Fashion Statement

Check out this outfit... He picked all of it out. He is wearing underwear all of the time now except when sleeping. He loves his "Thomases" (Thomas Train underwear). The socks were mine from St Pat's Day. This is one of those photos you show potential girlfriends when they are brought home.

Have I mentioned that potty training is a lot of work for the parents as well as for the child? Jonathan is really not that difficult about it, either. It's just a lot of work. I'm counting on the fact that it will keep getting easier week by week.

Sarah

Catching Up

Here are the last of the photos that I took when Marc and Amy were here with their kids. Should have gotten a couple of the boy cousins with my boys and Amy with the boys. Oh well... next time. Marc and Caleb
Allison and Caleb

Sofie and Jonathan

A few more...

Jonathan's little voice is so fun to hear. These are a few of our favorite things that he says that aren't pronounced correctly:
1. "Wincon Wogs" Lincoln Logs
2. "Panio" Piano
3. "Nola Bar" Granola
4. "Cuga Cuga Choo Choo" Chuga Chuga Choo Choo (have no idea why he can say the "ch" on choo choo but not on chuga)
5. "Kinky diaper" Stinky diaper

The Things I Love

about this time in life with my children...

1. When Jonathan randomly says: "the boy grew, he grewed and he grewed and he grewed. Mommy sing that song." I know exactly what he means. No one else probably would, but I am the mommy and I know. He wants me to sing the little song from the book, I'll Love You Forever. One of the lines in the book talks about the boy growing and then has the song.

2. Caleb smiles from ear to ear when I come in to get him in the morning.

3. Caleb knows that I am the "snack bar" and smiles widely when I come to get him when he's hungry.

4. Jonathan says, "Mommy, come jump on the pillows!"

5. Jonathan is playing often on his own and he talks while doing so. It is adorable. He'll count things or sing a song we've been singing together or just ramble in pretend play.

6. Caleb doesn't like to sit. I say that I like this, but many days I do not. However, I love that Caleb has his own quirks and personality. I get to learn about him just as I am learning about Jonathan.

Naps

Jonathan has been in his bed for an hour and has yet to sleep. I just checked on him and he was jumping in his crib with his shirt removed. I see the writing on the wall. Naps will probably be history around here before the little man is three. The funny thing is that he slept for over two hours yesterday and had to be awakened so as to insure nighttime sleep. These things are a mystery to me.

We had such a wonderful weekend! Jamie's brother and sister and their kids came to visit. It was quite busy around here with seven guests which can sometimes stress me out a little. Not this time. Not one bit. It was so easy to have them here and I really, really wished that they could have stayed longer. Jonathan wished so, too. He kept talking about when his cousins would "come back soon". He really loved having them here. During his "nap" on Saturday he kept yelling, "Sofie, come get me! Sofie, come get me!" He didn't sleep one minute and could hardly wait to play with them. Sofie with Caleb
Sofie reading nighttime stories to Jonathan

Allison with Caleb

Jonathan in his beloved car

This last photo was taken after Jonathan and I made "treat necklaces" after lunch one day. He wanted to make one for Daddy, too. However, I soon realized that his intentions were more selfish than altruistic. He ate Jamie's necklace, too. Guess that kind of goes with the territory of a two year old.

I'm going to check on J-man, again. I'm still hearing noises from his room. Do you suppose he has now removed his pants and socks, too?

I have a few more photos of the weekend that I will post tomorrow. Hopefully there will be more napping around here.

Sarah

"Plugger Covers"

There are many inventions that make mothering easier these days than it was years ago. Enter: outlet covers. (Or "plugger covers" as my son has affectionately named them) These are a royal pain to install now that the number of outlets in any given house is over a hundred and some. But, I now have a case for their value.

This morning I walked into our hallway bathroom with Jonathan following. He decided that wiping off the sink and putting away bath toys were not in his plans so he exited. No less than one minute later, I heard a bang. Of course, I investigated. He was in our room putting on my shoes and had banged something on the wall while getting them. No big deal. I return to the bathroom to finish the wipe-down. Another bang a minute later. Another investigation. Oh. My. Goodness!!

Jonathan was now standing on the toilet in our bathroom with my blow dryer in hand, running it under a stream of water?!?!?! As I walked in he looked at me and said, "Mommy put the plugger in" PLUG IT IN? Are you kidding me? The reason my wonderful boy was not in the ER for severe electrical shock is because the "pluggers" are COVERED.

Return to the point: The effort to install "plugger covers" is well worth it!

My Full Name

There has been increasing interest by our oldest child in "full names". Here is a clip of he and I discussing the "full names" of our family members. It is a bit dark in the video and he's eating chips while we talk but I think it is cute, none the less.

S.P.R.I.N.G.

We are having a delightful taste of spring today. Delightful. We spent all morning outside, and when lunch time came we ate lunch on the driveway. Caleb enjoyed the time outside after he was done yelling. He screamed for a while and then crashed for 2 hours in his stroller.

We have a thing at church on Sunday afternoons and our pastor's three kids come and hang out at our house while we attend so that Jonathan can nap. The girls are 16 and 13 and the boy is 10. Jonathan was playing with all three of them when we arrived home yesterday. When we asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm playing with Esther, Isaac and she." "She" is the oldest one and apparently her name isn't one he remembers easily. Later on he was referring to her and said, "Isaac and something else are riding in the back seat."

A is for Apple

This week is "A" week for many reasons.
1. It is the first letter of the alphabet. Jonathan knows several other random letters in the alphabet but I thought maybe we ought to learn the first one.
2. This week is Johnny Appleseed's birthday (or at least some celebration of him)
3. I found an idea for apple stamps that I thought looked fun and suitably messy.
Here are our apple stamps...

Jonathan managed to remember the activity well enough to tell Daddy that "a is for apple" when he arrived home. Wonders never cease. Usually the activities of the morning have been long forgotten by dinnertime.

When I asked my sister about cutting the apples for this activity and mentioned our "a" week she said, "oh brother". It really makes our week resemble the movie, "Groundhog Day" to a far lesser degree. This is good for my patience.

Tomorrow we are going to make puff ball ants (another "a" word). Involving glue and lots of puff balls.

Birthday Fun

Jonathan was invited to his friend, Lauren's, birthday party yesterday at the YMCA. He had a delightful time (and so did everyone else)! As Lauren said, "I just love my birthday!!"

Lauren, age 5

Jonathan chasing the big kids

Rough Housing

I am the mother of boys. Boys like to wrestle, tackle, jump, throw... I like to play outdoors and I've developed an affinity for cars and trucks and the like. The tackling and rough housing were not in my repertoire. I'm learning. I do not want to be left out of the fun so I am learning to roll around on the floor, jump on the pile of couch pillows, tackle, and chase. Jonathan's delight in these activities is motivation enough for me.

Jamie's parents were here for several days last week. We had a wonderful time with them. The weather was great so we were outside a lot. Jonathan was exhausted by the time that they left. Three days of outdoor time would wear out any kid who has been inside most of the winter.

Here's to many more nice, spring days!

My Little Potty

As the title clearly states, potty training is not a distant goal. It is closer and closer to becoming the reality around here. I have no idea what to do. I feel like I have ideas about other things in parenting but I have had trepidation about potty training since BEFORE I had these children. Now the rubber meets the road. This must occur.

Jonathan took the base of the new toilet cleaning brush I had purchased last week and squatted on it and said, "I go pee-pee on my little potty." Hint, hint: Mom, buy a little potty. So, against all previous ideas that I had, we now have a little potty in our bathroom. Yuck - another toilet to clean and this one doesn't flush. I just wanted him to sit on the big one and go. He's scared of falling in. He peed on the little potty last night before his bath. We are starting slow and just letting him get used to the idea. Soon, I'll have to buy underwear and prepare for the potential messes. I am hoping to wait until April when the weather is predictably nicer, but if he is really ready sooner I will be ready, too.

On another note: Jamie's parents are here. Jonathan is having a whee of a time with them. Caleb hasn't been quite as agreeable. He screamed at Judy for a while this morning while I was outside. Good thing she had four babies and has ten grandchildren. Jamie and I are going out for breakfast tomorrow morning while they watch the boys. I'm just going to tell Caleb that he needs to be nice. I'll let you know how that works out for us.

Bible Stories

We read bible stories with Jonathan before bed each night. He still likes Jonah quite a bit, but he has taken an interest in some of the other characters. He wanted to do the reading this evening...

Caleb's Laugh

Caleb delights us with his smiles, his cooing and now, his laughter. Jamie always has been quite animated and this elicits great laughter out of our children. Jonathan was trying to get in on the action and garner some attention during this video... enjoy: this is a snippet of our house when Daddy is home.