Jonathan

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-15T15:42:00.002-07:00

Jonny helped me make sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. He helped me cut out two cookies and then he had more fun eating flour and cookie dough.

I thought Jonathan might like to eat frosting, but he was more enthralled with the sprinkles. He helped me put some sprinkles on some cookies and then ate a bunch of sprinkles. And we only ended up with one jar of sprinkles dumped completely out!

Jonny and I picked up a heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner and Chris brought home flowers and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Those strawberries were right up Jonny's alley. He saw them and got so excited. Jonny is such a berry-eater! He's been keeping his eye on our strawberry patch and I've had to show him several times this winter that there are no strawberries! After Chris and I felt that Jonathan had eaten enough pizza, we let him dig into the strawberries. There were four strawberries in the box and Jonathan ate all four! (minus a couple of bites that I got in)

Yum!

Sewing with Jonny

2012-02-07T14:57:00.002-07:00

Jonny is fascinated by my sewing machine every time I get it out. He has had to investigate all of the buttons and knobs and switches. And when I wind a new bobbin, he comes running so he can watch the bobbin filling up with thread. His latest discovery is what the foot does when he pushes it down. The last time I had my machine out, Jonny climbed under the table and "helped" me push the foot down. He thought it was great to make noise and he discovered that the more he pushed down, the more noise he made! Since I was sewing straight seams, I let him continue to "help" me. (I know, crazy me!) I would tell Jonny, "Okay, go" and he would press down or I would say, "Stop, stop, STOP!" It was quite an adventure!

Jonny's Super Powers

2012-01-30T15:26:00.002-07:00

Jonny still takes any opportunity to climb up on the table that he can, even though we always make him get off. There just always seems to be too much fun stuff up there! On this night, we were playing board games. When Jonny got tired of his game, he climbed on the table and showed us his "super powers". I don't know where he got it from except maybe Super Grover on Sesame Street!

The Story of the Peanut

2012-01-23T22:03:00.003-07:00

It all started last Friday when Jonathan wanted a snack while watching a movie. I gave him a handful of peanuts, one of his favorites. A little while later, Jonny came and showed me the peanut that was sitting sideways in the end of his nose. As Chris and I tried to get it out, Jonny started crying and sucked the peanut up higher into his nose. We could see it with a flashlight, but we couldn't reach it. We tried everything we could think of to get it out--blowing, coughing, sneezing, etc., but it wouldn't budge. Because of the weekend and the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I wasn't able to get him into the doctor until four days later. The doctor took a look at the peanut and sent us to the emergency room.

The emergency room doctor wanted to try using a Katz extractor to get the peanut out. The extractor is a syringe that you can insert past the peanut and then has a balloon that inflates to help pull the peanut out. That's the theory anyway. Jonny completely freaked out at the hospital so in order to get the extractor in his nose, they put his arms in a pillowcase and then wrapped him in a sheet so that two nurses and my mom and I could hold him still. The doctor tried to get the peanut out about three times but it was lodged in there too tightly for the bubble to work. When the doctor drew a little blood, she gave up and called an ear, nose and throat specialist.

The specialist had us wait two days before coming in so that any swelling from the emergency room visit could go down. You could tell that the specialist is a pediatric doctor because she and her staff were much better equipped to handle children than the emergency room. The nurse numbed Jonny's nose before they tried anything. Jonny was freaking out again so they wrapped him in some robe-thing and then brought three nurses/assistants into the room to hold him so that Mom and I didn't have to hold him this time. The doctor had some long tweezer-type tool that she reached in and grabbed that peanut with on the first try. I felt like jumping up and down for joy! They even sent us home with the peanut in a little cup!Yesterday, Jonny wanted some peanuts for a snack. I told him, "No, why don't you have some almonds instead." I was thinking, "Almonds are bigger than peanuts so they shouldn't fit in his nose as well." I also asked Jonny, "Are you going to put them in your nose?" He told me, "NO!" I sure hope that's true and that this is the end of Jonny putting things in his nose!

Best Friends

2012-01-18T14:41:00.003-07:00

Overheard recently:

"Mom, this is my best friend, Mac." and "Mac is my good buddy."

Too cute!

Wow, He's Really Two!

2012-01-10T15:12:00.003-07:00

You know, I've heard about the "terrible twos" but things didn't seem so much different after Jonny turned two. He's always been a busy, active kid. Well, I now know what they mean by terrible! Let me give you a few examples:

#1 While we were at my mom's house, Jonny had an apple for a snack. I cut it into slices and took off the skin. When Jonny wanted another apple later, my mom just cut it into thin slices. She told me, "You just have to cut the apple really thin and then he'll eat the peel, too." Well, she called me later to tell me where she found the apple slices with the peel: in her VCR!! I guess Jonathan doesn't eat the peel, no matter what!

#2 I didn't feel too bad about Mom's VCR after I found Jonathan in my car. STUFFING MY CD PLAYER FULL OF COINS FROM MY ASHTRAY. Coins don't come out and since they are made of metal, they are conductors and mess up all the sensors and electrical things in the player. So no, my CD player doesn't work anymore. At least Mom could get the apples out.

#3 When Chris came home from work one day, he and I were chatting in the kitchen while I finished up dinner. I saw Jonny come in and get a medicine spoon out of the kitchen drawer but I didn't worry because he likes to play with stuff from the kitchen. Chris and I kept chatting, but a few minutes later, I realized that I'd better check on Jonny. I found him in the bathroom, with the toilet bowl full of toilet paper. He said, "I put the spoon in there!" And obviously he had already flushed the toilet because the spoon was gone and the bowl was full of water. I had to get a big spoon from the kitchen to get all of the toilet paper out and then we tried plunging and fishing the spoon out with a wire hanger. Nothing worked. And to top it off: it was Chris' birthday so Chris' parents and siblings were going to be at our house in less than an hour for cake and ice cream. We were going to have a useless toilet with a house full of people! Luckily, Chris kept using the plunger and we finally heard a POP! and then the toilet bowl drained. Now, the bathroom door stays shut and has a door knob cover on it to keep Jonny out!

#4 Jonny loves to play outside so if I'm not outside, I still let him play outside since the yard is fenced and just keep an eye on him from the kitchen window and French doors. Well, one day I couldn't see him so I went outside to check on him. I found the side gate open but he and the dog were nowhere to be found. I went next door while Chris checked the front yard and the street. Pretty soon, our neighbors from across the street came out of their house...with Jonny and the dog!!!!! They were inside when all of a sudden, there was a strange dog running around inside their house! Jonny had let himself and the dog in their sliding glass doors! They had to scramble to put their two dogs away before they had a dog fight in their house! I was slightly mortified, needless to say! Now, we have a big tire in front of the wooden gate (in addition to the latch) and we have chained up the chain link gate.

#5 You know the bead that Jonny put up his nose? Well that hasn't been the only thing he has put up his nose. Saturday, he was eating popcorn and came and told me that there was popcorn in his nose! I couldn't see any and I couldn't feel any, but I didn't want to take any chances. Mom got out her bulb syringe (those little nose suckers for infants), but Jonny didn't think too highly of it. We traumatized Jonny by holding him down and sucking his nose out. We didn't get anything so I'm hoping that he just put the popcorn in the end of his nose and took it right back out!

Christmas Pies

2012-01-04T20:28:00.001-07:00

Jonny "helped" Grandma make some pies for Christmas. Jonny especially liked using the rolling pin. Jonny is a dough eater--bread dough, roll dough, and apparently pie dough! See that pile of dough scraps on the table? Yes, Jonny ate them all! Have you ever eaten uncooked pie dough? Bleh....

Also, Grandma wasn't aware of Jonny's taste for flour. (Another bleh from me.) Jonny always dips his hand in my flour container whenever he gets a chance! Grandma left her flour bin open and Jonny spotted it. He reached in with a cookie scoop and took out a big scoop of flour. Yes, he ate it all. Apparently he also squeezed the handle at least once because he also ended up with a white face before he was finished!

Christmas Card Photos

2011-12-28T18:28:00.004-07:00

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!

What Was I Thinking?

2011-12-21T21:13:00.002-07:00

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!

The second story of "what was I thinking?" happened on Tuesday. Jonathan had a stomachache so I decided to give him some ginger ale mixed in his juice. Before I gave it to him, I decided to try to get some of the carbonation out since Jonathan hasn't had much soda before. So I just put the lid on the sippy cup and shook it up for a bit. Well, pretty soon I had soda shooting out of the cup! And it didn't just shoot out, it shot out and stopped and shot out and stopped about four times! Obviously, I had failed to think about how the seal on the sippy cup would work with soda. The funny thing is that Jonathan must have shook up the cup at one point because he had soda on his head and in his hair and on the back of the chair! Needless to say, the next time I used a spoon to stir up the soda--I didn't shake the cup!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2011-12-12T13:07:00.001-07:00

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!

Silly Jonny

2011-12-06T11:31:00.002-07:00

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!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T14:28:00.004-07:00

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!

Naptime Update

2011-11-21T12:38:00.003-07:00

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.

Just Watching Chickens

2011-11-15T13:52:00.004-07:00

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?

A Dog and His Boy

2011-11-07T14:37:00.003-07:00

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.

I like having Mac around because he stays with Jonny while Jonny plays outside. That way, if I can see one of them, I know where both of them are!

Halloween, part 2

2011-11-02T13:40:00.002-06:00

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.

Halloween, part 1

2011-11-01T21:57:00.001-06:00

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.

The Nest

2011-10-24T14:06:00.002-06:00

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!

Making Cookies

2011-10-17T12:47:00.002-06:00

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!

Climbing Out of Bed!

2011-10-11T16:19:00.002-06:00

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?

A Slide in our Yard

2011-10-02T13:47:00.002-06:00

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!

Jonny's Drill

2011-09-27T18:48:00.002-06:00

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".

Giving Clifford a Ride

2011-09-21T14:31:00.003-06:00

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!

Busy Summer

2011-09-11T19:09:00.001-06:00

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's Silly Words

2011-09-11T19:04:00.001-06:00

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:

skickle = popsicle

skick = stick

skuck = stuck

bumping = jumping

keykey = turkey

Daddy's poopick = Daddy's pickup

up on eat = up on it (meaning he wants to get up on a chair to help in the kitchen)

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!

New Photo Face

2011-09-11T18:59:00.001-06:00

I knew it was probably coming, but I was hoping Jonny wouldn't go through this phase. He's been pretty cooperative when we get the camera out, but lately he's developed a new pose to use in pictures: eyes scrunched closed!

You might be wondering about the corn? That's Jonny's corn-sicle! We went to a neighbor's house and they wanted to share their garden produce with us. Jonny followed Thad into the corn while Thad picked a bunch of corn. When they were finished, Jonny wanted to go back in the corn patch. Thad took him back in and showed him how to pick an ear of corn. It was a really old piece, but Jonny pulled all of the husk off and then proudly carried that corn around for the rest of the night. He even took a few bites. It took a bit of convincing to get him to put it away at bedtime!

An Imagination

2011-09-11T18:53:00.004-06:00

Jonny's imagination has really taken off lately! One day, he called himself "Baby Jonny" and wrapped this blanket around his head! He also bounces around and calls himself a bunny or sniffs and calls himself a puppy.

As Jonny was pushing his Tonka truck around, he went by his daddy and said, "us-tash". I hadn't heard him say anything like that before, but all it took was one look at his face and we knew what he was talking about! He had put a piece of salt water taffy on his lip and was calling it his "mustache". He has since made mustaches with paper, fruit leather and Otter Pop wrappers!

(By the way, this is the second picture I've posted that shows what Jonny does with salt water taffy! The other taffy was in his hair. Hmm, maybe we should not share our taffy with Jonny!)

A Visit to Utah

2011-08-22T10:08:00.004-06:00

Well, we're making progress. We took a trip to Utah a couple of weeks ago to visit my uncle and while we were there, we took Jonathan to a parade. He spotted the fire trucks and ambulances from a distance and put his hands over his ears to be ready. He didn't cry or cover his eyes this time though, so we're doing better!

Jonathan had a good time playing with the sprinklers at Uncle Jack's.

Uncle Jack had a small tractor at his house. Since Jonathan is obsessed with tractors right now, the tractor was probably the favorite part of the visit! He convinced as many people as he could to take him for rides...his daddy, his grandma, Uncle Jack and cousin Kevin! He even got one last ride the morning that we were leaving. He wasn't dressed yet, so you can see him in his pajamas on the tractor! Other kids get rides on wagons or bikes or four wheelers, but not Jonny! He got to ride up and down the streets of the neighborhood on a tractor!

A Week with Cousins

2011-08-22T09:52:00.003-06:00

Jonathan got to have his cousins stay with us for a week while their parents were out of town. We had a lot of fun. We had picnics at the park, played on the playground and played in the water in our yard.

I was glad whenever I could catch the boys playing happily together. This picture shows them both up on the bed, reading some books that Mary had left behind.

The last night the cousins were here, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the back yard. Jonathan preferred his hot dog somewhat warm, eaten right from the stick!

A Week with Jonny

2011-07-24T20:49:00.002-06:00

Come with me for a walk through Jonny's week.... Elmo joined us for dinner one night and Jonathan decided that Elmo needed a drink of milk...

Driving his car...

Using Mommy's rubber gloves...

Using Mommy's shoes to walk outside since he can't put his own shoes on yet. (All of the yellow stuff is old popcorn that I was going to pop and throw out for the birds. I set it down on the back porch and Jonathan decided that it should be dumped out right there.)

Wearing Mommy's sunglasses.... What will next week bring?

Now You See Them...

2011-07-24T20:38:00.002-06:00

Now you see Jonny in the pool with his clothes on...

Now you don't!

(That's what happens when a two-year-old learns how to take his clothes off all by himself!)

Gum in the Hair

2011-07-24T20:26:00.004-06:00

No, this is not actually gum in Jonny's hair. It is a piece of salt water taffy. When I took this picture, I was feeling pretty happy that Jonathan hasn't had gum in his hair. I've let Jonny have tiny pieces of gum before this and haven't had any trouble with it. Well, this taffy should have been a warning to me because it wasn't but a day or two later that Jonny's gum ended up in his hair! He still occasionally tells the story of, "gum, hair, Grandma, butter..." to which I reply, "Yes, you had gum in your hair so Grandma put peanut butter. You don't put gum in your hair! It's yucky!"

Helping Around the House

2011-07-03T21:35:00.002-06:00

As you can tell, I haven't been as good to keep up with a weekly blog post. Getting our new house and yard fixed up is keeping us pretty busy. And of course, Jonathan is in the middle of it! He loves to "help" Chris

and try out all of the tools. The drill is his favorite. I thought this was hilarious and I was glad I grabbed my camera in time! Chris was carrying some boards to the shed and Jonathan was in back, "helping" carry them! (Just look at this picture and you'll see what I mean about having a lot of work to do!)

Homecoming Days Parade

2011-07-03T21:11:00.004-06:00

We went to a little hometown parade last weekend. It's the kind where they throw a ton of candy! We gave Jonny a bucket and helped him pick up candy. At first, Jonny would pick up one piece of candy and eat it, ignoring the rest of the candy on the ground. He got the hang of it after a while, but he would still only pick up one piece of candy at a time to put in his bucket. He liked the parade a lot until the semi trucks started honking their horns. After that, the ambulances and fire trucks came with their sirens and he had had it! He sobbed in my arms so Uncle Brent put him on his shoulders. That was a little better, but

I finally put Jonathan in the car for the rest of the parade and he was fine!

Jonathan fell asleep on the way home and didn't want to get out of the car. This is him, still sleeping, while we unloaded the car!

Family Reunion

2011-06-22T14:21:00.006-06:00

Our latest family reunion was held at the City of Rocks National Reserve in southern Idaho. It was a beautiful place. The campground was surrounded by mountains, but the impressive things were the huge rocks all over the valley. We enjoyed doing a little hiking and sight-seeing. Jonathan's absolutely favorite thing was getting wagon rides from anyone that he could convince to take him. Generally, that meant he would take someone by the hand and say, "Come on," then would lead them to the wagon. The funny thing is that whenever one kid got in the wagon, any nearby kid would pile into the wagon as well!

Jonathan thinks he is getting too big for help from Mom and Dad. He tells us all the time, "Me turn" or "Jonny's turn." On this hike, he wouldn't hold my hand, but he would hold cousin Mary's hand!

Moving, Part 2

2011-06-12T20:18:00.004-06:00

These pictures show some of the ways that Jonny has "helped" us move...

sitting in the boxes/containers (notice the pillow and cup of milk)...
riding on the hand truck...

and using Daddy's drill.

I spy with my little eye,

one small guy,

where it's not very clean,

watching Lighting McQueen!

(his favorite)

By the way, we are down to just a few boxes in the house...but the shed is another story!

Moving, Part 1

2011-06-12T19:59:00.003-06:00

I'm sorry that I haven't kept the blog up to date lately. This has been an exhausting three weeks! We bought a new house more than a year ago but were waiting to move until Chris was finished with his degree and I had finished up the school year. It was my bright idea to complete a state-to-state move the weekend after school got out. I clearly was not realizing what a chore it would be to clean and pack up my classroom, on top of doing final report cards and all of the fun end-of-the-year stuff that an elementary school teacher gets to do. After packing up 13 years of teaching stuff, I was exhausted and did not even want to touch the house! (By the way, I stopped counting boxes of books when I got to 10!) I am looking forward to being a stay-at-home mom now, but I will miss teaching. I cried when I told the students that I wouldn't see them next year, but it was amazing how happy I was on the last day of school! (The top picture shows Jonny at school with me and all of the kids on the last day of school.)

Salt Lake Temple

2011-05-22T15:30:00.005-06:00

My cousin Kelsey was married a couple of weeks ago in the Salt Lake Temple. We used the opportunity to visit Temple Square and take some pictures. The flowers were gorgeous, it was a beautiful day and it was actually NOT raining! Jonathan's favorite part of the day was trying to play in the many water fountains on Temple Square! He also loved to sit on the steps of the temple. There were more than 30 weddings at the temple that day, so all of the steps were very busy with brides and photographers. We spotted a quick break and sat Jonathan on the steps for a picture. He was still sitting there several minutes later and it took quite a bit of convincing to get him to leave with us!

Some Videos

2011-05-15T14:40:00.002-06:00

Here are some current videos so that you can see Jonathan in action!

Mud puddles, boots and a truck! What more could a little boy ask for?

Jonny has started singing lately. Most of the time, we don't know what he's singing about but it is sure cute!

Happy Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-08T20:49:00.002-06:00

Today at church, Jonathan made this Mother's Day present in his nursery class. The teachers traced the kids' hands and then let them stick the flower stickers wherever they wanted. I'm in the Primary presidency and had to deliver a binder of announcements to the nursery so I happened to walk in while they were making this craft. As I walked in, I heard one of the nursery teachers say, "Oh, no, Jonthan! Not on your ears!" Apparently, Jonathan's favorite part of the activity was sticking the stickers to his ears!

Graduation Day

2011-05-01T20:33:00.002-06:00

Chris graduated from college on Friday! Yea!! We had a house full of family this weekend so Jonathan had a lot of cousins to play with. We played outside, played at the park, ate lasagna & pizza & ice cream, and sat forever during the graduation ceremonies. Jonathan's favorite part of the weekend was playing Ring Around the Rosie and singing a song he invented in order to get claps and "yea's" from the whole family!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:53:00.003-06:00

It's been a rainy weekend, but luckily we had just enough of a break to have a quick Easter egg hunt in our yard with Uncle Jack's step-grandchildren. It was Jonny's first Easter egg hunt and after trying to stop and eat the first couple of candies, he caught on pretty quickly!

Elmo Pajamas

2011-04-24T19:33:00.002-06:00

Jonny got Elmo pajamas from Grandma Vicki for Christmas. He's big enough to wear them now so we pulled them out for the first time Thursday night. Jonny was so excited to have Elmo on his pajamas! He ended up wearing his Elmo pajamas for three nights in a row! This morning, since Chris and I were sleeping in, we pulled Jonny into bed with us when he woke up. After a little while he started singing, "La la la la, la la la la" and we burst out laughing and then joined in! Jonny was singing Elmo's theme song from Sesame Street! We've never heard him sing it before! Pretty soon, he was singing all of the words, but the only one we could hear clearly were the "la, la's" and "oldfish" (goldfish)! Jonny's going to be really sad tonight when he discovers that his Elmo pajamas are in the laundry!

What a big boy!

2011-04-17T11:24:00.003-06:00

We took Jonny in for his two-year-old check-up on Monday. He's a healthy little boy. He's up to 27 pounds and is 33 inches tall. While we were visiting with the doctor, Jonny wanted to play with the stethoscope. The doctor let him have it and Jonny promptly put the two hearing pieces in his ears and put the chestpiece on his daddy's stomach, like he had seen the doctor do with him. The doctor then started talking to us about how there are not IQ tests for little kids but that it seems that Jonathan is developmentally advanced and how he will probably enjoy puzzles and things of that nature now but that we don't need to be the kind of parents that push their kids too fast. So, it seems that we've got a smart little boy on our hands! (But we didn't need the doctor to tell us that--we knew it already!!) By the way, this is a picture of Jonathan on one of our latest walks. He will endure the stroller for only so long now and then he thinks that he needs to be the one to push it around!

Talking on the Phone

2011-04-09T17:51:00.002-06:00

Jonathan's talking has really taken off over the past week. He is echoing all kinds of words and is stringing words together. Today, while I was doing dishes, Jonny said, "Wanna help." His imagination has really taken off lately, too. I caught him talking into an old, dead telephone last weekend and having quite a conversation with Grandma. Fortunately, I was able to convince him to talk again so that I could video it!

Guess Who's Two?

2011-04-03T18:36:00.005-06:00

Jonathan is two years old! He had quite a surprise for his birthday this morning.....about eight inches of SNOW!!

Jonathan was still in his pajamas, but he wanted to get his "hovel" and help his dad shovel the snow!

I made Jonathan a cookie monster cake for his birthday. His favorite part of the cake was blowing out the candles. We relit the candles and let him blow them out three times.

When Jonathan was finished with the candles, we let him dig into the cake. He tried taking a bite, but he liked sticking his spoon in it better. He took one bite of cake and then he was done.

We gave Jonathan a set of toys that has a dump truck, loader, plane and boat. He also got a red car from Uncle Jack. Happy birthday, Jonny!

Quite a Helper

2011-03-27T18:14:00.003-06:00

Jonathan has gotten to be quite a good helper. He will help pick up his toys, will put his shoes away and will throw away his diaper. He loves to pull a chair over while someone is doing the dishes or cooking. But, there are a few things that might be better if he wasn't such a helper... For instance, Chris changed the batteries in Jonathan's toy train a while ago. If Jonathan spots the screwdriver (we keep in on top of the fridge) then he begs to use it. He knows right where to put the screwdriver and tries awfully hard to get the screw out, but luckily he can't. Jonathan will gladly "help" himself to computer time if the laptop is left where he can reach it. He can open and close it, he loves to press keys on the keyboard or click on the mouse. And yesterday, we discovered that he found the button to turn the laptop off!!!! Jonny really likes to help vacuum, but (if given the chance) he will also "help" by emptying out the dirt catcher. Unfortunately, the dirt always gets dumped out on the floor!

Silly Jonny

2011-03-20T20:49:00.003-06:00

Sometimes Jonny is so silly! He makes us laugh and wonder what he will come up with next! Here are three silly pictures...

Trying to squeeze into a kitchen cupboard...

Using a metal colander as a hat...

Using one of my headbands as sunglasses...

A Funny Bedtime Story

2011-03-13T20:34:00.002-06:00

Friday night's bedtime started out like normal...brushing teeth, cuddling on the couch, reading, etc. Jonny normally doesn't even fight going to bed as long as he has his fuzzy blanket. It took him a little longer than normal to fall asleep, and that's where our trouble began! I could hear Jonathan talking to himself for a while, but I didn't think much about it. When I went to bed, I checked to see that he was covered up with a blanket. I knew that I had dressed him in dark blue pajamas so I was surprised when I peeked into his crib and saw that he had white pajamas on. Then I realized that he didn't have any pajamas on at all! Or a diaper! I had to quickly leave the room before I woke him up with my laughing! I sent Chris in to see, also, and he came out choking back his laugh! I didn't want to wake Jonny up, so I put his diaper on the best that I could without moving him too much and then covered him with several blankets!

P.S. Are you wondering about the sunglasses with his pajamas? Those are his new favorite thing. We found the sunglasses when we were cleaning out a drawer and Jonathan wears them all the time. This morning he wore them before he got in the shower, while he was in the shower, when we went outside, and again as he was getting ready for bed!

Playing in the Pickup

2011-03-06T19:12:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, while I was busy preparing my Sharing Time lesson for today, Chris took Jonathan outside to play. They walked around, went to the park, played on the swings and then Chris suggested that they go for a drive. Well, they didn't actually end up going for a drive because Jonathan was happy to play in the pickup. He sat at the steering wheel, pushed all of the buttons he could find, and turned the dome light on and off. Jonathan was pretty proud of himself!

Beat Dancing

2011-02-27T18:39:00.002-07:00

Here's a funny little video of Jonny dancing. Chris is the one in the background providing the sound effects. Watch Jonny shimmy and shake!

Jonny's words

2011-02-20T21:35:00.003-07:00

Jonny is picking up new words every day. Some words are clear and other times it just sound like chattering. Here are a couple of short videos of Jonny talking:

We've been working for a few months to teach Jonny to say "please" and "thank you" but we often have to prompt him to say "please" instead of screaming. Sometimes, the words come out on their own, like in this video, and it both surprises and delights us!

Jonny has been saying his name for a couple of weeks now. It started out sounding like "nee nee" but "gee gee" is what it sounds like now. It's hard to get him on video because as soon as he sees the video camera, he thinks he needs to watch himself on it!

A Sunny Day at the Park

2011-02-13T21:08:00.002-07:00

We've had some beautiful, sunny days lately so when Jonny asks to go "ow-si", we generally agree. We still have piles of snow all over our yard so we spent some time in the park yesterday. Jonny played on the equipment and we fed the ducks. The park had plenty of snow and mud around, but it was so nice to be out in the sunshine!

Jonny Loves the Vacuum

2011-02-06T20:13:00.003-07:00

Have I ever mentioned before how much Jonny loves the vacuum cleaner? There are so many things he loves about the vacuum: he loves to push the button to turn it on and off, he loves to run around and scream while it's running, he loves to put on his straw hat and walk in front of the vacuum, he loves to "help" by holding onto the handle, and he likes to help fix the vacuum when the belt comes off. He's recently discovered another favorite, too. While you are wrapping up the cord to put the vacuum away, he will hurry and run to the closet where the vacuum belongs and hide in the closet. He thinks it's so funny!

The Laundry Basket

2011-01-30T21:35:00.002-07:00

This is how Jonathan "helps" us fold clothes! He loves to sit in the basket, pull out the clothes, tip the basket over and hide underneath. He even started carrying the basket around like a turtle's shell the last time we folded clothes. Don't you love how the truck had to be in the basket, too?

A Long Car Ride

2011-01-16T18:42:00.003-07:00

Our trip to Grandma's house usually takes between 5.5 and six hours, but we had some fun rides this winter due to snowy roads. At Thanksgiving, we had a 7.5 hour trip and an 8.5 hour trip. Coming home from Christmas was an 8 hour trip. So what do you do when you've already used all of the books, toys and treats that you brought along and there is still more than an hour left of the trip? Hand the boy the digital camera and hope for the best!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-16T18:07:00.003-07:00

Jonathan had a fun Christmas. We stayed at my mom's house and so did my sister so Jonathan had cousins to play with all day long! Jonathan got a stick horse, a big Tonka dump truck, some interactive toddler toys, and a ton of Chuck the Truck cars and ramps.

One of Jonathan's favorite things to do at Grandma's house is to get ice from the ice dispenser in the fridge. He would say, "ice, ice" to anyone who happened to be in the kitchen, several times a day. He even got his cousins involved, so here is a picture of the little ice-eaters!

In Memory of Papa

2011-01-16T17:16:00.004-07:00

Sorry, everyone, for not keeping my weekly posts up to date! We went out of town for Christmas and then we suffered the loss of my dad a week after Christmas. This is one of the last pictures I took of my dad. He sat down on the couch to eat some Thanksgiving leftovers and Jonathan wanted to share so he climbed up on Dad's lap. My dad got sick at Christmas and it turned into pneumonia. He had seen the doctor and was on a strong antibiotic, but a few days later he told my mom that he couldn't breathe. She took him to the hospital and he was put into intensive care, but he died just a couple of days later on January 3. He was only 62 and we are going to miss him!

Snowy Day

2010-12-21T21:16:00.002-07:00

We just had a HUGE snowstorm roll through! We had twenty inches of snow fall overnight. We couldn't get my car out of the driveway this morning because the snow was too deep and it got highcentered. This pile of snow that Jonathan is standing by came from our sidewalk and patio area.

Jonathan's favorite thing to do in the snow: eat it!

Yah

2010-12-12T18:30:00.004-07:00

We bought a new video camera a week ago so that we might be better able to capture some of the funny things Jonathan does. Chris didn't really want me to post this video because he didn't know I was recording, but it shows one of the things that I had been hoping to catch. Jonathan has started saying yes or no to questions that we ask him. It's so cute because when the answer is yes, he says, "yah!"

A Builder

2010-12-05T20:21:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, we bought a little shelving unit with drawers to hold Jonathan's toys and books. We had to put it together and Jonathan was right in the middle of things, helping to hammer pegs and put in screws. He even had to try out the drawers himself before we could put the toys in! He was quite a helper!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-05T20:13:00.002-07:00

Jonathan had a great Thanksgiving this year. He loved playing with his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. He ate bites of lots of different things at dinner: turkey, cheesy potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit salad, and a roll. For dessert, he was given a piece of pie with Cool Whip. He dipped his spoon into the Cool Whip and thought it was great so he gave up his spoon and dug in with his hand! These pictures above show Jonny "helping" make the rolls. He thought dipping his measuring spoon into flour was great fun and that eating dough wasn't bad either!

Elmo

2010-11-21T19:32:00.003-07:00

Jonathan loves Elmo! He says, "Emmo" and points to him on diapers, diaper boxes, books, and Sesame Street. Jonathan is usually still asleep when I leave for work in the morning, but this past week, he woke up super early every morning. One of the local TV stations has Sesame Street on early, so Chris and Jonathan would wrap up in blankets and watch for Elmo. Chris was convinced that Jonathan was waking up early just so he could watch Sesame Street! Probably not! :-)

Animal Puppets

2010-11-14T20:38:00.006-07:00

When we were in Costco a month or so ago, we saw some animal puppets and decided to buy them. There was a set of zoo animals, some lizards, and some dogs. These puppets have become Jonathan's favorite toys by far--especially the puppies. He doesn't put his hand into the puppet part, but treats them more like stuffed animals. He carries the puppies around, makes barking and whimpering sounds and kisses them. He often has to carry one to bed, too. It's pretty cute.

"Nose"

Kisses for the puppy...mmm-mwa!

Cuddling with a puppy, drinking milk, snuggling on your favorite blankets...what could be better?

Eating By Himself

2010-11-07T17:07:00.002-07:00

Jonathan has developed a big interest in feeding himself lately. He's been using his fingers for a while, but now he likes to use his fingers AND a spoon or fork. A lot of the food ends up on the floor, on his face, and in his chair. More often than not, it also ends up in his hair! Care to try peanut butter hair gel, anyone?

A Monkey for Halloween

2010-10-31T18:07:00.005-06:00

Jonathan was a monkey for Halloween this year. We hung his monkey in his bedroom and whenever he would see it, he would make the monkey sounds: "Oo, oo, oo!"

We took him over to the church Saturday night for Trunk or Treat. Jonathan didn't really understand what it was all about. At first, I had to hold his bucket and his hand. After he got some candy in the bucket, he held the bucket on his own. He really got the hang of it after he got to reach into a few bowls of candy and pick out what he wanted.

We didn't make it around to everyone at Trunk or Treat because a huge hailstorm came rolling in. We made it to the car right as the downpour started. Jonathan wasn't going to let go of his candy bucket for anything so we ended up getting a little wet because we couldn't get into the car fast enough!

We let Jonathan have a couple of pieces of candy when we got home so he ate a sucker and a candy stick. When it stopped raining, Chris took Jonathan to a few houses in our neighborhood. First thing this morning, Jonathan saw his treat bucket sitting on the table and wanted to start in on the candy again. I didn't think that candy would be a good breakfast so he got fruit snacks and milk instead!

Digging in the Garbage

2010-10-24T17:49:00.004-06:00

I don't have a picture to go with this story, but it's funny enough that it just has to be told! Remember last week when I said that Jonathan attaches to something and has to carry it around with him all day long? Well, lately he has been attaching himself to Chris's keys. Chris had been letting him carry them around until he could trade or distract him. One day, Chris traded him with a different set of keys to carry. That set had Chris's copy of our house keys on it...and they disappeared. Chris searched in Jonathan's toy box and everywhere else he could think of. After four or five days of missing keys, Chris finally decided to search our big kitchen garbage can in case Jonathan threw the keys away. Chris donned a set of yellow rubber gloves and scooped out handful after handful of disgusting stuff. When he was nearly at the bottom, he said, "Maybe we ought to look under the piano." I got out a ruler and slid it under the piano...and there they were! I laughed and laughed and laughed (although Chris didn't think it was quite as funny as I did)! We'll see if Chris lets Jonathan play with his keys from now on!!!

Raspberries

2010-10-17T19:50:00.004-06:00

By far, one of Jonathan's favorite foods is raspberries. He noticed a bunch of ripe berries in Uncle Jack's patch and wouldn't leave them alone until he had picked all of them. He even tried eating the ones that weren't quite ripe. They don't come off of the bush as easily when they aren't ripe, so he resorted to chewing them off of the bush! We visited my mom's house this weekend and she has a HUGE patch of raspberries. They needed to be picked while we were there, so Jonathan and I helped. Well, let me explain Jonathan's "helping." He had a bucket and he followed behind us, putting dirt and rocks in his bucket. Occasionally, he would want raspberries, so we'd dump out his bucket and put some raspberries in it for him to eat. Other times, he would come to our buckets and grab berries one by one or by the handful. I thought he might make himself sick on raspberries, but he finally seemed to get enough by the time we were done picking!

P.S. Notice the fork in Jonathan's hand? Jonathan seems to attach himself to something each day and carries it around. Sometimes it's the fork, sometimes it's the spoon, a stuffed animal, Chris's keys, a straw, his toothbrush, etc!

It's Nursery Time!

2010-10-10T19:25:00.003-06:00

Look at this big boy! Since he is a year and a half old now, he can go into the nursery class at church. Today was his first day. He went right in and started "talking" to the other kids. They played with Playdough, colored pictures, sang and blew bubbles. The nursery leader said he did well, although he was fascinated by the low sink in the little bathroom and he did try to eat a blob of pink Playdough! He didn't cry at all, but he was ready to go at the end because he came right over and took hold of my finger and walked out!

Nice, soft kitty!

18 Months Old!

2010-10-03T20:15:00.003-06:00

Jonathan is 18 months old today! Here are a couple of pictures from this week...a dirt mustache and eating an Otter Pop!

Jonny the Monkey

2010-10-03T20:10:00.002-06:00

Here is a little video to let you hear Jonathan. You will be treated to a scream or two, monkey sounds, some laughing and jabbering and a couple of funny faces! Enjoy!

Feeding the Cat

2010-09-26T19:33:00.002-06:00

Jonathan has become quite a helper lately. He will pick up a few toys and put them back in the toy box and has started putting his diaper in the garbage can. He first started showing interest in feeding the cat a couple of weeks ago. He will go outside and pick up the dish, carry it to the utility room to get the food and then will carry it back outside. He can usually carry the dish without spilling it. The problem comes when he puts the dish down because that's when he'll try to steal a piece and eat it!

Two Horse Rides

2010-09-19T21:54:00.002-06:00

When we visited Grandma's house this weekend, Jonathan got his first horse rides...rocking and real! Uncle Philip brought his horse over for Uncle Brent to shoe and ended up giving all of the nieces and nephews horse rides. Jonathan thought it was great...as long as he was riding with Uncle Philip. He wouldn't ride with his cousins or by himself! Now, the rocking horse was another story! Jonathan couldn't reach the ground but it didn't take him long to figure out how to get it rocking by leaning forwards and backwards!

Outside Again

2010-09-12T20:16:00.003-06:00

As I've said before, Jonathan LOVES to be outside. When he gets restless or needs to burn off some extra energy, we head outside. On this day, we checked out the cucumber patch, the strawberries and the apple tree. Jonathan decided that Chris's apple tasted pretty good and took it over. I hadn't planned to take any pictures, but when Jonathan sat down in the grass to eat his apple and Uncle Jack's cat joined him, I ran for the camera! The rest of the photos followed quickly since Jonathan already knows how to ham it up for the camera!

New Words

2010-09-05T22:14:00.004-06:00

A few days ago, Jonathan started pointing at the counter and saying, "Bubba, bubba." We were confused until we held up the yellow container of bubbles and Jonathan got excited. He had never said "bubbles" before and it had been a couple of weeks since we had even used the bubbles so we were surprised! It's so fun to hear all of the new things he says. Here's a little list to give you an idea of some of the things he says:

Mo = more
Lie = light
up, up, up = up
quack = quack (think duck)
quacka = cracker
ow-sigh = outside
ray-ray = raisin
eye-th = ice
ha, ha, ha = hot

P.S. I will be SO happy when all of the mosquitoes die! We spray Jonathan with bug spray but he ALWAYS ends up with a bite on his face, without fail! I keep meaning to look for some bug spray wipe things so I can get his face, but as you can tell by that bite between his eyes, it hasn't happened yet!

The Toy That Isn't, part 2

2010-08-29T21:34:00.003-06:00

Jonathan and I were in the store looking for a toy telephone one day (that's another story), when I saw one of those stacking ring toys. It was only $5 so I decided to buy it and see if Jonathan would enjoy it as much as he enjoys his cd case things. Well, as you can see, he does. He doesn't play with it on its own though--he uses it WITH the cd containers. He ends up with all kinds of stacks as he moves the rings back and forth between the wooden post and the cd container. It just happens to be Jonathan's favorite toy right now and he plays with it every day, several times a day. What a kid!

The Stroller

2010-08-22T20:09:00.003-06:00

We love to go for a walk nearly every evening. We push Jonathan all around town in his stroller and he loves it. All we have to do is say, "Should we go for a walk?" and Jonathan goes to where we keep the stroller and tries to get it out. Lately, he's developed a passion for pushing the stroller all by himself. He can even control which way he wants it to turn and will push it all over the yard. He usually wants to push it when we go for a walk, so we let him push for a while (with a little guidance) and then he's willing to get in and be pushed!

Fun with Cousins

2010-08-15T12:23:00.005-06:00

My mom and sister came for a visit this weekend. Jonathan had a great time with his four cousins! We visited the playground a couple of times. Jonathan loved climbing the stairs on his own and going down the slide. He needed help the first couple of times, but after that he started going down by himself--head first! He liked it better that way because he could slow himself down with his hands.

The kids also spent a lot of time in Jonathan's little wading pool. Even baby Tucker got to go swimming for a little while. Jonathan's favorite thing to do in the pool now is splash.

Jonathan joined right in on eating watermelon and ice cream cones.

All that fun makes you tired!

Vegetable Eater

2010-08-08T22:08:00.004-06:00

Jonathan hasn't yet met a fruit or vegetable that he doesn't like. Just this week, Jonathan got his first taste of corn-on-the-cob and cucumbers. The first night, we cut him a piece off of one of the cobs and Jonathan did his best to chew the corn off. The next night, we cut the corn off of the cob and that worked much better. Chris picked this cucumber out of the garden and shared it with Jonthan. Jonathan ate his piece and then had to have the last little bit also! Jonathan already checks the strawberries and raspberries nearly every day and keeps them cleaned up. It looks like Jonathan might help Chris keep the cucumbers eaten, too!

More Time in the Pool

2010-08-01T22:42:00.003-06:00

Jonathan has decided that playing in his pool is great! He is brave enough now to get on his belly and splash around or lean back against the side of the pool. Chris only wishes that the pool was big enough for him to get in, too!

Talking on the Phone

2010-07-28T09:20:00.003-06:00

Jonathan is obsessed with the telephone. When it rings, his ears perk up and he watches to see if you are going to answer it. If Chris or I leave the phone down within his grasp, he can't resist grabbing it and pushing a button (or all of them). If Jonathan finds a remote control for the TV or VCR then it also becomes a phone and he will walk around with the remote to his ear, talking away.

Jabber Box

2010-07-18T22:51:00.003-06:00

This is a little video we took earlier this week while Jonathan was in the pool. He doesn't stay in the pool for very long, but it gives you a chance to hear what his "talking" sounds like. He's mostly just jabbering, but you can hear him say, "Wow."

The Toy That Isn't

2010-07-11T22:08:00.002-06:00

Why is it that the best toys are not really toys? When I emptied this cd spindle, it became one of Jonathan's favorite things to play with. He will sit for an hour or more, putting the little styrofoam rings on the post. It's the only thing in the house that he plays with for so long. Now, do you think that if I bought a toy that is similar in nature, with rings to put on a post, that Jonathan would love it quite as much? I wonder....

Blond Hair?

2010-07-06T21:56:00.003-06:00

I cut Jonathan's hair again on Saturday. When we went to church the next day, so many people commented on Jonathan's blond hair! It's not exactly blond, but it has lightened dramatically. I think it's getting sun-bleached because Jonathan LOVES being outside. These pictures show just a few things Jonathan enjoys doing while he is outside.

Picking Strawberries

2010-06-27T19:05:00.002-06:00

Jonathan has discovered that he loves strawberries! We have a little strawberry patch in front of our house and Jonathan loves to follow us out to the patch to "help" us. The only problem is that he usually "helps" by eating the berries. We'll pull off the green part and he will shove the whole berry in his mouth. By the time we're done, there might be a few berries left for Chris and me!

Family Reunion

2010-06-21T14:51:00.010-06:00

We attended a family reunion this past weekend for my dad's side of the family. We met at Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho. We had a lot of fun.

We followed a trail out to where you can see the ruts from the Oregon Trail. Jonathan rode in the stroller most of the way. Cousin Mary joined him when her legs got too tired from all that walking.

One of Jonathan's favorite things to do was play in the dirt. He also liked to eat the dirt and rocks!

We took some bubbles with us and that entertained the cousins for a while. Jonathan watched them chase the bubbles for a while and then joined right in.

Jonathan didn't like the tent too much the first night. I had planned to have Jonathan sleep in a little bed next to our air mattress, so I got him to sleep and then laid him down. He was instantly awake and wouldn't have anything to do with his bed. He ended up sleeping on the edge of the mattress next to me. None of us slept very well that night but the second night was much better!

Helping Dad

2010-06-13T17:15:00.003-06:00

This is how Jonthan helps Chris study for tests and write papers. He's a big help, isn't he?

Sniffing Flowers

2010-06-06T21:14:00.003-06:00

Since Jonathan loves to go outside, we have to play in the yard at least a couple of times a day. The bright colors of the flowers in my flower beds often attract Jonathan so we sometimes spend time smelling the flowers. This is Jonathan's "sniffing flowers" face. He will stand by the flowers with me and make the sniffing sound with great gusto!

Going to School

2010-05-30T13:34:00.005-06:00

My last day of school was Friday, May 28. School only lasts three hours on that last day, most of which is spent on a "field day" (think hula hoops, wet sponge toss, air-filled obstacle course, etc). My students had been asking when Jonathan was going to come for another visit so my principal gave me permission to bring Jonathan on Field Day. I kept Jonathan mostly confined to his stroller, but he loved being there! He watched the kids play and laughed and babbled to the girls who hung around his stroller playing with him.

When I dismissed the class, several students had to give both Jonathan and me a hug on their way out. A couple of students also wanted to be in a picture with Jonathan. After all of the students left, Jonathan got to go to my faculty lunch party and eat pizza to celebrate the end of the school year. Jonathan's favorite part of lunch was drinking ice water through a straw and then sticking his hand in the cup to play with/eat the ice while sitting on my friend Kate's lap!

(Jonathan with the third grade teachers)

A New Wagon

2010-05-23T14:33:00.003-06:00

Over the last year, we had been given some gift cards to use for Jonathan. I'd been holding on to them because I didn't know how I wanted to spend them. We recently decided that we'd like to buy a little red wagon for Jonathan so we put all the gift cards towards a wagon. Jonathan was taking a nap when Chris put it together so we left it in the living room for when he woke up. He immediately saw it and had to check it out, including inspecting the wheels. We took it outside to give Jonathan a ride. When we thought he was tired of riding, we took him out. We discovered he wasn't tired of it after all because he tried climbing back inside. We then spent the next hour or so outside pulling Jonathan around the yard. Jonathan loved it!

Favorite Place to Play

2010-05-16T17:24:00.003-06:00

One of Jonathan's favorite places to play is in the kitchen. We showed him one of the cabinets that has Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers. That was fun until he found that he could open the kitchen drawers! His favorite thing to do now is pull open a drawer and pull out all kinds of interesting things. Sometimes he will sit and just keep pulling things out but other times he scatters the things from one end of the house to the other!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T18:03:00.002-06:00

More Walking

2010-05-02T15:15:00.002-06:00

Jonathan is walking all over now. He walks best on the carpet, but he's getting better on the linoleum and on grass. He can even carry things now as he is walking, although sometimes it is his mouth doing the carrying--not his hands! This video shows another of his little tricks--clapping! He has been clapping for a a couple of weeks when we play "Patty Cake" but he surprised me in this video because he started clapping when I told him, "Good job!"

Walking

2010-04-25T17:21:00.001-06:00

Jonathan has really taken off walking this week. His balance is getting better and he's gone way beyond his normal 4 or 5 steps. He is even starting to change direction and tries to carry things as he walks. His biggest problem is that he often wants to run instead of walk!

Playing Outside

2010-04-18T17:26:00.003-06:00

The weather has been so nice the past week, we've taken Jonathan outside to play several times. He LOVES it! He laughs when he gets out the door and squeals when he sees my uncle's dog next door. He doesn't think too much about the grass though. He will walk on it with bare feet, but he doesn't like to crawl on it. (And no, he's not really walking yet. He will take about four or five steps and then usually falls.)

1 Year Doctor Visit

2010-04-11T20:31:00.003-06:00

We took Jonathan in for his one year doctor visit on Tuesday. He got two more immunization shots, poor boy. He officially weighs 20 pounds and 1 ounce and is 28 1/4 inches tall. That puts him in the 10th percentile, so he's still a little guy! But he's finally wearing nine-month size clothes now!

Climbing

2010-04-11T20:00:00.002-06:00

It looks like Jonathan is going to be a climber. He likes to pull himself up all kinds of things. The place that we have found him climbing on the most is the oven. He pulls the drawer open and uses the handle on the door to pull as he climbs up on top of the drawer. Who knows where we'll find him next!

First Haircut

2010-04-06T10:22:00.004-06:00

Jonathan got his first haircut yesterday. He has needed a haircut for a long time, but I couldn't bring myself to do it until after his birthday because I knew it would make him look older.

We put him in the high chair and I used the clippers. It worked pretty well except that he turned his head every time I got close with the clippers. My mom ended up holding his head while I buzzed him. Then I had to use scissors around his ears and on the back of his neck.

It turned out pretty well, as far as first haircuts go. At least Jonathan didn't cry (even though I nearly did)!

First Birthday

2010-04-06T10:08:00.003-06:00

Jonathan is now officially one year old! We celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a barbecue and cake. Grandma Vicki made these Elmo cakes for Jonathan.
The little cake was just for Jonathan. He was a dainty eater and didn't really tear into his cake, even though we gave him every chance and even encouraged him! He did put his mouth on the cake and then ate the frosting from the eyes and nose.

After dinner, Jonathan opened his birthday presents. He got clothes, toys, a stuffed animal and a book. He loves them all. (And we loved them because they helped keep him busy on the long trip home!)
When we got home, Jonathan got to open his last gift that was from Mom and Dad. It's a truck that he can ride on or push around. (And of course, the box was Jonathan's favorite part of the gift.) I can't believe that my baby boy is a year old already!

New Blanket

2010-03-30T17:41:00.004-06:00

Jonathan's birthday is Saturday, but he received his first present in the mail yesterday from Shelbi and Daniel. Jonathan loved everything about it, including the box (which he pushed around the living room before we opened it).

As soon as we pulled the blanket out of the box, Jonathan climbed on it and started rolling around. He loves to rub his face against fuzzy things, which you'll see in this little video we shot: