Fourth of July Block Party

 

Jonah got into the spirit dancing to a live band with his flag.  Watch out, pedestrians!!!

Three Musketeers

Jonah's older cousins have dubbed themselves the "Three Musketeers".  (Or maybe it's Mouseketeers?  I wonder where pre-schoolers learn about French literature.)  They all spent the day with Grandmama and PopPop going to the park and otherwise having a grand time.  Even with the big outing, the highlight of the day [as reported to us] was the three of them holding hands walking down the sidewalk after Mass.  Cute.

Bye-bye, Mama!

Jonah and PopPop dropped Mommy and Daddy off at the airport for a long weekend wedding extravaganza.  Jonah would be vacationing with Grandmama and PopPop while we are away.  We didn't know how the good-byes would go at the airport, but I must say it went a little too well.  I scooped up Jonah for a big hug and kiss, but moments later he was reaching out for PopPop to hold him!  He waved good-bye from PopPop's hip, blew a few kisses, and then marched off to watch airplanes from the viewing deck.  So much for the tearful and anxiety-ridden separation from Mom and Dad!  Jonah is going to be just fine.  Mommy, on the other hand, is feeling overwhelmingly disillusioned.  Jonah clearly doesn't need me anymore!

Snake

We once rolled Play-Doh into snakes, which so far is Jonah's favorite use of the modelling clay.  Now when he wants to play, he pulls over his craft tray and yells, "snake!" until I bring the tub of Play-Doh.

Wordsmith

Jonah's verbal communication has just exploded recently.  He regularly puts together multi-word thoughts (usually lacking a verb, and thus not sentences).  My favorite was while I was making dinner, from the kitchen I heard: "Daddy, all done news.  Blankets!"  (In our house "blankets" = building a 'fort' on the couch and then collapsing it when Jonah starts saying, "uh-oh! uh-oh! uh-oh!"

Mama, Snack!

Jonah is usually underfoot while we make dinner, so we've started giving him little chores to help out.  For example, he puts forks at each of our places at the table.  When dinner is ready, Daddy sent Jonah to let me know.  Jonah ran over to the stairs (as I was upstairs) and screamed, "MAMA!  SNACK!"  In our house, every meal is known simply as 'snack'.

Bike to School

Dad bought and installed a bike seat for Jonah!  He installed it on his Trek yesterday and tried to put Jonah in for a test-run before attempting to commute on the bike this morning.  Jonah flailed and kicked and screamed and otherwise refused to be strapped into the contraption.  So much for biking to school/work... or so I thought.

This morning Dad was persistent and loaded Jonah and his school bag onto the bike and off they went - screaming (but unable to kick due to the restraints)!  It was a sad sight to leave my little one in such a state as I left for work.  I later learned that by the time they were halfway to school and going under the railroad underpass, Jonah was having fun and yelling "woah!"  Apparently, he was very proud to show off his bike and helmet at school.  The envy of his classmates.

Knock, knock!

Jonah loves knocking on doors, always accompanied by saying, "knock, knock!" and occasionally including a forced entry, if he can open the door.  Tonight in the bath he was knocking on the tub, so we practiced knock-knock jokes:

Jonah: "Knock, knock!"
Mommy: "Who's there?"
Jonah: "Jonah"
Mommy: "Jonah who?"
Jonah: "Jonah!"

Jonah: "Knock, knock!"
Mommy: "Who's there?"
Jonah: "Jonah"
Mommy: "Jonah who?"
Jonah: "PopPop!"

It's funny in the way knock-knock jokes usually are[n't]: "orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

SNAKE!

We came home after our morning outing and while I was busy putting the stroller away, getting lunch set out, etc. I heard Jonah yelling "SNAKE!"  Sure enough, we was pointing to a snake curled up in our window well.  We watched during lunch as the snake slithered up the window and stretched out in the sun for an afternoon nap.

Fast forward a few days, Jonah and Daddy found an unfortunate snake on the road.  I wonder if Jonah understands what it means that the snake is dead?

Happy Mama Day!

Poor Daddy was feeling unwell today, so Jonah was on his own for giving Mommy a wonderful Mother's Day!

We started at Mass, where Jonah clapped enthusiastically along with "This Little Light of Mine".  Then he took me out to the botanical garden and gave me the grand tour.  We made stops at the turtle fountain, misting fountain, spraying hoses, drainage grate, and hose bibs.  Oh, and there were a few flowers along the way!  ;-)  We even found a porch swing hanging from a tree so we could swing together.

My favorite part was when Jonah took a shortcut and frolicked through a field of daffodils while I took the path to meet him.  The other visitors where slightly mystified by the lone toddler, but quite enraptured by his adorable romp across the waist-high field of flowers.  Jonah also enjoyed walking the forest path and finding sticks taller than him, or helping Mommy push the stroller when I grew tired.  (I should note here that his help is performed while being held up high enough to reach the handlebar!)