One Year!

Well, we made it - Jonathan turned one year old on September 23rd (at 2:10am). He continues to amze us as he grows and changes. He is really interactive and just such a joy. He never ceases to make us smile (well, except for when he's trying to roll over in the middle of a diaper change or putting things in his mouth that he's not supposed to!).

Besides eating cake for the first time (that we know of), Jonathan also has had his first Happy Meal, popsicle, whole milk (he's down to just nursing before bedtime) and pretty much eats anything we put in front of him. His sign language is becoming even more clear and he's using it to communicate (as opposed to responding/copying when we sign something) - for instance, when I cut out his afternoon nursing and tried to give him a bottle, he drank a little and then began to fuss... he signed "milk" and I told him the bottle was his milk. He took another drink and fussed and signed "milk" again and then tugged at the collar of my shirt... he wasn't quite ready to give up nursing at that time! :O)

At the beginning of the month Jonathan figured out how to stand up on his own - which has eliminated a lot of frustration for him. We're starting to get more bumps and lumps now that he is getting so adventurous. He loves to look at books and pictures. He likes pushing his cars around and "talking" on a phone (or anything that looks like a phone). He teases - acting like he's going to let you hold him and then turning away, with a big grin on his face... he'll pretty much let anyone hold him, though.

It has been a crazy year, but we are so blessed to have this little bundle of joy in our lives!

YouTube videos (too cute not to post!):

11 months and counting

What happened to 10 months? I don't know - but we totally missed posting anything (I didn't even do an at-home photo shoot like I usually do in the months we don't go to the studio...) Oh well - you get 2 for 1 this time!

10 months

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Well Jonathan didn't crawl when Kyle was gone to Taiwan in June, but he did start crawling while Kyle was working down at Spring Mill Bible Camp in July, just before he turned 10 months old. He also started saying "ba" when he would see or hear a dog (he also says "ba" when he sees his little stuffed lamb that he sleeps with... but it has a little different tone... :o)

We also decided to see if we could help Jonathan sleep through the night (since he wakings were becoming more frequent!).. It really only took one night of giving the pacifier and letting him cry for a bit and we were back to sound sleeping (and now when he wakes up, Daddy can get up in the middle of the night to pop in the paci too :O)

11 Months

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Jonathan took his 3rd plane trip - back to Texas to see new baby cousin Lyla. He loved playing with the boys, Noah, Silas & Jonas and wanted really badly to play with Lyla too (we had to explain that she wasn't big enough yet). Jonathan did great on the flight, despite the cancelled flight and choas that ensued when NW tried to re-book us.

He's turning into a real little person - showing emotion, hugging his little lamb, putting his head on our shoulders when we hug on him, pointing, shaking his head "no" when we ask questions, using inflection (even though most sounds are 'ba' & 'da' - it sounds like he's really trying to say something!). He is eatinig all kinds of food (even eating all of the chicken off of a drumstick when he was out with Gramaw & Grandpa). He gets into EVERYTHING and we're really having to watch him. I often find him under the table or pushing the chairs around. We've designated a cabinet with safe things for him to play with...but he still wants in the one with the glass bakeware!

But the biggest development this month (drumroll).... STEPS! Just in the last week or so, he's been getting adventurous and has now been able to put some steps together. I guess we now have a 'toddler'.

take a look at our Picasa web album for more photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleandcheryl/JonathanGrant

...so tired...

This was too cute, I just had to post it - Jonathan was fighting sleep the other night and when he does he'll often sit up or stand up in the crib. We found him folded over after he fell asleep in the sitting position... it made us laugh.

9 months

Jonathan had his 9 month well-baby check last Friday. He is weighing 24lbs & 5oz and is 29 1/2 inches long - which finally put him "on the charts" but he's still in the 95% for weight and 90% for length. Everything looked good and we have a clean bill of health.

Kyle had to travel again at the beginning of June and we were afraid that Jonathan was going to be crawling before Kyle got home... but the only 'trick' he started was doing a push-up.

Eating is getting more interested - sometimes a battle of wills over who controls the spoon (usually he ends up with one and I end up with one). He loves fruits and tolerates the veggies we feed him. He loves picking up Cheerios and banana pieces to feed himself.

About 3 weeks ago we noticed 3 teeth breaking through his top gums at the same time. He doesn't seem too bothered by them. It also appears there may be another coming in on the bottom. These new chompers haven't caused too much problems for nursing...although I'll wait to further comment until they're really grown in.

We enjoyed making Kyle a Father's Day gift (a DAD tshirt with Jonathan's handprints on it) and Jonathan even gave him the card!

It's becoming obvious that we really need to get our baby-proofing done now that Jonathan has started pulling up to standing and army crawling. He can also sit-up on his own and we found him sitting up in his crib the other morning so Kyle lowered the mattress. He's becoming a daredevil with these new skills - falling straight back for us to catch him and leaning back to get upside-down when we're holding him. (see the video included here)

Achieux

Jonathan's 8th month has been filled with several first - including his first cold and a trip overseas! His sweet personality continues to grow and we find ourselves laughing along with him.

In May we took our annual anniversary trip - this time to Paris & Croatia. We know that people saw us getting on the plane and thought "Oh great! A baby to cry the whole 9 hours on the flight!" - shows what they know! Jonathan did really well and slept for most of the flight (we had adjusted our schedule by 4 hours starting a few days before we left, so the long part of the flight hit during the time he would be sleeping anyway!). The only problem on the flight over is that we had several diaper accidents and not enough changes of clothing! But that wasn't the baby's fault!

We found that having a baby was actually pretty nice in France - we got to cut to the front of the immigration line and on later flights, the ground crew made sure we got to board in front of most of the other passengers. Everyone on the subways smiled back at Jonathan - and at the Eifel Tower, he must have had people from 4 or 5 different countries pinching his cheeks and taking his picture... He was a big hit (it helps that he smiled a lot). Jonathan made lots of friends and even picked up a few grandparents on our bus trip to Normandy.

Perhaps that's how he got his first real cold - by the time we got to Croatia, Jonathan was running a fever and was not his usual chipper self. It was hard to be so far away from home and not sure what to do, but it broke after 1 day... but then the drainage started...and the sneezing... and the coughing...and all of that led to some not-so-restful nights. We managed and despite the cold we had a great visit with our friends from the church in Varazdin.

Other firsts this month: Jonathan has been 'waving', shaking his head 'no', trying to get on all fours (he slides backwards, though), he peeks around corners to play peek-a-boo, and is enjoying picking up Cheerios to put in his mouth by himself.

7 Months

It's hard to think of the new things Jonathan has been doing because we've had a bit of regression in his sleep at night (so I'm a little distracted by my own lack of sleep). But despite waking up at night, he continues to be such a sweet boy during the day!

This month he's be practicing "ma" & "da" but says them randomly - we try to reinforce them when he says them to one of us, but for now it's just babbling. No new teeth as of yet, but he continues to chew on almost any toy if he can get his mouth on it, and that on top of the sleep issues, probably means he's working on it.

We've enjoyed many walks with our other stay-at-home buddies. We're loving the great weather. Although Jonathan did get his first little sunburn (very mild) because his socks slid down and his pants inched up during one long ride in the stroller. He never seemed to notice, so I only felt bad for a day or so. Now that we've been taking him outside, we've noticed that he loves the wind blowing. At our trek to the outlet mall a few weekends ago, he squealed as the wind blew in his face - we were grimacing as dirt blew in our faces - but Jonathan didn't seem to mind.
We're still slowly working in solid foods - he's tried graham crackers and carrots so far - and no real issues that we've seen.

Jonathan had his first trip to the ball park this season, which prompted me to try a new game - catch. He seems to like it (or maybe he just likes eating it! ):

6 months

Jonathan's 6 month appointment was last Friday. It confirmed our suspicions - he has outgrown the 'pumpkin seat'... we were getting a little tired of lugging him in it anyway. He's up to 22lbs, 90z and it just about 29 inches long (that's off the charts for his age group). He also had shots, which he cried about briefly but then smiled at the nurse when I picked him up (he's such a sweet baby!).

He now sits pretty well by himself (I still put a pillow behind him for fear of him konking his noggin when he falls back - which tends to happen when he picks up heavy toys and tries to put them in his mouth!) He is still rolling all over the place. He's starting clasping his hands together and putting them to his mouth. His feet are still endless entertainment and now socks seem to go flying since he pulls on them if he can't get his feet up to his mouth. He's resumed blowing raspberries and smacks his lips in a kissing sound. Just this past week he's been exercising his vocal cords - yelping out and laughing at the sounds he's making...

We tried rice cereal a couple of times - it didn't go over so well. Nothing went flying, but he just didn't seem to like the flavor or texture. We've also tried some small pieces of banana and a bit of potato... those seemed a little more acceptable. We've not been too aggressive with the solids since his weight gain is still so good and he's not seeming to want to nurse any more often... plus Daddy's been traveling and we don't want him to miss out on the fun food adventures! We've given Jonathan a sippy cup with some water which he likes to hold by himself - he chews on the rubber spout and could care less about the water inside. It's good practice for him, though.

Jonathan attended his first Easter Egg hunt - he did spot a red egg that he was able to pick up by himself... we're sure that next year he won't settle for just one!