To date, it has been a pretty lackluster year for snow. While we don't want to get tons of the stuff (especially when I am traveling for work), we have been hoping to at least get enough to allow Jonah to partake of different snow related activities. No, we aren't going to get him on skis yet (particularly here in the flat lands of Wisconsin), but we'd like to build a snow man, take him sledding, make snow angels, etc. Particularly because he loves to be outside so much, even when it is cold out.
On Friday we got about 4-6 inches of really heavy snow, which stuck around long enough for us to get out sledding this morning. I wish I could say I had thought of it, but Michelle made the suggestion as a possibility yesterday. Unfortunately, a hair appointment mix up prevented us from getting out until today.
So after Jonah had his morning snack, we bundled up to head to a little hill where we've seen kids sledding in the past. Thankfully the hill was extremely quiet at that time in the morning. It was also very bright, and we were thankful that he kept his sunglasses on.
Prepping for the Oscars tonight? "No autographs, please!"
We were actually the first ones to the hill this morning, but another family arrived right after us. We used the sled that Grammy Sweets sent Jonah for Christmas. It is a little wooden sled that got some comments from other kids ("What a cool little sled!") later in our excursion.
Well, to say Jonah loved sledding would be an understatement. From the second he started moving down the hill, he had a HUGE grin on his face.
"This is fun! Let's go faster!"
Of course, Jonah had it easy with Michelle and me pulling him up the hill. We would take about three runs and trade off to give each other a turn. He had fun either way. At a couple points, Jonah would get up and walk around to stretch his legs a bit. He even tried going up the hill once.
Down the hill with Mommy.
Down with Daddy.
Jonah makes his way up the hill... He got about half way.
When we got to the bottom, Jonah would often say "Up!"
I also captured a couple quick videos, but I think the photos capture Jonah's smiles a little better. You can be the judge, though. Here are the two runs I captured.
Jonah certainly seemed to enjoy his first experience sledding! We look forward to future adventures in the snow.
I'm constantly on the lookout for new activities and projects to try with Jonah, especially ones that are seasonally relevant and allow all three of us to have a bit of fun together. Earlier this month (or maybe last), I came across a link to create molded bird seed "ornaments" that can be put out for the birds to enjoy. As Jonah enjoys looking at animals in his books, out the windows (this time of year), and at the zoo, I thought it would be a fun activity that would allow us to talk about the birds and what they eat, practice some stirring and "measuring" types of skills, and allow Jonah to feel new textures. Plus we could mold them into hearts, tying into Valentine's Day coming later in the week. A week ago, we saw a beautiful red cardinal in the back yard and it's exciting to think about Jonah watching the cardinal come around to eat his creation and being able to watch the cardinal further.
I knew it would be a messy project and assumed we would be using the vacuum to clean up from the get-go. I wasn't quite prepared for how exactly he would play with the bird seed, though. He simply picked it up in his hands, put them over his head, and dropped the seed on the ground!
This was messy, but also instructive in terms of how the different types of seeds bounced (cracked corn versus sunflower seeds, for example). We used measuring cups to pour the seed around in the bin (or on the floor) and into some metal muffin tins (which make a different sound than the plastic bin).
Overall, Jonah wasn't too terribly interested in helping to make the ornaments (I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised), but he did assist in putting some of the seed into the bowl to be mixed in, as you can watch here:
Ben hid a few of Jonah's toys in the birdseed for a complete sensory bin experience. Here's some video showing Jonah playing with the measuring cups and discovering the toys in the seed:
Overall, Jonah was pretty quiet for the majority of the nearly one hour that we spent engaged in this activity. This is rather unusual for him, as he is constantly jabbering, but we think he was simply having a great time, concentrating on what he was doing and thinking about what he might be able to do with the seed and tools at hand. Hopefully it was a very good learning experience for him; he returned to the kitchen several times in the evening looking for the seed. We have a feeling he will LOVE the sand box this summer.
We knew Jonah got birdseed everywhere while he was playing, but the biggest surprise was finding a fair number of seeds IN his diaper when we changed him! Now that takes talent (and no, he did not eat the seeds).
The ornaments are currently drying and we'll probably hang them next weekend, the next opportunity we'll likely have in the light. I'll post pictures later and will hopefully be able to report on some birdwatching activities as well.
We had a really great day today, despite the fact that Jonah woke up at a quarter to six. A great breakfast led into some good morning play time before our friends, Kristin and Ryan Nord, came over to make Valentine's Day cookies.
The plan was to let Jonah experience some cookie making, from the rolling and cutting of the cookies, and then after his nap he would get to try the cookie. Things seemed to go pretty well at first with the rolling and cutting.
Rolling, rolling
Cut!
Put the cookies on the sheet.
"This is my favorite cookie cutter!"
Everything was going great. Then Jonah discovered dough.
"Wait. Why are we making these funny shapes with this stuff? Why don't we just EAT it??"
We captured a little on video, too. Jonah's cookie making time was pretty much done at this point.
After we made the cookies, we had a nice pizza casserole for lunch, and then Jonah went down for a nap. While he was down for his nap, we decorated cookies. Kristin and Ryan have been taking some cake decorating classes and brought their toolbox of tips, so we had some fun.
When Jonah got up, he got to sample a cooked and decorated cookie. Despite his joy at discovering the cookie dough, he wasn't all that interested in the cookie itself. The frosting was another story, though.
"What's that? Where's the cookie dough??"
"The frosting isn't bad, but I would still rather have some cookie dough."
"Ok, this cookie isn't too bad, but can you get me some more of this pink stuff?"
Michelle caught a little of the cookie licking on video.
More pictures are available on our family photo site. Michelle is writing more about our day in another post. be sure to check it out!
For well over a month, Jonah has been notifying us with a resounding "Poop!" that he either has to go potty or, as is more often the case, just gone potty. We tried to get him on the regular potty a couple times, but he found that a bit too intimidating (and I think he maybe thought we were trying to put him down the toilet, based on the way he reacted). We picked up a little Baby Bjorn potty for him to use. No frills. It doesn't talk or cheer when it is used. Just a simply little kiddie potty he can use.
Well, we often let him sit on it when he says he has to pee or poop, but we've never gotten anything more productive than story time out of it (we keep a book handy, because it helps keep him seated on the potty). We figure, if nothing else, he gets used to sitting on the potty, particularly when he says he has that urge.
That all changed tonight!
12 February, 2012: Jonah did he first pee on the potty. He got some cheers from Mommy and Daddy (no cheering toilet required), and got to flush the toilet and watch it go down as a little reward.
And no... no pictures on this one. Some things shouldn't be photographed.
Normally when we finish dinner and clear the table, Michelle, Jonah, and I would all adjourn to the living room together and play. This meant that one of us would be doing the dishes after Jonah went to bed, causing for a later night.
Toward the end of last week, Michelle had a great idea. Jonah is getting old enough that he should see us doing more chores around the house, like the dishes after dinner. This also means that we can get more non-chore things done after he goes to bed.
On Saturday, it was just Jonah and me at home when he got up early from his nap, so I pushed the chair that has arms up to the counter so he could watch me do the dishes. Well he wasn't going to just stand there and watch! He wanted to participate. At first I thought he could just copy what I was doing with his own little dish cloth, but he isn't quite ready for dish washing yet.
He is, however, ready to rinse! I would wash the dishes and pass them to him to rinse, trading whatever he had in his hand for a new dish to rinse. We had a great time with it.
Yesterday, Michelle did the dishes with him. In fact, she simply mentioned doing the dishes and he said "Chair! Chair!" So we got the little dictator his throne to stand upon at the sink. As Michelle discovered, you can't sneak dishes past him. When you've got a new dish that needs rinsing, it is "Mine! Mine!"
Tonight again, as soon as I mentioned I was going to do the dishes, Jonah was requesting his chair!
Michelle grabbed the camera, and here's some pictures of Jonah helping with the dishes.
Up on his toes and ready to help!
I love the way Michelle caught the water on this one.
"What's with all the pictures, Mommy?"
"Hey, I'm working here!"
So that's how we ended up with so much water on the floor...
Just a quick post because Jonah and I had some fun hanging out tonight, and I captured a little video to go with it.
Jonah has gotten quite animated when pointing things out in books. What started off as just some simple quizzing in his word book turned into him excitedly pointing things out with a triumphant "Right there!!!" I needed to capture it.
He also seemed to have some fun looking at himself while I captured the video (I used the front camera on my phone because I was sitting next to him at the time). I thought we could have a little fun with that, so we did.
Some of the funniest bits couldn't be captured though, because they happened when I showed Jonah the video. He loved watching himself and reacting to the questions in the video while watching. He would answer the questions as though he were in a race with his video self with a huge smile on his face.
Today marked Jonah's first "swimming lesson." Sure, he's been to the ocean and even been in a pool before, but this was his first organized swimming activity with other kids complete with instructor.
The first problem was deciding who got to go in the pool with Jonah, because both of us wanted to (it was a lot of fun the last time we did it in September). So Michelle and I resorted to rock-paper-scissors. After tying the first two rounds on scissors, I took the third round with paper over her rock and chose to be in the pool with Jonah, leaving her to play photographer.
We arrived at Bay View High School (the lessons are organized through the city) a little later than we intended, but found out where to go to get to the pool and get changed. We got into the pool area just as the instructor was getting everyone ready, so Jonah and I needed to get in the water quickly.
As soon as we hit the water, Jonah was saying "All done!!" He wanted no part of it. He thought the water was cold and didn't want to spend any time in it. I tried to calm him and keep us moving in the hopes he would get used to the water temperature, but he never completely got over it (perhaps some bad memories from the cold water in his pool on his birthday?)
"All done!!"
"Get me outta here!"
The class began with some activities that didn't seem appropriate for Jonah's age (jumping into the pool - he still hasn't figured out jumping on solid ground yet), but he seemed to be the youngest in the group and most of the others didn't have issues jumping in. Most of the first half of the lesson for us was trying to get Jonah calm enough to be able to try some of the activities (and hear what the instructor was saying).
Finally, I grabbed a rubber duckie from a bucket of toys they had on the side of the pool in the hopes that would help. Success!
Jonah was finally distracted enough from the water, that he was able to at least kind of participate in the activities.
Rubber duckie, you're the one! You make pool time so much fun!
The rest of the class got to pick toys at this point, too. We played a little game where we tossed to toy away and the kids got to "swim" for it. Jonah opted to exchange duckie for a "dur-dal" (turtle).
Sorry, duckie. You've been traded.
Chasing the turtle.
More turtle chasing.
After that we did the Hokey Pokey, played some other games that Jonah couldn't really do, and everyone else sang some other song we had never heard before.
This will probably be more fun in the future, but at least Jonah is getting used to being in the water. More pictures are posted to our family web album.
