Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday Jonah and I joined some friends (Scott, Amelia, & Micah Moore, & Scott's mom) at a pumpkin patch in the Franklin area. Jonah was admitted at adult pricing but it was a pretty great place and I decided worth the cost (only $4 each). There were TONS of GREAT things for kids his age to do. I didn't bring a camera but my friends did, so there should be some good pics. I bought one pumpkin for Jonah, and he wanted Ivy to have one too, so hey, for $1 each, we got two little pumpkins in total.

Afterwards, we went to the Fall Festival in downtown Franklin. It was super busy. We were only there for about 30 minutes I think. The only people I saw there that I recognized were somewhat famous. It made me giggle... Let me think... I saw a couple of Rebecca St. James' brothers, one of Gary Sadler's daughters, Phil Joel from Newsboys, and Dan Haseltine from Jars of Clay.

silly things

Well, I've been collecting the funny things Jonah has said for the last week or two. Here they are, in no specific order...

We have taught Jonah all the downhere guys' first and last names. But we taught him to say Marc Martellioni instead of Marc Martel. He used to get it right, but last week I heard him say Marc Marcatel. And yesterday he told me about his own band. "It's at Grandma's house. Jonah is Jeremy. Miles is Jason."
Mommy: "Who plays bass guitar in your band?"
Jonah: "Daddy"
Mommy: "Who plays guitar and sings?"
Jonah: "Marc Marcatelli" (notice the name has changed even more... I guess I better start correcting him)

Last week we were listening to downhere's album in the car. Jonah said it was Marc Marcatel's band. He likes it at the end of Stir when Marc screams...
Mommy: Jonah, why does he scream?
Jonah: Because Jonah love him when he scream. It make Jonah happy. And angry.

Today at a pumpkin patch,
Mommy: I wish I had a hood
Jonah: Yeah, you need a monkey hat

Funny conclusions:
About the pupils of our eyes... dark circles/holes... therefore "there's a echo in them"

"God must be hiding. I can't see her."

Making up his own word...
"Crackers are yummy and cracky." (Pronounced, "Wackers are yummy and wacky.")

While putting product in Jonah's hair...
Mommy: "And your hair will smell really nice."
Jonah: "Yeah, like pasta!"

While brushing teeth with Daddy...
"I can't say cheese. I'm too busy saying ahhhhhh. Ahhhhhh."

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHAN!!!

a win

Tonight downhere is in Calgary at the CGMA's Covenant Awards. Marc & Jason just one an award in the pre-show for Rock Song of the Year -- The More...

More to come! (I'm feeling unusually optimistic)

Actually, they are up for a total of six awards, but the competition is pretty strong for a lot of the nods.

p.s. Jonah's afternoon quiet time went miserably, BUT he went to bed tonight without a hitch - asleep by 6:15. No crying. Maybe a little whining.

p.p.s. They got "Rock Album of the Year" too!
p.p.p.s. "Recorded Song of the Year" for A Better Way too!

And can it be?

Jonah has always been a soother boy. [If you aren't familiar with the word soother, then interchange with pacifier, fooler, nuk, or paci.] For a long time he has insisted on having two - one for his mouth, and one to play with in his hands.

The last few days has been difficult for Jonah because he has had a cold, and has been unable to really suck his soother well. He uses it to help go to sleep [and he only uses his soother when he's in bed or trying to sleep in the car] so getting to sleep has been harder for him.

The last three days Jonah has not taken a nap. He has just been jumping out of bed and playing. Nothing we have done has been able to keep him in bed. And you can't MAKE a child sleep. Or MAKE them stay in bed for that matter. This could have to do with a whole combination of things going on - an exciting visit with Krista & Bob, we bought a big boy bed (and he can escape his playpen no problem), plus the fact that he's cutting his two-year molars, and has a cold. Anyway, on the days he hasn't napped, he has gone to bed at 6pm and gotten 12-13 hours of sleep. So, technically, he's getting the right amount of sleep still. It's just all consolidated. I'm not totally sure I like the idea of no nap, and I'm hoping that eventually we'll work him back into a later bedtime and a nap in the day again. But in the meantime, it has helped us out on the soother front.

We started telling him that if he doesn't nap, it means he's a big boy, and big boys don't need soothers. He got the final threat today - "No nap today, no soother tonight!" He opted out of the nap.

So after stories tonight, I asked him, "Jonah, did you nap today?" He immediately and nervously piered into his playpen and began protesting. He KNEW what was coming. He told me that he was a little boy. I reminded him of how proud of him we would be in the morning, put him in bed, and left. He only cried for a little while and then fell fast asleep!

WOW - we're so proud of him!

Ironically, I always figured that the day I took his soothers away, would be the day he stopped napping.

But nap, you are not yet gone forever... we WILL get you back...

Big boy bed

Glenn and I went out on a "hot date" Tuesday night and came back with a toddler bed for Jonah. I know, how wrong is that?

I LOVE Target. We went there for Count Chocula... kinda got Bob hooked on it since he got here. He figures he hasn't eaten it in 20 years! That's just crazy! Target was selling it for $1.48/box. It's about $4 a box in Canada!!!

Anyway, while we were there, we wandered around a little and Glenn spotted a toddler bed in a pretty small box. We got the bed and a set of sheets on sale for $40USD. It fits a crib mattress, so we can't use it until we get home... but Jonah's MORE than ready for it. As I type this, he is getting out of his playpen to play about every 60 seconds. And he's been getting out of the playpen every morning and after his nap for weeks now I think. The bed is perfect for our current living situation because it is SO LIGHT! It will be easy to move it around. The only downfall is that it has a maximum weight of 50 pounds... Jonah and Miles won't be able to play on it together. Oh, and the bed came with some "Lightening McQueen" stickers (seen the movie Cars yet?) but we're going to opt out of those. The sheets are Lightening McQueen though, and we'll probably pick up one more set - either Winnie the Pooh or Finding Nemo.




Jonah loves it and all the way home from the zoo he kept saying that he wanted to sleep in his red bed. We put some couch cushions on it so that he could try it out. We're hoping we'll be able to easily disassemble it tonight and send it back to Canada with K-Bob.

We picked up a Curious George book while we were at Target too - CG goes Fishing, I think it's called. Jonah loves it. I think we've all read it to him AT LEAST twice each, and some of us have had the pleasure of reading it even more.

Last night Glenn and Bob hit a local hotel to watch the Leafs game, and Dave joined them. Krista and I stayed here to watch Curious George the Movie, and Jess joined us. Very cute movie! I don't think I'm gonna let Jonah watch it yet though. Does anyone know if the old Curious George television series is available anywhere? Remember that song? "Curious George, a curious little monkey..." That's all I've got.

Nashville Zoo

We went to the Nashville Zoo yesterday! And it was a perfect day for it - a high of 29 degrees Celcius!!!!! This zoo is nice and it's cheap too. Now that it's October, it only cost $8 per adult to get in and Jonah was FREE!

Jonah was really hoping to see monkeys with bananas at the zoo, so one of our first stops was the gibbons. (Didn't see any bananas though.) The noises they eventually made were amazing, like some kind of band - their voices all different in pitch and varying the rhythms, some really low and steady, others bird-like, sometimes screaming and yelling. Apparently they were signalling to us to get out of their territory or they would rip our throats out and crush our bones into little bits. But not to worry, there was a moat protecting us!

Oh, did I mention? After Glenn and Krista ran the marathon, they and Bob drove to PA for a downhere gig and then drove to Nashville the next day! We've been having a nice visit! And Grandma sent WAY TOO MUCH chocolate with them - WOO HOO! [And a cell phone for Jonah that he has been using to "talk to Grandma".] Anyway, here are two pics - one of a gibbon in a tree, and below that, a picture of us listening to and watching the gibbons.




This zoo has an AMAZING playground! Isn't this beautiful? Jonah loved it of course.




Glenn and Jonah went down this crazy curly tunnel slide together. It was pitch black on the inside! When they landed at the bottom and got out, Jonah yelled, "THAT WAS AWE-SOME!"


There was a petting zoo area with mostly goats. Jonah took notice of their "big bellies" and "bum holes".



Jonah made me giggle at lunch. See what he did to his bread? He likes to "make bagels."

They DID it!!!!

Glenn and Krista have completed the Toronto Marathon! I am SO PROUD of them both!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Now get down here so we can celebrate!

Here are the basics:

Glenn ran it in under 4 hours 22 minutes
Krista ran it in under 4 hours 44 minutes

And congrats to our friend Cookie who ran it in under 3 hours 12 minutes!!!

Here is Curious orge!

Hair & Halloween

Jonah's hair is getting SO long! I had to trim his bangs very slightly the other day just to keep it out of his eyes.





This morning Jonah and I went to two consignment stores to shop for a Halloween costume. He had said that he wanted to be a monkey, so I was really hoping to find something that would do. We lucked out at our first stop - A Curious George costume!

The price on the tag was $10.99 plus tax - definitely over-priced considering its condition - definitely thin, worn and on the front it reads "Curious orge" - less then ideal. And now that I think about it, there's no tail either. Anyway, I pointed out the "orge" bit and they laughed and reduced the price. I ended up paying $6.01 including tax. Deal! (And even sweeter if he can wear it again next year!) Now, I'm waiting for Aunt Krista to arrive and save the costume!! I know she'll come up with some creative way to restore the "Ge". And create a tail?

Jonah doesn't know who Curious George is, but I'm hoping we'll find a book soon so Jonah gets the idea. And we want to find a plastic banana too of course! Ideas anyone?

Hmmmmm... maybe Glenn should be the man in the big yellow hat...

art & sillies

Jonah was attempting to draw a circle here. Once he was done, I asked him "What do you see?" and he said "A whale!" Then he added the eyes and spout without my prompting! I'm impressed!



Tonight after his bath Jonah was being a little silly, pulling his pajama pants up REALLY high. It was pretty funny. He even let me take a picture.

Ham & stuff

Erin and I went to Spring Hill's Country Ham Festival last Saturday. It only cost $5 to park and then there were lots of free activities! And free stuff too, like crayons, coloring books, candy, and a lunch box containing a banana and raisins. We also tried some free samples of country ham (VERY salty), biscuits, and pumpkins seeds.

Jonah's favorite part was the petty area. He pet goats but really loved the bunny rabbit.



This was one of the free activities - racing cars down a ramp.



This was Jonah's least favorite activity. We got on the train. Then we quickly got off.


Jonah "milked" a "cow"!!!! This was mine and Erin's favorite moment! Jonah successfully squeezed the teats to extract, you guessed it, water.



Lately, Jonah is getting more into hugging and cuddling. I'm loving it.


Strange things heard coming out of Jonah's mouth...

In a passionate and caring voice this afternoon, "I love cow's milk" (ummmm, he's ALLERGIC and NEVER drinks the stuff)

At the supper table a couple of days ago, talking about a vegetable... "When I don't like it I SPIT IT OUT! That's manners!"

I'll try to jot some more down over the next few days! Too funny!

bravery gone too far

Jonah has been getting very brave lately, especially when it comes to his physical development. He is climbing and jumping like crazy. Yesterday he decided to start jumping off our bed. There's no bed frame, but there's box spring and a THICK mattress. He was very proud of himself and kept saying "JONAH DO A HUGE JUMP!" He typically landed on his feet, but then fell onto his hands. From our bed, he could see a picture of Glenn on my computer desktop, so then he kept saying, "Daddy, watch Jonah do a huge jump!" Then he would jump, and look up at the computer and say, "Daddy see Jonah do a huge jump!" It was quite funny and I managed to get some video.

Just now he decided to do it again. However, he changed his technique at one point and did a complete belly flop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He looked up at me and let out an involuntary grunt, then cried a little, wanted hugs/cuddles, then stopped and said it was "dunny" (funny) and he was back at it again. I wonder if his neck was damaged when his chest hit the floor?!

readings

Here's more from Sally Breedlove's Choosing Rest...

A father who understood the significance of letting go of fear in order to receive the gift of joy wrote a letter to his daughter. With their permission I give you a portion of his wise words.

Underneath the idea of carpe diem is the concept that you do not need to fear the will of God. I know there is a strong tendency in all of us to hold out for control because we are fundamentally afraid that God is going to rip us off if we really let Him be God of our whole lives. He'll take away what we really want and make our lives dull and prosaic. There is no reason to resist Him today. There is nothing gained in delaying the best that God offers us. Bottom line, God is really good, and you have no need to fear Him.

So the choice really is ours. We can hang onto our fears, insisting that until they are resolved, there is no way for us to enter into rest, or we can see those same fears as the door by which we can enter a rest far richer and sweeter than the rest that might arise from a tenuous arrangement of perfect circumstances. That rest flows out of the security of our relationship with God. It is a rest that bleieves that a life without all the pieces in place, a life in which we do indeed suffer lack, is still a life to celebrate, a good gift from a good God. yes, the choice is difficult, but if we lay down our fears, choosing instead the heart and the arms of God, the gate will open to rest.