him back in. We have a rail for the side that will convert the bed into more of a daybed/toddler bed that we are probably going to put on soon. It will make it easier for Jonny to climb out of bed, but maybe it will make bedtime easier, too. Hey, we can always hope, right?
Our new yard is pretty bare and doesn't have a lot of things for a two-year-old boy to play with yet, so we bought this used playset for Jonny. It has two slides, a tunnel and a little door. Jonny has convinced his daddy to go down the slide with him several times, but all he can convince me to do is go in the door and sit in the little "house" part!
Jonny is pretty particular about the door and makes sure it is always shut!
This is Jonny's toy drill, which he LOVES! He has been obsessed with Chris's drill all summer long, so when we found this one we knew we had to get it! There are three "screws" that you can put in and take out with the drill, plus three "nails" that you can hammer in. Jonny went through one set of batteries the first night, followed by another set the next day. But now, whenever Chris is using his drill, we can tell Jonny to get his drill out and it saves us a lot of headaches!
This is what happened when I told Jonny "show me your teeth".
Jonny decided to take Clifford for a ride last week. He was pretty funny about it. Clifford had to sit in the seat beside Jonny. While they were getting in, Jonny told Clifford, "Scoot over bacon!" I wonder where he heard that from! :-)
When I started taking pictures, Jonny told Clifford to smile!
Can you tell that Jonny has chipmunk cheeks? That's because we had just been out to the garden and picked some tomatoes. Jonny likes to eat the little grape tomatoes from our garden, but he usually carries them around in his cheeks for a while before he eats them!
Now that it's starting to get dark earlier, we're spending more time in the house in the evenings. We've worked on all kinds of projects in the yard this summer. This picture shows me staining some bookshelves that we bought. Jonny is always right in the middle of whatever we are doing, so he didn't like this project so much: No, he couldn't play with the brushes. No, he couldn't stand on the shelves. No, he couldn't put the screwdriver in the can of stain. I let Jonny sit on a little metal container to watch, but that was the closest he could get. Jonny was glad when this project was done!
Jonny is a chatter-box, that's for sure! He talks to people at church, people at the store and basically anyone who will listen. They don't always know what he is saying, so I have to translate quite a bit. Here's a list of the words that I love to hear him say:
This is where Jonny loves to be kissed--his neck! He will give you a kiss on the lips but then he wants to be kissed on the neck and then laughs up a storm!