a date with the hubs

dave and i went on a date tonight. an actual date. no baby.

i have to say it was a little bit weird.

i kept feeling like i was forgetting something. where's the diaper bag? did you pack a bottle? what do we look at while we sit in the lobby and wait for our table? why aren't strangers talking to us?

it was really, really nice. we should do this more often.

our first stop was out to buy a new computer. (can i just say a little bitty 'woo hoo' for that right here). i've been doing all of my picture stuff on our laptop, which is totally bogged down and sa-low, and some on my work laptop (naughty - i know). and i have to say i think i haven't been marketing myself and my photography biz because i'm afraid i won't be able to handle the workload on our old dumper. and our old pc... don't even talk to me about that! that thing can't even handle typing a letter let alone photo editing. i think it's about 9 years old actually. in the world of computers isn't that like an edsel or something? if you don't even know what that is that just made my example even better.

anyway we found this really sweet deal on a pc at tiger direct and since i have a wedding this weekend that would cover the whole thing we decided to jump on it. so a new computer. yeah! i can't wait to get her all set up.

after our shopping excursion we headed over to chevy's for some mexican food. we had a coupon for 50% off... who could resist. we pulled into the parking lot and what's this? the building is all dark. and huh? the sign is all painted over and by hand someone wrote 'closed'. oh! sad!

so we headed back across town to the og. yes it's true... i'm addicted to ravioli di portobello. we had a nice quiet dinner, well our table was quiet at least. somehow even without jonah we still ended up in the kids room. oh well. it was super cool to get to have a full dinner-length conversation with hubby.

thanks molly & nikki for babysitting! stick it alpaca! (in a nice way)

basketball shoop

ah, memories. my fisher price basketball hoop, or as some like to pronounce it, "basketball shoop". i've had this hoop since i was a kid. i like to think it's what inspired my passion for the sport that i played "professionally" for 8 years. ok, so it was just junior high and high school, but man, did i love it! i remember summer days spent at the park by my house playing pick up games, basketball camp with my friends, bus trips to away games. good times.

and now jonah's getting the hang of it. he's had a love for eating the basketballs since the day i brought the shoop out of the closet. well today he finally figured it out. there's no stopping him now! yes, the balls go in the hoop, buster.

I can "say cheese"

At dinner tonight I asked Jonah if he wanted cheese and showed him the sign. You put your two flat hands palms together and act like you're squishing something by twisting your hands back and forth together. Jonah did his own modified version, but cheese nonetheless.

Later when I was holding Jonah and walking around our kitchen looking through our pantry trying to figure out what to make for me and Dave for dinner I was just kind of talking out loud to myself... "manwich, white shells and cheese, veggies" I said outloud. Then I noticed Jonah mashing his hands together... "Cheese!" Do I say this every time... he's so smart!

This pic was from June, but I love the cheese factor...

Signing time: sleep

Jonah just started signing "sleep" when he's tired. When he starts getting that sleepy look to him, we just ask him if he's tired and if he wants to go to sleep and he runs his hand open-palm down the side of his face. That was crazy to not have to sign it first and have him imitate us, but for him to just do the sign when we said the word "tired"! He did it for the first time with daddy yesterday for nap time.

Jonah's 1st step!

Jonah and daddy were home together yesterday while I went to Brianna and Andrew's wedding shower. Dave told me while I was driving home that Jonah was holding onto our dining room table and when Dave held out his hands for Jonah to come to him, Jonah let go of the table, took one step and then took one more step to grab Dave's hands!

Blowing on his food... another first

Jonah had veggie corn dogs for lunch today. I heated them up and then after I cut them I blew on them. When I handed them Jonah boy he picked one up and blew on it. Only instead of just blowing air silently, he kept his lips tighter together so he was making that spitting noise that's hard to describe. Then for one he was eating later he stopped to blow on it, only he blew air out of his nose... yummy!

father & son

one of my favorite things in the whole world is seeing the love between a father and a son...



playing with daddy...

It's Signing Time with Jonah and Momma!

After lots of research and recommendations from other parents, Dave and I decided to teach Jonah sign language. They say it helps kids communicate before they can talk, which reduces their frustration level "virtually eliminating the terrible two's". So we figured it was worth a shot.

Not only is it helping Jonah communicate with us already (he did his first sign at about 10 months), but it's also a lot of fun seeing him learn all these new tricks! Now that he's getting the hang of it, it seems like he's picking up a new word almost every day. You can tell it's really starting to sink in that different motions actually mean something. And as his fine motor skills improve he's able to do even more signs.

By the recommendation of my good friend from our mom's group we got these DVD's called "Signing Time". They're great! The host is this really cute mom named Rachel. And her daughter Leah and Leah's cousin Alex help show the signs. Now as soon as we start singing the theme song, "It's signing time with Alex and Leah" Jonah gets a huge grin on his face, looks toward the TV and starts bouncing. It's way cute!

We usually watch one DVD a day. For the first week or so Jonah just watched and smiled and bounced when they'd play a song and I would try to help him make the signs. Then I was totally surprised when a week or so after we got the videos he started making the sign for ball along with the video all on his own. What a proud mom moment that was!

Now he knows everyone's favorite - more! Make your two hands look like duck beaks and make them kiss in front of you. That's more. This one has to be the easiest to teach because there's such an immediate reward... food! Jonah hasn't quite mastered putting all of his fingers together. It's more of a clapping motion, but it's at least closer than just smacking his tray like he used to do.

He picked up the sign for milk pretty quickly too. Picture the motion of squeezing an utter milking a cow. I think that one wasn't too hard since he knew how to wave. It's just like waving but with your hand turned sideways. Since he hasn't picked up the sign for drink or cup we just let him use the sign for milk for any drink, whether it's a bottle or a cup with water or juice. Handy!

Another helpful sign has been All Done. We have him shake his hands in the air. It's already helped a lot. Instead of getting frustrated and trying to hit the spoon out of our hand or turning his head and whining he can just make this sign. We usually have to ask him if he's all done and remind him how to do it, but if he is done he does it right away.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a sign, but he's very good at "so big". And today he picked up "Sleep". He was acting a little cranky and I asked him if he wanted to take a nap and I made the sign for sleep (you move your open hand down over the front of your face and then close your fingers under your chin). He started moving his hand down over his face. I'm not sure if he knew exactly what I meant, that I was going to take him up and put him in his bed, but he mimicked me like a little monkey and acted so proud.

He thinks the sign for bird is very hilarious. You make a bird beak in front of your mouth with your forefinger and thumb and make it chirp. Actually he thinks a lot of signs are funny. Tonight before his bath we were singing and signing in the bathroom mirror. One of the songs from the videos is called "proud to be me" I think. The lyrics are "I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm proud to be me, yeah!" and the same thing for a girl. And you sign boy or girl along with it. I was standing in front of the mirror and I had Jonah sitting on my hip. I'd point to his tummy and then do the sign for boy on his forehead (it's like you're grabbing the brim of a hat) while singing the song and bouncing side to side. He was laughing and screaming with glee. I live for these moments!

Here's a video of Jonah watching the opening theme song of "Signing Time". You can just see it in his face how much he loves it. He cracks me up!

"Are you seeing this, momma!?"

The Night Watchman

As Dave and I headed for bed last night I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when Dave came in and said, "Jonah has a guardian. You have to see this." That actually freaked me out at first and I made Dave assure me that it was a good thing I was going to see.

We both slowly tiptoed into Jonah's room, letting our eyes adjust to the darkness. As I approached Jonah's crib I could see something poking up above the bumper pad. When my eyes were finally able to decipher what I was seeing by the glow of the night light I almost fell onto the ground. I had to throw my hand over my mouth to keep from bursting out laughing so as to not wake our sweet little sleeper.

What I saw left me laughing for a good 5 minutes and still brings a huge smile to my face. Winnie the Pooh was sitting up at the center front of Jonah's crib facing out looking out toward the door over the bumper pad. Wait, that's not even the best part... Then Jonah was lying on his side with his back facing Winnie's back. It was as if Jonah sat Winnie up to keep an eye out for him. "You got my back, buddy? Alright, you take the first shift and I'll get the next one." I don't have any idea #1 how he got Winnie to sit up and #2 how he managed to face him out toward the front of the crib. All I know is I had to stumble out of the room trying not to pee my pants when I saw it. That's how funny I thought this was!

I wish I would have been able to take a picture, but I'm sure the flash would have startled Jonah and that also would have meant that Winnie wasn't doing a very good job guarding his little friend.

Jonah, you are one funny bundle!(photo is a reenactment for illustrative purposes only)

Blowin' kisses and standing

Yesterday Jonah learned a new trick... blowing kisses! It was soooo cute. He was sort of doing something close to blowing kisses at church on Sunday morning, but he had his finger in his mouth and just whipped his hand out. When we got online to video chat with Nana and Papa he actually put his whole hand (finger extended) up to his mouth and then flung it out. He did it a few times and again later upon request.

Earlier in the day Jonah was standing at the couch and managed to turn himself around so that he was facing outward and not holding on. I even called Dave into the room to check him out. Well he must have been pretty distracted by the letter 'Y' that he was holding and chewing on because he leaned forward for a few seconds so that he wasn't leaning against the couch. He probably would have gone longer, but I thought he was going to fall forward so I sort of jumped down and put my hand out in front of him. He's been more and more brave lately letting go of one thing to grab onto another. Not for too long, but long enough to not be holding onto anything for a second. He's still pretty timid about walking though. I try to hold him out in front of me and then let go and he usually sits down right away. He'll get it when he's ready. =)

Jonah's cousin Kylee - Future Super Star!

You are my sunshine!


Twinkle twinkle baby!


Aunt Molly being silly with Jonah & Kylee