I've had at least a dozen blog post topics swirling in my head for a month or two, but I have yet to make it to the computer.
I don't keep a journal on these little guys, although I wish I would/could. You see I love everything about journals, especially the really pretty leather bound ones and recording memories...but just check my book shelf, I will write in them for the first few pages, but the rest of the book is, sadly, blank...When we went through mom and dad's home I found journal after journal of mom's. I would get so excited to read something she wrote, almost like having a brand new conversation with her. But just like her daughter, the first few pages are beautifully written, but the rest is blank. It made me giggle, so at least I know where my love and short attention span on writing comes from! I am excited and surprised that I have kept up with this site as long as I have and intend to just print this and let it be the journal to the boys!
So I will attempt to update this site with all the happenings from the past few months, there are so many to share!! But first I will start with updates on each of my boys...starting with Jonathan!!!
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| I just love this little boy! He has got his Buzz Umbrella, his train engineer hat and his Great Grandpa Pickett's boots on (the wrong feet, of course!)! A few of his favorite "around the house" apparel! |
Jonathan started the 3 year old Pre-School class in September and without sounding too dramatic, it has been the most important 3 months of his life. I was warned about a few things heading into this year from other mothers. 1) they really push the kids to be more independent. 2) no nap time during class. 3) the kids are really 'into each other', as in, they talk about boyfriend/girlfriend or marriage...etc. 4) they really push that the kids be potty trained by Christmas (which we weren't even close in Sept).
In response to the first 3, I simply said, he is ONLY 3, he is too young for all of that.
So the first month or so was extremely difficult, well for all 4 of us. The no napping thing was really hard. Jonathan had already started naturally weening himself from napping over the summer, but would still nap 3 or 4 days out of the week. Now that he was in school 3 days of the week, it seemed pointless to try to get him to nap on the other days. It was taking more time and energy just to get him in bed and he wouldn't even sleep. So I finally threw in the towel! No more naps! :(
It didn't help that at the same time Ben started randomly refusing naps too...needless to say that was a rough period of time. LONG days with no breaks what-so-ever, and with two cranky boys in the early evening...I lived for their bed time. Ben still didn't sleep through the night either, but at least I had some down time for an hour or so around 8:00.
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| Passed out! For the FIRST TIME EVER! I am serious. It kinda scared me. I thought something was wrong with him. His back was to me and was nursing Ben, then I put Ben down in his room, came back in the den and was talking away to Jonathan and he wasn't responding...so I went around and saw that he was sleeping! I could not believe it! So of course, I had to take a picture! He has done this a handful of times since. Every time he wakes up, I'll ask him how his nap was and he'll be like "I DIDN'T NAP!!!" |
The "making the kids more independent" part was more difficult for me than it was for Jonathan. It's not how it sounds though, it just seemed a little much in the beginning for me. The teachers explained that they were simultaneously getting the kids AND the parents ready for kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, I was all for him being more independent! Especially now with Ben, it is harder for me to juggle the little things that Jonathan needed help with and now in 3 short months he is so self sufficient, and everyday he is doing more on his own.
I was used to getting 'daily report cards', telling me how he acted, what he ate, how many times he went to the bathroom...etc. But no report cards anymore. Or, I would be able to have a quick chat with the teachers about the day, nope didn't have that either. Jonathan didn't really help either. I would beg him to tell me about his day and he would simply say, "I p-wayed" (played). I was not used to being so in the dark about the him. Thankfully as time progressed, that got easier for me to deal with and Jonathan got better about giving me some sort of info about his day! I have to hand it to his teachers, they do know what they are doing. It was a rough transition, but Jonathan and I have both grown because of it!
On that note, I have some really big news...Jonathan is Potty Trained! Dec 4th was the magical day, it was like a switch went off in his head and he wanted diapers NO MORE! For the last year or so I have asked him every day if he wants to go potty in the toilet or wear underwear. But the answer was always, "I'm not ready, not just yet". So you can imagine our surprise and delight when I asked my standard morning questions and his answer was, "yes, I'll wear underwear and go in the potty". Just a few accidents, but we haven't turned back!! I'm so proud of my big boy! Thank you to all the mom's who told me to just sit tight and be patient, you were right.
((I don't have a picture of him on the potty, and if I did, I wouldn't put it on here. Your welcome Jonathan.)) :)
Another discovery this semester, my sweet little boy is a "ladies man". He has had about 5 "girlfriends" in 3 short months. His main squeeze is Lily. We have known Lily for a couple years now, she is the daughter of my friend, Becky. Lily and Jonathan were in the Toddler class together a couple years ago, but not last year in the 2's class, she was in the 3 day a week class and he was in the 2 day class. So they were reunited this year and have been attached, for the most part, ever since.
So everyday when I picked him up from school I would hear, "I p-wayed...with Wiwy". I would ask, did you play with anyone else, and he would say, "No just my Wiwy". That is all I would get and then finally, one day, the teacher stopped me to tell me some pretty cute stories...
Apparently he has some "moves" that we have no idea where he got them from! On the play ground he and Lily walk around, he has his arm around her shoulders, and he will stop to pick a flower (weed) and give it to her. She will smile sheepishly. They hold hands when they are in class.
The best story yet is one week Lily was out sick all 3 days, this is when all the other girls made their move on Jonathan. One little girl told her mom that she was going to marry Jonathan!! I heard various other stories of his new little girlfriends that week, it was hilarious! I asked him, "what about Lily?" and he replied quite simply, "um, she's sick".
But the best part of the story is when Lily came back...according to both teachers, who ran to tell me when I came to pick him up that day. They told me it was one of the sweetest things they had seen!! They said Jonathan went running up to Lily when she arrived and he could see she was trying to remove her jacket, so moved behind her and assisted her in taking her jacket off! In one arm he draped her jacket and in the other, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He escorted her to her locker, hung up her jacket, then turned and gave her a BIG hug! She replied, "OH, thank you Jonathan!" - Oh Goodness Me!! Who is this kid and were did he learn that? Ha! Of course I'm kidding! He learned it from his daddy!! I just think its the sweetest though. But I think some of it has to be natural and I hope it stays and he treats all the women in his life with that gentle respect! He is my sweetie!
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| Jonathan and his main squeeze Lily...she's trying to steal a kiss and he's playing it cool. |
It is amusing to me that this time last year I was really concerned about his language development. He had probably 300-400 words. Which wasn't bad, but compared to the boys in his class, he was a few hundred behind...but this year is a different story! He has about 30,000-40,000 words and uses ALL of them, multiple times a day!!! His favorite word by far, as is for most 3 year old I'm sure, is "WHY?" that word alone I will hear about a bazillion times in one day! We love his inquisitiveness, but come on!! What gets me is when he will ask something...
J: "can you put my water on the counter?"
Me: "sure buddy"
J: "why?"
Me: "why what?"
J: "why did you put my water there?"
Me: "you asked me to...???"
J: "why?"
Me, exploding: WHY WHAT???
All kidding aside, I actually LOVE having conversations with him! I love the way he thinks, his imagination, and his tender hearted nature. He can be very expressive with his hands and that alone just cracks me up! He talks with his hands right by his face! Which I've really never seen anyone do before, so it just makes it funnier!
He has quite an imagination! The day Ben came home from the hospital Jonathan declared that "Monster" is with us. To be clear, his name is Monster and he is a monster. But he is a nice monster. He is brown with orange spots and he has a long tail. At first Michael and I were a little concerned that monster was in some way in relation to Ben, but as time moved on, we realized he is good. Then over the past few months another friend came to be with us, Mouse. Again, his name is Mouse and he is a mouse. And mouse is just plain silly. We have encouraged him to name them something else, but J doesn't quite grasp that yet. He looks at us like we're crazy!! Ha!
Other fun things that Jonathan says:
"ma-ne a-morrow" = maybe tomorrow. That is his answer for things he doesn't want to do right then.
"let's p-way on the compu-per" - that one is obvious! And he already knows his way around my iPhone & iPad! My Dad would have love to see him in action!
"I haven't done that in a couple hours" = means he hasn't done it in a while and wants to, I just think its cute that he says "a couple"
"$22 dollars!" = not sure where this amount came from, but that's the usual amount that he will bring up when we talk about spending money. He spins it either way, "what??? You spent $22??" or "come on momma, it's only $22!!"
"I need to tell you somfin" or "I need to ask you somfin" = I need to tell you something or I need to ask you something...It usually includes pulling you close and whispering in your ear! It is just one of those things that just melts Michael's and my heart!
"ruby" = movie
"I miss you" = I love you
"I stand you or I can't stand you" = I UNDERstand you or I can't UNDERstand you! That one didn't go over well the first time he said it! Ha!
"We need to say our pray" = We need to say our prayer! He is in charge of this at dinner time. He is usually at the table waiting on us as we are still gathering drinks, silverware, etc and he waits, rather impatiently..."WE NEED TO SAY OUR PRAY!!!" Makes me smile every time!
"I don't need pants and I don't need money!!!!" - Which included him taking off his pants and throwing them on the floor! Okay only happened once, but Michael and I laughed all evening and bring it up as often as we can!
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| On the Compu-per at the library. |
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| At his favorite part of the museum (Fort Science and History) with his favorite person, daddy! It's a wind tunnel that you put paper cups or airplanes up and watch them fly! |
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| He is a BIG helper! Almost can't do anything without his "help"! :) We are making fresh Lemonade. |
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| Watching the washing machine, he curious about everything! Also, he had to "help" load the clothes! |
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| He has such focus and determination! |
