Thanksgiving!

Jonah had a very good Thanksgiving.  He enjoyed eating a huge plate of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce and passed on the desserts!  Jonah and Declan spent a lot of time hanging upside down from a parent or aunt/uncle.  They would look at each other from mid-air and think it the funniest thing!  Jonah also spent a lot of time playing toys with Pop-pop while Mommy enjoyed a relaxing visit.

Jonah was a good little trooper for our second stop to visit Daddy's family.  He was tired, but had gotten a short nap in the car and stayed up and (relatively) un-fussy.  He loved playing with the doggies, especially Gus.  He chased Gus around and petted his soft fur.  Jonah brought some books, tools and blocks to play with and help fix the house.  Brian (I should note here that he is an adult family friend!) played blocks with Jonah and showed him "how it was done" by stuffing all the shapes quickly into the sorter, each with a loud bang!  Jonah didn't like being beat at his own game and looked upset when Brian neared him the rest of the night.  Fortunately, dragging his tape measure and being chased by the doggy was more fun anyway.

Cousin Playdate

Jonah's cousins came over to play this morning!  They had a very fun playdate, which involved checking out every one of Jonah's toys, upstairs and down.  The highlights (for me) were watching Jonah 1.) push Declan around on the bus, 2.) show his older cousins how to use the Ballapalooza, and 3.) race to knock over Cailin and Declan's block towers.

Shortly after Cailin and Declan arrived, Jonah dug into his book collection (which he does frequently) and pulled out his "facebook", a photo book of his relatives, (which is somewhat rare) and opened directly to the page with Cailin and Declan's picture!  Coincidence?  Possibly.  But there seemed to be a hint of toddler thoughtfulness: "I've seen you somewhere around here before... oh, yes, here you are in my book!"

I had to run some defense in the form of building super fast structures to keep Jonah occupied with demolition that didn't interfere with his cousins' towers.  Declan built his own piles of blocks and got so excited after knocking them down he would run in place while shrieking with joy.  Cailin was a very good sport about building things for Jonah to knock over, but after many, many crashes, she wanted to destroy a tall tower of her own!

Boook, boook, boook!

Jonah is on a huge book fetish.  He has been spending more time with books than all his other toys combined.  He is constantly bringing book after book over to Mommy or Daddy to read, though he seldom sits through the whole thing before running back to the bookshelf for a new book!  I finally moved his board books to a low bin where he can grab and flip through the books on his own... expect he still wants to be lifted to reach his favorites, which are safely on the high shelf.  He most loves the books that move, and we read these together to limit the damage to the flaps, tabs, and movable parts.  Most have undergone so much surgery already!

Here are random stories and favorite memories:

• Just the other day I nearly solved the incontinence problem of the dog that pees while gluing the binding on "Dogs".  Unfortunately, that is Jonah's favorite pull tab, so I had to restore the dog's leg movement.
• On Elmo's Favorite Places, Jonah likes the aquarium the best, not because he visited, but because he thinks the sea anemone looks like his puff ball!  When he sees the picture, he says and signs "ball".
• Noisy Peek-a-Boo has light sensors that play music when the tabs are opened.  We've been reading this in the morning after milk, when there is barely enough daylight to activate the noises unless the book is tilted just so.  Disappointing for Jonah when it doesn't work.
• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed is a favorite.  Jonah loves the song and will touch his head (one fell off and bumped his head) or shake his finger and shout "no" (no more monkeys jumping on the bed) right on cue!
• Jonah loves the Cuddliest Cuddle in the World.  Great idea for a story, but terribly written.  I think it's the only "story" Jonah actually pays attention to without the gimmicks of movable parts.
• The pelican is Jonah's favorite "Munch" book tab.  It is pretty cool.  He tried to see the full extent of the fishes and ripped them right off.  (Fortunately, it could be repaired with a little tape!)
• I am pleased to report that Wheels on the Bus is still fully functional... for now.  It gets a lot of love.
• Jonah's pediatrician gave him a book "to encourage reading" on his 12mo. visit.  It was a yellow and black high-contrast pattern picture book.  Is that considered reading?
• We made a few visits to our library's book sale this fall and stocked up on new books.  25c for gently used board books, some with flaps and everything!  Great find.  Best grabs were Elmo's Favorite Places and my Boynton collection (much to Daddy's chagrin).
• Daddy refuses to read anything by Sandra Boynton.
• Daddy asked Jonah to find the ball or the fire truck and Jonah was able to point them out on the page.
• Jonah enjoys having some reading material while Mommy takes care of his business on the changing table.

How to recycle

1.  Push the wire basket around the house for a while.
2.  Take everything out along the way.
3.  Find an OJ bottle, try to drink the leftover juice.
4.  Locate the cap, try to re-assemble.
5.  Fill basket with toys.
6.  Find a yogurt cup among refuse in the living room.
7.  Open and close the foil lid for a while.
8.  When the lid tears off, scrunch the foil in your hands to make different shapes.
9.  When that gets boring, bang the cup on the floor to make music.
10.  Then remove the plastic wrapper and make crinkle sounds.
11.  Return to the cup and use it for splashing at bathtime.

Approx. time: 1 hour

Thank you, Jonah!

I'd like to start with an apology and warning to any Moms struggling to regain their shape... but I need to brag:  Jonah was probably the best thing that's ever happened to my figure!  I was frustrated by my ill-fitting pants and took myself shopping after work to catch the end of the holiday sales.  I fit pants two full sizes smaller than I did pre-Jonah!  (...and a cup size larger.)  Yay!

Admittedly, I haven't been trying especially hard (as noted by my nightly ice cream or Halloween candy), though we still go an an occasional hour-long run.  It's hard for me to believe chasing a toddler is so much more effective than all those years of intense gym workouts.  I may be onto the next trend for all the Crossfit dropouts!  Really, I attribute the extra calories burned to breast feeding, which I'm now even more reluctant to give up.  We still enjoy our morning and bedtime snuggle snacks.  :-)

Parent-Teacher Conference

It is clear that the purpose of a parent-teacher conference at a private daycare is this: make the parents feel good about continuing to send their child (and money).  We knew this going in.  But it was still pleasant to share a 10-minute Jonah love-fest with his teachers!  They complimented Jonah on how well he transitioned, how hard it is to believe he just turns 12mo., what a good eater he is, how easily he goes down for nap, etc.  I could have listened to it all day.  :-)  They certainly met the objective and alleviated the uncertainty we had had with his infant teachers, most of whom didn't seem to like Jonah all that much.  We picked up a few tidbits that were nice for filling in the gaps of what Jonah does all day at school:

1. Jonah can find his own napping mat, lie down and put himself to sleep with just a verbal prompt.  His mat is next to the mirror and he likes to watch himself quietly or read a book when he wakes up.
2. Jonah gets excited for outdoor time and runs over to the hooks to get his own coat when it's time!
3. Jonah is given a spoon for lunch, but often eats with the other hand for efficiency.  After lunch this week he dumped his dirty plate into the trash can to help clean up!
4. Jonah and Melanie were caught hugging and kissing each other on the forehead.  :-)  Jonah is best buds with James and they are always together.  He also recognizes his friends and played with a little visitor he remembered from the infant room.
5. Jonah spends a lot of time in the art corner of the room with the paper and crayons.
6. Jonah loves circle time and dances along to the songs.  When the teachers sing his name he recognizes his turn and waves to all his classmates!
7. Jonah only cries for a minute after being dropped off (to make us feel guilty) and spends the rest of the day enjoying his independence and playing.

iPad IT

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently reaffirmed their stance that no screen time is healthy for a child under 2.  Fine.  But a couple minutes allow Mommy to shower and dress in peace!  That is healthy for the whole family.  We have the PBS Kids app on the old iPad and I let Jonah browse videos on occasion for sanity's sake.  He's gotten much better at watching rather than touching the screen constantly.

Today the app was on the fritz and had trouble connecting.  Poor Jonah sat and patiently watched the bee buzz in circles for almost 5 minutes, waiting for his show to start.  When he finally gave up, his manner of troubleshooting was remarkably similar to what I would have done.  I watched as he first tried a different show, then closed the app and opened it again.  When none of this worked, I finally helped him turn off the iPad and restart it.  Presto!  Still, I'm sure that once he can hold the power button for 10 sec., he should qualify for a job in IT.

After all this mess, it occurred to me to download a few other apps for him to try.  I filled a screen with what are advertised as fun toddler apps.  He seems to enjoy the music the best, so we even have a baby jukebox,  Wheels on the Bus, and other songs.  And, even though it had moved, Jonah still went straight to PBS Kids!

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!