The next American Idol?

While Jonah has for some time been able to recite portions of books, songs, nursery rhymes and the like, he has recently been able to repeat longer and longer sections of favorite books and some songs in their entirety. Yesterday morning, I overheard him singing portions of On Top of Spaghetti while I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes (in particular, he was singing the portion about rolling under the bush, being nothing but mush, growing into a tree covered with moss, etc.). He currently loves to go round and round poles (on the playground), Ben's and my legs, or just about anything and sing Ring Around the Rosie, and I've heard a fair amount about London Bridge. He has recently asked both Ben and me to increase the number of songs we sing to him before he goes to bed: he insists that I sing him "three songs in the crib," and thereafter, "one song in the dark," as I leave the light on while I sing the first three to him.

But it definitely melts our hearts to hear Jonah sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He will launch into it at the most random moments, and he often turns it into an ongoing round, which I'm sure we will eventually tire of. I was able to capture him at one of these moments while we were on a hike at Lapham Peak on Sunday:

I need to go back to think of other popular nursery rhymes and songs to sing/recite with him as he definitely is seeming open to it at this point!

Monkey on My Back

There are many ways to move a baby around that do not involve wheels.

Michelle picked up a sling online (on Etsy, I think) that she enjoyed "wearing" Jonah. It was a bit too floral for my tastes, so I never wore Jonah in it.

We also have a Baby Bjorn, which I love. It accommodated Jonah when he was tiny (facing toward us) and can still carry him today facing out. I like kissing his little head when he is in it.

For actual hiking, though, we thought we wanted to find something a little more designed to go the distance, so Michelle solicited some feedback on Facebook, and we did some checking around. We headed to REI to try some packs out. It didn't take long to select a Kelty Kids FC 3.0. Jonah didn't want to get out after we tried him in it. In fact, he started crying when we took it off Michelle's back when she first tried it on!

We didn't wait long to try it, either. The day after we got it, we headed out to Lapham Peak in the Kettle Moraine State Forest to try it out. I wore the pack with Jonah first, and we started the hike with a quick trip up the observation tower. I think Michelle was glad she didn't have the pack on for the hike up all those stairs. Unfortunately, we didn't think to get a picture of the tower itself.

The view from the top was great! A full 360 degree view of the surrounding area. You can see Holy Hill, but surprisingly none of the buildings in downtown Milwaukee. We need to get back there when the leaves change color in the next few weeks.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is Holy Hill waaaaaay off in the distance...

After the tower, we started hiking the well maintained trails. For the most part, the trails were flat or had moderate inclines, but there were a few good hills. Jonah particularly liked when we would jog or chase each other with him along for the ride. Here are some shots from the hike.

The long and winding road...

This section of the trail was aptly named and was lots of fun with Jonah to go down and up the hills.

Another aptly named section of the trail. We might need to go back in the winter for some cross country skiing.

Scaling "The Wall"

We took a break partway through the hike to give Jonah a little snack and to switch so Michelle could carry him for a bit. We had a little fun playing by a little pond before taking off again.

When traveling on Mommy's back, Jonah had more fun playing with Mommy's hair than anything else associated with the hike. I even tried to let her put her hair up under my cap, but he still found hair to pull.

Daddy doesn't give me toys to play with when he hikes with me. Thanks, Mommy!

All good things must come to an end, though. As we were finishing our hike and getting ready to head home, it started to rain. Jonah's new ride is a big hit, though, with both the pack horse carrying it and the little monkey who rides in it!

You can see more pictures from our hike on our Phanfare album.