Calm Before the Storm

Jonathan has turned 18 months and has had an explosion of vocabulary and dexterity! We can't even count all the words he says now - but he often tells us: "I dropped it," "I fell down," or "I throw it" - along with naming lots of animals and objects and just general babble. His little face is so animated, you just know he's saying something important!

He likes to sing and say nursery rhymes - well, he finishes them. Like with Daddy, Jonathan adds the "doo-dah","day" and "bay" to "Camptown Ladies". And with Mommy he finishes "Hickory Dickory Dock" with "dock", "Clock," "one," "down"...

Jonathan enjoys his kids shows like Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Backyardigans - but he also gets excited when Wheel of Fortune comes on in the evenings! It cracks us up to hear him squealing "wheel! wheel!" with the intro starts... he knows what's coming!

Jonathan doesn't quite grasp that things are getting ready to change - we will be moving to our new home on May 1st. Then 2 months later the new baby will arrive... the only thing he knows is that there are lots of boxes to play in and that Mommy's belly is big. We talk about baby brother, but that's so far in the future for him.

We were able to enjoy a quick 4-day get-away (toddler free) thanks to all the traveling Kyle has done in the last year. It was nice to have some time to relax before life gets really crazy. We had perfect weather in Jamaica and the traveling portion went off without a hitch. Now, it's back to boxes and preparing for the baby...

Here's a little video of Jonathan singing with Daddy's binder that he uses when leading worship at NC3:

15 months

When do parents stop counting a baby's age in months?... maybe it's important for us to clarify that he's more than a "one-year-old", but really he's "one" - in part it's easier than expaining "he turned one in September"... who knows!

Anyway, he is 15months+ now. We've squeezed in 3 more holidays with lots of family and a trip to Texas. Jonathan enjoyed Great Grandma Ruby's dumplings at Thanksgiving, an overload of presents at Christmas and New Year's day on a plane.

He's just over 28 lbs and the nurse measured him at 33 3/4 inches (but it looked like she measured crooked to me... I think he's shorter, but we'll go with it). Both measurements put him in the 90-95% range for his age - what can we say, he's a big boy! :o)

He continues to amaze us at how his dexterity and language are growing. We now have to be very careful about what we say as our little mocking bird tends to try to copy most words that we say. Like when Mommy changes a stinky diaper and says "oh my!"... Jonathan says it too. Funny thing is, the things we really want him to say, like "love you" don't come out. But things like "stinky" and "toot" come out regularly! He's been working on animal sounds/actions and had one for dog, cat, cow, lamb, elephant, snake and even a lizard. Cat now says "moo"... not sure what happened there. He loves naming family members too (fortunately, none of them are called "moo").

We laugh at Jonathan's attempts to "jump" and "dance" and he has a new "happy dance" that we think he started after Daddy demonstrated a touchdown celebration dance... We have some video of these, and will try to upload them soon to share.

The fates must be determined for Jonathan to be musical becuase this Christmas included harmonicas, whistles, a piano, and a guitar. Of course, he got his fair share of educational toys as well as sports toys (basketball, baseball and football).

He is really starting to test boundaries and the rules, but overall he is very laidback. The worst days are when he doesn't sleep well (at night or at naptime) and then he just stays a little cranky all afternoon... that only happens a couple of times a week, so most days are really good. He's also entered a "anxiety" stage, so unless one of us or a grandparent are with him, he won't stay in Bible class or other places without us. We're hoping it won't last long, but we'll see...

Of course, Jonathan doesn't realize it yet, but he will be a big brother in July. We haven't talked about it a lot with him, but as Mommy's belly starts to grow, it will come up more regularly. We'll find out if we're having a boy or girl at the end of February.

October 2008 - 13 months

Last year at this time we were still wondering when we'd get to sleep more than 2 hours at a time and if Jonathan would ever quit nursing every 1 to 1 1/2 hours! What a difference a year makes!

He really is becoming quite a character - he does his tricks for pretty much anyone who asks and we get lots of smiles from other shoppers at the grocery store and Target (sometimes shopping takes twice as long by the time we stop and talk to all the grannies in the store... but it's sweet :)

Jonathan loves going to Bible class on Sundays and Wednesdays - he's even starting to "sing" a little with the teachers. He recently picked up the hand motions for "The wise man built his house upon the rock"... it started on day while I was changing him and the song was playing in the background - he started doing the "rain". The next day he heard the song again and did the "building" motions - it's become a necessity during diaper changes as he's in a bit of squirmy stage.

Jonathan also loves bath time! We now say the word and he runs toward the bathroom (we find ourselves spelling the word if it's not time so we don't up dissappointing him). He also has started signing the word "diaper" and going to his room when we ask if he needs changed. It cracks us up.

Halloween was fun - we just did the grandparent circuit since he doesn't really need the candy (and neither do we!). He loved his monkey suit and we just about got him to make a monkey sound (we say "ooh ooh ahh ahh" and he just does the "ahh ahh", but we know he knows what we're talking about).

Our toddler has become a bit more picky about what he eats and really doesn't want us to feed him. He tries to use a spoon or fork, but he usually ends up pushing the food around and then picking it up with his hands. Within a week of turning one he had 4 molars coming in at the same time - 2 are pretty much through and 2 are still just poking out, so maybe that's contributing to mounds of snot we've been wiping up and extra drooling...

It's been a good month and we just continue to love our little chunky monkey all the more!

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)