Jonah Brag

We have been trying for months to teach Jonah how to introduce himself and say "hi" to other kids instead of growling or yelling at them. Well, today all our efforts paid off. We were at the park and he and this little girl very near the same age were playing follow the leader going up and down the slide. Then she wanted to swing so he wanted to swing. While swinging he started talking to the other mom and her little girl. He says, "What your name?" The mom replies for the little girl and say's "Kaylee." Then she asks Jonah, "What is your name." He pauses and goes "um....um, Jonah." I nearly fell out. I couldn't believe it. He made conversation - unprompted conversation and he answered that question correctly (perfect pronunciation even) for the first time. When he turned two we taught him to say how old he was when asked; well every time we would ask him any other question including his name he would say "two." But today he got it right. I was so proud. Then I asked the other mom her name and we officially introduced ourselves. Then Jonah points to me and says, "Her name is mommy." I am so happy that one of my names IS Mommy. (Smile)

In an Instant.....

So much can happen in 2 to 5 seconds. I debated whether or not to post this as I know of a couple of readers who will think I'm a terrible mom and no doubt I certainly felt like a terrible mom when it happened. But I am not a terrible mom; I am also not a perfect mom and no mom has ever been or ever will be. Praise God, we are all in his hands to protect or bring good from an injury or harm. Needless to say, I am thankful for the guardian angels around my children.

I took Elisabeth to the doctor for her regular check-up this week and took Jonah with me. The doctor saw her and commented about how great she was and how she had the social development of a 9-month old and was really good with using her hands (which we were hard pressed to keep away from the tools of his trade so that he could use them). All the while, Jonah was telling us about things in the books he was perusing and pointing out aspects of the themed decor. The doctor left the room, and we were waiting on the nurse to give her the expected immunizations. For efficiencies sake, I decided to start dressing Elisabeth so we could make a prompt exit once she calmed down from her shots. So I put her up on the exam table and put her onesie on. Jonah started telling me something exciting about one of the books and I saw a page torn out and in his hand so I turned to put it back and make sure he wasn't tearing out the pages. After that I really can't remember exactly what happened - I just know I shrieked and was picking Elisabeth up off the floor and the nurses came running in response. (It makes me cringe to attempt to recall that moment.) All I could do was hold her and try to calm her and myself. One of the nurses distracted Jonah and another called for the doctor. I sat down with Elisabeth and the doctor came over to check her out. I thought she hit the back of her head but there wasn't really any signs of a knot or anything. He checked her eyes and head and ears (he said the inner ear can show signs quickly if there has been a real smack to the head.) He didn't see anything but wanted me to stay for a while for observation which was ended up being another 45 minutes or so. After he left, Elisabeth nursed and then took a short nap 15 or 20 minutes and then she was babbling and smiling like nothing had happened. I had calmed down by this point, but felt like an idiot. So the doctor finally came in again and looked her over again and said she looked fine and that babies are actually very resilient and that babies fall in the floor all over the world. This last part didn't exactly make me feel better, but I appreciate the effort. He did want me to call if I saw any odd behavior and to wake her up a few times that night to be sure she wasn't showing any signs of a concussion. Thank the Lord, she has acted normally and has shown no physical signs of the fall, not even a bruise since. I wish I could say this is the first time this has happened on my watch, but, alas, when Jonah was about the same age he rolled off of our bed onto the hardwood floor in our house. He actually had a bump on his head for a couple of days from his fall but was otherwise fine. When I told Kelly about all this he said that it seemed like every kid had to hit the floor once - like a right of passage or something. He also said that if it was going to happen anywhere it's best to happen at the doctor's office. I just wish they had carpet. :)

Elisabeth Talks to Daddy

Jonah Can Count

Happy Valentine's Day from Elisabeth

Thank God for Sleep

I just had to record a milestone here. Elisabeth slept for a record 8 hours last night. Which means mommy slept wonderfully. Yeehaw! Woohoo! Happy Dance - tap, tap, tap. I'm not going to get my hopes up that this will be an every night kind of thing at this point, but bodes well for the near future.

Update on Latest Potty Training Episode

After my last post, I put Jonah down for a nap and put an actual diaper on him instead of a pull-up. He had been running around all morning with no pants on and so I left him without them for his nap. The last time he went to bed without a diaper resulted in a naked bottom, but I thought, "Oh he probably won't take off his diaper now." I kept hearing him awake and the the second time I checked on him he was out of bed and behind the rocker naked from the waste down. I asked him where his diaper was and he kept pointing to a spot on the carpet. I told him to show me and he put his little hand on a specific place on the floor and it was wet. I found his unused diaper in the trash can. So he had taken his diaper off put it in the trash and I suppose was playing naked on the floor and went peepee and that's when he started hollering some unintelligible thing that got me to come to his room. Oh well. At least he knows how to use the trash can :)

Love God in the Midst of Potty Training

After Jonah got a rash on his inner thigh from an overly full diaper yesterday and all the difficulties that go along with that (doesn't want to take a bath or get a diaper change), I decided to seriously attempt this potty training thing. So today he has been in pull-ups all day. He has gone pee-pee in the potty about 7 times so far, but has pee'd in the pull-ups a couple of times as well - not to mention one poop. He is doing fairly well thanks to the M&M reward strategy. I have a jar of peanut butter M&M's in the bathroom now. He get's one for pee-pee in the potty, two for pooping in the potty and of course three if he does both. He really likes the candy so he's been very motivated so far. One time he actually told me he had to go instead of me asking him. It makes the day very full asking him every 20 minutes if he has to go to the bathroom, then helping him get on the potty and then applause for a successful pee-pee, pants up, wash hands, then get the M&M and put a sticker on his Elmo Chart, then I have to clean out his pottie and wash my hands. It's quite a production at the moment, but he really responds well to accolades so I will do my best to stick to the multi-step routine.
Then at lunch I said "Let's pray." So we grab hands (at his prompting) for grace and I say a prayer - he has his eyes closed but just keeps saying " amen... amen..." and then we're finished and I hear him say " Wove Dod wit all your heart". And I repeated it back to him and he says "yeah, Wuv God, heart". I was amazed. It was especially interesting that he said that and I don't remember saying the word "God" during our grace although I did use the word "Lord". Jonah has childcare for a couple ours at a local church where my MOPS group meets. A couple of meetings ago the teacher handed me his "art work" (scribbles on paper at this point) with Matthew 22:37 on it "Love God with all your heart." She told me they will be learning this verse this month. Kelly and I were both quite skeptical that he could in fact learn it, but it seems Jonah is proving us wrong. He's a sharp little guy to be sure.

Elisabeth's Current Development

Elisabeth is growing big and strong since Christmas and the commencement of solid foods. She is such a cutie pie. She loves to smile and show her dimple. She really like toys that make noise and she loves her big brother - when he's around she has this look of utter glee on her face. Sometimes his noisy abruptness makes here blink incessantly, but she is usually smiling the whole time. I hope they continue to be so enamored with each other. Elisabeth sits up a little now with support and she does this new thing with her right hand where she starts waving it up and down and then looks at it like she's mesmerized. It's so funny. Here are some recent videos of her.