1st Birthday Cake

First Snow

"Look! There's the Easter Bunny."

Saturday-- 12/11/10-- J.D. took Jonathan to see Santa at Brown Shoe. I had to supervise a room for the LSAT. So I missed out on Jonathan's first Santa visit. Apparently they had fun pointing at things. Jonathan did great. He didn't cry or fuss at all. He was busy looking at everything around him. Besides, he has never had any stranger anxiety.

Santa has a message for a sweet little boy

Santa wishes Jonathan a Happy Christmas! And shows what an amazing first year Jonathan has had.

Remembering

An emotional day today. I hope you had a good first birthday Jonathan. I love you. ~Mommy

A smile and wave

I walked home today. Half way down our block, I recognized J.D. digging holes for the daffodils and tulips in front of our house. J.D. lifted Jonathan from his stroller and stood on the sidewalk holding him. I got closer. J.D. saw me and asked Jonathan "Who is that?" Jonathan looked at me, smiled, and began lifting and dropping his arm in a wave as he kicked his legs. I ran and teased him. He smiled more. I gave both an embrace. Jonathan gestured to be held by Mom. Jonathan's happiness in seeing me undid all my day's problems.

Words

A few days ago Jonathan surprised me by saying "Hi Kitty" to Sophie. (Except it sounded like "Hi Titty," so we need to work on the "K" sound!) Still, I thought it was very sweet of him.

He started saying "Hi" months ago; actually it was his first word. Then he forgot it for a while. But it is back in full force now.

Jonathan says "Hi" to all his toys when I hand them to him. And tonight he had fun playing peek-a-boo with Dad under a blanket. He would stick his head under and say "Hi there" or "Dada."

J.D. thinks he also says "Hi Buddy," since J.D. often says that to Jonathan. But J.D. has been rethinking that phrase, especially since we may not want a mini Pauly Shore. (Yet, honestly, if Jonathan says it, I'm sure we'll find it cute and not annoying).

Today's other developments included: turning the bathtub water on and trying to eat cat food and wax.

We also played with the dishwasher, cupboards, pantry, laundry, stairs, Mom's books, etc.

Halloween

For Halloween we went to a little kids party at a local church. It was infinitely lame, but it's good Jonathan is only a baby, and lame still entertains him. He enjoyed watching the kids run around.

We came home and had trick-or-treaters until 8:45 p.m.

For Halloween Jonathan reused his crustacean costume. This time he also ate a brain!!! (I had a brain from my "Brain-guy" costume, and he really liked it, so it became his).

I hope you had a fun first Halloween son. We'll have more fun in the future, Mom and Dad promise.

Pumpkin Patch

Our little guy is growing up. Here he is reflecting on the experience as we drive home and I feed him peach yogurt in his car seat. I've found sitting in the back with him on the drive home and taking the opportunity to feed him works pretty well.

Jonathan has a new fascination with tractors. Chad gave J.D. and me these two when we moved to St. Louis. I find it very sweet that Jonathan likes playing with them now. He even drives them across the floor (sometimes on the roof or side... ouch!).

Saturday we drove to a local pumpkin patch, near Fenton. It was cheesy. J.D. commented as we drove past a local gas station: "You know you're in Jefferson County when you see a guy walking out of a Quick Trip with a 24 oz. can of beer and no shirt." There were a lot of people there, some terrible country music singers yelping "I was country, when country wasn't cool." The comment "Newsflash-- you're still not cool" could not be resisted. Jonathan most liked the old tractors that were pulling people around in wagons ($6.00 "hay ride" we did not go on). We just found two decent pumpkins and were on our merry way.

Helper kid

Jonathan has turned into helper kid extraordinaire.

He works hard on the laundry.

And he helps make lunch. Yesterday it was peanut butter and pasta with mac and cheese, jam, salt, pepper, marshmallows, all in a crust with cocoa on top.

Single parent for three days

J.D. flew to Colorado Springs Tuesday morning in the wee hours; he left the house at 4:30 a.m. Tonight he called to tell me that he lost $2,000 gambling.*

Business conferences are so much more fun than academic ones: casino night, luxury resorts, real food. Meanwhile, I have been holding down the fort. We did have one assailant: Mr. Cute kitty cat. He is still around, or at least he was at 5:00 p.m. today. He showed up yesterday. He seems to be living under the old back porch of our neighbor's house. I think we'll keep him. What's the saying, while the cat is away the mice will play... or rather, While J.D. is away (living it up) I took in a stray! :) The picture of Jonathan is from this morning, when he discovered how to get belts off the hook in the closet. He was oh-so pleased with himself and had this mischievous grin.

* Of course it was only play money, in case that was not clear.

Too Spicy!

Earlier today I took a nap with Jonathan and Athena on my lap. Jonathan fell asleep nursing, then I did, and then Athena came to snuggle at Jonathan's feet and my elbow. It was very cozy.

Today Jonathan also learned new skills. Now he can climb onto the dishwasher! I turned around for a few seconds and then saw him on top of the thing, busy getting water all over himself and reaching for his sippy cup on the top rack. He also learned to climb stairs today while I was talking with Catherine (and of course climbing with him). He climbed all the way upstairs and was greatly entertained with his accomplishment.

This evening we went for a walk down the Loop. Jonathan enjoyed seeing the cars and lights; we've never really taken him for a stroll at night before. J.D. and I were mildly amused by a woman dancing and singing on the corner of Delmar and Skinker. People we passed whispered: "She's dancing again." Some people always find a way to entertain themselves. We went to Chipotle's because J.D. had a $10 gift card from work for staying late on a Sunday. Our server, guy named Mike, was nice and gave Jonathan a free plate of pork, beans, and guacamole. I went to get drinks while J.D. and Jonathan started to eat. Jonathan tried a bite of the avocado (which he likes plain) but this was spicy! His eyes started watering, his nose running, and he began coughing. He cried a little. He refused a drink of water because he probably thought he was getting more of the same stuff. We learned the cardinal rule of baby dining out. . . always taste it first. Eventually, Jonathan settled down and enjoyed the rest of his dinner. Poor baby.

We strolled home, and he was asleep at 7:00 p.m. So, I just put him to bed. We'll see how it goes. Last night he slept from 8:30 to 6:40... no waking... a miracle.

My boy

Jonathan crawled across the room to greet me when I got home from class today, and suddenly the world was better for both of us. I opened the door and saw him poking his head around the kitchen corner. He moved immediately toward the desk where I put my purse down. I let him come to me and then grabbed him into the air and covered him in kisses. I packed him around the house, and we went to see what Dad was cooking for dinner.

Here we are trying on a silly hat. Jonathan wore it for a little while. I like the range of his expressions wearing it. J.D. likes the first one best. I sort of like the one were he seems to be saying "Oh Mom...."

Jonathan opened his Puffs and rolled around in them. He was quite pleased with himself and was having a jolly time snacking on them.

Jonathan in Burley

Cheesy-ology

So, we went for a walk Sunday evening just to get out of the house. J.D., Jonathan, and I went to a fairly new place on the Loop called... wait for it... Cheese-ology. They serve "fancy" mac and cheese. Now, we both were a little hesitant. We pretty much do not order anything we could make at home, but we both thought, "Maybe it will be amazing mac and cheese." I ordered the "Philly," while J.D. went with the "Black and Bleu." With two drinks it came to $19.85! Holy cheese, this better be great! In fact, this better be the best damn mac and cheese ever. Fifteen minutes later, they bring out a tiny hot pan of mac and cheese with slightly burned top pieces. J.D. was instantly put off by the tiny portion size. Come on people, it's macaroni noodles... you couldn't spring for a full portion size? They also tasted completely bland.

We won't go back to cheese land; good luck to them, but with prices and food like that, they will not be around long.

P.S. They are in the old "Pizza Hause" building, the place that tried to sell pizza without cheese. Ironic.

P.S. For Catherine, they offered the "The Hill," a dish described as "building on the STL favorite, Provel cheese and Salssicia are balanced by a top layer of Marinara."

Interacting with toys

Jonathan and I made up this game two days ago.

Idaho

Had to

Vote for our cute kid contribution to the world here.

Handsome young man

Blowing Bubbles

Weird Ice Cream

Thanks Catherine for the link. For fun J.D. and I ranked where the flavors would be for us, along with some reasoning why.

J.D.'s (1= most likely to order 8 = keep that away from me)

1. Elvis the fat years. "He was fat for a reason; it can't be that bad."
2. Chocolate and sea salt. Supposedly chocolate and salt go well together.
3. P.B. Curry
4. Government cheese. When asked why: "I don't know, I like cheese."
5. Jesus Juice (much less interested in it when we read it was coke and red wine... blah)
6. Carrot mango
7. Secret breakfast -- "Breakfast sounds like crap for ice cream."
8. Hibiscus Beet, dead last choice for J.D.

Mine before reading the actual article:

1. Secret breakfast. This is where my sense of "adventure" would seriously get me in trouble. (Corn flakes ok, but bourbon??? Blah).
2. Chocolate and sea salt. Same reason.
3. Jesus Juice, have to say my curiosity was peaked. I'm sure I'd regret it.
4. Elvis
5. Hibiscus... I guess
6. P.B. curry
7. carrot mango (This might move higher on the list, replacing juice).
8. Gov. cheese, just sounds offensive to all the senses.

Reading Time

Catherine, Michael, and Olivia made the trip all the way from Chicago to see us again recently. Olivia kindly brought Jonathan a lot of fun books. They enjoyed looking at them together. Olivia was a patient and good friend to read with Jonathan. Thank you for everything Catherine, Michael, and Olivia!

4th of July!

Pictures I've been meaning to post forever

All of us!

A very cute family.

Hugs!

Two sweet kiddos.

I love this one of Olivia holding Jonathan.

Having fun.