Friday, January 19, 2007

Jonas the Parrot

"Do you want a cracker?" I ask Jonas. "Ca-cker," he answers. I hand him a Ritz cracker on our way home from dropping Jeremiah off at school. Jonas chats the entire ride home. He is my little companion, my buddy. It's a lot of fun now that he's talking so much.

According to American Baby, children his age acquire language at the rate of about two new words a week. J-man says way more than two words, in a day!

He repeats everything we say. I was telling my brother, "Imvan" (as Jonas would say), "Jonas already knows 40 words." Then Jonas jumped right into the conversation, saying, "For-ty." We looked at each other, both surprised. "That makes 41," I said, as we both laughed. He is just so smart. Pretty soon, he'll be saying complete sentences. "Mother, can you hand me my sippy cup, please."

It's so amazing how fast he learns and remembers everything. He also knows the meaning to all the words he knows and hears.

We were looking through his photo album the other day. I was showing him a picture of Pico, when he spotted the photo below Pico's, he pointed and said, "Gaul-ker." "Yes, baby, that's cousin Walker." We hadn't seen Walker in days and he had never said his name before. It's amazing, I tell you.

But the boy has had a temper lately. Jeremiah was holding a spoon while feeding Jonas, Jonas decided he wanted to take it away, but it had food in it. So, Jeremiah said, "No, wait little man, wait." Jonas got so mad, that when Jeremiah finally gave it to him, Jonas just threw it on the floor and started wailing. I guess it's normal at this age. There is not much we can do, discipline-wise.

"At this age, many toddlers begin to behave unpredictably. Yours may scream at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason, pull the tablecloth to the floor, or yank the dog's tail despite your firmly telling him not to. Though this may be a trying time for you, remember that your toddler isn't deliberately disobeying you — he's just exploring his surroundings and figuring out how much power he has over you, his environment, and himself. Many of these "destructive" practices will actually help him develop a sense of independence and figure out which types of behavior are acceptable to you and which aren't."

Reading this makes me feel better. I was beginning to think, what are we doing wrong? Why is he behaving like this? It's just Jonas' way of seperating himself from us, he's becoming his own little independent self.

Oh Jonas! How do I love thee, let me count the ways!

I love your beautiful, curly brown hair, that looks so wild every single day. I love when you sit and look through your books, with such intense concentration. I love when you flash daddy and I a big cheesy smile, showing us your pearly whites, while scrunching your nose. I love it when you demand for more toothpaste on your bright green shark toothbrush. I love waking up to your sweet kisses. I love it when you hold your plastic fishing pole and say, "pish." I love to watch you slowly toddle around the house, exploring every corner or crevice in sight. I just love you!

Everything about you is beautiful. You fill my heart with so much love, I sometimes feel I might explode. Some days I might feel tired and sleepy and would love to just sit and vegetate, but I would never trade my days with you for anything in the world. I love you so much, words can never describe what I feel!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Wild Child

If someone were to walk into our house, they would think a tornado had hit it. There are clean clothes scattered, here and there, that I just haven’t had the time to put away. There are toys all over the living room.

Every night, we pick every thing up and put it back in its place. But as soon as I step into another room and look back to the one I had just cleaned, it’s messy again. Aahh! It’s the twilight zone.

No, not really. It’s Jonas man, taking his toys out of the toy box, grabbing the neatly folded clothes from the dressers, opening the kitchen cabinets and taking things, that are meant to be hidden and displaying them on the not-so-clean, kitchen floor, that if I had a chance to mop, I would in a second.

Telling him “no” will get you nowhere. When he is in his car seat and I hand him his sippy cup, he’ll take a few drinks, then he’ll look at me and let the water drizzle out of his mouth onto his nice, dry shirt. “No, baby don’t do that, you’re getting all wet,” I tell him. This motivates him even more and he laughs, so it turns into a game. I take away the cup and tickle his chin, he lets out the cutest giggle, one could ever hear. This continues for about ten minutes. Good times!

We went to the library today. Jonas always makes friends. We met a little girl, who was also 14 months old. She saw Jonas and gave him a hug and a kiss. On their first meeting! I totally understand why she did it. Who could resist kissing the most handsome boy in the entire world?

I spoke to her mom and asked her if her daughter was sleeping through the night. She gave me a “look” and said no. She didn’t have to answer; the “look” said it all. We talked about baby joys and woes. It felt good to talk to someone who knows exactly what I am going through and to know that I’m not alone, with the ever so prevalent, sleep issue.

We had a not-so-healthy dinner, but it sure was fun. We ate top ramen noodles. Jeremiah and Jonas, both shirtless, had a contest: Who could slurp the longest noodle, the fastest. Jonas won, of course. Jeremiah didn’t stand a chance. Jonas is one fast noodle slurper.

Watching my boys enjoy dinner, looking so beautiful together, makes me think, life can't get any better than this.