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!