Jonah was in his first Christmas program at church this year. He was Shepherd #3. His one line was an Everyone line. We still randomly hear "Shh...you'll wake the baby". He did very well until his headcovering fell over his eyes and no one gave him a bell during the last song. It was at that point that he was too sad to go on and had to come sit with me.
Lost your sheep?
Compact Car
I think our family forgot that we have a compact car! But Jonah obviously enjoys them so I guess its worth the puzzle of packing our car!
Falling Apart and Catching Up
Here it is, the long winded play-by-play blog that you probably have NOT been waiting for but I feel like its necessary since I haven't posted in three weeks (which isn't that unusual, but usually its because nothing interesting has happened, this time things have been TOO interesting, or at least busy...).
Three weeks ago tomorrow, the beginning of it all:
We get the call that Jake's grandma had died early that morning. We're sad but had been expecting it for a day or two.
We walk out into our kitchen to the sound of "squish squish squish". We think, "our dishwasher leaked, what can we do? No time to deal with it now."
I begin to do laundry so I can pack up so we can head to Indiana for the funeral. It takes four hours to dry one load. Again, something is wrong, I don't know what, no time to fix it now...
We finish packing on Tuesday and then head out to do some planned Christmas shopping. Yes, we probably should have been fixing our floor and our dryer, but we had a BABYSITTER and you don't waste babysitters. So off we went went and bought NOTHING (except for a kitchen timer for myself that didn't work and had to be returned). As we're heading home our sitter calls- there is someone knocking on our door and ringing the bell repeatingly. Oh yes, it was the gas man. Our backyard neighbor had a fire and burned our gas meters and our fence. So he was coming to relight our pilot light. Definitly didn't have time to fix a fence...
So we leave for Indiana the next morning to be with family for Thanksgiving. The services were not until Friday but we thought it made more sense to avoid not traveling on the holiday. We were planning on having several Internatinal students over for Thanksgiving dinner (no pressure for me as the cook- they usually don't compare my turnkey and pumpkin pie to their mother's Thanksgiving meal!)and was sad to have to cancel that but thankfully other plans were made for all of them.
We arrive in Indiana were Jonah meets Jake's 6 male cousins, all between the ages of 17 and 23. Now, this happens to be his favorite age group for "big people friends" since his daddy with college students (of the same age). He had a blast! He also loved Jake's Uncle Collett who he called "Diet Coke" (Collett shared some with him).
After 5 days away, we returned home to not only "squish squish" but "squirt squirt". Jake spent the evening ripping up our two year old laminate flooring. It was NOT the dishwasher, but in fact the water line for our refrigerator. And due to the all of the damage from our country's recent hurricanes, our insurance company's adjusters are out of state. But someone finally got to us last week so hopefully we won't have to look at old, ugly (and now water damaged) linoleom for long!
Last Sunday Jake brought the water hose in the house and stuck it in the dryer duct. The water did not coming spraying out like it was suppose to. So he brought the hose back outside and attached a claw to the end of it (made from a coat hanger) and stuck it in the duct from the outside. He pulled out 2 HUGE lint balls. Dryer is fixed. One down, two to go.
During all of the maddness Jonah has picked up two new phrases- "One more time" (such as "blow my nose one more time" ) and "help me up" (used when he definitly does not help up).
He also has learned how to climb the play area at the mall! This is a major accomplishment in todler hood and I am so proud! The trick was is to use your toes. Steep, slick fake trees and bridges are impossible to climb if you don't!
He also has learned to open doors now and therefore developed a new habit of coming into our room whenever he wakes up instead of playing quietly in his bed for a hour or so. We are not so proud of this one.
And lastly, we rode the bus again last week (and Ninny got to come this time) and Jonah got to sit in the drivers seat while the bus was at the bus station! I hope that the excitement stops there for a few days...
Free: Entertainment and Education
My mom was just telling me last week that I was going to learn a lot by having a two year old! And she was right! She was was referring to the number of large construcion vehicles that I now know the name of, thanks to Jonah. Elmo videos are no longer the trend in our house but instead we borrow "There Goes a______" (insert a form of transportation) videos from the library. We have currently seen: "There Goes a Train", "There Goes a Firetruck", "There Goes a Monster Truck", "There goes a Big Truck" and of course, "There goes a Bulldozer."
And though I appreciate now knowing the difference between a escavator and a backhoe (yes, he points them out to me as we drive down the street), I think I have the learned the most from "There Goes a Bus."
I have been trying for weeks to take him on a bus ride. Its free and there are stops not too far from our house. So we packed a bag of snacks and books (just in case we got bored) and drove to the nearest stop. The "tour" was a hour around town and Jonah loved it. As we were approaching our stop I noticed a sign lit up at the front of the bus that said "stop requested." So I looked behind me and sure enough, there was a cord that streched across the length of the bus that you pull when you want to stop- just like in "There Goes a Bus". When we were watching the video I thought "I've never seen that before." I'm so glad I educated myself before taking our "trip"- we might still be circling the town!
You Got Mail
Wouldn't you want your mail delivered by this little guy? When asked, "Do you want to be Elmo or a mail man for Halloween?", Jonah was quick to answer, "Mailman!". We were fortunate to get an authentic postal service uniform from a friend and my mom helped me cut it down to toddler size. We were having a little costume parade at a friend's house on Thursday when the mail was being delivered. The postal carrier was happy to lend us her truck for pictures.
First Place
This was not a paring knife event but instead Jake got out a few saws and tools (I don't know the names of them, but they plug in!). He says that "Pumpkin carving isn't pumpkin carving now days without power tools." I was a little afraid that he was going to cut the whole pumkin in half, especially after Jonah picked out the pattern online. He was very excited about having a Nemo pumpkin. And with good reason! Anyway, Jake took first place at our church's jack-o-lantern contest tonight, I'm so proud!
Visitin'
Last week we took a trip to Illinois. Jonah and I dropped Jake off at a meeting in St. Louis and headed on to Central Illinois to see my parents. Its hard being so far away from our families and I don't often pass up a chance to spend some time with them! Here are a few photos:
Jonah and his Papa waiting for Ninny to come home from work. Jonah loves playing with his Papa!
Aunt Sara had a cross country meet in the same town where my parents live. We got there just in time to see her take off.
My parents love to go to garage sales and buy JOnah fun stuff. Here he is being Bob the Builder in a wagon that he wasn't so sure about.
"Kitty Cat" Jonah says to Jake's parent's, his other Ninny and Papa. This Ninny gave us all a scare last week but is recovering quickly from her last minute surgery. God is good!
Translator needed in the Kitchen!
Yesterday was just a very interesting day in our house-Jonah was quite the entertainer. Elmo joined us for dinner. He sat in the chair next to Jonah with a helping of pot pie and minded his manners until he started sliding down in his seat. Jonah looked at Elmo and said (or at least we thought he said)
"Elmo seat dead."
"What?" we said!
I thought no more "Finding Nemo" for you (we had borrowed it from the library the day before).
After dinner he said, "Dead?".
"What?"
"Elmo see Dead, hotdog?".
"Ohhhhhhhhh", we said.
We were going to see our friend DEB (not dead) at a Fall Festival where they were going to have hotdogs. Elmo was not dead. He just wanted a hotdog (wasn't he full from his potpie?) What a relief, I wasn't quite ready to discuss the mortality of stuffed animals just yet.
Now I Know
Its not like I was really curious about what would happen if you would happen to microwave a highlighter with the cap removed, but now I have my answer. Black stuff oozes from the felt and creates a sticky mess on your turntable. Your house smells like you faux painted each and every wall with a fluorescent yellow marker. I think I need a taller microwave cart. I'm putting it on my Christmas list.
All Trees Are Apple Trees
My friend Brooke and I recently had the conversation concerning the quality of "education" our toddlers are getting at home verses being in a pre-school. We agreed that except for the social aspect, you can have every educational opportunity at home that you can at a pre-school (and have a one to one ratio). She wasn't sure what to plan and I wasn't motivated, so we got together to plan a fun, educational, apple-themed September. We planned many of the same activities although we do them separtely (we had plans to do some things together, but that didn't work out). Jonah and I painted apples on trees, we counted apples, and read books about apples. We worked on all of our colors this month too. For some reason Jonah gets pink and red confused, his favorite is orange and purple, and he almost never confuses gray, brown, black and white.
I think his favorite activities (and mine too) were picking our own apples and then making "apple pie (it was really apple crisp)" afterwards.
Here is Jonah at this little family owned orchard that we found.
Not by Definition
Webster's Dictionary has a definiton for stay-at-home, it says that it is an adjective describing someone who habitually stays in their residence or country. I think if you put the word mom after the words stay-at-home most of us would not fit that definition. I often thought that the definition of a stay-at-home mom was someone who could live on their husband's income and therefore not have to work outside the home. The more moms I meet and longer I "stay home" I realize how wrong I was in my thinking. A stay-at-home mom is actually someone who does not want to put their child in daycare (or cannot afford it) and instead drags their child around town as they do "this and that" to make ends meet. Before I had Jonah I worked part time as a Children's Director at my church and continue to do that. Today Jonah watched a little too much Elmo as I helped rearrange our main office.
I have recently added another job to my schedule that has taken over my world for the past week. It involves a lot of what I do at my church just for a different church, on a different day and I'll be working with paid teachers instead of volunteers. I think that I've completed the hiring process today. All of that to say to that today is one of those days that I glady be a Webster's stay-at-home mom!
Mamamamamamamama
We were at the library this weekend and Jake and Jonah picked out the book "Is Your Mama a Llama", a children's book about a young llama who asks the question to all of his friends, "Is Your Mama a Llama?" But when Jonah requests us to read the book it just comes out "Mamamamama". Its so funny, it justs goes on and on....
Move over Emril
(I'm practicing my new picture posting skills)
Today I told Jonah that we needed to make cookies. I had FINALLY bought molasses, the much needed ingredient in my great-grandma's oatmeal cookies, so it was time to make a batch. He picked out a little apron and got to work. Then for lunch he wanted pancakes, he did all of the stirring. When lunch was over he said "more panckaes cook." So we made rolls, he is kneading the dough in the picture. Then we put the dough in a bowl and covered it up with a "blanket" so it could go "night night." When Jonah went "night night" for nap, he still had his apron on, he refused to take it off!
Karoke Super Star
At Karoke Night a couple of weeks ago Jake was using his MC skills to drum up some acts. Jonah was his only taker at first and convinced Jake to accompany him in a medley of Sesame Street favorites. It ended up not so much being a duet but instead Jake did a solo act while Jonah just licked the mic through "I Love Trash" and "Ernie's Song."
Milestone Reached
He is talking in complete sentences? Not quite. Riding a bike? We still don't understand petals. BUT, we did learn to blow our nose this weekend (we won't talk about how sometimes he does it without using kleenex or the extreme amounts of mucus that a two year old can produce...). We are very relieved that he can now "blow".
Jonah was in a pretty good mood the last few days despite the 100.6 degree fever he was running. I didn't realize it because although he refused to eat anything besides crackers, he seems to be acting normal. But now the fever is gone, he requested pancakes for lunch, and he can effectivly use a kleenex!
A.K.A.
Last week Jonah and I were playing a new self invented game caleed "Monster Baby". Basically I lay on my bed bed and pretend to sleep (tough job) and Jonah stands on the bed. Whenever he raises his arms he turns into "Monster Baby" and I'm suppose to scream. If I don't do it soon enough, he screams for me. Then he dives on the bed, I tickle him, he gets up, repeat. While we were playing this game I was asking him what his name was- trying to get him to tell me when he was Jonah and when he had turned into "Monster Baby". It turns out that he has changed his name to Chocolate Milk (pronounced Chalk Milk). He no longer tells us that his name is Jojo, he says that its Chalk Milk (first name Chocolate, last name Milk). Even we're not playing our favorite game.
Disgruntled Potty Trainer
So all of a sudden my little boy who has been interested in the "big boy potty" for almost a year has decided that he doesn't like it anymore. Not only that, but he doesn't seem to mind a wet soggy diaper either. I know that forcing my desire to have him out of diapers is not recommended by experts on child development- but I decide to just see what he would do if he made him try. He sat there but was unhappy with every book I gave him or shirt I suggested that he wear. I decided to leave him alone and let him "take care of business". He startd shouting "fla, fla..." "What is a fla?" I ask Jake. He is equally stumped. Flag! He was shouting flag! He wanted to wear the hand-me-down Old Navy flag shirt from 2003 that I suggested 2 shirts ago! So although we aren't any closer to being out of diapers, we've been getting dressed with out too many fits lately (except when our airplane shirt is dirty...).
Seal of Approval
So we were first introduced to Nutella by a French couple. I've been afraid to admit to them that I've been devouring Aldi's brand. Its just so good. And so cheap. Anyway, I met another French guy this week and we were talking about French foods. He was complaining about the French bread here in the states. After that comment I wasn't going to bring up the generic Nutella. But he did! He suggested it! He said that it has his approval. Okay, so I'm not so embarrased about being cheap (at least about chocoate spreads).
Vacation Top Ten
We just returned from a middle-of-nowhere, nothing to do vacation. It was very yet relaxing, but I wouldn't say boring. Here are the funniest/oddest/coolest things that happened:
10. Our one bedroom cabin had no door between the bedroom and the living/kitchen area. We rigged a sleeping area for Jonah in the closet by creating a "tent" with a blanket. He loved it and always went to bed early because he requested going to bed!
9. I brought all of the wrong food for the "kitchen fully stocked with everything you need." The muffins became pancakes and I baked the cookie dough 4 at a time in a cake pan. What was I thinking?
8. We don't own a boat! It was totally a fishing/boating resort! They had a raft a paddle boat we could use, but we didn't bring a toddler size lif jacket!
7. I had time to read one novel and knit 2 scarves.
6. We had to board a ferry to cross the lake to get to our resort.
5. Jonah asked to go to the pool all of time, but refused to actually get in. He just sat nicely on the side or sometime walked around a little.
4. The BBQ chicken at the only resturant in the area (only open for dinner on Friday and Sat. nights) was really just a boneless chicken breast with cold BBQ sauce on top. But the rest of the dinner was homemade and yummy!
3. The owner of the resort didn't didn't own a shirt. He and his wife used to own a bar in a big city. Their personalities definitly seem to fit in more behind a bar than behind the counter at a resort. I don't think there were any lights in the office/store. Even the one in the Blue Bunny icecream cooler was broken (it made it hard to see what you were getting, but its Blue Bunny, how can you go wrong?)
2. Jake played "Roller Derby Queen" at a Gospel Sing. (see Jake's Blog for details)
1. Jonah said "wee" whenever we traveled on the hilly roads to get there. When we would hit flatland he would say, "more wee".
Pass the Sugar
Jonah and I went to the grocery store today on our way home from swim lessons (which he is doing AWESOME at) and he helped me unload the car. We went to Aldi's and I forgot the bags. I fit almost everything into a three boxes that I found in the store but there were still a few things rolling around in the trunk. Jonah unloaded those things one by one. He wanted to try to the white sugar, he liked it. He tried to take a bite out of the cucumber. Then he found a bag of brown sugar and carried it around the house calling it "Travy." I can't be for certain if he is saying that his friend Travis (whom he also calls "Travy") resembles a bag of sugar or not. It could just been something fun to yell. Most of Jonah's songs or the things that he yells are about food, "Hotdog, milk, hotdog, milk, brr (burger)." Sometimes he'll throw a cheese in there for something different. So I really shouldn't be suprised that he uses a friend's name to refer to a bag of sugar!
All Wet
Jonah and I are taking our second Parent and Toddler swim class. The first we took last year, when Jonah was just a year old. It was awesome! He was totally fearless. But a year later, the fear has set in and he refuses to remove his legs from around my waist! So although he doesn't kick or "dig dig dig (hand movements)", he does go under as much as you want. He closes his eyes at the right time (and even his mouth too sometimes). I'm not surprsied that he does mind getting his head wet since he has recently starting taking showers instead of baths...
Extreme
My favorite show is totally taping only 40 minutes away from here! I was so excited to hear that Extreme Makeover Home Edition is in Alma, Arkansas, all this week! It didn't take much to convince Jake to take a drive down there. He was in need of a new knife and our favorite discount store just happens to be in Alma also. Now Alma is small. But we still had trouble finding the blocks that were blocked off. But we finally found the parking lot and and were soon in a school bus on the way to the site. Then you walked down the street through this portable open tunnel thing. There wasn't tons of people there, but it was still hard to see because of where the house was and the number of trees. We did get some glimpses of Ty and Constance though! While standing in the crowd we overheard intresting things: where the design team is staying and where they have been eating along with the crazy things people want Ty to sign! Jonah soon was bored by all of this so we left to catch the bus after staying only about 15 minutes. It was a good thing because not long after we were in our car it started pouring. It didn't rain long so hopefully it didn't mess with demo.
Repeat
So I normally don't put songs on repeat. I think that its hard to pick a song that you actually want to have on repeat for too long. But if you want to know if its a song that you want to listen to on repeat, then just do it. You'll know soon enough!
I found this out today with a song that I actually enjoy listening to because it makes me laugh. We were playing a children's cd from the library, it had some childrens classics sung by Country Artists. We were on track 3 when Jonah said "all done." I said "oh, you're done with the music?" He said "more Papa". I said, "oh we'll see him soon." But he was pointing to the cd player. That is when we pushed repeat for the first of three times today.
Yes, I listened to "I'm my own Grandpa" about 20 times today! And every time I try to figure out the family connections and am still confused! As soon as the song was finshed Jonah would say "more Papa" again. I think we wore out track #2. And after listening 2 dozen times to a song about how someone married a widow whose daughter married his father I still haven't figured out how this makes his son a brother-in-law to his dad!
Where there is smoke, there is fire
We returned recently from a trip to Illinois and Indiana where we visited with family and enjoyed a retreat for Campus Ministers. Jonah even stayed with one of his "Ninny's" (what he calls his grandma's) while we were at the retreat. On this trip we noticed that Jonah now thinks that where there is smoke, there is obviously a fire. I think we have our friend James to thank for this. While at a couple of bonfires a few weeks ago James and Jonah sang many songs about fire together. (Jonah now thinks that James' name is actually "fire".) Anyway, Jonah noticed "fire" this week at both the china buffet (steam pouring off of the food) and while crossing the Staley Viaduct (Staley's huge smokestacks are the main contributer to Decatur Illinois' infamous smell) (in case you haven't been to the Soybean Capital of the World, this smell is NOT good). Thanks, James, for teaching our kiddo a new word and a new concept!
Caught Red Handed
Tonight Jonah pointed to the refridgerater and said "milk". So I opened it up and handed him his cup from dinner. I then walked to the rear of the house to brush my teeth and do a couple of other things. I noticed a minute or two later that he had not followed me nor could I hear him. Thinking this was a bad sign, I walked back towards the kitchen wondering what he was up to.
Then I remembered the strawberries.
Sure enough, his head was in the fridge with a strawberry in his mouth. A little hand was still in the bowl of strawberries that I had just washed and hulled. The formally brimming bowl was now only three-quarters full. He looked up with a genuine look of innocence and said "more?".
Romance at its finest
Yes, I have a date tonight! As you can probably guess, if you know my husband, we are going to the opening of Star Wars III. I will admit that its not my top choice for a date, there are other things that I would rather do. But before you come over in your Jedi costume, know that am looking forward to it (I look forward to anything that gets me out of the house!). I have to find it funny that the day before Mother's Day Jake admits to me that he has yet to purchase my gift but 2 weeks ago we were in line getting our tickets for tonight. I will also point out that we got married in the same month that Star Wars I came out. My husband still says that he is amazed that three of the most important things (those two along with his college graduation) that happened in his life occurred within weeks of each other. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he has had a babysitter lined up for weeks too since he compares our wedding to the release of a movie. And I know its not just any movie, so put your light saber down. But really, being married with a kid makes me realize that I have to be thankful for the time we do have together ( even if he does forget that I'm there). But I think I will insist on ice cream afterwards, it is a date!
Business Woman
Tonight marks the night of the beginning of a new business venture for me. This is the secong time my friend Claudia and I have attempted to supplement our families incomes by going in together and doing something we haven't done before. The first started off slow and ended will no real losses but no capital gain either. Actually, I still have a stock of bedrolls and hooded towels if you're interested. They make great gifts. But tonight is something different. Tonight is an Open House for our Mother's Day Out (we call it Tike Time, isn't that cute?). I'm a little nervous that Claudia and I will be doing the centers and eating the cookie all by ourselves tonight. So, if you're in the area and need some place to bring your kid this summer, check us out, our price is very reasonable!
Sweetheart
Today Jonah "stole" these pink heart shaped glasses from his friend London and has had them on for several hours now. His curly hair already seems to stump strangers on his gender so theses cool shades aren't really helping his case. But, isn't he cute? (You don't have to answer that).
The Diaper Debate
Jonah has just turned two and is already showing interest in potty training. Well, I'm not sure about the training part, but he does like to sit on the potty and always "goes". But, he like the characters from Sesame Street even more which means I made a mistake when I used my Pampers coupon at a store where they were already on sale. Even though we've been wearing underwear most mornings we now refuse because we insist on wearing Ernie, Zoe (whom we call Happy because she does a dance and sings "happy" in a video that he's seen like twice), Big Bird...diapers. Buy Elmo underwear you say? Do they exsist? And if so, where? I wish he was content with the 20 pairs of barely worn SpongeBob and Buzz Lightyear hand-me-downs that are sitting in his drawer.
What kind of restaurant is this?
I told Jonah on Tuesday that we were going out for lunch. He immediatly said "hotdog". I said sure, you can have a hotdog. (If I ask him what he had for breakfast, he'll also say hotdog. So although I knew that he like hotdogs I wasn't too concerned about it but instead was aware of his limited vocabulary). But wouldn't you know, as soon as we sat down at the diner he told the waitress"hotdog". She yelled at the lady in the back (owner? manager? another waitress? who knows) who said something like"we're all out". So the waitress instead brings a totally yummy looking grilled cheese that I was willing to trade my chicken sandwich for. Jonah said "hotdog?". So instead of eating Jonah flirted with the ladies in the booth behind us and watching the airplanes out the window (we were at the Airport Cafe). So we packed up the sandwich and stopped by my friend Claudia's house who was serving hotdogs for lunch!! Jonah again said "hotdog?". She happily traded her hotdog for his $3 grilled cheese. I'm pretty sure that he thinks he got the better end of the deal!
The world is my canvas
Yesterday I walked into the computer room where I left Jonah sitting at the computer desk, looking at my wallpaper which is a picture of him with his Big Bird and Elmo. He was holding his orange hawaiian shirt up with one hand and writing on his belly with a green marker with the other. I guess his arms weren't big enough for what he had in mind!
Bert and Ernie
My friend Claudia gave Jonah Bert and Ernie stuffed animals. They were leftovers from our multi family garage sale. He has quickly figured out how to say both of their names and he knows that they go together. He was very sad that Ernie came out to dinner with us but Bert did not. He woke up this morning and there was this grey lint in his bed that he was concerned about. I said "Trash?". He said, "Bert". Bert had a boo-boo. Poor Bert was "leaking" in two spots. I sewed him up tonight and Jonah then wanted me to fix all of his stuffed animals. There is something very sweet about sewing up one of your child's special "friends" (even if it is one that is new to him and someone else has loved on forever, maybe that even makes it more sweet).
He does it all!
So I knew that Big Giant Elmo (our "pet" name for Jonah's huge Elmo that he got for Christmas from his Great Aunt Susie)does lots of things. I knew he eats and drinks- I've seen him being fed cheese and milk and I once found a cheerio in his mouth. I know he sleeps (that is what he does while Jonah plays, at least Jonah always tells Elmo "Night Night" when he leaves him somewhere). But I didn't know that he likes to ride in Jonah's Kiddie Coupe car (but he's not ready for the bike yet, he kept falling off this week, much to Jonah's dismay). In this picture he is doing something else I didn't know he could do-color. Jonah is handing him a crayon and is much more interested in helping Elmo than coloring himself!
The New and Improved Animal Cracker
So Jonah and I have a ritual where I put him on the counter top and he looks in the snack cabinet for something for his morning snack. Today he was very sure that he wanted Nutella. I thought, smart boy. If you don't know what that is, don't worry, we just had it for the first time this weekend when a French family brought it over. So, it is this totally yummy chocolate hazelnut spread (from France, I think). Anyway, she actually made crepes for us to enjoy it on, but I wasn't about to do that this morning. So the only thing that I could find worthy was a bag of animal crackers. I will never want to eat them plain again!
The Washing Machine Saga
So Monday is laundry day, the day that I do 5 or 6 loads of laundry and then can ignore the baskets for a whole week. I love my system and I really loved my second hand machine until it started squeaking during the spin cycle. I commented on this several times to my husband and I don't think he believed me until he happened to be home when the house was shaking. This prompted him to take the machine apart. Now, I don't say that my husband is handy when it comes to this kind of stuff or even eager, but he is cheap and he does like to take things apart (but not before googling for advice). So, "experts" say its the belt so Jake in search of a belt. Then he discovered that our machine does not have a belt. With washing machine pieces and water everywhre, a friend drops by. She then insists that her husband, who of course delivers washing machines and the like, finds me a machine. So he comes over to install one that has been discarded by the prevous owners who bought a new shiny one, but this one works just fine they say. So its in, and I run the first load last Monday. The spin cyle runs smoothly. And just as I think that we have a winner, the machine lets out a load squeal, much like a car braking at the very end of the cycle. My husband says that the same thing that was going on ours is probably going out on this one. I think our first clue should have been that this is washing machine made by Magic Chef!!!
Move Over Baby Einstien
So who says we need fancy eduacational toys (though some are nice to have around)? Today Jonah and I played for quite a while with 10 pairs of his shoes (all hand-me downs from a friend). We played the matching game with them. He would hand me a shoe and I would ask for its match. He was pretty good at this game and even learned to say "match".
BYE!
Yesterday Jonah graduated from the baby talk of "bye-bye" to a very grown-up BYE! I'm not sure what I think about that, but either way, its very cute. As his daddy was leaving for work they proceeded to tell each "bye" back and forth to each other as Jake made his way down the hallway, into the kitchen, and finally out to the garage. I couldn't help but laugh at the way they tried to mimic each other's voices. I couldn't tell who was following who. For the rest of the day and again today he replaced his usual "bye-bye" with a simple bye.
I Married a Rock Star!!
Here's a picture of Jake. This is his rock star pose.
(actually, this is was just Jake's way of walking me through posting a picture)
2 year old blues
So new moms get postpardum blues which occur right after their child is born. They may feel depressed and unhappy, unsure if they are ready for their child to be outside of them and no longer safely on the inside. Is it possible to feel that when your child is two? Since I don't think I can put him back "in" I guess I have to deal with the feelings of business and boredom that I feel all at once. I mean, how many times can we walk up and down the street at at Franklin the Turtle's pace? How many times will the same blanket get unfolded before it safely makes it to the drawer? Haven't I swept the floor 3 times already- where do these cracker crumbs come from? Do I win I a prize for memorizing the most Elmo World videos? Living with a two year is about being thankful for that little hand in yours while walking down the street for the 20th time and for the sweet efforts he makes while trying to "help' his mommy with the laundry.
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