Jonah-Sized Closet

Jonah loved showing off his room to his cousins this weekend!  The corner of his room has a little closet under the eave - probably 3ft tall at most.  Perfect for toddlers.  (We recently cleaned out all the outgrown clothes that were stored there so Jonah could have full access to this precious cubby.)  Cousin Declan was too nervous to go inside at first, but they invented a game that suited both boys.  Jonah would go inside, Declan closed the door and ran to the other side of the room.  Jonah would knock, knock on the door, then burst out of the closet in a triumphant peek-a-boo!  They would laugh and repeat, over and over!  Eventually, Declan got up the courage to go inside the closet and Cailin came up to join the fun with the boys.  The little closet was still the preferred hiding place after the 364th consecutive round of hide-and-seek.  With all the piles of toys in the house, it was a clear winner.

No no no!

Jonah was playing with his food at dinner, so Mommy and Daddy kept telling him 'no'.  Well, he kept at it, so finally I took away his plate.  In response, Jonah waved his little index finger right at me and said, "no no no!"  Daddy and I had to stifle back giggles at the extreme cuteness while I sternly informed Jonah that under no circumstances was it okay to 'no' Mommy or Daddy!

The Enforcer

Any time he sees a ferret accident, Jonah will point his finger, yelling "no, no, no!"  (One might say his attitude towards ferret messes reflects that of his mother.)  Today he even tried to help clean up the mess in the bathroom by grabbing some toilet paper - still attached to the roll - and pulling it across the room to cover the mess.  Then he flushed the toilet.  Just like Mommy does.

I'm a bit concerned that Jonah is going to have reservations about using the potty because of this routine.  At bath time he also points to his dirty diapers yelling "no!" as if he's been a bad boy for soiling them.  I try to encourage him to use the potty after bath, but he inevitably waits until he is off and running around in his birthday suit to find a spot on the floor to pee.  Maybe he is learning more from Starbuck than from Mommy after all!

Dental Hygiene

I have come to a good appreciation for product characters, particularly when it comes to dental hygiene products.  For months we have been enjoying tooth brushing thanks to Baby Orajel.  Jonah asks for Elmo and studies his picture on the tube while I use the little finger brush.  That is, until Jonah insisted on putting the silicone brush on his finger and sucking off the toothpaste - I mean - brushing his own teeth.

Recently, we came to a crossroads where a.) the Elmo toothpaste ran dry b.) Jonah's molars started inflicting serious pain on Mommy's brushing finger and c.) the finger brush never quite got the food out from between his bottom teeth and Jonah screamed when Mommy came at him with a floss pick.

I was able to find an Elmo toddler toothbrush, but the store only had Thomas the Train toothpaste!  I was incredibly nervous as I tried to delay the inevitable by using the new toothbrush with the scant remains of the Elmo toothpaste.  To my surprise, Jonah pointed up at the medicine cabinet and started saying "coockooo!" (choo-choo).  He was so excited by the train toothpaste (still in its box), I needn't have worried!

Strangely, Jonah's appreciation of trains is void of almost all "train-ness".  He gets very upset when we attach a second car or run his toy train along a track.  He'd much rather hold the engine and listen to it sing train songs.  Daddy asked me if I thought "Training Toothpaste" was a pun.  "Certainly not!" I thought, until I noticed the flavor: "Tooty Fruity".

The TV is Broken

How many parents have used this line: "the TV is broken"?  It seems such an easy fib to elaborate on why your toddler can't watch his favorite programming.  In our case, it's the truth.  The hard drive on our home-made DVR computer died.

So Daddy has been setting up the new computer every evening over the past week.  Jonah sees him programming on the big screen and will point: "TV!", "Elmo!".  No, Jonah.  We're not watching Elmo today.  "iPad!", "Big Bird!".  No, no iPad or Big Bird either.  "Cookie Monster!"  No, the TV is broken!  Then starts the spew of every syllable combination in Jonah's repertoire, just in case he missed something that Mommy and Daddy would agree to.  When at first you don't succeed, try, try again!