Jonathon - May 2003

Jonathon, May 2003: He’s cut the rest of his incisors finally. I was wondering why he was so much cuter recently and now I realize it’s because he smiles a lot more. Probably just not in pain all day! They are still just the tips, but if you thought he had a lot of teeth before (grandma?) just wait until all of these are in.



Jonathon has been visiting the potty more and more. This will do wonders for his bottom, as we’re getting over yet another yeast outbreak. Goodness I hate that, it really is so painful for him no matter how quickly he is changed. He’s intent on potty training, and he’s doing fabulous. I have changed fewer messy diapers and that can’t be anything but good. He’s even gone pee in the potty sometimes. No, he’s far from being regular, but I can almost reliably leave him naked for a time, and he’ll use the potty. Almost. We definitely have our off days. Of course, he still does the dozen runs to the bathroom in an hour, but it’s progress.
I really want to get his hair cut as it’s getting thick, hot and curling over the tips of his ears. It really is cute but because it’s so thick, I think it needs to be trimmed. Ian has other thoughts. There’s even a Kid Cuts at the mall with little TVs and chairs that look like cars, but if not, I can always use my trust home shear set.
One day a couple weeks ago I put both boys down for a nap as I’ve been doing more often. Nicholas desperately needed one and Jonathon still takes one of course but Jonathon had a hard time settling down and I’d check in and find him in the closet, playing on the floor and doing everything but lying down. Thankfully he was being very quiet about it all, but I continued to scoop him up and plop him back with his blanket. After several times of this, I noticed that the room finally got quiet and when I peeked in I saw that his bed was empty. Checked the closet, checked the bathroom (fearing a toilet drowning), and still didn’t see him. Until I glanced at Nicholas’s bed and who should have pulled up an extra pillow and was quickly conking out right next to his brother?
Then there’s the time we went to Santis and while Ian was paying we stepped outside to lay on the grass and look at the clouds. But the grass here is very very short and very prickly. Laying down lasted all of 2 seconds before everyone wanted to sit on my lap instead. First Nicholas and Jonathon, then just Nicholas. Now, Nicholas puts on his own shoes, but rarely gets them on the right feet. I don’t know how he walks in them, but he insists that they don’t hurt and he’s fine. Well, it bugs me. So while he was sitting on my lap I popped his shoes off to switch them. He wasn’t pleased and gave me a hard time about putting them back on. I plopped him on the grass so he could do it himself (right or wrong, I knew we’d be going soon) and Rebecca wanted to sit on my lap. And then of course, Jonathon again. Yes, it’s called Musical Lap Sitting. Anyhow, I offered to share the lap with him and his sister, but he figured on another plan.
J: “Dihdis ‘ap” (Nicholas lap)
N: “Minmis baby.” (Minute, baby)
J: “Dihdis ‘ap” said as he’s turned around and backing up to Nicholas’s lap.
N: “Minmis baby! Dihdis ‘oe on” (Minute baby! Nicholas shoe on)
I wish we could have seen how it ended, but daddy was done and it was time to get going.
He’s combining more and more words, though most are possessives of some sort. And yes, he’s figured out the words No and Mine. No is an oldie but goodie, Mine is new. He comments on just about everything and who it belongs to “Daddy shoe”, “Dihdis abap” (Nicholas blanket), “Baba ‘poon” (Rebecca spoon). It goes on and on. He’s following in his brother’s footsteps by using “ahm” for food/eat and a sucking noise for drink.
There is something about Jonathon that’s been different than the other kids we have. His willingness to push every button, to ignore directions and to try everything 5 more times after we’ve said to stop. The weird thing is he’s so darn polite and friendly. He says Thank You to everything, he says Hello to everyone. But when he’s in trouble, all we here is “ooooh aaaaaaay” (also known as OK in long drawn out syllables, usually signifying that he heard us, but has no intention of changing his current activity). I think the hardest time we have with him though is in church. He will not sit quietly, for anything. I have spent more time in church vestibules or outside with just him than I have with the other three combined. Periodically he remembers to whisper, but most of the time he’s wiggling, walking on the kneeler, sitting on the floor, chewing on the bulletin, and making his dissatisfaction heard at the worst times. The only times he’s happy is when he’s having a snack or when there’s music to sing to. And boy does he sing! He’ll be a great addition to the Vienna Boys Choir someday. I’m not going to stop him though, he only sings when the music is going so I figure there’s no harm in that and it’s not too distracting. But I do feel that he’d be better (as would the rest) at a more interesting service. There’s little music, and what speaking there is can often be difficult to understand even though it’s in English.
We went swimming at Seafront again recently and even though I asked him to wait until I had Nicholas ready, he stepped right into the baby pool without a backwards glance. Thankfully Rebecca was right there and I was right behind her to scoop him out and make sure his sputtering was just that. But there you have the routine for the rest of the time at the pool. Basically my goal here is to keep him from killing himself.