He walks

Jonas took his very first steps early this morning.

Jeremiah and I were both watching him when he made his first big leap from being a baby to toddlerhood. Excited does not even begin to explain how we felt. Jonas knew he had done something big, but he was not ready to try it again.

I stood him up and said, "Walk to daddy," but he was done for the time being.

After dinner we were in the living room playing and he was holding on to the table and he let go and took three steps in my direction, then he fell into my arms. He tried again, but stopped after that. We are not rushing or pushing him to walk. He can take all the time he needs.

My little man is growing up so fast. I feel happy, but at the same time, a little sad because he wont be my baby for long.

He is already showing his independence and he has such a beautiful personality.

He is so loving towards his grandparents. I don't know what it is about my dad, but he loves him so much. If I tell him, "Grandpas here, Jonas," his eyes get big and he makes me take him outside to greet him. When he sees my dad, he says, "mpa," or he'll say it if my dad leaves the room.

He is so friendly. When we are out and Jonas is in his stroller, he'll get so excited when he spots another stroller or car seat. He'll say, "baby" and he's a baby himself, he's so sweet. He loves to see babies and kids. He loves it when his cousin Walker comes over. When Jonas is a little older, I bet he's going think his cousin Walker is the coolest person.

Mr. Independent keeps me on my feet all day. He crawls everywhere. He has now discovered rocks from our front porch and it is so hard to pull him away from them. I try to talk him into playing with his toys, but he looks at me, as if he is thinking, "Mom, toys are for babies, I'm a big boy." Then he continues doing what he was doing before I so rudely interrupted him.

Oh Jonas, you are such a beautiful little person! I can't wait to see you running around, being the lovely and wild person that you are.

Turning one!

Jonas turned one on Monday.

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday at the park with family and friends. He had about 30 people show up to his birthday party. Way more people than Jeremiah or I have ever had show up on our birthdays. And that's the two of us combined.

He was loving all the attention he was getting. Not even being bothered by the many arms reaching for him. He went with both grandma's and grandpas, aunts, uncles and played with his little cousins, whom he rarely gets a chance to see.

There are so many new physical, social and intellectual developments going on with our little man.

May have temper tantrums
Does he ever! On our afternoon walks, we pass by his aunt Anto's two horses, Spiderman and Cricket, and Jonas will get upset if we don't stop and see them. He will turn around and look at us, letting us know exactly what he wants us to do. If we don't we'll hear it from him, alright. He'll cry and get really upset, so off we go to visit the horses, which isn't a bad thing. I'm glad he loves animals.

Shows an emerging sense of humor
When he hears anyone laugh, he lets out this chuckle himself, as if he also understood the joke that was just said. It's so funny to hear him. His uncle Ivan was laughing at something Jonas was doing today, then Jonas started laughing, too. They were both in on the joke.

Searches for a hidden object even if he only remembers its last location
If Jonas has something he isn't supposed to have and we try to take it away from him, he looks for it the last place he remembers he saw it. Jeremiah has to constantly take his cell phone away from Jonas. This is Jonas' most favorite "toy" to play with. But he knows when his daddy takes it. He looks behind, under and over Jeremiah. I just had it. It has to be somewhere around here, he must think.

I can't believe a whole year has already passed.

Jonas, Jeremiah and I have come a long way, from when Jonas was first born. I remember the first few days being home with our baby boy. It felt like Christmas everyday. I had a wonderful present. Everything about him was so interesting and new. It still is, of course, but now we have routines and have gotten the hang of being parents.

We still have our many parenting dilemmas. Sleeping is still an issue with us. I worry about how long we will have this problem, but I know we'll get through it, just like we have everything else.

In loving memory

Before Jonas was born, Jeremiah and I had our hands full with our pets. The one that received our special attention was our little chihuahua, Pico. He was the only one allowed in the house and on the bed. He traveled everywhere with us. We called him, "the baby, before the baby."

The day we brought Jonas home from the hospital we sat down on the couch and called little Pico over. We introduced him to the newest member of the family. He sniffed around Jonas' little head and looked up at us and then jumped off the couch.

He didn't know his life was about to change.

He was not allowed on the bed, the couch and his time with me was limited.

When Jonas started crawling, he began noticing his little mascot. He would get so happy when he would see his little puppy walking by him, Pico not even giving Jonas the time of day. I would grab Pico and let Jonas touch him. Jonas' eyes lit up every time.

Pico began getting used to the baby.

They began playing a little cat and mouse game. Jonas would spot Pico and chase him around the living room. Pico would grab his toy and run from Jonas. When Jonas saw Pico coming around the corner, he would say, "Pics" in a whisper.

About a month ago Pico started getting closer to us when we would play. He was comfortable being around Jonas and Jonas respected him. Jonas wouldn't try to reach out and pull his hair, like he used to do. He even offered him some of his food. He would drop a piece of what he was eating from his high chair down to Pico, where he waited so patiently for something to fall.

On our morning and afternoon walks, Pico was always present. Jonas would hold his leash and I was teaching him not to let go of him. He was learning how to take care of his little pet so well.

Last Saturday, our little Pico passed away. It's been hard getting used to him not being here anymore,
we miss him so much. We used to say he and Jonas were going to be the best of buddies. Now he will only be a memory in our hearts. When Jonas is big enough, I will tell him about his little buddy Pico and how much happiness he brought our family.