Christmas Part 2

Jonah was very excited about his new toys: 5 little trucks, Clippo blocks, an airplane with Little People, an alphabet caterpillar, and a "Me and My Potty" book.

In Jonah's snack cup is his Christmas treat: dried banana chips.

Paul's family

Jonah with Uncle "Poe" and Aunt "Tahti".

Jonah wanted to read the potty book as many times as he could get someone to read it to him.

Paul with Evelyn in Jonah's Christmas outfit from last year that he never wore because he was way too big for it.

Christmas Part 1

Jonah got a basketball hoop from Grandpa for Christmas. I didn't think he would be really into it or know what to do, but once we showed him how to do it he loved making baskets. (It helped that we went totally crazy every time he did it.)

Snow Day

I'm still having problems with my flash being too bright, but I had to post this picture of Jonah on his way outside for his first real play in the snow. I stayed in while Jon took him out. I think he liked it, but he had a hard time going anywhere without falling down. He reminded me of Ralphie's little brother on "A Christmas Story".

Christmas Babies

So Vashti and I decided to do a cutsie photo shoot with the babies. Jon and Paul were very against the idea - especially the bow on Jonah. After a couple of shots I took off his bow, but I don't think it made them much happier. But I think the pictures are cute. I know they aren't very manly, but he's still just a baby, right?

Visit to Dayton

Last week we stopped in Dayton, OH for a few days to visit my brother and his wife and to meet their new baby, Evelyn.

Meyer kids and Meyer grandkids.

It was fun to have a little reunion with our friends from Albuquerque. We met the Martins at our church in Albuquerque last year and then they moved to Dayton at the end of the summer for Chris to earn his PhD. Now the Martins attend Paul and Vashti's church in Dayton!

I thought this was a cute picture even though it's a little washed out. I've been having problems with my flash being too bright and making people look like ghosts.

Baby Babbles

I have been trying for a really long time to catch Jonah's "babbling" on video. I finally got some. First he counts to three, then he goes on to tell us whatever else is on his mind. This babbling is constant in our house. I imagine that once he can really speak full sentences it'll be all over. I think he'll be one of those kids who just never stops talking.

Thanksgiving (belated)

Sorry it's taken me so long to post a few Thanksgiving pictures... I got a fantastic video of Jonah naming off all his cousins and I wanted to post it right away, but it was a little long and I couldn't get it to load. This had me so depressed that I didn't want to mess with the blog at all. But I really do need to get caught up before Christmas and people have been bugging me about it, so here it is, minus the awesome video.

The little kids were getting into too much mischief as we were trying to make dinner so we stuck them all in the playpen. A wonderful invention!

We had a great visit with Jon's family at his parents' farm. Jon's brother Chris and his family came out from Colorado so we were all there: nine adults (Jon's grandma came out as well) and twelve kids. Thankfully the weather was fairly mild and the kids got to spend a lot of time outside. It was a little crazy when everyone was in the house. Even Grandma commented that the place was, "swarming with children."

I was able to wrangle Jonah and Oliver for a quick picture.

Abby wrangled them, too. I don't think they were too excited about her having them in a headlock.

My Baby Book List of Things Jonah Says

I know you're supposed to record your baby's first words in your baby book, but I haven't really been keeping a baby book. Who needs one when you have a blog? But I do feel like I need to record some "snapshots" of this precious time when he's saying more and more words.

He says "Jesus" and "Bible" and will chime in with me whenever I sing Jesus Loves Me.

He says "E-I-E-I-O" and repeats all the animal sounds of Old MacDonald. Cow, moo, nay, doggie, ruff, kitty, meow (pronounced "Bee-owwwwww"), ba. He also says turtle.

"Duck" is by far his favorite animal and favorite word. When in doubt he says "Duck!" All animals are duck until you can convince him otherwise and he'll often look out the window and pronounce "DUCK!" even though there is no duck or any animal of any sort to be seen.

He loves shoes "sehs" and socks "ocks". He enjoys taking them off, putting them on, and carrying them around. He always takes off his socks during naps and greets me when I go to get him by holding out a sock and saying "ock". He says shirt, pants, hat, and jackie (jacket).

When I bend down and ask for a huggy he comes running into my arms shouting "Huggy!"

He says "diaper" and has even occasionally told me when he had "poo poos".

He can say a whole slew of food-related words including breakfast (okay, it's a stretch, but I know he's saying it), lunchie, snack, cracker, cheese, nut, peach, peas, bean, juice, milk, tato (for potato) nana (for banana), cado (for avocado), more, all done, hungy (for hungry) and yummy. The last few mornings when I told him we were going downstairs for breakfast and he said "breakfast" and proceeded to tell me what he was going to have: "oh-dirt" (yogurt) and "chee-uhs" (Cheerios) and milk.

He says please when prompted and says thank-you, sometimes even without prompting.

He says "boogers" and "gross" (sounds like goss) when I have to wipe his nose.

He says "nose" and "ears" (sounds more like "is") and occasionally "mouth" and can correctly point to them.

One of the cutest things he does is play peek-a-boo. He puts his hands to his temples (he hasn't figured out that he should cover his eyes) and then pulls his hands away saying "Pee-boww". He says pee-bo whenever I pull a shirt over his head or pull his hands through his sleeves. Once Jon put him under the covers in our bed and he started repeating pee-bo over and over apparantly thinking that if he couldn't see Mommy all he had to do was say pee-bo and she would magically appear.

He will stand in front of the dish washer or the cat food dish and say, "No no touch".

He will hand me the TV remote and say "Mommy's". (He is not allowed to have the remote and when he's not allowed to have things I often say, "That's Mommy's")

When he sees a picture of himself or any baby he says, "Baby!"

He loves Thomas the train. He says "books" and will bring me a Thomas book announcing "Babus!" He'll identify a train in any other book as "Babus".

He gives high fives and says something that generally resembles high five. He will usually explode with an expressive "AHHH" whenever you give the high five.

He has to say "hi" and "bye bye" to just about everyone he sees. Sometimes I feel bad for him when we're in a store and people don't realize he's saying hi and don't respond to him. Whenever I say we're going to go he says "go go go". He usually says "up" when we ask if he wants to get out of his high chair, but he sometimes says "out" too.

He says "ni ni" when it's time for bed.

He says Daddy, Mommy, Grandpa (it sounds more like Bahpa), Maggie (the cat), Elsa (his friend) and Alina (the cleaning lady).

But even with all the words he says, it's just as much fun to participate with him in animated conversations with no real words at all. He uses all these very serious, adult-looking facial expressions to accompany his baby babble and I can tell he is expressing his deepest thoughts - none of this baby-stuff of single words.

The Sleep Sack

Jonah's room is a bit on the chilly side and he has been waking up occasionally during the night because he's cold. I always make sure he has a blanket on before I go to bed, but he doesn't usually stay under the blanket for long. I decided I wanted to get him one of those sleep sacks to wear over his pj's, but they cost $25 or more and I figured it would be simple to make. I found great instructions on the internet for how to do it http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/sleepsack.html

My sewing was very sloppy, but it works. I was happy to see that he didn't mind being in it and had no problem sitting up and even standing and walking around in it.

It's extra long so he can wear it all winter and still kick around in it.

I only wish my mom were around to see this... Not only to help me make it, but to see me doing what she used to do for us. Especially to see me doing the exact thing I used to hate. If I saw something I liked in the store she would often say, "Oh, that's so simple. We could make that." It used to drive me crazy. Now I'm saying, "That looks really easy, I could make that." She used to say, "You just wait until you have kids. You're going to say the exact same things I'm saying." If only she could be here to say, "I told you so."

Old MacDonald

Halloween

The biggest dilema: which candy corn to eat first.
Jonah's friend Elsa joined us for trick-or-treating around the cul de sac.

Elsa: "Mom, why is this kid waving in my face?"

Our neighbor, Brian, absolutely loves Jonah and is so sweet with him. Brian gave Jonah a lolipop which he quickly and happily devoured.

A rare moment with the lolipop out of Jonah's mouth.

Fall

Jonah says a few words

No more of this babytalk gibberish, folks. We're on to real words now! We were at the library yesterday and a little girl was standing by Jonah listening to him and studying him very carefully. Then she ran off yelling, "Mommy! Babies can talk!" Last week at the library a different little girl asked me if I was the baby's mommy or his babysitter. I guess I don't look mom-ish enough to a six-year-old.

Birthday Boy!

Yesterday Jonah turned one! I can't believe it. It has been a fantastic year. We celebrated with Jon's family at his parents' farm. Here's an overview of the day:

Jonah got to read his favorite book with Aunt Heather and cousin Nancy.

Jonah's lamb cake - a Meyer family tradition.
Cake Face.

Cousins Jake and Joe help Jonah open his presents. He received books, an outfit, and a really fun train toy.

I finally got a good video of Jonah walking. I just couldn't catch him on video by myself. By the time I got him ready to go and walked away to video him he had run off in another direction. So Kelly held onto him until I was ready and he sprinted toward me as soon as she let go!

The classic cake-covered baby.

Jonah and Oliver play with the new train toy and dance to the music.

Jonah's favorites

I love watching Jonah's personality develop more and more every day. He absolutely loves books and certain ones seem to be his favorites.

Blueberries are by far his favorite food. He pops them into his mouth as soon as they hit the tray. I have to put the carton out of sight or he will keep wanting more no matter how many he's already had.

This video shows a very happy eater. The only thing that could possibly distract him from his food is the appearance of the kitty.

Kitty!

After months of working on getting Jonah to say "Mama" and "Dada" his first word was "Kitty!" My dad has a cat and ever since we have been at his house it has been Jonah's main goal in life to get the kitty. He chases after it (at first crawling and now walking) shouting "Kitty! Kitty!" He woke us up in the middle of the night at our family reunion in Michigan, "Kitty!"

Since the kitty often hangs out in Dad's room, so does Jonah. He stands at her Kitty Kondo with eyes full of longing just willing her to come down in hopes of touching her.
Looking dejected because she escaped under the bed.
Lifting the bedskirt to continue his pursuit.
"Kitty!"

Family Fun

I know it's been a really long time since I posted to the blog, so here's my effort at getting caught up from the last month and a half.

We enjoyed the rest of our visit with Paul and Vashti and took them to the Albuquerque Balloon Museum.

We left Albuquerque on July 23rd for our family vacation in Illinois and Michigan. Jon ended up finding a job near Wheaton and we decided to move back. So we lived out of our vacation suitcases for over a month until Jon was able to go back and move our stuff last weekend.

Jonah and his cousin, Oliver. Not quite ready for the big leagues.

Another chew toy!
Aunt Beth watches with concern as Jonah investigates her Blackberry.
Jonah and Grandpa - best buddies.

The Meyers