New Year's Eve

Jonah had a New Year's Eve party with his cousin Addison and some of her little friends.  It was an interesting change from earlier in the day, when he was the youngest with his cousins Cailin and Declan.  Jonah has 6 months on Addison and Adam, which is the difference between sitting & batting at toys and running & very deliberately manipulating objects.  Jonah was very defensive when I tried to interact with the little ones.  He insisted on having a turn holding my hands to walk, bouncing on my knee, or reading a book.  He is too old for the bouncing game and certainly didn't need help walking.  He wasn't looking for just his turn, Jonah wanted to make sure no one else had a turn with HIS Mommy.

Sledding

Jonah and his cousins went sledding and Grandmama and Pop-pop's house today!  They had a snowtube, three sleds, and five laps to pick from.  The snowtube was a huge hit until it met it's demise on an icy snowbank.  Jonah enjoyed going down in Mommy's lap, but cried the whole way back up the hill.  He wasn't fond of being pulled around the yard, either.  We spent most of the time sitting together and watching the bigger kids sled.  I asked if he wanted a turn or to stay.  He pointed to the sled.  I asked if he wanted to go with Mommy or Pop-pop.  He pointed to Pop-pop.  I put him in Pop-pop's arms.  He cried.  Too late - down they went!

When we returned inside, Grandmama made hot chocolate for everyone, including Jonah!  The milk in his sippy was barely warm and barely tinted with cocoa, but I thought it was sooo cute.

Family Christmases 2.8 & 2.9

Today we had two family get-togethers to attend!  It was a crazy day.  First, we stopped in at Aunt Carol's open house and visited with Great-Grandma Lil.  She was having a very good day and even smiled a bit when the kids came in.  Jonah sang songs and danced a little to bring her cheer.  He was a little grumpy and warm (but then so was I, in my turtleneck and scarf!) but I chalked it up to the new place and strange people.  He did okay eating his lunch and ripping open his new Red Sox outfit (what else?)

Then we moved on to Aunt Terri's and saw Great-Grampy and all the cousins, aunts & uncles in Pop-pop's family.  By then Jonah had had it and was running a low fever.  Poor little guy!  As proud Mama, I was hoping he would show off his physical coordination, new words, and adorable smiles.  Instead, he wanted nothing but to be in my arms.  Except for a balloon.  Uncle Peter distracted him and all the little ones making balloon animals.  Jonah got a monkey!  He fell asleep in the car as soon as he was buckled in and was so glad to be back in his own house to rest and recuperate.

Christmas 2.5

Now that Jonah's cousins have arrived, we got to do Christmas all over again!  Jonah gave his cousin Declan a whole set of new power tools and was very eager to show Declan how they all worked.  The two boys spent the day running around the house with power drills and saws, sometimes even dawning safety goggles!  It was fun to see Jonah copying and trying to keep up with his big cousin.

Christmas 2.1

Jonah's really got the gift-receiving thing down.  This year he recognized a wrapped present and immediately went about ripping the paper off bit by bit until the gift was free.  Jonah gave a big hug to the Curious George from Uncle Kevin and Lindsay, he started reading his new Mickey Mouse book from Aunt Ashley & Uncie L as soon as it was out of the wrapping, and banged out a few tunes on his piano from Santa.  The cutest was watching him climb into his big stuffed chair, like a king on his new throne.

With all the excitement of family visiting, Christmas Mass and presents, Jonah was too exhausted to even make it through lunch.  Unfortunately for us, that meant he was up again just as everyone else was departing, leaving Daddy and Mommy to fight over who got the next turn napping and who got to stay up playing with Jonah!

Christmas Eve #2 (& Meeting the reindeer!)

We had a very nice day visiting with Daddy's Aunt Paula & Uncle Joe.  They live on a secluded bay where lots of wild turkeys and deer roam.  Jonah got to see some of the deer eating from up close through the garage window.  They looked just like Santa's reindeer from his book!  How exciting!  Jonah also enjoyed watching boats out on the water, petting Gus (dog) and peeking in at Sam (cat) in his hideout box.

I'd like to send a special note of thanks to Aunt Paula and Jeremy, who, when I asked if they had seen Jonah's bib, combed through an entire trash bag to recover it.  Now that's going above and beyond!

Story Time

Jonah was up early today and instead of going back to bed, he wanted to be up reading books.  We picked up "The Cuddliest Cuddle" and Jonah read it to Mommy!  It was adorable to watch while he turned the pages, pointed out all the animals and made animal sounds, and 'told' me the story (in babbles).

Undecorating the Christmas Tree

Jonah loves the ornaments and the lights on the Christmas tree.  He loves them so much he will pull an ornament off and bring it over to show you how pretty it is.  Starbuck likes the Christmas tree too, mostly for the pine-flavored water only ferrets can reach, but also for the ornaments.

But NOT Mama

The pediatrician tells me we can lock Jonah in the closet and he will still pass his 18mo. milestones without learning any new words!  (Dr. Dad questioned this recommendation as it might interfere with his growth, but that's an engineer for you, being all literal.)  Jonah can say:

Balloon
Ball
Uh-oh
Up please
Up-down (upside down)
Again
No
Yes
All done
More
That
Book
Go
Bus
Boat
Apple
Banana
Cook
Dog
Boo (his word for breastfeeding)
Vroom (cars/trucks)
Ah, ah, ah (monkey)
Grr (lion/tiger)
Elmo
Big Bird
Dada

...but not Mama.  :-(

One More Minute!

I've been doing the classic parent move of giving Jonah a one-minute warning (typically a very arbitrary unit of measure that lasts as little or as long as Mommy wants) before we end bath, go to bed, or otherwise end something he hasn't said he is "all done" with.  So, I tell him "one more minute!"  And Jonah holds up his finger and shakes it at me, as if to agree to my terms, "yes, Mommy, I need one more minute!"