Cup 'O Cheer(ios)

On Thursday, we started seeing how Jonah would do feeding himself Cheerios (or puffs) from a little cup that allows him to pull the Cheerios out on his own. He took to it better than expected. While he does like to shake it around and inevitably gets some on the floor, in his high chair, and in his lap, he really seemed to enjoy getting them from the cup rather than just picking them up off his high chair tray. The added benefit here is that it also takes him a little longer to get to the Cheerios, so he doesn't inhale them so quickly.

Yesterday, before we left for a day trip to Madison, Jonah saw cup sitting on the table with a few Cheerios in it and expressed some interest in it. If you call practically diving out of my arms to get the cup "interest." There were only a few Cheerios left, but he was very content to sit on the table and pull out what was in there. I was able to snap a few (Hipstamatic) pics.

"Let's check out my haul here... 1... 2... "

"I like overalls with my Cheerios."

"This is so much fun!"

Shake, shake... "It is empty, Daddy. Can you refill it?"

Such a happy baby!

Drooler on the Roof

Some people may argue otherwise, but Jonah is still a little too young to start playing violin. So while he can't be a Fiddler on the Roof, he is still happy to be a Drooler on the Roof.

"mmmmm.... roof..."

There is probably an easier way to clean the roof.

 Jonah's third tooth (one of the front top teeth) has cut through and it looks like the three teeth around it aren't far behind. Is he going to have a mouthful for his birthday?

Enderis Park: Concerts in the Park

Our neighborhood park association puts on four "Concerts in the Park" each summer. It is a pretty good time, hanging out with neighbors and listening to the music. We went to a couple last summer when Jonah was too little to get around on his own. Last Thursday, we went to the first one where he was (relatively) mobile, and we brought along a toy that he likes to push around the house.

Well, he was all about pushing that truck around the park, both on the sidewalk and on the grass. He seems to really like checking out people and seeing everything going on around him. I also think he likes the freedom of moving about on his own.

Here are a few pics of him with his method of getting around:

"Hmmm... stay on the sidewalk or drive on the grass?"

"Geez, this is hard work!"

Just toolin'!

Fortunately, he didn't run anyone over, but he did have a few narrow misses. He is pretty good about turning things now. He even made a pass in front of the stage when One Drum was playing. He seemed very interested in the speakers, but thankfully didn't get too close.

Little Climber

We already knew Jonah is a climber; he loves climbing up the stairs. So it should have come as no surprise that a toy we picked up at a yard sale last week would be used as a step stool rather than its intended purpose as a chair.

"Hey, I can see the top of the table better if I climb up here!"

Our little daredevil is braver standing on the chair when he is just on the ground.

10 point landing! (Ok, he didn't really jump off the chair, but it kind of looks like it here...)

I think this is the *only* time he actually used the chair just for sitting...

Jonah never lets the chair play a full song. He just likes to hit the light over and over again to see the different colored lights come on.

Climbing the chair was not a "one-off" activity. It has become more of a favorite pastime.

Easy access to all the goodies on the coffee table!

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to be up here?"

Jonah and the Cork Drop

Jonah pretty much only uses a pacifier when he is sleeping. Even then, he doesn't always use it, and we don't like to keep it in, especially when he is smiling and happy because a pacifier (or cork, as we like to call it) hides his wonderful smile!

If he doesn't fall asleep with it at night, he sometimes finds it in his crib. If he doesn't, he might sit up and cry a little, and we can "re-cork" him and he lies right down and goes back to sleep.

When we get him out of his crib in the mornings, we would pull the cork out and drop it back into his crib. Recently, he surprised us and started doing this himself! He pulls it out, waves it around a little, and drops it in his crib. Some days this is clearly more difficult for him than others. In fact, one day he reinserted the cork instead of dropping it. It is just so cute when he makes the drop. He will often gaze longingly at is as it rolls to a stop on his mattress.

Grammy Sweetser visits

Wow! It has been a long time since we've made any posts! We completely missed the month of May! Well, let's see if I can make up for that a little.

Grandma Sweetser came out to visit Jonah at the end of April/early May. We had a great week and though he missed the week with his friends at day care, Jonah had a lot of fun hanging out with Grammy for the week. The day after Grammy arrived, we went to the Boerner Botanical Gardens. Because of the cool weather this spring, we weren't expecting there to be too many flowers out, but there was a craft fair going on, too, so we headed over.

Though the temperatures were reasonable, it was *super* windy! We felt pretty badly for the craft fair vendors who were outside. We did get some pictures, though!

We also stopped for some Kopp's frozen custard after the botanical garden!

At the end of the week, we went to the aquarium at Discovery World. Jonah seemed to enjoy seeing the fish, though he was just as interested in the glass and metal of the aquarium tanks.

 Jonah made some pretty funny faces... perhaps he was trying to mimic the fish?

 Grandma Sweetser met Bing Crosby in the Les Paul exhibit.

Jonah took a little nap.

 But woke up energized before Discovery World closed at 4 pm.

See more pictures from our visit to Discovery World on our photo site.

The next day, we hit the zoo. It was the first time Michelle and I had been to the Milwaukee Zoo since the first year we moved here. We picked up a Zoo Pass - it only takes two visits to make up the cost, and we certainly figured that would not be a problem.

 We started in the primate house. Jonah loved playing with the apes!

  Especially this statue of a baby ape!

"Wat-chew lookin' at?"

 Jonah ate and took a nap not long after we saw the primates, but he woke up in time to see the penguins.

 There are TONS of peacocks at the zoo. They hang out with all the different animals and don't seem to have a place of their own.

 Jonah enjoyed watching the seals swim around. He got pretty excited.

 Later, we went to see the sea lion show.

All in all, it was a great day. You can see more zoo pics on our photo site.

We finished it off with some Red Robin for dinner and some awesome carrot cake from Mitchell's Fish Market.

Grandma Sweetser flew home the next day (the day before Mother's Day), but it was a fun visit!

New Photo Site

I've got another post in the works, but I thought I would post the link for our new photo site on Phanfare. I just got notification today that Phanfare has been acquired by Carbonite, so we'll see how that affects the site moving forward, but hopefully it won't be a problem.

Here are a couple samples of what you will find on the site:

Enjoy!