Mommin' It Up!

December 30, 2014

Something to Talk About

A few days before Christmas we watched “Home Alone” with the kids. I laughed so hard…I’d forgotten how FUNNY that movie is! Jonah watched most of it with us, especially the part where Kevin’s older brother says “a$$” which he then repeated a couple times (I had NO memory of any of those kind of words in Home Alone! Whoops!). But near the end, he was weary of watching, and apparently hungry AND tired, because as the closing credits rolled, I found him like this ^^ – enjoying his favorite (local! #dayton) gluten-free snack while reclining comfortably on the kitchen floor.

This kid cracks me up!

Over the past couple of months, Jonah has made lots of progress in speech. Not necessarily in language concepts so much (which is the real challenge and was for Sophie) but in fluency – which is really fun. Specifically he has started ASKING questions. This is huge. I remember praying so hard that Sophie would ask questions. It’s a major language milestone. So when he started walking around saying “Where’s Joshua?” and “Can we listen to the Grinch song?” and “What are you doing?” it made me VERY happy. And although this is a “good” thing – he has also been asking WHY constantly!

Since I started working, I have not been as good about working with Jonah as I should be. I have berated myself for this, but the truth is, I am doing my best. I am still figuring this out – how to best manage my time – and apparently the learning curve is steep. We are still working 4-5 times a week plus he still goes to speech, but I am not putting the time into lesson plans that I have previously. So to see him doing well despite my slackerness is a great encouragement to me both that he’s going to be ok AND that I need to press on and make his lessons a priority (I guess I need to stay up even later, LOL. Because I cannot get up before 5:45. I can’t!)

As Jonah progresses in his speech he cracks us up daily. He is such a joy! For instance this morning, he crawled up on my lap and said: “Where’s Daddy?”

Me: Daddy’s at work.
Jonah: He’s not at work!
Me: Yes, he’s at work. Poor Daddy, he had to go to work and you’re still on break.
Jonah: That make Daddy cry.

I love that so much! Not only is it funny, it shows that Jonah deduced that Daddy would rather be at home with us than at work.

Smart boy. I’m so proud of him and delighted by him…I can’t wait to know what else he has to tell me!

December 17, 2014December 17, 2014

4th Birthday Fail. But Still a Win.

Yesterday. Last picture as a 3-year-old!

Today my sweet baby Jonah is four years old. I CANNOT believe it. This past year has truly flown by. He’s made so much progress with his speech, and his personality is REALLY showing through. He’s a stubborn but sweet little booger. I’ve taken to calling him a “threenager” all year and I’m kinda bummed because “fournager” just doesn’t have that same ring to it.

This is the first year Jonah has really understood his birthday and what it’s all about, and so I had BIG plans for today…and then he woke up sick. (Good thing I stayed up til 12:30 making and frosting those gluten free cupcakes for him to take to school, right? Sigh.)

4thbirthday — This morning. Happy birthday?

So, today, I don’t know if our plans will work out or not. There will be cake, and there will be presents, but that may be all! We were planning to take him bowling tonight because he is obsessed with Wii bowling and he thought Sophie’s bowling party last month on her 8th birthday was the best day of his entire life. But now, we will just have to see.

Regardless of how high or low key the celebrating is, I’m just thankful I have my little sweetheart here to cuddle today. He was the blessing God gave us that we weren’t planning or expecting and he brings so much joy to our family. It’s a privilege to be his mama, to bake his cupcakes and wipe his snotty nose and give him cuddles when he’s not feeling well.

Happy birthday, Jonah Laton! I can’t wait to see what you do with FOUR!

August 28, 2014August 28, 2014

He Really Knows How to Pick ‘Em

So now that the cat’s out of the bag about my new job, I have to tell you the story of how I met my boss, whom I shall call…Brian (mostly because that’s his actual name).

I actually worked for Brian for a few months before I met him in person, but we kinda-sorta has some connections because he and his wife went to high school with my brother and I went to high school with his sister (and his wife and I are Facebook friends so basically we are bests – HEY JENNA!) and we connected via Facebook, email, phone calls, Google Hangouts, and all the great internetty ways by which you get to know (and hire) a complete stranger without being in the same physical space. Speaking of which, we also go to the same church, but due to the fact that there are three services…we’ve never actually seen each other there. Ha.

Anyway! This year Brian’s kids are going to my kids’ school for the first time and we both have boys who are in 5th grade so at meet-the-teacher night we finally met in person. (Do people still DO that? Weird.) As luck would have it, one of Brian’s sons is in Joshua’s class [so the chances for my potential embarrassment go beyond this blog post] and their lockers are right next to each other. Like all good amazingly awkward introductions, we made ours by the middle school lockers. (Which actually sets the stage rather well for what happened next, as it turns out. And also? I LOVE PARENTHESES!) I introduced him to Bobby, Sophie, and Joshua, and our boys met each other, too. And then Brian directed his attention to one Jonah Rapson. I mean, after all, who could resist Jonah’s adorable 3-year-old charms?

(Take note: you might want to resist should you ever be in danger of succumbing to said charms.)

I can’t remember what words were exchanged but I do know I had Jonah say hello in a super-polite manner that would showcase not only his speech therapy progress but also my superb mothering skills. And then Brian started to extend his hand to shake Jonah’s darling, tiny, three-year-old hand, because oh em gee, three-year-old handshakes are ADORABLE, no?

SO here’s the part where what transpired next happened in that super slow-motion thing where I could see what was going to happen but I could in no way stop it and and I was like “nooooooooooooooooo!!” but it was too late.

For neither Brian nor I saw that as we were exchanging pleasantries, Jonah had inserted his right index finger into his nostril. BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID. I saw him take it out seconds before…he shook my new boss’ hand. And though my inner monologue was letting out a strangled cry, all I could do was cringe in mombarrassment.

the perfect pick — Jonah is demonstrating the super-sneaky method by which you can go from pick to shake in under a second. I said “Jonah can you pick your nose?” and he was happy to oblige.

To his credit, Brian saw what was happening and went through with the handshake. (And presumably then went through an entire bottle of hand sanitizer.)

The really funny thing is, Jonah isn’t much of a nose picker. I mean, it’s not something I really have to scold him for or deal with often. So he picked (see what I did there) an especially momentous occasion to try it out. I guess Brian is just that lucky.

Oh that third child, you gotta watch that one. I MEAN MY PRIDE! MY FIRST IMPRESSION!

Just kidding. It’s so bloggable, it makes it totally worth it.

At least on my end. Sorry Brian! And, nice to meet you?