Trick-or-Treat!

We took Jonah out for Trick-or-Treating!  The weather was predictably wet (isn't it always raining on Halloween?) but the rain stopped while we were out and it was a balmy 60deg.  We met up with some little kids from down the street and made a half dozen stops to visit the neighbors we knew.  My little firefighter got the knack of grabbing a piece of candy and dropping it in his bag (held by Daddy).  He was so proud of the skill, he would do it again and again.  At the same house.  It's the kind of thing you can only get away with at a certain age... for an older kid it would have looked awfully greedy.  :-)

Ferret Uh-Oh!

Jonah uses his favorite phrase, "Uh-Oh!", frequently and I was beginning to think he equates saying "uh-oh" to "I dropped something!"  But today we returned from playgroup to find a little gift from the ferret inside the front door.  Jonah looked right at the mess and said: "uh-oh!"  Right on.

First Haircut!

I've been spending a year commenting on how much older babies look after their first haircut... and claiming that I would never, ever cut Jonah's baby curls.  But over the last few weeks, I came to realize that his locks have gone from cute baby curls to a rather unattractive toddler mullet.  It was time.

We enlisted Grandmama for a lesson and off with the curls!  It was a four-person job, one to hold, one to entertain, one to cut and one to photograph.  Jonah did pretty well, considering the craziness that surrounded him.  And it wasn't nearly as sad as I thought it would be.  My baby is now a toddler and I am so proud of him!

Spoon Feeding

We retired Jonah's pureed baby food after what seemed like a week, when he decided he only wanted finger foods he could feed himself.  Well, now that Jonah is mastering use of his spoon, I pulled some leftovers from the cabinet and let him go to town while I made lunch.  He is so proud when he manages to maneuver a large bite into his mouth.  He did so well that by the time lunch was ready, his bowl was nearly empty!

Halloween Party

Jonah's school had a Halloween party at the end of the day, so parents could participate (i.e. help).  I didn't want to miss out, so I left work early to arrive in time for the chaos.  Jonah was so happy to see me!  He was really confused and upset when instead of going home we dressed him in his fireman coat, hat (which was immediately rejected) and oversized boots (which we had to abort because he couldn't walk in them!)

Now that he had Mommy, he wasn't letting go for anything and insisted on being carried.  While fussing.  Thus we went room to room Trick-or-Treating through his school.  Smartly, many of the treats he collected were bags of goldfish (his favorite!) but we did manage to score some M&Ms for Daddy and Whoppers for Mommy.  (I am allowed to exploit my son for free candy, right?)  Jonah started to get the hang of grabbing a piece of candy from the bowl and dropping it in his little bag.

In one of the classrooms, he found a mini Koosh ball.  It was like hitting the Halloween jackpot!  Jonah was finished collecting new candy or putting things into his bag.  He carried the Koosh ball around, showing it off to everyone we saw.  It even kept Jonah distracted enough for me to put him down and get a picture... but the hat still didn't last more than 5 seconds.

Food for Mommy

I was snacking on a blueberry muffin with Jonah in my lap and he reached for a piece of muffin.  He had just finished his dinner, but it's not unusual for him to continue to nibble when he finds something appetizing.  To my surprise, he didn't eat the muffin, but instead held it up to feed Mommy!  After I accepted his offering, he thought it was so great that he kept stuffing my mouth with more and more muffin before I could finish the previous bite!  Now I know how a baby feels, trying to keep up.

Uh-Oh!

Jonah has really mastered the use of the phrase "Uh-Oh!"  I hear it all the time, when he drops something or falls.  Jonah likes it so much, he will keep repeating it over and over after such incident.  This is absolutely adorable, but it makes me far more conscious of how often I use the phrase myself.  Especially with Jonah around, I say "Uh-Oh" or "Oh No" far more often than I'd like to admit!  I have to wonder if Jonah has internalized it to the point that it is also a reflex for him, rather than a thought-out response to the situation.

Here's a favorite example:  This evening, Jonah finished his dinner and started playing with his food.  He knows he isn't supposed to do this.  He was clapping his hands, full of food, and some of dinner flew off over the side of the tray.  He looked down at his mess and says, "Uh-Oh."  Yes, my dear, Daddy was none too happy!

At the Farm

Jonah picked a nice pumpkin to bring to school to decorate.

He liked the long stem for carrying it!

We picked some raspberries for Daddy!

Jonah preferred to squish them.

 And found it much easier to take them from the container already picked!

Jona Ferret

Two stories from today:
1.)  Jona has been toying with creative spelling.  He has a puzzle stool with his name on it, but for the last couple days, the "h" has been missing.  I cleaned all the floors today, and no sign of it.  I searched all the toys, his and Starbuck's hiding places, and under appliances.  Finally, I had to bite the bullet and search where I knew in my gut I would find it: the kitchen trash.  Sure enough, Jonah had reached up, opened the lid and dropped in the "h"!  Yuck.  And the only possible place it could have ended up so that "don't worry, it will turn up eventually" wouldn't have paid off.
2.)  I was making dinner and heard Jonah's pitchy cry, which means "help!" with far more urgency than his typical fussing.  Jonah had decided to visit Starbuck... in her cage!  He often stands next to the cage and points, or tries to reach in.  This time he was entirely inside with ferret, who was very upset about the unwelcome guest.  I did what any parent would do, which was to assess the situation - Jonah was safe, if not uncomfortably cramped and unable to extricate himself - and ran for my camera.

Vroom, vroom!

Jonah had the day off from school, so we went next door to play with the neighbors' grandkids.  Gracie was building a fairy house, which interested Jonah very little.  However, he thought her giant pinwheel was quite fun.  He grabbed the stick and pushed it around on the patio as if the petals were a corn popper.  Garret was playing cars on a play mat.  Jonah stopped to pick a car out of the bin - and pushed it along the ground, wheels down and everything!  This was the first time I'd seen him do pretend play and use a toy car the way we adults expect.  We came home and de-packaged one of Jonah's birthday presents, which contained 5 little cars - his favorite: the school bus!

Vociferation

We never quite decided on Jonah's first word, but this week he has really taken off with trying to speak.  He is very talkative and now parrots many of the words we use, including uh-oh! (uh-ah), go, and up.

He is even starting to remember words and use them correctly, even if we didn't just say it, such as pointing to his balloon (bloon) or ball (ba) or "that".

Jonah also makes animal noises, but not the typical barnyard sounds one might expect.  He prefers safari animals, like lions (roar!), monkeys (oo-oo-ah!), and his favorite: tigers (aarrr!).

Tickle Missile!

Jonah and his daddy like to play "tickle missile".  Daddy launches a finger missile, which flies slowly in a circuitous route, with rocket booster sound effects, towards Jonah.  He runs away and tries to evade the attack, all while smiling and laughing.  I don't think he minds so much that the belly-seeking missile always seems to land on target.  Except for the few times it gets confused and locks onto Mommy instead!  The boys love ganging up on Mommy in these kinds of attacks.  It's fun to share a family laugh.

Jonah Learns to Spin

Jonah watched me twirl around the kitchen, then tried to spin himself.  He must have picked up two things while watching me: 1.) my feet were moving in quick steps and 2.) I was rotating.  In execution, however, it is harder than it looks to do both of these things at the same time!

Baby Sign Class

So we did the crazy over-achieving parent thing and signed Jonah up for a Sign Language class at school.  At first, I had inquired about the class, then dismissed it as silly.  After all, we can teach signs at home and Jonah hasn't been so interested lately, now that he can ask for food.  And wouldn't this be more effective as part of his regular day with his teachers?  On the other hand, Daddy thought it was a silly idea at first, then considered that it would provide Jonah some real curriculum.  After all, we've been sending him to school for 9 months and he still can't read or add.  So we signed up.

Ms. Jen teaches Jonah one-on-one for some undisclosed length of time twice a week.  Last week we received notes such as "Jonah just wanted to be held and talked to".  Okay, at least in the craziness of his day with the big kids, Jonah gets a little personal attention and cuddling.

This week the note was "we worked on the sign for play, please practice and reinforce this at home."  Okay, two things:
1.)  The sign for "play" involves sticking out your thumb and pinkie on both hands and then twisting both wrists.  (Yes, like "groovy".)  This is hard!  Jonah doesn't have the physical dexterity to do this with his hands, so when he waves both hands in the air, it is indistinguishable from "all done".
2.)  "Play" is a very abstract concept.  Maybe she is a genius in explaining this to a toddler, but to Jonah, what is the difference between play, work, learn, etc?  To him, play encompasses everything that isn't eating (while being told not to play!) and sleeping.  We could be signing play all day.

So I've lost some confidence that the teacher knows what she is doing.  In her defense, she might be trying to work on signs Jonah doesn't already know.  But he only knows 3.  At home we're working on simple things, like "ball" while holding or pointing to Jonah's favorite toy.  (Make a sphere with your fingers, separate your hands and then bring them together again, touching the fingertips together.  Repeat.)  Or "book".  So far he's attempted to sign ball, but only because he really wanted his ball.  Out of context, I would have thought he was asking for more because he was moving his hands together, but didn't position his fingers correctly. We'll keep practicing.  Perhaps he will continue to enjoy his quiet cuddle time with Ms. Jen.

Tree Cutting

Little boy heaven... watching a crew cutting branches in the neighbor's yard.