Two and a Half

It’s hard to believe two and a half years have passed since Jonathan came into our lives. He’s such an incredible kid and my little best friend. When he’s not performing a death-defying feats of climbing, he’s trying to keep up with his daddy and uncles by trying to CrossFit with them. He loves books and reading, but also needs a lot of gross motor stimulation. Running, jumping and lightsaber battles are often the name of the game. He loves music and can be found conducting some Bach along with the conductor in Fantasia, dancing to upbeat songs or humming along to the Star Wars theme song. He especially loves when his Uncle Matt lets him play his piano or guitar. His favorite song is the Disturbed cover of “The Sound of Silence,” which he tries to sing along to including making his voice raspy when needed.

An airplane and a rock, what more does a boy need in life?

Jonathan’s vocabulary is extensive now and he’s speaking in full sentences more often. It’s amazing how much this little sponge absorbs from our conversations, the shows he watches, the books we read and the world around him. Some of my favorite Jonathan-isms are:

He calls berries, “babies.” Ex: strawbabies
Thanks to one of his favorite shows, Trotro, he sometimes calls water “WAH-ta” (water in a British accent) and occasionally calls things “lovely”
“Fall down the window” = roll down the window
He calls Stephen’s sister “Uncle Bekah” – the kid has a lot of uncles, so obviously that’s what all people he loves are!
“Jonathan Strong Baby/Daddy Strong Baby/Mama Strong Baby/Uncle Dan Strong Baby, etc” : Basically what he calls anyone who is working out/stretching
“Strong Baby” also refers to him holding two people’s hands and then removing his feet from the ground so that those two, often unsuspecting, people have to carry him
“Mamas Carry You” = he wants me to carry him
“Say Hi” – our little extrovert needs to say hi to everyone and everything. If we go through a drive thru, he wants me to roll down his window so he can say hi to the person working the window. He saw guys outside working on our lawn, he asks to say hi. Sometimes we also say hi to trucks and tractors.
He calls the Cat in the Hat “Kitty Cat the Hat”
He tries to sign “I love you” and then whispers “I love you” while he does it
He’s still obsessed with the moon and when he sees it, he emphatically says “moooooooooooon!”
He shakes people’s hands now and says “Nice to meet you”

The best thing of all are those completely unprompted I love yous that he’s started giving out. Melts. My. Heart.

In his brief two-and-a-half years, he has been to:

6 weddings (+2 if you count when I was pregnant)
14 states
9 airports

He’s a pretty well-traveled kid. And he does pretty well traveling. He was a total champ on our 18 hour drive to my cousin’s wedding in February. And on planes he does great except for having to put on his seat belt. He is decidedly NOT a fan.

We’ve had to lower his crib mattress to the floor to prevent break outs. While we were at Mom’s house he learned how to escape from the pack & play, a skill which he easily translated to his crib back home. Hopefully this buys us some time as I am not prepared for Jonathan to have the freedom of movement that a toddler bed would allow him. Maybe when we buy a house and have fully anchored all items to the walls and have figured out the best way to keep him in his own room so that he isn’t wandering the house at ungodly hours of the morning. MAYBE.