Jonah is not Skyler, Exhibit B

I just finished reading Go, Dog, Go to Jonah in its entirety - and it's a pretty long book!. He sat on my lap paying much attention the entire time. At that age, Skyler wouldn't have lasted past page 3. Jonah just seems to be interested in things moreso than Skyler was (and is). While Skyler enjoyed being read to when he was one, he wouldn't sit through anything other than short books.

Other news on the Jonah front:

He has started stringing words together to form simple sentences. For some reason, when he wants more he'll say "we" instead of more. He had his first haircut a few weeks ago, I just evened out the back and the front, nothing too extravagant. He loves to play with Skyler's baby doll. He'll be so very gentle with it and then just throw it down on the floor. It's hilarious. We'll try not to let him throw the real baby in a few months. He's currently feeding me bites of his cereal, which is a nice change of pace because usually he's wrestling me for my cereal.

Backyard Picnic

This afternoon we took our lunch outside for a picnic.  This was mainly because the boys refused to come inside, but the weather was nice too, I can't complain.  Skyler kept thanking me for letting us eat lunch outside and said that when it got warmer he wanted to do it a lot more.

Here they are driving back home.  After all, the picnic was on the "beach".

Valentine's Day

Skyler was very excited about Valentine's Day. He loved getting and giving valentines and eating things shaped like hearts. Skyler asked Jonah if he liked Valentine's Day. He said yeah, and then I asked if it was because he got to eat lots of cookies. He also responded yeah. If he likes holidays because of the treats, he'll love Easter!

We spent a week making lots of cookies and coloring lots of valentines. We delivered some to Jordan's work on Friday, something Skyler looked forward to all week. I think he was a bit let down by the actual day, but we had already done so much there wasn't a whole lot left!

Rock On!

We borrowed Guitar Hero World Tour from some friends and the boys all had a lot of fun with it (when they weren't arguing over who got to play drums - and yes, Jordan is included in that).  Skyler wanted to sing and specifically requested 'American woman, get away from me', a song he had heard Jordan and his friends playing the night before.  It took us a little while to unlock that song, but until then he favored us with some fabulous made up songs along with a lovely 'American Woman' and 'I Am a Child of God' medley.  Perfect for the sabbath, no?  As for Jonah, he loved sitting at the drums so he could "rock".

The first part of the video is a little funny looking because we lightened it up a bit, otherwise you could see nothing!

Pinewood Derby

Our ward's cubscout troop has a separate race for siblings and leaders who want to make a car (Jordan is a webelos leader).  Jordan simply can't pass up such an opportunity.  He and Skyler starting the planning phase and when they couldn't agree, Jordan just bought another car for Skyler to make. 

Nope, no video game addicts here.  Why do you ask?

The cars raced each other at the end and tied (for last).  Apparently Jordan is only so good at making pinewood derby cars. 

Skyler Said

Skyler and Jonah were playing together and I asked Jonah if he was having fun playing with Skyler. He nods and I ask him if Skyler is being too bossy. Skyler interrupts to say "no! Say no Jonah!"

"Shishies" and Choo-Choos

This week we went to the aquarium for the first time in a long time.  Jonah loved the fish so much, he called them "shishies" or something like that.  When we got to the big shark tank, he got right down on his belly to watch.  He was giggling and calling out "shishies" the whole time.  Skyler was slightly annoyed by all of this, since he tends to like to race through the aquarium as fast as he can.  He didn't appreciate the fact that Jonah just wanted to take it all in.  We went back on Saturday so Jordan could see Jonah's excitement for the fish before the fish became not so cool.  Then we went over to the Botanic Gardens, where the boys had lots of fun watching the model train.

If You Give a Boy Some Yogurt...

...he'll make a really big mess!

But he'll also hang out happily in his chair for a half an hour.  It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Apparently I'm Easy To Forget

The other night, Skyler's blanket that I made him was being washed, so he couldn't sleep with it.  He got very upset, because according to him that blanket reminds him that he loves me (did you catch that?  It doesn't remind him that I love him, but rather that he loves me).  I offered up the blanket that his Grandma Jolene made him, but that wouldn't do because apparently he doesn't forget that he loves her.  He needs the blanket that I made him otherwise he'll be mean and cranky because he forgets that he loves me.

18 Months Old

Except that yesterday, he turned 19 months.  Oh well, he looks the same now that he did a month ago.  He acts the same too for the most part.  He loves:

• books
  
• cars
• balls 
• helping mom and dad
• his blanket
• dogs (until they get too close) 
• throwing things

His vocabulary has grown quite a bit in the last month (or maybe my interpreting skills have improved?).  He says:

• Mom 
• Dad
• Look
• Watch
• Walk
• Stuck
• Uh-oh
• Jesus
• Sock
• Shoe
• Poo Poo (Skyler taught him this one)
• No
• Juice
• Yeah 
• Book
• Ball

In the animal sounds category we've got:

• Woof
• Neigh
• Moo
• Quack
• Ah-Ah (for what does a monkey say)

He's not much of a performer though, if you ask him to say or do something, usually he'll just say yes or no.

Upon reaching the age of 18 months, Jonah reaches one of his first church milestones - starting nursery.  This experience has been so much different that how it all went down with Skyler.  Skyler took a step in the door and never looked back.  Jonah does much looking back, and crying, and running for the door, and refusing to go in in the first place.  But the nursery leaders are great and don't bring him to me at the first sign of tears.  All in all, nursery is such a bittersweet experience for me.  It's nice to not have to roam the halls anymore (because my children aren't the type to just sit nicely in my class and play).  But, it's when I realize my baby isn't so much a baby anymore.  I actually kind of like it that Jonah cries a bit when I drop him off, it lets me know he still wants me around.  When Skyler started nursery I couldn't stand the fact that he didn't care that I was just leaving him somewhere for two hours!  And then there's also the fact that I'm not too fond of Sunday School and now my excuses are limited.

Jonah's Had Enough

The other day Skyler said, "I was just telling Jonah what to do and then he started crying!".  Well um, yeah, did you learn any lessons from this buddy?

Skyler has lately been saying how excited he is that Jonah is big enough to play with him.  He's always so much adored Jonah, but Jonah hasn't always felt the same.  Jordan says that my life will be easier when Jonah's talking a bit more and can interact more with Skyler.  I'm pretty sure that the first complete sentence out of Jonah's mouth will be "no, Skyler, go away and leave me alone!"  Even though he's the little brother, I just don't see Jonah letting Skyler boss him around!

2009

Here are a few things we are looking forward to in 2009

Twelve Paid Vacation Days for Jordan:  That's twice as many as he had this past year, and 12 times as many as in any previous year (well, not really since 12x0 is 0, but still).  We are excited just thinking about the possibilities, we could take a vacation that doesn't involve visiting family!!

A New (or rather additional) Job for Me:  I'm still doing tutoring for Educate Online (which is more or less Sylvan's parent company, I'm sure you've heard of them!) and in the past few weeks got a promotion of sorts to some more behind the scenes position where I'll be writing out goals for the students while they are participating in the program.  It's they type of thing I've wanted to do ever since I started with them, so I'm excited.

A Kindergartener: Assuming all goes well, Skyler will start kindergarten in August.  It's a toss up as to who is more excited, him or me.

A Potty-Trained Two Year Old: Skyler was potty-trained by the time he was 2 1/2, and Jonah is already loving sitting on the toilet, so it's a start.

A New Baby: Baby #3 is due on June 2. We're excited and keeping our fingers crossed for a little girl.

Merry Christmas

We took a quick trip down to Jordan's parent's house for Christmas.  Jordan's sister was there with her family, so that meant lots of kids and lots of excitement.

Here's another try at the two boys wearing matching clothing picture:

 

And here's a picture of all the cousins who were there:

 

Loving Grandma

Jonah loved everyone else's gifts from Santa

But wasn't too thrilled by his own.

Santa also left some animal crackers for Jonah, so all was good in his world in the end.

 

Skyler had all the perfect reactions.  Lots of "that's just what I wanted!" and "It's what I asked for!" And even an "I can get it wet and don't have to wind it!"

  

Don't you just love Super Jesse, the Amazing High Jumping Baby in that last picture? 

We proclaim Christmas 2008 a success and hope you all had a wonderful and special day as well!

Christmas Ties

I bought these shirts for the boys last month.  They were on clearance, the sizes were right, and they had red in them, which means they would make great Christmas shirts.  Jonah already had a navy blazer, so I found one for Skyler.  All that was left was the ties.  I wanted solid red, how hard should that be, being it Christmastime and all?  I found plaid ones and dotted ones, but no solid red, so I decided to settle for the plaid ones I had seen at Target.  Except that when I went back to get them, they were no longer there.  Kohl's had one solid red tie (one being the key word there, not so useful when I have two children), but since time was running out, I settled on these festive ties (which I let Skyler choose).  But when Sunday morning rolled around, I wondered why I put so much effort into finding ties - Skyler woke up sick and didn't go to church.  Oh, the irony.  I was ready to pack them up for next year (when I'm fairly certain that solid red ties will be all the rage) but Skyler wanted to wear his to church on the Sunday after Christmas.  So, better late than never, right?

And, um, the best part of having two boys in matching clothes is taking a cute picture of them together.  Neither boy cooperated for that one. 

Thumbs Up!

I was looking through pictures on the computer and when I came across these ones, I realized that I haven't ever written about the boys' mealtime activity.

A few months ago, when Skyler started being a little less picky about what he ate, he started simply giving things a thumbs up or a thumbs down to indicate if he like them or not.  So Jonah picked up on this.  But, as you can see from the pictures, we're still working on the whole thumbs up part of the thumbs up. 

 Skyler still always does this too, but it's much cuter when Jonah does it.

Jonah is not Skyler: Exhibit A

I love how different the kids are.  Here are some pictures of Jonah watching his favorite DVD.  Jonah will sit and watch something, Skyler never has and currently won't sit longer than maybe 20 minutes for any type of show.  He claims that anything else is too long.  But the look on their faces is so different.  Jonah is always just so intent on catching all the action and will sit in one spot until he's done watching (which at this point, is maybe 15 minutes).  Skyler will barely keep his eyes on the TV and get up several times to do other things.