Own Drum

If the content of this blog hasn't indicated this fact, I'll point out the obvious: Jonathan marches to the beat of his own drum. Rum, pum, pum, pum...

This results in some wowser dowser battles around here. There are battles I'll fight: Jonathan needs to learn kindness towards Caleb, Jonathan needs to learn to obey when asked to do things, and he needs to learn to ask for things kindly and not whine.

There are battles I'll not fight: the Halloween costume. He refused to wear it today for preschool. It's just a fireman jacket and a hat. That's it. Nothing uncomfortable or scratchy. Every other kid in preschool was wearing their costume, and still Jonathan told Mrs. Burns: "I don't want to wear that. I'll just wear my clothes by themselves." They went on a little Halloween march, and my little guy just marched along, costume-less, to the beat of his drum.

March on, Jonathan. The Halloween costume choice is one that is all yours.

In the Company of Friends

This fall has reminded me of the blessings of good friends. Our families live too far away, and we don't see them much. Jamie has to work some evenings, some weekends, and some early mornings. This means a lot of time by myself with the munchkins. It would be even less fun if I didn't have a couple of friends who understand. Really understand. Because they don't have family nearby and their spouses have to work odd hours, too. If they had family nearby or a nine to five husband, it wouldn't probably be quite the same.

We sometimes have dinner together when we're alone with the kids, we bring each other meals when one of the mommies is sick or having a rough week, we watch each other's kids when one of us has to go to the doctor, and we have met at Denny's for Saturday night kids eat free dinners...

We would all choose to have our spouses work the nine to five gig, and we'd like to see our families more often but if we have to have these circumstances... I'm so grateful for my friends.

With that I'll leave you with a clip of Caleb "talking". He wants those trains!!

Reading - Part Two

Don't feel the need to watch both of these videos unless you're the grandparents... but here is the second part of the video where Jonathan is "reading".

Reading - Part I

Jonathan really likes a little nursery rhyme book we got as a hand-me down from someone. Today I came to the basement as Jonathan started "reading" to Daddy. This is part one of a couple.

Emerging

We may be emerging from one (of what is sure to be many) of the more difficult phases in Jonathan and Caleb's relationship. Jonathan (after COUNTLESS disciplinary measures) has finally stopped trying to "tackle" Caleb, asks us for help instead of pushing Caleb away from his toys and books, and is acting in a rather civil and loving way towards his younger sibling.

This is such a welcome turn of events as I was quite weary of continually disciplining Jonathan for unkind treatment of Caleb. I was beginning to fear that something had gone wrong and my nice, little boy had disappeared. He's back (at least for the moment) and today he wanted Caleb to play duck, duck, goose with us. He even picked Caleb to be the goose twice. Caleb wasn't clear on the rules of the game, but Jonathan seemed indifferent to that fact.

On another note: Caleb is a delight to feed. He eats anything. Anna Kruger and Andrew Nehre (who have both been mentioned here previously) were like that and I always thought that it would be fun to feed a child who wasn't picky. True, it is. The only thing Caleb has turned down was a jar of baby food yesterday. I can imagine why... he's been eating soft table food for about a month and baby food would NOT be good after that.

Family Celebration

Jonathan's gifts from us were a few additions to his train set. Here he is, intent on playing with them:

Caleb was oblivious to the unwrapping of gifts. He was enjoying free reign at playing with any toys that he wanted. There's usually a bit more competition for anything that Caleb wants, and there is usually some compromise involved for both boys. Caleb got the shopping cart all to himself...

Three Years Old

It would suffice to say that I wouldn't win the sentimental mother of the year award. I don't cry at the mother-child movies, I love the pictures and videos of my kids but have saved none (you heard right, none) of Jonathan's drawings up to this point, and I had no sad feelings about Jonathan going to preschool one day a week this year.

There are days when I do feel nostalgic about my little man as a littler man. The time from 18 months to two and half is so precious because they say the silliest things as they learn to talk. Those silly things are becoming few and far between and are being replaced by funny observations about things and an awareness of more and more intricate things around him. Part of the nostalgia for me is also related to the fact that he is now closer to five than he is to birth. Before I'm ready he'll be heading off to school and spending more than a random two hours of time with someone else who is not me.

Part of really loving is letting go. My mother was amazing at it. She loved us but always let us go to spread our wings. My hope is to be even half as good as she was at letting my boys spread their independent wings and fly.

At three, Jonathan is...

~ All about doing things himself. Dressing himself, going to the bathroom by himself, taking a shower by himself...

~ Shy and a non-stop talker all in one little boy. Shy if he doesn't know you. A non-stop talker if you happen to catch him on a conversational day (or live with him).

~ Loving anything with wheels. Still. Probably forever.

~ Great at riding his "big boy bike" and loves to ride at the trail with Julianne and Erica (two best buddies).

~ A finicky eater but can be motivated by chips or serious hunger. We seldom do snacks around here. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snacks mean he eats NOTHING at his meals. NOTHING. If he's hungry he'll eat meat, broccoli, peas, asparagus... pretty much anything without "sauce". If he's not hungry, forget it.

~ Always wearing his flip-flops if given the choice.

~ An outdoorsman. Wouldn't have it any other way.

~ An observer. Always has been and likely always will be.

Happy birthday to the little big man! I wouldn't have missed the last 3 years for anything.

Birthday Party Fun

Jonathan's birthday party was on Saturday, and we had a great time. The YMCA near us has a huge gymnastics area where parties can be held. The foam pit was the highlight of the afternoon for most of the kiddos... Jonathan included.

Caleb was in a jovial mood... ready for lots of free space to explore!

The party crowd... Jonathan was looking like this in all of the photo attempts. I didn't fight it.

Jonathan and Andrew Nehre in "the pit".

Jamie made the cake - wonderful, as usual.

The birthday boy in "the pit".

Today is our 8th anniversary - we'll celebrate on Saturday. Tomorrow is Jonathan's actual day of birth. Last night I marveled at the amazing changes God brought to my life nine years ago when I met Jamie in the kitchen of a friend's house on a "sure, why not?" date. He is a rock star husband and that's all I need tosay about that. The rest are just details.

Week of Celebrations

Today began a week of celebrations:

Jonathan's birthday party was today. A wonderful time with friends!

Tuesday is our 8th anniversary.

Wednesday is Jonathan's actual day of birth.

Saturday Jamie and I will celebrate our anniversary while some friends watch the boys.

Here's to lots of fun, fun, fun!

The Boys and Grandparents

Mom and Dad watched the boys in September when we went to the Iowa game with Nate and Carla. They are three very busy boys. But, my mother is a rather busy sort of lady so that fits right into her world. My dad maybe isn't as busy by nature but certainly can keep up.

Jonathan and I also had the PLEASURE of riding on a firetruck with the cross country team in the homecoming parade when we were home. He loved it! The shy little guy waved to everyone like Mr. America. Go figure. He's shy when he wants to be, I guess.

Fun photos

Our old computer is dead. Totally dead. This is why there have been no photos or blogging for a couple of weeks. These photos are about 4 weeks old, but fun, none the less. I'm just catching up on the photos and events of the last month...

I Heart Garage Sales

I have written a previous post about the wonderful virtues of garage sales when having small children, but I think I am starting to get a little bit out of hand. Our garage looks like a large MULTI-family garage sale. We have three "tricycles", a big boy bike, a cozy coupe, two little wheel barrows, four plastic/Tonka truck things, tons of balls, THREE little lawn mowers, several push toys, a basketball hoop, four strollers, a bike trailer, and that doesn't include any of Jamie's stuff or our outdoor gear. Those are just the toys for the boys.

Added to the brood of toys today: a wagon and a rocking chair.

I would feel more guilty about this except for the fact that I have gotten all items very, very cheaply at garage sales except the BOB stroller, bike trailer, and Jonathan's tricycle. But, this begs the question: when is it time to say, "enough"? Even if it is the deal of the year?

I think the time has come. But, I cannot stop. So, I'll just buy the great deals and give them to unsuspecting loved ones so that their children have garages that look like ours :+)

Internet Schminternet

After trying, unsuccessfully, for about three hours last week to "secure" our wireless router for our internet, Jamie gave up. Why did he give up? Well, the three hours were a large part of the reason. The other part was that he had managed to make things so bad that we couldn't access the internet even by attaching directly to the modem on our computer. We had to pay the local computer store to fix everything. It took a week to accomplish the whole fiasco, so we are finally back to connectedness.

I have photos of Jonathan's ride on the fire truck in Iowa and the boys' time with Grandma and Gramps to post, but it will have to wait for another day. Maybe tomorrow.