Seasons Change

As I write this, the wind is blowing outside. While it has been overcast all day, it was balmy and warm this morning, but now there is a crispness to the air. A sign that change is coming - one season ends and another begins. And so things are changing in our family and in the life of our little boy - Jonah started preschool today.

Here he is immediately after I dropped him off:


His classroom has a door that opens out to this new playground:




When I went to pick him up, I snapped the above picture before the teacher told him, "Jonah, your mommy is here." He just ignored her in that "So what" kind of way - needless to say, I was not feeling the love. Promises to return and other distractions eased his departure somewhat.

When an opportunity arose at the beginning of the week for him to go to preschool, I started to get cold feet. Primarily due to the fact that the opportunity was for a 3 day/week class (9am-noon) versus a two day a week class. I guess my trepidation was unwarranted as he would seem to prefer 5 day a week class!

Elisabeth's First Popcicle

And she ate the whole thing... enjoying every moment of it. She kept smacking her lips. It was so cute!

What a Look?

The kids were on the couch together actually sharing grapes (woot!) and watching Curious George. I went to get the camera and look what looks I get as I snap the photo.

Dog Day Play

Well, we finally gave the dogs a long overdue bath the other night. I think this was probably the longest they have gone without. (To all of you who have been to our home in the last weeks, my sincere apologies. Whew!) Anyway, per our usual routine, when we bath them I also wash all their bedding and wipe down their crates with disinfectant. After spending a couple minutes loading the washer, while Kelly bathed the dogs, I returned to the living room and found this:



Kudos to Jonah for figuring out how to take the crate apart. Elisabeth was enjoying the fruits of his labor - I guess that just looked like the perfect place to sit/play.

Walking verses Crawling

Elisabeth has made great strides in walking this week (pun intended). She is really enjoying her new ability. For the most part, she is preferring to walk rather than crawl now. Not only that but she likes to carry things around. I have really enjoyed watching her sweet determination this week. She really is very careful. Last week she spent a lot of time taking two or three steps, falling down, and then getting back up as if she was practicing soft landings in preparation for attempting long jaunts around the house. She can now walk all over the living room and into the kitchen without falling. You may notice in the video that she has little check points where she takes a break and secures her balance before continuing on.







If you too think it's adorable and just gotta have more, I have make a set on our flickr account that is devoted to this stage of her learning how to walk. Enjoy!

Elisabeth's Favorite Chair

With Elisabeth's new found freedom to walk and climb, she has found a new place to hangout and play.





This morning Jonah invaded her newfound play space, but they were both having a good time.

Winston Salem Air Show

On Saturday we went to the Winston Salem Air Show. Kelly kept saying, "Jonah will love it," but in fact Dad was excited about it. I have always thought it would be cool to go to something like that but have never been. Despite a couple of runny noses, we packed up the kids and drove 2 hours to Winston Salem. We had to park a half mile away from the airport but the shuttles ended up being great. The show was spectacular. There were stunt planes and old war planes and a few scheduled flyby's from current military planes. It was so exciting just watching; I can't imagine flying those things. Jonah does love airplanes but I think he was a bit overwhelmed with the circus like atmosphere. Elisabeth cried every time a loud plane flew by which was frequent - poor thing! I hope she's not traumatized for life. Kelly claims he remembers being scared of the noise when he was little but loves it now. So there's hope I suppose. At one point, Jonah and I went around to tour some of the private planes and left Daddy and Elisabeth watching planes from a camp chair.



Here is Jonah checking out he cockpit of a Piper Cub.


He also got to go inside this plane:



The F-15 flyby - probably my favorite.


Here is video of the Harrier Jet. It is a jet plane that can take off and land like a helicopter.


I can't remember the name of this one. It was one of the loudest and one that Kelly got the most excited about and also the one that scared Elisabeth the most. The only thing I remember him saying about it is that it's a generation before the Stealth Bomber.


At the end, we went in the huge Helicopter:



Lots more pics here.

New Star Wars Fans

Jonah really likes Star Wars. There are a couple of the animated Clone Wars episodes that we have deemed safe enough for him to watch - so he is familiar with Jabba the Hut, Yoda, General Grievous, - he tends to remember the nonhuman characters the most. For his birthday I got him a couple of Light Sabers that I picked up at a consignment sale. Kelly asked me why I purchased two - getting just one seemed silly. You have to have someone to battle with - otherwise, it's untelling what in the house would suffer as the Target (i.e. Baby Sister).



I wish I would have picked up the camera after this, because Kelly and Jonah took to some sword play with Kelly making sound effects. Jonah wacked him in the face at one point - quick learner I guess. Elisabeth was very interested as well. I suppose she'd make a good Princess Leia.



BTW: I have caught Jonah humming the tune to Star Wars.

Elisabeth is Walking

She has been taking a step or two the last couple of days. This morning I took the kids to a free Kindermusik class preview and she got so excited - I think she wanted to dance - she got up and took several steps in a row. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me. I have been trying to get video of her walking more than two steps all day. Finally, this evening, I caught a good long walk on video.

Jonah's 3rd Birthday Party

We invited some family friends to join us at Chick-fil-a for a little celebration.

Related Posts:

• Jonah is Seven
• My Firstborn is Fourteen!

Jonah is Three Today

Today is Jonah's birthday! We are having a little party tomorrow at Chick-fil-a but we made today special too. We began by watching happy birthday videos from Grammie and Papaw. Then we went to lunch with Daddy to Red Robin. A couple of Kelly's coworkers/friends joined us.



Later, his friend Olivia came over for a spaghetti dinner.


After that, he opened some cards he had gotten from family in the mail. Then we brought in his big present at toy tool bench with various battery operated equipment. Kind of looks like Texas Chainsaw Massacre in parts but here is more video :-)



Party hats, cake, and ice cream tomorrow......

Double Trouble

Jonah is really enjoying his sister's interaction and she is learning fast from big brother. (sigh)

Elisabeth Antics

She really gets a kick out of Elmo. And she's getting very brave about climbing these days.

The Elements of Jonah's Creation

Okay, here is the list of items:
1. Stroller (that one is obvious but it still counts)
2. Basketball hoop (red/yellow thing with white/blue thread - bottom right) T
3. Jump rope (it's black/white with green handles) T & G
4. Baby links (top right) T & G
5. Dog leash (black strap) T & G
6. Green multi tool that he got from Chick-fil-a (right, near jump rope)
7. Purple rocket gun (minus the rocket) T & G
8. Cabinet safety latch (white thing - top left) G
9. Lipstick case (red thing attached to white cabinet lock)

So from my count we have a tie. Gina got 5 and Grandma Theresa got 5 ( I counted the exercise band as the jump-rope).
It's probably poor form for me to give out different prizes for each, but oh well. Gina is getting a gift certificate to Chick-fil-a because I know baby Samuel likes their kids meals already (and it's fitting since one of the gadgets in the picture came in the Chick-fil-a kids meal - the multi tool.) Grandma Theresa is getting a special picture in a special frame.