Now You Are Four....

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are four!

Between the sleepless nights of 0-1, the "how many ways can I hurt myself?" phase of 1-2, the knock down, drag out tantrums of 2-3, and the "I will only drink from blue cups with lids and eat only pasta!" pickiness of 3-4,  sometimes it truly felt like this day would never come.

It's not that all those other ages didn't have their positives....because they did....and there are things I will miss about each of them, especially since you are our last baby. It's just that, it seemed like four was when your brothers,  particularly your oldest one, who was our toughest model until you came along, became much more rational human beings, capable of being reasoned with.

Oddly, last night at your birthday party, you sort of morphed into this weirdly polite little person who was nice to your cousins, said thank you for presents, and said hello and goodbye to everyone without whining, scowling or burying your head in the floor for no apparent reason. So I'm starting to think there is something to this magical age.

At any rate.... so.... FOUR.

In many ways, you are such an OLD four. Four going on seven... or ten. I hang my head in shame when you talk endlessly to other preschoolers about Minecraft and Clash of Clans. Most of them, especially the firstborns, look at you like you have a dozen heads and go back to building Lego towers or talking superheroes.  At the pool this summer, you hung out with Ben and Simon's friends when they would all go off to play Minecraft on their iPads. You fit right in and they never complained that you tagged along. They just adopted you as one of the big kids. One of your best friends at the pool is a little boy named Carter, who is Simon's age. Every day Carter would show up and say to me, "Where's Jonathan?" I'd point him in your direction and he'd run over and high five you and spend hours trying to teach you to swim or playing Minecraft with you under the awning. You would tell me "Carter's here! Carter loves me! He loves me because I'm CUTE."

In other ways, you are the youngest-seeming four I have ever had. First off, this August birthday makes you the youngest in your class. But there are other things too....you are dragging out this potty training thing as long as possible, for instance.  You aren't usually able to just "go play" with other kids your age, which makes playdates tough... you are also still unhappy about school and I'm interested/worried to see how this year's start goes. (I hope better than last year. It HAS to be better than last year.....)
I keep reminding myself you are almost half a year younger than Ben was when he started school every year. And, in many cases, you are even more significantly younger than some of your classmates. You have some natural social weaknesses anyway, so this age gap, as far as school is concerned, feels enormous at times.

You are my snuggle bug. During quiet afternoons when your brothers aren't around (and even sometimes when they are), you will announce that you need some quiet time "on the couch with binky and ducky". You'll curl up next to me and, if I'm really lucky, ask to read some books and we'll pick a whole pile to go through together all in one sitting. You LOVE your books... all kinds... but especially the Pigeon series, the How Do Dinosaurs series, and this blatant ripoff of the Hungry Caterpillar one that we have called Hungry Bunny.  You can read anything and everything, but you still prefer to be read to, which I love.

Somehow, you are simultaneously our most affectionate child and our meanest. You can go from hugs and kisses and "I love yous" to biting and hitting and kicking in the blink of an eye. There is NO in between with you. I do hope, now that you are this magical age, we start seeing more of nice Jonathan and less of vicious untrained puppy Jonathan.

You are still our fearless one. Our recent trip to Dutch Wonderland confirmed that. You are solidly in the "the higher and faster, the better!" camp. I am both terrified and excited to see what you will do in life without fear to hold you back.  If I had to pick one of my three children who was most likely to jump from an airplane or hang-glide off a cliff? There is zero question. It's you.

No doubt about it. You are challenging in many ways, my little friend. You keep us on our toes and things are rarely easy as far as you are concerned. You are certainly our ball of fire.... but with that, you bring so much light, life and energy to our family. You drive us all completely crazy sometimes, but I know I speak for daddy and big brothers too when I say we love you to pieces and wouldn't change you for anything.

Happy 4th Birthday, J, Jonathan, Jellybean...

Love,
Mommy

You Are Three!

Okay, a little late.. but here's the monthday/birthday picture. Post coming soon!

Jonathan is 34 Months Old....

Dear Jonathan,

You are 34 months old, just a short two months from three. :) You have officially reached the age of the questions... they are plentiful and constant. "What's that called?" "Why does that do that?" "What does that say?" "How does that work?" "What's his name?" "Why is he doing that?" "Where are we going?" "What are we doing?" "Can I do that?" "Why not?" "

LOL. It's really very fun.  And you almost always answer with a very funny little, "Ohhhh!"  Makes me laugh every single time.

We have embarked on potty training because well, it's just time. You are ready, I think and I'm hope that we can make this happen by the time July is over. Is it possible I have bought my very last box of diapers.... ever? A mom can dream.

You have become my marathon napper, which is amazing and wonderful and perfectly timed for long summer days. You often sleep form 1-4 or 2-5 in the afternoons with me eventually opening your door to wake you up.  I feel bad that you probably would have done this all school year were it not that I had to keep waking you up to go get your brothers! You took it in stride though.

You are having a blast so far this summer. You love the pool and you love "wimmin'".  At swimming lessons, you are happy to swim without your puddle jumper and are doing great but, I have found at our pool you always want to have it on and seem to have acquired a healthy respect for the "regular" pool that doesn't have your friend Ms. Tara in it. LOL. It's great and works well... you paddle around happily for hours and I can keep an eye on you, but not have to be ridiculously hyper-vigilant to make sure you don't fall off the step or wander too deep or fall in.  The pool is FUN again after two years of it being very much NOT so fun.

You've become kind of a picky eater out of nowhere. (I'm starting to think it's mostly due to lack of effort on my part, actually).  Oddly you love a salad, almost any kind of salad...  and sushi, any kind...  otherwise though, your preferences have shrunk to the standard toddler top three -- chicken nuggets, hot dogs and pasta. Sigh.  I'm hoping it's a phase and I get my good, adventurous eater back soon.

One funny from this month, you have decided tags of any kind in your clothes are evil.  We have spent time every day for the last few weeks cutting tags out of your shirts and shorts. Good thing you're the last kiddo... I wouldn't know what size anything was for another child!!

Still plugging away with speech for the forsee-able future, which is now less speech and actually mostly play/social skills practice.  The speech pathologist still comes once a month but she doesn't have a whole lot to do speech-wise, so she works on stretching your attention span for activities. Cindy still comes once a week and works on all kinds of things related to social skills, functional playing, pushing you to sit longer to focus on completing tasks and that sort of thing. All good stuff there. :)

You are so silly and affectionate. I love your new "bear-sized bed" game you play with Corduroy and your other stuffed animals. You pat them, kiss them, read to them, and put them bed. It's quite possibly the sweetest thing ever. You are also always ready for kisses and hugs for mommy and daddy, though you have been giving your big brothers a very hard time lately. Poor Ben thinks you don't like him anymore because you won't give him the time of day. SImon you like to play with but you also like to beat up on him. We need to work on that...

Anyway, so that's you at two months till three... :) Happy 34 months months, Bug Bug! :)

Love,
Mommy :)

Jonathan is 30 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 30 months old. That's halfway to three!

You are, to put it mildly, kind of a handful these days. Sorry, but it's true. You lose your "stuff" at the drop of a hat, although daddy and I seem to be slowly cracking the code on that and learning how to catch it before it spirals out of control.

What does out of control mean? Oh, dear child... someday you can show this to your girlfriend so she can laugh and laugh. When you lose it, you LOSE it. You throw yourself facedown on the floor to start. I mean flat-out, face plant, whenever you are. Then you roll around and kick the floor, screaming and crying. It escalates into you standing back up and throwing your whole body all around... sometimes into walls, furniture or the floor again. You like to throw things and knock things over. We can't offer you anything because you throw them back at us. We can't rock or cuddle you because you kick and scream harder. We just have to put you on the floor in a wide-open room and let you go until eventually go calm down, ask for your binky and pull it back together again.

Yep. It's about as fun as it sounds.

In other news, you are talking nonstop these days. You ask questions, you say "I love you", you show us things you like. You went along to Ben's doctor's appointment last week and talked the entire time, asking Dr. B about this "Compeer" (computer) and talking about our "compeer." And on and on and on. I looked at Dr. B and said, "Yeah, in case I didn't mention, this one talks now." He chuckled.
I actually had to shush you, which, a year ago, is something I never thought I'd have to do. LOL!

You are growing quickly! I just put away all the 18-24 month pants and shirts and dragged out the 2T stuff. The pants are still big around the waist, so we have to roll them, but you finally don't look like you are waiting for a flood and your belly is not hanging out. I weighed you for the first time in months and months last night and you are 29-1/2 pounds. :) Not sure how tall, but you can reach some buttons and things you couldn't reach six months ago, so you must have grown!

You have gone right along with your brothers in their latest Star Wars phase and can handle a light saber like a pro. If people come over, you will often go get them one, hand it to them and say, "Here. You take dis one." and then, without any other warning, you'll start battling them.  HA!

School is going well. You like your teachers and you know your friends' names now. You'll sit through the story most of the time, although music has become difficult because you only care about pushing the button on Miss Sally's CD player.

Speaking of which, you are obsessed with CDs/DVDs and CD/DVD players these days. It's like deja vu. Ben used to love them too. We have all kinds of scratches on our kids' DVDs to prove it. Open close open close in and out in and out. All day long you'd do it if I didn't distract you. It's a full-time job!

You are funny and you love to sing and dance. Your favorites these days are Disney songs from Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. This is well-timed since we are going to Disney  in a few months! Hope this phase lasts until August! :)

The big question everyone asks is if I plan on starting to potty train you soon. Yeah. NO. You have no interest. So for both of our sanity,  our plan is to start in June or July. Hopefully something will change by then. :)

So that's you at 2-1/2! I know it has been a few months since I have actually written one of these monthly updates. So hopefully that gets us all caught up!

Love,
Mommy

Jonathan is 25 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 25 months old!

I have to say, I am really enjoying your company these days. You are so happy and fun and silly!
The combination of the big brothers going back to school and you finally talking has made an amazing difference.

You have become a RIDICULOUS early bird. Most mornings, you are up at 6:30, sometimes even earlier. I can't be annoyed for long though because as soon as I hear the thud of your feet hit the ground, the next thing I hear is "thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump" as you run full speed down the hall, which always makes me laugh. I meet you at the top of the stairs and you grin and lift your arms to be picked up over the baby gate.

Your morning routine is cute too. First, you run to the refrigerator and ask for "juice". (way more pleasant than the whining there used to be). You'll even specify which color juice you want now. Sadly, you've become sort of anti-milk, but I've been so excited you were asking for juice by name, I've overlooked that. Gotta try to get that back on track this month. ;)

After juice, you thumpthumpthumpthump to the living room (still at top speed... this is pretty much your only speed, really) and ask for "bets", which is your word for the Leapfrog Alphabet movie. For awhile there it was "The Lorax" instead, and we all had to watch it 42,000 times. I'm grateful for a replacement, although this one is getting old quickly too.

Once you are settled in with juice and bets, (and duck and binky) I don't hear from you for awhile because, though will not admit it, you are still half asleep. This is the time I use to pack the big boys' lunches for school. ;)

School! School was rough for the first couple days there... you didn't like the transitions between activities. Now you are understanding the flow though and you love it and I love taking you. Your favorites there right now are the kitchen set (because it has a sprayer like mommy's kitchen sink), the fake food, the wooden blocks, the dry erase board, painting and, of course, the playground. Can't get enough of the playground, which is probably why snack (which directly  follows the playground) is still a little dicey sometimes. :)

The other shoe finally dropped on your fantastic eating, by the way. (probably a combination of "it's just that time" and the fact that you are drinking way more juice than you should) I rarely get a decent dinner into you anymore and you now shun things you loved -- yogurt, applesauce, chicken. Lunch is my only hope for most of your nutritional needs these days... even breakfast is kind of iffy. Bah.

Your speech has taken off in ways I found it hard to imagine it ever would as recently as even six months ago! You can say anything and everything... you repeat everything. You ask for things by name and you even use some consistent phrases! "I want that", "Don't cry" "Help me", "My turn." To say it has improved our lives would be an understatement!

We have discovered you are a super routine-oriented kiddo... basically any change at ALL throws you for a total loop and sends you spiraling into possessed toddler/pea soup mode. The fun part is that you can get locked into a routine after only doing something ONCE. So I have to be careful ALL DAY LONG that I don't do/say/give you anything I don't want to have to do/say/give you any other time we are in a given situation. It's nervewracking sometimes!

Your napping has become a dream... on days when I don't have to wake you up to be somewhere, you'll take almost three-hour afternoon naps. Ahhhhhh... even better, just this past week. You have started letting me rock you until you are almost asleep. You wouldn't even let me do this when you were an infant once you had finished eating. Truly... this is the first time EVER I've gotten to do this with you and I am loving it!

For the most part, little manner, you are a joy! The older you get, the easier and more fun you are. So far, so good on our third round of the terrible twos ride. ;)

See you next month JJ, Johnny Applesseed, Sillyboo!

Love,
Mommy :)

Jonathan is Two!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are two! And so far, it's not "terrible." In fact, dare I say, at this age you are already a far more reasonable human being than you were three months ago?

You definitely live life on your own terms though, that's for certain.

You are extreme in everything you do. Even walking down the stairs is not something you do in any kind of ordinary way. You prefer to hold someone's hand and go down in a controlled head-first fall. Still not sure how you managed the stairs on your own the day you recently climbed out of your crib and went down to the first floor by yourself.

The biggest news of the month is your talking has exploded. Our goal was 50 words by the time you were two and you have easily surpassed that and I have stopped writing them down because I can't keep up anymore. Bigger news though, is that you are using your words on your own a lot, without having to be reminded. This, I think, is what is making "two" way less terrible than 1-1/2.

You love your speech days with Miss Cindy. She brings fun new toys with her every week and she knows just what you like. There is always some kind of instrument or music toy in the bunch that holds your interest. You cooperate well for her now and, clearly, since you are now using lots of words, her work is doing its job!

This is not to say you don't still throw tantrums, because you sure can throw some doozies. They are much quicker these days when they happen though and much less frequent. We have learned that we can't allow you do something even ONCE if it's something we can't let you do all the time because this is the biggest trigger. So a box of Tic Tacs in the checkout line at Safeway as a treat? Yeah... sorry, buddy, but it's time to get off the Tic Tac train.

You still adore your music in all forms. You love love LOVE to dance and sing and clap. Your favorite toys are your instruments and you love anything with a good beat. We're all frankly a little sick of your two favorite songs, Call Me Maybe and Somebody That I Used to Know.  I'm working on weaning you onto some better music now...  the Muppets.... and later, some Beatles maybe?

Among your other top loves? Animals.  I have to stop you from running up to strange dogs to pet them and rub your face on theirs. Our cat always gets a snuggle from you if he happens to walk by and you even give Simon's fish love through the aquarium.

Your favorite book right now is Corduroy, and you will climb into the lap of absolutely anyone willing to read it to you. We got you a little Corduroy bear for your birthday and you carry it around and reenact that book. It's truly one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

You start Mommy and Me preschool in a few weeks and I'm a mix of excited and a little worried. Sometimes you are unpredictable, but I'm putting faith in Miss Sally that you'll quickly pick up the routine and enjoy every minute of it.   I figure, worst case scenario with your late birthday you can repeat the class next fall and we'll have an extra year with Miss Sally... which wouldn't be a bad thing!

You are a challenge, for sure... and I think you always will keep me on my toes. But with your extremes also brings extreme snuggles, extreme kisses and extreme hugs. You are sweet beyond sweet and oh so loving.

Our days are not always easy, but as least they are full of kisses!

Happy HAPPY second birthday, J!

Love,
Mommy

Jonathan is 23 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are one month shy of two. Not that it matters, I've been cheating and calling you two for a month or so now when strangers ask your age. No one feels like doing the math on 20-some months, frankly.

I'm almost afraid to type this, but I *think* you are becoming a slightly more rational human being. As evidence, I point to your recent crib climbing issue. You see, you, being the monkey that you are, figured out how to climb out of your crib earlier this month. I don't know WHY this surprised me, but it did... completely caught me off guard. We had a nightmarish two days where you climbed out (proudly and with an evil laugh) every time we put you in. But it only took a day of explaining that you needed to stay in and repeatedly putting you back in every time you escaped for you to understand and obey the rule. I was kind of impressed by this! I thought for sure naptime was doomed forever....

This is not to say your strong-will has wavered in the least. OH the stubborn.... but, I can reason with you more and that has helped a lot. It also REALLY clicked for you about a week or two ago that using words for things means you actually get them. A few times this week, you've started to whine about something, stopped, thought for a moment, smiled and said the word for whatever it is you were whining for.

And the angels sang.

So your words are coming along, slowly but surely. You repeat a lot now, which is great and Miss Cindy, your speech teacher, says this is exactly what she needed you to do in order for her to really be able to get down to business. I do wish you'd start taking a little more initiative to use words without having to be reminded, but it will happen in time. I'm happy for any progress, so we'll take what we can get.

Some days are more word-filled than others, no rhyme or reason. One day last week, you came running up to me and clear as day asked for "Moh boo ba-ooon", since I had been blowing up blue water balloons for you and your brothers to play with.  It was like you lost your mind and forgot you don't "do" the talking thing. LOL.  Silly closet talker... just like Ben. Just. like. Ben.

In other news, you can jump now and your feet leave the ground. LOVE that milestone. :) You are also a pro at doing laps around the first floor on your little wheely bug. MAN, can you fly on that thing, whipping around corners and dodging furniture. It's quite the sight. ;)  I now mostly trust you to go up the stairs safely, but not necessarily come down. Though you KNOW how to bump bump down on your backside, you'd rather walk down and you still seem to think you can just dive from the top and arrive at the bottom in one piece.  Sigh.

You still *love* your music and your guitars and violins. You dance and sing and play pretend instruments with unabashed enthusiasm. Music definitely brings you a great deal of joy and I hope you keep that! "Guitar" ("gahhhh") is one of your every day words, and so is "piano" (I couldn't not even begin to spell that one phonetically)

These days, you are equally likely to be squealing with delight and laughing or throwing yourself on the floor in a total fit. There is rarely a middle ground. Any day there is more laughing than screaming is a good day.

Not sure what to do about your naptime. No matter what I do, I simply can't manage to move it beyond 11a.m. This is going to present a problem when school starts in the fall if I can't fix it by then! Hopefully, necessity will be the mother of invention at that point and things will just fall into place. Otherwise, you are going to be notsomuch a delight in the classroom once 11a.m. rolls around. Naps still don't last very long either -- an hour, two at most. (sigh) At least you are still napping though. I'll hold onto that for as long as I possibly can! You nap is what saves you from being listed on Ebay, with a really cheap Buy it Now price.

So that's 23 months! See you in a month for the big 0-2, buddy! :)

I love you!
Love,
Mommy

Jonathan is 22 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 22 months old!

Now, I can say it's official. You are absolutely, positively THE hardest toddler I have ever had and that even includes Ben, who used to unpredictably lose it for no particular reason in random public places.

You are independent and confident.

You are stubborn and fearless.

Apparently all these traits, which I'm sure will make you some kind of super successful CEO someday, create an equation the sum of which is HARDEST KID EVER.

I think it's the screeching that really puts it over the top. If you hit a roadblock in anything you are attempting to do, whether that be mommy saying no, or you lacking the skill/height/strength to accomplish something, or a brother/other child trying to take something from you, you let out the most ear-piercing screech I have ever heard. It turns heads in stores and makes us those parents who immediately jam a pacifier in your mouth to just. please. make. it. stop.

So, there's that.

On the positive end of things --  you are super affectionate. Hugs and kisses galore. You always pat and rub my back when I pick you up, the way I do yours and it's the sweetest thing ever. You wave and smile to anyone and everyone.

Your talking is coming along and you add new words every day. The problem is that you don't often repeat them often. Yesterday's new word was "shark". The list of consistent words we hear is growing though. Hello, No, Kitty, On, Off, umbrella, some colors (blue, green, yellow, red), a few animal sounds (for dog, cat, bird and cow) and a handful of letters and numbers (A, G, D, B and O). We continue to work with our speech teacher, and I mean that in the loosest sense of the word since you are not particularly cooperative for her.  The sooner we can get out of speech, the better... so keep up the good work!

You are still my adventurous eater, so I'm hoping maybe you always will be. Anything and everything. We were astonished recently when you ate half of my Caesar Salad at a restaurant. You couldn't get enough!

You have an intense and passionate interest in music, in a similar way that your oldest brother did at your age. You sit in front of the stereo and just listen. You bop your head and clap your hands when you hear something you like and sometimes you pretend to strum a guitar. You shake your head when you don't like the song and want a new one and nod your head in approval when it's a good one. You also love to dance and be sung to always asking for "more" in sign language.  You can't get enough! You also love to "sing" into a pretend microphone in Jonathanese, which is quite the sight to see.

You love the pool and you love water. You paddle around the pool without a care in the world as long as you have your little floaty on. The problem is that, at our pool, they have a radio set up near the pool office that blares music all day long and you are torn between swimming and standing in front of it and listening. Sometimes in between, you get distracted by the water slide and make a beeline for the deep-end, which means my day at the pool is spent constantly chasing you down and hauling you back into the pool. See mention of ear-piercing screams above....

Annnnyway.... so two months until the terrible twos and I am bracing myself. If the one-and-a-halfs are any indication of what's to come, we could be in for a wild ride. :)

Happy 22 months JJ, Johnny, BooBoo, Screechy McScreecherson!

Love,
Mommy :)

Jonathan is 21 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 21 months old... going on fourish.

You've always been my most social and friendly little guy, and this last month has really cemented that. You wave and smile to absolutely everyone and now you also say, "Hehoh!" and when we leave, you wave and say "Goobye!"

You are truly just the sweetest little guy. When I pick you up, you always pat me or rub my back and you have started kissing everything in sight, including characters in all your books, which has led to some sticky pages.

Your current most favorite book in the world is still The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. BOY do you love that book. In addition to kissing the mouse on every page, you alway try to eat the strawberry by grabbing it off the page and making a gobbling sound. When that doesn't work, you lick it. Yeah. We may be replacing this particular book at some point.

We set up our backyard pool last weekend and you dove right in. You love the water and you especially love going down the slide INTO the water. I'm pretty sure you'd stay in the pool all day long if we'd let you, and are not pleased when we pull you out to take a break in the sun because your teeth are chattering and your lips are blue.

I think the water really is your most favorite place. You have had to come with me the last two weeks to Simon's swimming lesson, spending the 30 minutes "swimming" in the beginning part of the gradual entry which, at its deepest, is about up to your neck. To say you are in HEAVEN would be an understatement. You jump in just like the big boys, float on your back and go under water, all without missing a beat. You don't stop the entire 30 minutes.  As soon as the swim teacher will take you on, you are starting lessons so I can stop sprouting grey hairs.

Your words are coming along and several are becoming ones we hear every day.  Hello, Goodbye, All Done, All Gone and Hop are the ones I can think of right now that we hear most often.

Thanks to watching the big boys with Guitar Hero, you have discovered "singing". You will grab the microphone and sing random syllables with passion. It's HILARIOUS. OH! You also say "WOCK!" for "rock" when you want the big boys to play Guitar Hero. You also pretend to play the instruments just like they do, which is quite the sight to see.

All is not rainbows and ponies though. You are, without a doubt, the most tantrum prone of any of my three babies, resorting to the lying face down on the floor and screaming tactic almost immediately after you hear the word "no". I keep thinking eventually you'll get the hint that this doesn't work because we ALL ignore you... but you are a persistent little bugger.

I suppose I should prepare myself for the long haul because I suspect you are going to always be headstrong and stubborn... maybe someday this will turn out be an asset?

So that's 21 months... here's to summer and lots of swimming and wearing you out for long naps each day.

I love you, Gooby, J,  JJ, Stinky...

Love,
Mommy

Finally got around to taking J's monthday picture....  here he is at 20 months (and six days or so) ;)

Jonathan is 20 Months Old Today....

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 20 months old. That is frighteningly close to twenty-FOUR months old.

So here is what you have been up to this month.

You still don't talk. The speech teacher came for the first time last Monday to work with you and it took her all of a half hour to figure out that the reason you don't talk... waiiiiiit for it.... is because you are incredibly strong-willed and stubborn.

I'm shocked. (not really)

My assignment for the week was to coerce you into trying to make sounds by not making things so easy for you. Sippy cup?  Snacks? Up and out of reach. Electronic toys, all in the off setting.

If you want something, I am supposed to make you make eye contact with me and then attempt some kind of sound in imitation of what I say... she told me that, for now, ANY sound will do because the goal is to get you to be a participant in the conversation. She warned me that it would get worse before we saw any improvement and that it would be hard.

She wasn't kidding.

The interaction typically goes like this.  You bring me item you want opened (or turned on or whatever). You sign the words "please" and "open", which I have now been told to not respond to immediately. I say, "Jonathan, you want this opened?" You nod. I hit myself on the forehead with the item to get you to look me in the eye. You look up. "You want mommy to OPEN it? Can you say "ohhhhhh-pen?" You nod vigorously. You sign "please" a few more times. "Say "OHHHHpen... OH OH OH OHHHHH-pen." I can give it to you if you do so much as make an "O" shape with your mouth. But no... instead, you desperately sign "please" one more time, then you just shake your head, give up and walk away.

OMG.

So there's that.

In other news... I discovered this month that you are the kid that plays with strangers. I was floored to discover this because I have never had one of your kind before.  I knew you were social and not particularly shy because you always wave at cashiers and smile and play peekaboo with pretty  much everyone. But, this last week, we were at school waiting to pick up Ben and a dad was sitting in the lobby with us. You walked up to him, turned around and backed up into his lap until he picked you up. He bounced you on his knee a few times and when you slid down, he picked you up and swung you back and forth and said "Tick tock tick tock!" When it was over, you clapped, ran to me, squealed and then... ran back to the stranger for more. He asked if you wanted more tick tock and you nodded. The poor guy had to do this like 45 times. Several days later when you saw him again? He was your best friend. You also made friends with another dad who had an IPhone. You stood there and smiled at it so he would take your picture... then, in your own way, you asked him to show it to you. Then you ran back and forth between Iphone dad and tick tock dad.

While these were both perfectly safe adults as far as I could tell... you and I may have to have the stranger danger talk before you are even two. LOL.

Let's see... you've added a few motor skills this month including attempting to pedal the trike outside and also getting your feet to leave the ground once or twice when you try to jump. You would like to learn how to blow bubbles, but can't help getting your lips to close to the wand and spitting. We're working on that.

You hold a crayon/pencil/pen just like a big kid. I attribute this to your big brothers' teaching you. You LOVE to color and draw and spend a lot of time on "details" and not just full out scribbling the way babies usually do. It's interesting to watch. OH and you are almost for certain a lefty. That makes two out of three! The odds were definitely against that and I won't say it for sure until you are probably three or so... but you just about exclusively do everything with your left hand. YAY for left-handed company for mommy... we can live in this backwards world together... you and Simon and me. ;)

In other news, you fall flat on your face more than any kid I have ever seen because you get so excited and lunge toward things and off of things without thinking.  No tears though... takes a lot to really make you cry when you get hurt. You ride bikes down hills with NO FEAR. NONE. You dump water on your head in the tub and spit and laugh. You want to jump to the floor from the third step up (or higher) and would do it if no one were there to stop you. For good reason, I have a LOT of fear of the pool this summer.

You eat salad and raw vegetables... happily. What's with that?  I joke that you and Ben share a package of genes, but clearly it is not an identical package through and through.  I sometimes say you are Chilled Out Ben. In reality, you are really just Jonathan... uniquely Jonathan. We are still discovering the things that make you you.... new things pop up every day and we are enjoying the journey.

Happy monthday, Boo Boo Chicken!  (sorry about that one)

Love,
Mommy :)

Jonathan is 19 Months (and one day) Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Yesterday, you were 19 months old. This is an easy monthday to miss because your March monthday falls a day after your oldest brother's birthday. Birthday trumps monthday... soo....

Anyway, this month... Not a whole lot happening, really. We are communicating well lately, you and I, even without words, which is helpful. You still love yourself a good temper tantrum and I have a feeling we will battle that for a few years.

Your favorite toys this month are your shape sorters, your Laugh and Learn house and your puppets. You love the puppets and will bring them to me to put on and make them talk to you. You love to feed them and give them your sippy cups and laugh and laugh when they nibble on your belly. Often, you toddle up to them and lift your shirt up waiting for them to tickle you. You have also taken quite a liking to the various baby dolls we have laying around the house. One has a bottle and you dug it out of the toy box and spend a good bit of time yesterday feeding her, laughing every time she burped. It was very entertaining to watch. ;)

You love fingerplays and songs now and will ask to do Pattycake, Wheels on the Bus, Five Little Monkeys and Where is Thumbkin and you love to act out Five Little Monkeys, especially!

You are almost exclusively down to one nap a day. You are flexible about it too, which has made life pretty easy, especially since our schedule varies depending on whether or not both older brothers have school. Thanks for being a team player!

No more consistent words, though you have added to the ones I have heard once and only once. You said "car", "that", "yeah", and "juice" all in the last week or two.... only once, mind you... which is SO VERY very annoying and always makes me second guess whether I heard them at all... someday you'll talk though! Someday!

A favorite game these days is to climb into one of your brothers beds and get under the covers. Won't be long before you are begging to nap there like Simon used to do. Don't get used to it though... you're staying in a crib as long as I can stand it.

My laissez-faire approach to eating seems to still be working, either that or we just hit the jackpot with a much less picky palette this time around. You still eat everything and have now added caesar salad to your neverending list of foods you enjoy... It's weird to see a baby wolf down salad, seriously.

We'll find out how big you are at your very VERY late 18-month well visit this week. My aching back says you are a pound or two heavier than you were at your last visit... but we'll see!

So that's 19 months... inching ever closer to the terrible twos! :) Will be interesting to see what those bring seeing as how some days it feels like we are already there. Yikes!

I love you!
Love,
Mommy!

Jonathan is 18 Months Old....

Dear Jonathan,

You are 1-1/2! Just a couple weeks ago, you suddenly started looking all big boy'ish to me too. WOW!

This past month has seen lots of interesting things. Tantrums for one. If we tell you no, you almost always go immediately boneless and collapse to the floor wailing. Sometimes you pound your little fists and kick your feet for good measure. You also look around to see if anyone is paying any attention. Unfortunately for you, this is not our first time around the block, so we usually just step over you and go about our business. If you happen to be in a dangerous spot where you might get stepped on or hit by a door, I'll scoot you out of the way... but yeah, mostly we just ignore you. Sorry.

You still don't talk, but this doesn't mean you don't communicate just fine thankyouverymuch. A couple weeks ago, you started nodding for yes consistently and shaking your head for no. So as long as our question can be answered with one of those two words, we all understand each other. I can't even tell you how much easier this has made our lives. It's also somewhat improving the tantrum situation.

I discovered this month, much to my chagrin, that you are a territory defender like your middle brother was at this age. You will not hesitate to dish out a full palm-out shove if another baby (or big brother) enters your space or tries to take a toy. I'm guessing this just comes with the territory of having older siblings... sigh. Little brothers are just too street-wise! We need to work on this though... can't have you being the playground shover.

In other news though, you are my little bookworm. I have given up trying to keep your books on your bookshelf, because your absolute favorite thing to do in your lately is go through them one by one looking for your favorites. When you find one, you immediately back up with into the first available lap, plop down and insist it be read to you. If no one is nearby, you'll sit amidst the pile you created and just page through them yourself. I love finding you doing this in your crib in the morning, although, I need to remember to STOP putting anything but board books in there. Two mornings ago, I walked in to find you signing "uh oh" and pointing to bits of the "Peekaboo I Love You" book on the floor outside of your crib. D'oh. Also in your room, you love your puzzles, especially those darn noisy Melissa and Doug ones... but you will work and work and work until you get the pieces in and make the kitty meow or the firetruck siren go off. :)

You LOooooooooVE to be outside and throw one of your fits if we bypass the outside coming in from the car. You biggest brother loves to egg you by saying "outside? outside?" and seeing if he can get you going. (sigh) Once out, you scoot around on your little wheelie toys or the purple trike like you are three or something. You also like to repeatedly go back and forth from the garage to the driveway carting various things from the sports box. I am very excited for consistently warm weather so we can all spend more time out there! You also love to point out birds and trees and, at night, the moon. You are in love with the moon, which you wave to over and over again like it's an old friend.

You are a champion eater and still love to eat anything and everything. I sometimes have to give you pre-dinner while I make real dinner just so you'll stop hanging off my pantleg and signing "please please please" while pointing to what I'm making. You are SO independent too! You go into the pantry on and off all day long and you know right where I keep your snacks.... I'll find you munching on a baby cookie or sometimes you'll bring me a juicebox or one of the babyfood pouches I still keep on hand and sign "please" and "open". How can I resist that?

I really enjoy our Tuesdays and Thursdays together when it's just the two of us. You are in a wonderful little routine and you are so happy and fun when you are awake most of the time. :) We play puzzles and read books and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together. You're are willing little helper around the house and will put clothes in the dryer for me, wipe things off and help vacuum with the dustbuster. You are also my errand buddy and all the cashiers at our various stops love to wave and say hi to you. :) You absolutely LOVE people and you are so social, which is completely new and different for me.

You are a pleasure and a joy and completely happy-go-lucky and looking for a party most of the time (when you are not throwing a tantrum.) Why do I have a feeling this is going to be who you are forever?

I can't believe you are halfway to two!

Happy monthday, baby boy!

Love, Mommy

Jonathan is 17 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

Today you are 17 months old! I confess that I did not take an official monthday picture last month. In my defense, I did take your picture ON your monthday, we just never got around to taking it in the big green chair or adding a picture to your monthday post. I'm sorry, buddy. You were born into an already crazy busy house.... so it's pretty much the story of your life. If it makes you feel better, your baby book is up to date!

So this month... let's see. This month you learned to say "kitty" and "go" to sign a bunch of different things and, just yesterday, I think you said "Bah" in reference to Ben. You point to all of your body parts and to people in the room. You make more and more new sounds every day, so things are getting exciting in that department.

You still take your two naps, which I thought for SURE would be over by the end of this month. But you are yawning by 9:30 every morning... so two naps it still is. This works for me! Nighttime sleep hasn't been an issue for a long time now and those 14 months of you getting up a hundred times a night are fast fading from my memory. In the morning, you greet me with a smile, a hug and a kiss, but only after packing up your binky and ducky before I lift you out of the crib. You are a happy little guy from the minute you wake up!

You LOVE your books lately and, if you find one lying around, you'll pick it up, toddle over to the nearest lap, turn yourself around and plop right down. The big favorite in the rotation this month include a Curious George book we have with popups, doors to open and a wheel to turn where George hides behind shapes, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a book about a baby Hippo and his mama called "Kiss Kiss", your picture books with animals and babies in them, and any book that has textured pages where you can pet fuzzy animals. OH how you love fuzzy things.

You love to play "phone". This one has been a mainstay for months and months, except that now, not only do you hold the phone under your chin and say "oh?", you continue the conversation in baby babble, "Ah? Ohhhhhh.... ahah? Ohhhhhh...." It's so funny!

Another favorite lately are the baby dolls in the playroom. One is in a stroller and one is in the shopping cart... you push them all around the basement, stopping to adjust them and make sure they are sitting up straight. It's adorable. In the same vein, you also love your little Laugh and Learn Puppy. True to its name, that thing makes you laugh and laugh. And every time it says, "Hug me!" you obey, giving it a giant baby bear bug.

You eat just about everything still. And, interestingly, the stronger the flavor, the better. We discovered you even like Indian food. Weird. You want whatever is on everyone elses' plate and often try to finish your brothers' food after they've abandoned it. During the day, you'll wander over the pantry and point to cereal bars or baby cookies and sign "please". If I open the refrigerator, you do the same thing for string cheese, Kraft singles, and blueberries. You LOVE to eat and it seems like you are always hungry!

You are such a little lover... You hug. You kiss. Just yesterday, a somewhat scary elderly man with some missing teeth (who would have sent your two older brother running for the hills as babies, and possibly even now) asked you for a kiss in the bagel shop and you open mouth kissed him. We need to work on making you a little more selective, although I'm pretty sure you made his day.

You still climb and hurt yourself constantly. We're working on stair skills this month and slowly, you are agreeing to go down on your backside. Life will be so easy when you can do stairs. I hope that day comes soon.

Your oldest brother adores you, your middle brother is slowly coming around. They love on you all the time with hugs and kisses and the occasional wrestling match that inevitably results in me yelling, "Be gentle with him!" You love every minute of it though!! You can hold your own in the moonbounce and it is one of your favorite activities right now. You throw yourself all over the place and then, eventually, dive headfirst down the slide. Never a dull moment!

As the months go by, I realize just how PERFECT of an addition to our family you have been. We can't imagine life without our littlest!

Love and huggles,

Mommy :)