See-Att-Uhl: Cee-tee Bus!

One of Jonah's early words was "bus," but that eventually became "-chool bus!" For all buses.

To work on distinguishing between school buses and other buses, we started to call out city buses. He picked up the differences really quickly when he called out "Cee-tee bus!" (no, he is not saying "seedy bus"). While we were in Seattle, he was constantly pointing out all the various modes of transportation, particularly the city buses. Here we were waiting to take a city bus to Discovery Park to hike on the Sunday of our trip.

Jonah's sixth sense of knowing when a camera is pointed at him turned on when I tried to capture this, and he wasn't quite as emphatic about it as he was when there wasn't a camera capturing the moment. Imagine this about three times as excited at EVERY street corner. This made a lot of people around us smile.

He was very fond of the monorail we rode and enjoyed saying monorail as much as riding it. His recognition of taxis was particularly impressive: different colors and styles (vans vs. sedans vs. Prius). We couldn't get him to say what made it a taxi, but we figured he was picking out the signs or the writing on the side. Trucks (including "mail truck!" for all trucks that looked remotely like a postal truck), motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, and trains... the kid loves his transportation.

If you checked out the photos before tonight, be sure to check again. I've added the pictures from my phone to the family album.

See-Att-Uhl, Day 1: The Day That Didn't Happen

Jonah certainly gets around. He has now been to the east coast (New England), Ohio, the south (Houston), and now he's made it to the west coast with our Memorial Day weekend trip to Seattle.

Seattle!

Before the trip, we started to teach him to say Seattle and talked about how we would take a big airplane to get there. In "Jonah-speak" each syllable is very pronounced to be See-att-uhl. He somehow picked up the association with Washington through us talking about it and surprised us one day by saying Washington when we talked about Seattle. Because of this, we taught him that Seattle is in the state of Washington. While he doesn't know what that means yet, we do show off by asking him what state Seattle is in to make some jaws drop when he says Washington.

We left for the airport right after work on the Thursday before Memorial Day. Scheduled to get into Seattle pretty late, we were looking forward to having a somewhat relaxing day to get adjusted to the time change and see a couple sites. It wasn't meant to be.

Even before I left home to pick up Michelle and Jonah, I was getting updates from Delta stating that our first flight was delayed. The time kept getting pushed back. When we finally got to the point to drop off our luggage, the airline had formed a line so they could make the appropriate re-bookings for people who were going to miss their connections.

After waiting in line for a long time and watching a couple of Delta agents not being very useful behind the counter, we finally got our opportunity. Because the airlines pack all the planes as full as possible, they no longer have any true backups for the times when people miss flights, even when it is the airline's fault. The agent told us the best she could do was get us into Seattle about 8:30 pm the next day, which we didn't like as an option because we would lose an entire day of our vacation trip and because we had tickets to a baseball game.

The agent was trying to come up with other options, and at one point even mentioned some crazy plan to send us from Chicago to Cincinnati to Salt Lake City to Seattle. I don't want to do that solo. With a kid? No. Freaking. Way.

We got lucky. As she was checking, two seats opened up on one of the five flights to Seattle from Minneapolis the next day. She double booked us in the very slim chance we were able to make the flight that night (the Milwaukee to Minneapolis flight was delayed because of weather earlier in the day causing delays that eventually forced an issue with flight crew schedules).

To make a long story short, we missed the flight. Jonah got to learn a new word  (sh**) from the guy across the aisle from us who also missed the Seattle flight (The kid repeats anything you don't expect him to repeat these days). The airline put us up for the night and gave us meal coupons to use for breakfast the next day. I called the hotel in Seattle to make sure we didn't lose our room (which had its own little adventure... They had us checked in already!), and we called it a night.

We got to the airport early the next morning and were shocked at the length of the lines to get through security. I think it was the one time Michelle has been thankful for the traveling I do for work, because we were able to go through the expedited security line with my airline status.

At any rate, we had a nice sit down breakfast and then hung out at the airport until our flight. We got Jonah worn down pretty good walking around the airport. He slept nearly the entire flight after the plane went "really fast!" and took off. 

Getting to the shuttle at the SeaTac was grueling with all our luggage. What an absolute pain between the ups and downs and all arounds to finally get there. But get there we did. And get to the room we somehow managed to check into from Minneapolis we finally did, as well.

After getting settled, we decided we didn't have enough time to do much besides leisurely make our way to the ballpark and grab some dinner. On the way, we stopped briefly into the mobbed Pike Place Market and found the quilt shop Michelle wanted to check out.

We eventually ended up at a restaurant near the ballpark for dinner. Just as we were paying the bill, we looked outside to see it raining really hard. Jonah liked seeing the police car across the street and wanted to "get in!!" By the time we began walking the final stretch to the ballpark, the rain had lightened up quite a bit. There was enough rain for them to close the roof, though.

According to our seat neighbors, once they close the roof, they don't open it again, but we were surprised when they opened the roof up just before the game began.

Opening the roof at Safeco Field in Seattle

We had seats out in right-center field and really enjoyed the game. We got to see Ichiro have a pretty good game.

Ichiro!

And we got to see Albert Pujols, now of the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) hit a home run about six seats away from us. Jonah had a great time dancing with the music, ...

...cheering with the crowd,...

...playing with the seats,...

...and giving Mommy funny looks.

We ended up leaving after the 7th inning because we were exhausted and still needed to get back to the hotel, so we missed the Angels coming back to win it in the 9th inning. Oh, well...

Check out more pictures from the game and Seattle on our picture site. More posts from the trip to come!

Pony!

We decided to go to the zoo today because, though not as warm as last weekend, it was still pretty warm. The sky was cloudy and there was some sporadic drizzle, but it turned out to be an enjoyable day. The lions were outside and the cubs were playful. Jonah was excited to see all the animals.

Even the polar bear was finally out.

Jonah even got his first pony ride. We were concerned that he wouldn't like despite saying that he wanted to ride, but he absolutely LOVED it. Michelle won the rock-paper-scissors to be with him while he rode.

After his ride, he kept saying "Pony! Pony!" and pointing back to the riding area. I'm sure he will have more opportunities in the future.

See more pics from our day at the zoo at our family photo site.

Butt Scootin' Boogie

Despite all his practice lately going down the stairs, Jonah still sometimes sits to scoot down steps on his butt. This isn't really a problem, but sometimes he likes to sit down a bit too early. He did this the other day at the park, REALLY far from the steps, and I felt it needed to be put to music. 

It isn't just steps, though. He also does it before going down the slide two. He sits down so far away, a couple other kids get to go down before he gets to the top of the slide.

We joked around at the end of this really long scoot that maybe his butt was a bit itchy...

(Music by Brooks & Dunn)

Peanut Butter!

In yesterday's post, I made mention of how much Jonah likes peanut butter and jelly. I had forgotten that a little over a week ago, I got some footage of Jonah eating a peanut butter sandwich. This one needed to be shared.

"Peada budduhr!!" Of course, he kind of played with it more than eating it in this particular video, including a little "Cut it!" with his finger, but he does enjoy his pb&j!

Hummus and Hissy Fits

I haven't seen the expression in so long, I couldn't help but grab "hissy fits" from my aunt Barb's Facebook post to use for the title of this post, particularly when Jonah is putting on a hissy fit in the background as Michelle tries to get him to take a nap. We aren't sure what happened, but in the past 10 days or so, the kid just won't go to sleep for us. If you were expecting the hissy fits to be about hummus, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

We used to be able to put him down awake in his crib and leave the room. He would take care of the rest. Now he stands up in his crib and cries if we try to leave the room. Even if we wait for him to fall asleep, his sixth sense kicks in ("Mommy's leaving!" or "Daddy moved!"), and he stands up in his crib and starts crying.

Not knowing what the problem might be, we tried a nightlight last night. I'm not convinced that is the problem, as he still cried for a while. He did finally go down on his own. Perhaps losing an hour tonight with Daylight Savings Time will help him sleep in "later" tomorrow.

He certainly has fun before bedtime, so it may be separation anxiety. 

The other night he got to try his first hot cocoa.

"Mmmm. Hot cocoa. I like to sip it from a spoon. Marshmallows are good, too!"

 He also likes to read while getting ready.

Nothing like a good book before bed.

"Hmm, what's going on here?"

"What's up with you people? I'm reading here!"

And we often have a good time playing hide and seek or just tickling and giggling.

On a more fun note, Jonah has really picked up a taste for hummus. I know, I know... Hummus? Fun? Just wait...

We seem to pull it out to have with vegetables as part of our lunch on Saturdays, and Jonah has started to ask for it. Lunch today was no different. Even with a plate full of peanut butter and jelly and banana, he asked for a carrot with hummus, and kept asking for more hummus. I had to capture a bit when he asked for more and Michelle decided to put some on his plate.

We think we are going to have to start sending hummus to daycare. What kid chooses hummus over pb&j (and he loves pb&j)?? 

A Fun Winter Day

Today truly was a day of ups and downs, but my hope is that the good memories are the ones that last. In an effort to preserve them and the reasons they were highlights over the rest of the day, I wanted to do this quick post.

We were going through a bit of cabin fever yesterday, especially after swim lessons were canceled. Michelle suggested that we go to see the butterflies at the Milwaukee Public Museum to make sure we got some time outside the house. It was a particularly good suggestion, because we've been talking about doing it for a while. Jonah loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar and this book Butterfly, Butterfly that we discovered at the library (and later picked up a copy), and he always gets excited when he sees butterflies in books and pictures.

So we headed to the museum and made our way right to the Butterfly Garden. Jonah does what he usually does when he is very excited about something: He was stunned silent. At first, anyway.

The first butterfly Jonah found when we set him free to walk.

Checking out some butterflies on the floor with Mommy.

"These butterflies are so cool!"

"Look but don't touch, Jonah!"

After our visit to the Butterfly Garden, we started to wander the museum. Jonah's favorite part wasn't any particular exhibit. He just liked the stools that they have in various places around the museum. The first ones were in the bug room next to the butterflies. He walked around them, climbed them, spun them around...

No, he isn't into planking. He's just short and climbs this way.

He had an uncanny knack for finding them, too. At one point he ran down a hallway, seemingly with purpose, and turned into a room that had a bunch of the stools, as if he knew they were there.

He also enjoyed finding any place he could practice going up and down ramps and steps. in one room, there was a ramp up and then four short steps down that he could handle pretty well on his own. He did a few passes on that loop. There was another room with a wooden floor that required you to step up to get in. He liked going around in circles there, too.

This spot was a particular favorite to walk in circles going up and down the step.

Jonah did really well handling stairs today.

Jonah fell asleep on the way home, and the transfer to his crib is not usually a problem when he falls asleep in the car, but I managed to wake him this time, and the past few days have been Go the **** to Sleep days.

Michelle had already planned to do a little shopping with a friend this afternoon, so she left and I read to Jonah to calm him. He nearly fell asleep again, but I couldn't get him into the crib without waking him. He stood right up bawling. I'd rather focus on the good stuff for the day, but he never did go back to sleep, even though he did later calm down. He just started talking and playing with the window blinds.

Later we went for a little walk outside and then the three of us went grocery shopping. Jonah seemed to have a great time. He was happy and smiling.

After dinner, we put on a Pandora station based on Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Jonah and I had it on earlier in the day and had some fun marching and dancing around to it, but it was even more fun with Mommy there, too! Jonah was having such a good time, he decided to give Mommy some "kisses." You'll see what this in quotes in the pictures below. We kept "cutting in" and switching, and Jonah would get upset each time because he didn't really want to switch, but we were all having such a good time, it didn't take him too long to get over it.

Who's leading?

Jonah's future dates beware: you can't tell if he is going to kiss you or eat you...

"You step on my toes much more than Mommy does..."

One of Jonah's favorite parts. Though, what kid doesn't like hanging upside down?

We wore him out good, because he went down for bed better than he has in the past few days.

More pictures from the day can be found on our family photo site.