Category: Jonah

I know that it is undeniably true that “every kid is different” but Jonah – Jonah seems to be a different species entirely than Joshua and Sophie sometimes.

For one thing, he eats. A LOT. Joshua and Sophie up to the age of five both ate “barely enough to stay alive” as I used to say. Sophie’s still that way! And she is SO picky!

But not my Jonah. He is the definition of a bottomless pit. He eats meals, he eats snacks, he whatever he can get his hands on whenever he can get it. At his two-year check up last week (in which he weighed in at only 27 pounds, 45th percentile) his doctor asked me how many snacks  he ate a day. “I don’t know,” I said, “Probably 3 or 4.”  The doctor then said, “I’m gonna ask you to cut back on that to one snack a day.” AND I LAUGHED. “It’s all GOOD stuff!” I protested.

Despite my penchant for sugar, I give Jonah healthy stuff. Yesterday he consumed two whole apples, three whole bananas, a bowl of plain yogurt with a strawberry mixed in, countless grapes, a bunch of diced ham, some Rice chex, countless plain raisins, and countless dried pineapple and papayas.

The one thing I cannot get him to eat is VEGETABLES, of course. But we are working on it. I can get him to eat corn…mixed with beans and canned tomatoes in one of our family favorite recipes. It’s too bad, he used to eat EVERYTHING but he has become picky in that regard.

We’ve also decided to take Jonah gluten-free, and this is day five of that venture for us. The reason? Well, for one, I have to eat GF and my husband is eating GF with me out of solidarity. So taking one more person off gluten wasn’t that hard in-house. But the real reason is that recently Jonah has been waking up from both naps and in the morning PISSED OFF. Just mad, mad, mad for no reason, and throws a big long crazytown fit that boggles our minds and usually lasts about 30 minutes.

Since I know that a gluten intolerance can manifest itself in this kind of way in kids, I decided just to try it. We took him off gluten on Sunday, and he hasn’t thrown a fit since Monday.

Could be coincidence, but I’m going with it for now!

So anyways.

My kid eats a lot. And now eats a lot gluten-free. So PLEASE SEND dollar bills or grocery gift cards to the Jonah Appetite Satiation Fund of America!

(Not really, peeps. No one sue me.)

Do you have big eaters in your family?

Today is Monday, December 17, 2012. Three days after one of the most horrific days in our nation’s history. Three days after the murders of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Emily and I have a bloggy friend, Victoria, (a.k.a. VDog), who lost her nephew, Noah Pozner, age 6, in the shootings. We love us some VDog. We are heartbroken for her family, and for all the families who lost a loved one. When I heard there was a school shooting in Connecticut, I never dreamed that I would know someone who would be affected personally. But the internet has made our small world that much smaller.

As I said, we love us some VDog. If you would like to help her family, you can give to a fund that will provide counseling and education for Noah’s four siblings (two of whom are also students at Sandy Hook, one being his twin sister.) You can donate through this link here. It is set up as an “event” – you simply “buy a ticket” in any amount you choose.

Victoria did an amazing job talking about her nephew Noah on CNN last night, please take a minute to remember Noah with her by watching here. (The part where she noted with grief that her son Ethan would no longer have his “cousin buddy” really got me, as I’m sure you can imagine.)

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So. It’s three days later. Our nation is still reeling. And I feel a little funny writing a tribute post to my darling baby boy on his birthday, when there are so many parents who will never celebrate another birthday with their darling babies.

It’s so not fair.

And yet I feel that if I asked them, those parents would urge me to speak about my boy. To take the chance to let everyone know how wonderful he is. To take the chance to revel in what I love most about him as he is right now.

So I will. And I will also tell him.

Jonah my love,

I can hardly believe you are two. It sounds cliche, but I really cannot believe how fast these two years have flown. It seems only yesterday you were still cozy in your swaddle or sling, and now you’re climbing the stairs by yourself!

Jonah, you are a funny boy. You like to create a little mayhem. Your two favorite activities are throwing toys at mommy when she’s in the shower, and throwing toys over the gate at the top of the stairs, exclaiming, “Yay!” and “Whee!” while you make a big mess.

You are a mama’s boy. I finally just weaned you within the last two weeks! You held out until I had to make you give up the sauce. But you still want me all to yourself, especially in the morning. You throw a fit when Joshua, Sophie, or Daddy needs my attention and you grin with devilish glee when they leave the house for work and school! Oh, Jonah. Not nice, kid! You are going to have to get used to them. Please tell me this is just a phase!

You are a boy who loves to play and learn. I have no idea why we spend money on toys for you, when your favorite ones are those I make for you out of old coffee cans and wipes tubs! Like your brother and sister before you, you LOVE letters and you love to bring me a card with a letter on it and tell me what it is. You love to count your toes, stack pegs on your pegboard, and do anything you can dump out and do all over again. You love music and my favorite thing in the world is hearing you sing and do the motions to “The Wheels on the Bus”. I will never get tired of it!

You are a physical boy. You’re whooping up on where your brother and sister were at your age as far as fine and gross motor skills are concerned! You want to accomplish a task physically, you make it happen! But you’re not as verbal as I’d like you to be, and I can’t wait for you to really talk to me! You know so many words but I can’t wait to hear you start putting them together. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say, my love.

You are my sidekick. I love spending our days, just you and me, now that the big kids are both in school all day. You waited a long time to have mommy to yourself and I am loving our time together, my sweetheart. Being your mom is pretty much the best gift ever.

And now you’re two! What will you do this year? I can’t wait to see! I’m so proud of who you are, of your sweet smile and snuggles, of your funny, stubborn personality, and of all the great things I know you’re going to do.

(But my birthday wish for you? That you stop holding your breath when you throw a fit! That scares me to death!)

I love you, Jonah Laton. Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mommy

Can I just tell you how much I love my baby boy? We are having a great time together now that the big kids are in school and we’re getting some face time. Jonah loves to play. Although he plays much better by himself that my other two kids did, he still just wants Mommy to play with him in the morning.  So in the morning, we play. We stack blocks and pegs. We read. We sing lots of songs.  He does an adorable dance to the ABC song, and awesome motions to “Wheels on the Bus” and “If you’re happy and you know it”.  It is a-freaking-dorable, and I love it!  He is such a good player. He plays hard, and he has fun! And of course, leaves a mess in his wake.

(Have you updated your iPhone to iOS 6 yet? Cool panoramic feature on the camera!)

This is really only a small Jonah mess.  See his puzzles? They are still neatly stacked up! Usually he has about 5 or 6 out with pieces everywhere by the end of the day.

Jonah hasn’t been as quick to talk as Joshua and Sophie were, so I’ve been a little nervous about that.  But since the big kids have gone back to school, he is adding words really quickly. Just this week his new words are blue, green, orange and even Halloween! It’s so fun and exciting for me to report these new developments every day. He never stops making me laugh and run for my phone to take a picture or video.

I am super in love with my baby Jonah.  I am loving my one-on-one time with him! I can’t wait to see what he does next, each day, each moment.  It’s such a gift.