Bradford Beach

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take Jonah to one of the beaches here in town to help distract us from the fact that Ben was away on a business trip. I'd never really been to the beach here myself (other than biking or walking by on the street), and we had some beautiful weather, so I figured it would be a nice diversion. Given Jonah's distaste for the water at Cape Cod last summer, I wasn't really certain how he would handle the trip, so I was prepared for anything.

We arrived mid-morning and started by putting out the towel and playing in the sand. Jonah didn’t want anything to do with the water initially, though he did take some interest when I told him we would need some water if he wanted to build the “castle” he was talking about (I'm not quite sure where he learned the notion of a sand castle!). So we carried some buckets of water back and forth to wet some sand to put into the bucket to make a castle (it sure was a good thing I remembered some of these types of toys!), and each time we went to get water, we walked out into it a bit, at least getting our toes wet. His engineering skills require a bit of refinement, however, as he didn't understand that the dry sand wasn't going to be a particularly good building material, and he was more of a destroyer than a builder.

Pouring sand in the sieve to see what we could find.

Look at me!

After playing in the sand for a while, we took some time to read a few books that I’d brought along (I knew he would enjoy simply sitting outside and reading some of his favorite books), and then we spent some time simply people watching. We had the opportunity to watch kayaks and canoes put into the water and we saw some sailboats further out. There were also plenty of people running by and birds and ducks to watch on the water and in the sand. 

After  a bit we walked back down to the water and Jonah showed some interest in getting wet. I asked if he wanted to put on his swim trunks and he said yes. While changing him, he asked about a swim diaper, which I had planned to skip, thinking it unlikely he was actually going to go into the water far enough to warrant the special diaper. Needless to say, I didn't skip the swim diaper after he asked.

We went back out to the water and he enjoyed walking into it, especially the drop off below the water where the ground changed from sand to stone – far enough in that it was good to have the swim diaper on! We walked up and down the beach and talked to various people – he was fascinated by the hole one family had dug at the edge of the water so that it filled every time the waves came in - and we walked into and out of the water for a while.

Testing the water.

Making my "mark" in the sand.

Eventually, I showed Jonah how we could write in the sand and the waves would erase things, and he started "writing" in the sand too. He constantly asked me to write the letter “W," which seems to be his favorite letter for some reason.

All in all, it was a fun and exciting morning. I'm sure we'll go back on another nice day. It was nice to see that he's grown a bit more comfortable with the water and waves. Ben and I had been talking about the possibility of taking Jonah out in a canoe on the river downtown and Jonah definitely expressed interest in the canoes that we saw this day. Time for an adventure of another kind!

In the Kitchen

Spreading out the pizza dough.

Jonah has been taking more and more interest in our activities in the kitchen. While he can be happily be playing with his trains in the living room, he tends to come running into the kitchen at the first hint of any activities that might be going on. He insists on getting up to see what is going on on the counter top, which can make it difficult to get any of the cooking done.

Spreading out the dough.

Hey - someone has to make sure the sauce passes inspection.

Most of the time, we are able to accommodate his interest by allowing him to sit on the counter and "help" as appropriate (this does not work well if the preparation requires a lot of knife work or if there are many ingredients competing for space on the counter); occasionally we will also allow him to stand on a chair to watch or assist. Increasingly, we try to find ways to encourage his interest and allow him to help us out by practicing counting and pouring, learning ingredient names, stirring, and the like.

He LOVED licking the beaters when we made cupcakes for day care for his birthday last month. He will often snag foods from the cutting board that he refuses to later eat from his plate (vegetables, for example). And he was fascinated watching the zucchini shred in the food processor yesterday. Of course, this can get very messy, and it can also be a bit time-consuming, but it can also be fun and rewarding and I hope that we can raise a child who is comfortable in the kitchen and who enjoys cooking as much as we do.

While the grandparents were visiting for his birthday, we made pizza one night. Jonah had helped prepare pizza before, but he was particularly interested in becoming involved this night, and we had two pizzas to make instead of the usual one. Needless to say, we were in for double the trouble!

Normally, Jonah isn't too intent on eating the ingredients for the pizza (other than the shredded cheese, which is how he now prefers to eat his cheese), but he wanted to try everything from the get-go this time around. For the first time, as we spread out the pizza dough, he ripped off pieces to eat (we kept this to a minimum!), and he sampled the sauce as well. And then came the toppings - once that shredded cheese came out, we had difficulty keeping his hands off the pizza. At one point, he grabbed a big handful out of the middle of the pie! He tried the pepperoni, as he usually does, but spit it out (as usual). The red peppers were okay. Black olives - not interested in those either.

Sampling the toppings.

By the time we were finished getting the two pizzas ready, Jonah was covered in sauce and everything else. What a mess! The pizza still tasted great, and fortunately there's Oxiclean. And we had some great laughs and made some great memories!

Check me out - I'm still stuffing food in my face!

Am I in trouble yet???

Fiery Fourth

The Fourth of July was a hot one. As with last year, we opted to watch the parade in Wauwatosa, which runs for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time, mostly because everything is so spaced out. To add to the length of time, you need to get set up really early to get a good spot to watch. We are fortunate that a former colleague of mine gets there about a quarter to six for a 9 am parade start. I got over there to sit with him about 7:30. The location is really a prime spot right near where to Tosa Fire Department raises a huge flag on one of their ladder trucks.

Extending the ladder to get it ready to raise the flag.

Nothing like a good dark wool suit in 90+ degrees in the hot July sun. I guess firefighters are used to the heat.

Waiting for the parade to start.

The flag, raised.

Watching the parade with Mommy!

"Yay!"

I think Jonah's favorite part was the fire trucks, which was early in the parade. We checked out the ladder truck and the ambulance with it prior to the start of the parade. He did enjoy the other cars and danced to some of the marching bands. Overall it was a good time despite the heat.

More pictures from the parade are available in our July album.

I remember when rock was young / Me and Jonah had so much fun

Our neighborhood association sponsors several concerts in the park over the course of the summer, with a range of musical performances, free ice cream, and other food available for purchase. While we didn't always attend these, it's become a nice event to go to as a family and it gives us an opportunity to catch up with some of our neighbors, many of whom Jonah has come to know and enjoy as well.

We took Jonah to a couple of the concerts last year, but his interest largely focused on pushing around a dump truck or some such toy that we would bring along. This year, he is much more interested in rocking to the music and checking out the musicians themselves. Last Thursday's concert featured dueling pianos (keyboards in this case), and a lot of recognizable music. Jonah had no issues walking up close to the stage to dance and was even called out by one of the musicians. Here you can see him getting into it a bit (Elton John's Crocodile Rock):

After dancing and studying the musicians for a while, the call of the playground was just too much. He's still working to master the other stairs to the top (they don't have railings in all places), but Jonah has been very interested in using the side stairs that provide more direct access to the slides. In the past, we've helped him up these and provided a lot of supervision as he goes up, but I don't think that's really necessary any more, as you can see in this video from last week. Getting up that first step is the biggest challenge!

Two-Year Old Stats

Jonah went in for his 2-year old check-up with Dr. Timm on July 3. We were just as shocked as the doctor was at what a good patient he was. The doctor examined him and Jonah let him look in his eyes, ears, mouth nose, etc. and check all of his other body parts without complaint. I don't know if we simply caught him in a cooperative mood or if the "practice" we had done with his new doctor kit had helped orient him to what to expect. Either way, it was a welcome departure from previous visits when each of us had to hold Jonah's extremities so that the doctor could examine him.

Jonah even did really well with the blood test and one shot that he was due for. We were talking about his cars and trains while the nurse drew blood so he didn't react at all, and when he got his shot in the leg, he let out one "wah," and that was it. What a big little boy we have!

Jonah continues to be on the smaller end of the growth charts, measuring in at 33" (up 1 1/4" inches) and 23 pounds 12 ounces (up from 22 lbs.), both at the 10th percentile. What he lacks in size he makes up for in brains - the doctor said he passed many of the things he looks for in three-year olds (though he didn't elaborate).

Where he does stand developmentally and his current favorites:

• He has an impressive vocabulary and a memory like a steel trap.
• He loves to read books, play with his cars and trains, climb up on things, and ride his Cozy Coupe up and down the street. He is fascinated by bridges, trains, and construction vehicles - typical "boy" stuff. He also loves to be outside as much as possible.
• He appears to be right-handed, favoring it for eating and artistic projects (when he chooses to use silverware).
• He does his best to go up/down stairs on his own and is very good about using railings, when they are available. We feel if he were just a bit taller, he'd have no issues with most stairs we encounter.
• Biting and hitting still tend to be issues, particularly with Mommy and Daddy. Usually this occurs when we take too long to respond to a particular demand, but they also show up at unpredictable times, when we are expecting affection and instead get smacked in the face.
• He likes to be in on the action - if Mommy and Daddy are cooking in the kitchen, he wants to sit on the counter and see what is going on. Same if one of us goes upstairs or to the basement.
• He knows all of his colors and shapes and can count to about 14. He knows major portions of the ABC song (the middle is still a huge jumble), and he can identify roughly 1/2 of the letters of the alphabet (J, O, N, A, H, P, W, M, Z, D, B, K, L, T) on a pretty consistent basis.
• He runs and walks on his tiptoes, but has not yet mastered jumping.
• He's very opinionated and sometimes does not even know his own opinion. This leads to a lot of confusion for Mommy and Daddy, and many more tears and tantrums than we might wish.

What a sweet, lovable boy we have! Hopefully we won't have to see Dr. Timm for another year (at least not for Jonah).

Book Worm

I was going to do a post on the Fourth of July, but realized some pics still needed to be uploaded, so I'm opting to do a quick post on something that was really striking today.

With more frequency lately, we are finding Jonah has a pulled a book off the shelf next to his crib to look at in the mornings before we go in to get him. We open the door, and he is sitting there quietly paging through the book. This morning he had Corduroy.

He was early in the book, and Michelle asked him what was happening. He said "Bear sad!" (When Lisa's mom tells her she cannot have Corduroy and they walk away). Then he turned the page and we continued to ask him what was happening in the story.

"Corduroy lost button!" (not prompted)
What did he end up on? "Escalator!"
What is he doing here? "Found button on mattress. Pick it up!"
What happened when he pulled the button? "He fell."
What happened here? "Knocked over the street lamp!" (It is actually a floor lamp)
He had a little trouble coming up with what to call the watchman.

Every once in a while he missed a page as he was turning. At this point, he ended up on the last page and said "Hug!"

Maybe it shouldn't seem as magical as it does, but it sure does feel nice to know that he is, in fact, following along with the stories when we read them, and that he is able to follow the story on his own when he is flipping through a book and that he isn't just looking at the pictures.

Along with reading when we get him up in the mornings or from a nap, Jonah likes to read when we are changing him. Here are a couple pics of that:

Getting a leg up on his reading.

Thought this one might be of particular interest to Grandpa G.

The Birthday Boy!

It's been another crazy couple of weeks and I've gotten behind with the blogging. Ben was traveling for work and I was pretty wiped from dealing with an intensely opinionated 2-year old (who might that be?) so didn't have the energy to start a blog post at 9:30 in the evening. Hopefully we can catch up a bit again this week before I'm the one who turns the table and heads out of town for a few days.

Jonah started his birthday day off by opening a few presents from us. We knew he would have plenty of them to open at his party on Saturday and that would be a lot for him to get through and focus on. Plus, it just seemed like he ought to have at least something to open on his actual birthday.  He'd received his main gift - an Imaginarium train table - a few weeks prior, as we'd found it at a garage sale and there really was no way to hide it from him. But we still had a few things for him to open, and boy did it take some convincing to get him to take any interest!

You mean I pull on the paper, like this??

He had some Little Mr. and Little Miss books to open, as well as a Lorax quilt that I made from some panels available from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. He passed over the books pretty quickly (but has since given them a fair amount of interest), but took great interest in the Lorax quilt, even climbing on the table to get up close and personal with it (we indulged the birthday boy):

Whoa - what is this - Lorax?????

It's soft and cuddly!

Cool - there's more on the front of the quilt!!!

I'm going to play on this right away!

I had to leave for a quick appointment with the eye doctor, but Grammy Sweets took Jonah to see the construction equipment and work going on over on 67th Street. We'd stopped by to check it out the day prior, but nothing much was going on that day. On Jonah's birthday, there was plenty of activity and he was thrilled to have seen it all. 

From there, we headed to the Milwaukee Public Museum to see the butterfly exhibit, some of the other displays, and a movie about the sun and moon in the Planetarium. Jonah did really well during the movie and the presentation before it that talked about the stars that are visible in the Wisconsin sky this time of year. It was really funny when he realized that there was an "E" on one wall (to indicate East) and yelled out "M" (he tends to get them confused). Moments later, he realized there was a "W" on the opposite wall and had to yell that out too ("W" is his favorite letter, other than perhaps "J").

Look at that butterfly on Grammy's purse! (It later landed on my arm and didn't want to leave.)

The remainder of the day included a nap, reading, painting with his watercolors, and video chatting with his cousins, amongst other activities.

Video chatting with Alex and Grant!

The day concluded by watching the Dr. Seuss video Gerald McBoing Boing (or has he says, Bang Bang) until Grandma and Grandpa Gregg arrived from Ohio. We don't watch it often, so it was a real treat, and it always gets some laughs from Jonah.

Grandma Gregg got the honors of reading and putting him to bed! Happy second birthday, my precious little bear!

The Zoo at Two

The Friday after Jonah's birthday, Jonah had Grandma and Grandpa Gregg and Grammy Sweets in towns so we decided to take a trip to the zoo. While we were waiting at the gate to enter the zoo, Jonah randomly said "Money in the hole!" We could not figure out what he was talking about, but he kept saying it, so we were pretty sure we understood him correctly, but we could not figure out why he was saying it until we got into the zoo entrance.

The last time Jonah and I went to the zoo, I let him put a couple coins in the coin tub where the coins spin around until they get to the hole in the center. Jonah remembered this outside the zoo and wanted to put coins in it. Grammy Sweets had some coins and was able to indulge him.

Jonah's sunscreen makes for a pasty looking Jonah.

Watching "Money in the hole!" with Grammy Sweets.

We got to see lots of animals and Jonah rode the ponies and the train. He even contributed to pulling the wagon around for a bit!

Jonah actually went over to the baby gorilla statue on this trip. He hasn't done that in a while.

No... this is not Jonah. 

Today was a good day for a pony ride.

I think this was the first time ever that I saw the badger out. "Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!"

This baby Bactrian camel was 77 pounds when she was born on May 4!

The alpacas were looking cute (and well shorn!).

"Rawwwwwwwrrrrr!"

The lion cubs turn one year old later this month and aren't looking much like cubs any more!

"Whatchyu lookin' at?"

Sitting in the "caboose" after a train ride around the zoo.

Jonah pulled his weight at the zoo on this trip.

The flamingos are out again!

More pics from our little zoo trip are in our family album.

Birthday Pie!

Was it really a week ago already that Jonah turned 2? It is far too easy to get behind on posts when family is in town and work keeps thing busy after hours.

One week ago today, Jonah turned 2, and because we didn't want to make too much cake before his birthday party on Saturday, Michelle made up a peach pie with some of the peach pie in a jar that we made the week before. After dinner, we cut Jonah a little slice, put a candle in it for him to blow out, and sang to him.

"C'mon, finish the song! I want to eat pie!"

We tried practicing blowing out the candle, but Jonah tends to blow straight down and not very hard. He likes to look at the burning candles, but we end up blowing them out. Somehow though, Jonah managed to get the candle out that night. Perhaps it was playing his recorder. Maybe he just had some extra hot air in him from being another year older. Whatever the cause, Jonah managed to blow the candle out in front of an audience of Michelle, Grammy Sweets, and me!

"I've got this. Pfffff....."

"I got it!! Candle out!"

Then there was the fun of eating it. In Jonah's mind, the only thing utensils are good for is banging. 

Some things are just more fun to eat with your hands.

"Yummy pie, Mommy!"

"Dbis ish reawwy good! More!"

More birthday related posts to come, but pictures are posted to our family album. Pictures from the week | the weekend.

Strawberries!

We drove up to Barthel Fruit Farm early one Saturday in mid-June to pick strawberries with Jonah for the first time. While we have been regular visitors to Barthel's, we did not pick last year, as Grandma Gregg's strawberry patch was quite abundant and she was able to provide us with an incredible supply of berries at no cost to us.

Thus, we were excited about sharing the picking (but not jam-making) experience with Jonah, giving him a lesson in what to look for on the drive to the patch. "What color berries do we want to pick?" "Red." "That's right. Don't pick the white ones." As we pulled into the patch, we noticed all sorts of things that are super-interesting to nearly-two-year old boys, namely a couple of tractors, a couple of convertible cars, and moving-type trucks from which employees distributed baskets for picking. To his credit, Jonah did take initial interest in the berries.

Surveying the situation.

Sampling a berry. This tastes pretty yummy!

It turns out that our lesson in picking strawberries was really unnecessary. While he picked one strawberry right away, Jonah quickly figured out that it was much more efficient to swipe them from the baskets into which mommy and daddy were picking. One smart boy he is! He wasn't terribly secretive about it, however, as he did ask us to remove the stems from them for him.

Stealing a berry from the box.

After a bit, however, Jonah lost interest in eating the berries as well. I can't blame him: we were picking a fair number of berries so that we could make up several batches of jam. And the two-year old attention span is notoriously short. He entertained himself for a while climbing up onto our backs while we were down on the ground picking, and then he started running up and down the field, between the rows.

Climbing on mommy's back while she picks.

Running off down the row.

After a while, we determined that it would be much more effective for one of us to continue picking berries while the other entertained Jonah. Ben took him to see the various aforementioned vehicles and they had a great time while I finished picking.

Look at all of these yummy berries!

We look forward to more strawberry picking in years to come; hopefully Jonah will be a bit more "help" next year!