new words

Since my last survey, Jonah has added new words to his lexicon. Here they are:

nose (nos in Czech)
bread
tail
no
goat
"co" as in computer
"gar" as in garbage
fork, which sounds more like poh
pán, which means gentleman or man in Czech
buh-buh which means borůvka or blueberry
I think he says pea as well, but am not sure

Can't think of anymore. That must be it.

say bye bye

It looks like I have officially stopped nursing. For the last several weeks I nursed about once or twice a day. Jonah's interest began to decline, and as of about three days ago, Jonah lost interest altogether. That was probably because my milk production decreased to the point of futility. So, bye bye boobie it is? I still can't get used to that. I spent fifteen months nursing afterall. I never thought I would say this, but I do miss it in a way. I miss two things about it. The physical closeness and the satisfaction of providing my child with the best nutrition he can get. But all good things must come to an end, as they say. So, say bye bye to the boobie.

back from Seattle getaway

Tim, Jonah, and I just returned from our little getaway to Seattle for Thanksgiving. What a treat. Our friends prepared a delicious meal and had us over along with family. Good times, the only sticky point was Jonah not wanting to sit still during dinner and the open fireplace - I mean no screen or anything blocking a toddler running right into it! Yikes. All worked out fine with Tim and me taking turns either creating a physical barrier between Jonah and the fire or running around the house, making sure Jonah doesn't break a valuable item or hurt himself in the new surroundings.

One of our friends let us use her apartment for the weekend while she was gone, catching some rays in Hawaii. What a luxury it was to have our own place to stay! I hope we left it as neat as we had found it.

One afternoon we went over to Tim's cousin's house. Her son is only nine months older than Jonah. Jonah was in seventh heaven seeing another kid, a dog, cat, and toys galore. He stayed entertained the whole time. Nothing like a little playtime for a toddler.

On the way back to Portland, we stopped over to visit Tim's grandma. It was so nice to see her and spend some quiet small group time with her. I have only seen her at big family gatherings usually. Jonah's favorite toy at great-grandma's was the cane. Boy was he thrilled to lug that thing around. He looked like a little shepard. And was it hard to give that cane up when we had to go.

In other news, Jonah has been enjoying using a toddler-style fork and spoon during meal times. One of the benefits, besides learning table manners like a good boy should, is that he lasts in his high chair longer and that gives the parents time to stuff their faces.

thanksgiving and more

We're off on a little family getaway to Seattle. Friends invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them. Lucky for us, we get to stay at another friend's apartment while she is out of town. What a luxury!

I haven't been posting much lately, but I did want to share a story from a week ago. Tim was out of town for "men's weekend" and I was driving Jonah to meet a friend and her son at the ZOO when a cop pulled me over for blocking an intersection on a red light. I thought I could clear it, but the light turned red before I made it and I ended up blocking one of the four lanes of the wide street. Fine, the cop was right. He gave me a ticket, my first traffic ticket, but that wasn't all. He started checking Jonah's carseat and reprimanded me for the harness being a little low. Then he checked the tightness of the straps and said they were too loose, that this time he was going to issue me a warning, but that I could get fined for it next time. On his computer, he printed out not only the traffic ticket, but also the warning. My offence? Endangering a child's life. The cop said he was a safety instructor and asked me to tighten the straps before I took off. I was so stressed out I couldn't do it, but he didn't offer to help. Instead he said that I can tighten the straps at home. That really got my goat. If he cares so much about my child's safety - enough to issue me a printed warning - why doesn't he do the least he can to ensure it... Then pulling out of the place where I was stopped was a challenge, with traffic wizzing by from around a corner. The cop didn't think twice about helping me pull out. I was so distressed by the situation that I couldn't stop crying afterwards. That definitely didn't add to my child's safety in the car. In short, the cop endangered my child's life much more by stopping me and not only putting these infractions on my record, but also making me feel like an irresponsible mother. Shame on him.

sentences

Jonah now speaks in simple sentences. Yesterday he said, "Mama, go down." Today, "Go the door," meaning: "I want to leave this room by going through that door." Cool, isn't it?

little man applies for a passport

Today is a big day. Jonah will be applying for a passport, so we can go on our trip to Prague next month. The application asks for his occupation and employer. I was tempted to write in "toddler" and "parents" but then Tim convinced me to leave those sections blank. We had to also provide Jonah's height and since we haven't been to the doctor in months, we had to measure Jonah. I couldn't find a tape measure anywhere, so I used a 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. I got 30", but who knows how accurate that is.

The funnest part of the process was getting the photos done. This was the first time Jonah had to officially pose for a photo. I crouched, holding him while he sort of stood on a chair with a white background behind him. He was very sleepy, which slowed him down and worked to our advantage. The pictures turned out great! I can't believe he'll soon have an official picture ID! I think I'll start calling him Mr. B.

Jonah lexicon inventory

Here is what Jonah has been saying lately:

"ka" - short for "knížka" or book
"ca" - short for "cat" or "kočička"
the book
cup
up
juice
"da" - short for "voda" or water
mama
the door & door
the book
corner
bear
box (without the final x sound)
"co je to?" which means "what is this?"
"Here you go."
"papat" = nurse
"ta" - short for "bota" or shoe
"ba" - short for "babička" or grandmother
ball
car
diaper (though that one is hard to understand)
the bag
"bah-bah" for bottle
"ka" - short for kornflejka or conrnflake
"ba" = bath
"ka" - short for kačenka, which means duck

Jonah has started to wave back at me as of two days ago!!!

He can also follow simple instructions like "Put the duck in the box," "Bring me a book" or the same phrase in Czech: "Přines mi knížku."

He now also picks out and repeat words from a conversation he overhears. For example, if Tim or I mention the word "car" in our conversation, Jonah will repeat it.

scratch me, hit me, pull my hair

Do you realize I'm talking about Jonah's new hobby here? When I say Jonah's really into inflicting pain, I know I'm not only speaking for myself and the baby's daddy. I'm also speaking for the kitties. Yes, I've read that toddlers really like to conduct the old "cause and effect" experiments. But no one ever told me I would be a part of it!

The toughest part of this phase, other than the physical pain, is knowing how to react. A firm "no" doesn't seem to matter. If anything, it makes Jonah laugh and mock me. "This hurts" he doesn't understand yet. Spanking his hand (which I've tried once, gently, of course) seems totally confusing. The best thing to do is to redirect his attention. But that's damn hard to do when he's got a firm grip on your hair or lip. Wow, grip and lip rhyme. I think I'm gonna go and write a rap about this now to get my aggressions out. Wait, that's already been done (e.g. a rap song with a very similar title to "scratch me, hit me, pull my hair"). Catch my drift?