Two Month Report

We were traveling to Orlando on May 17, so I never got the chance to write a two month report post. Here it is!

Favorite Foods:
-fruit (especially grapes, strawberries, and bananas)
-crackers
-cheese
-yogurt
-macaroni and cheese
-applesauce
-hot dogs
-juice and smoothies (that's how we get the vegetables in him!)

Foods Jonas Dislikes:
-pretty much anything not listed above

English Words Jonas Knows (since last month):
-shoes
-guitar
-no
-up
-down
-Dada
-clean up
-ball
-hot
-help me
-snow
-strawberry
-meow
-roar
-basketball
-more
-apple
-dog
-stay
-again
-stop
-choo choo
-baby
-juice
-bath
-book
-ready

Favorite Things to Do:
-chase birds and squirrels
-point out and pet dogs
-copy what older kids do
-swim
-swing
-anything related to music/instruments
-climb things

Habits:
-nap is only about 75 minutes now
-only about 10% potty trained right now (we've let it go-he's not interested)
-says "no no" and shakes finger at things he's not allowed to touch
-only sucks his thumb at night or when really scared (now sticks all fingers in his mouth when mad)
-says "hi" and then "bye bye" to everyone in sight multiple times
-points to items he recognizes in books or on screens and then points to the real-life object (like lamps, airplanes, dogs, etc.)

Habits We Are Working on Breaking:
-saying "no" to everything
-whining to be picked up
-hugging anyone who will let him, including complete strangers (still)
-sometimes having a meltdown when he doesn't get what he wants or has to wait

Our Favorite Things About Jonas:
-he calls us Mama and Dada now
-spontaneous kisses at random times of the day
-the helmet that earns him extra smiles from strangers and keeps his head protected
-how eager he is to learn and how proud he is to show what he knows
-that it feels like he's been part of our family forever!

He still wears the same size clothes, and I don't think he's actually gotten much bigger, but sometimes he looks taller or chubbier, and he may actually be at the 25 pound mark now. We love you little Jonas!

Guitar Crazy

Jonas is obsessed with guitars. Anytime he draws something, such as with chalk on the sidewalk or with markers on a library craft project, he declares that it's a "guitar" (though of course it's just a bunch of scribbles!). When music comes on somewhere, he sometimes yells "guitar," and he's usually correct!

In Orlando, as I was putting sunscreen on his leg, Jonas wanted some on his hand. When he saw the design that came out, he yelled "guitar!" I had to laugh and take a picture, because it actually kind of does look like one!

There were some games by the pool at our hotel, including this giant Connect 4 set. Jonas took out the bottom bar and turned it into, what else, a guitar!

I blame Zack. Jonas wants to be just like him, and so of course he loves guitars! He's kind of taken over Zack's ukulele as his own child-sized guitar. I guess his plastic green toy one just isn't realistic enough. Let's just hope this obsession doesn't mean we have to add even more guitars to the music room collection in years to come. (Just kidding-there are worse things he could collect!)

Disney Dogs

On our finally evening in Orlando, we wanted to do something special. Our hotel concierge helped us find a restaurant at the Swan Hotel called Garden Grove, where Disney characters make appearances and visit with the customers. On the night we were there, Pluto and Goofy visited, which was perfect, since Jonas is now obsessed with dogs.

Jonas wasn't too sure about these huge furry creatures at first (see the picture above!), but after watching other kids make contact with them and not get eaten, he decided it would be fun to meet them too. We let him do it on his own terms and at his own pace. He tentatively shook Pluto's hand, and touched his paw, nose, whiskers, and eyes.

You can tell he's still a little unsure about the whole thing in this family shot!

But as our meal continued, Jonas totally warmed up to both big dogs. He was giving them hugs, running after them, and saying "dog" over and over.

Meanwhile, Zack and I enjoyed our chicken and salmon meals with salad bar, soup, breads with flavored butters, and unlimited delicious desserts!

Jonas now loves looking at the pictures of himself with Pluto and Goofy. I'm glad he was able to meet some of the Disney dogs!

Epic Epcot

As part of Zack's conference in Orlando, he had an after 4pm ticket to Epcot Center one day, along with a dessert party by the waterfront for prime fireworks viewing. Since Jonas's entrance was free, we bought a discounted ticket for me and went along.

There were no lines for the rides, which was awesome, because I don't think Jonas would have handled waiting very well. We took him on all the toddler-friendly ones, like Nemo, Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, etc. He loved them all and sat with his mouth and eyes wide open in awe on most rides.

There was a lot of walking, and Jonas didn't always like to be carried. Of course, if we let him walk, he just wanted to wander off in random directions among strangers. There were a couple of meltdowns, but we all survived.

There was a beautiful sunset as we headed over to the World Showcase section of Epcot.

We shared a famous School Bread from Norway's bakery, and I ate dinner in the Germany section. After another boat-themed ride in the Mexico section, we headed over to Italy to join Zack's conference party.

The desserts were delicious, and the view of the fireworks display was incredible. In this shot, Jonas is signing and saying "more," even though the show had just begun!

I can't imagine surviving a whole day at a Disney park with a toddler, but an evening at Epcot was perfect.

Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is a free area where you can wander among shops and restaurants and a few little rides. We went there one evening for dinner and fun. The main attraction for Jonas was this huge balloon. At all times, he had to know where it was in the sky. He would say "balloon" (sounds like "baboo") and look around frantically until he saw it. We just had to take him for a ride in it. He wasn't scared at all, even though it went about 300 feet in the air. We enjoyed the views, while he enjoyed saying "up," "down," and "more."

The Lego Store was another favorite. Jonas got to see and touch all sorts of characters made out of Legos and build with some Legos too.

We ate dinner at Raglan Road, an Irish pub. Jonas loved listening to the live music and watching the dancers. He even got to do a little dancing himself! Later on, while we ate our Ghirardelli ice cream sundae, Jonas "entered" a dance contest for kids that was happening at an outdoor stage. He made it past the first round with his Irish "step dancing," which consists of him kicking his leg up and clapping his hands underneath it. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of that, because we think that's where Zack left his phone (and where it got stolen), because we couldn't find it soon afterward on our way home, and it went from ringing to going straight to voicemail (and it wasn't low on battery). And no luck with Lost and Found. Boooooo!

And of course we had to go in the main Disney store. Jonas tried on all sorts of hats and ears, and Zack bought him a 2015 stuffed Mickey as a souvenir.

Jonas just HAD to go on the carousel. For $2, we couldn't say no! I think he actually rode it three times, waving and smiling with each go-around.

There was also a little train ride, and since Jonas is starting to love trains and saying "choo-choo," I took him on that as well.

Jonas also enjoyed playing in the water fountain and getting soaking wet. There was lots of free or cheap fun to be had at Downtown Disney. Other than the phone loss, we had a great evening together.

Awesome Orlando

Zack had a work conference in Orlando this week, so Jonas and I tagged along. We weren't there to do the normal Disney stuff, because he's two, won't remember it anyway, can't ride a lot of the rides, and it'd be way too overwhelming for him. But we were still able to have a lot of fun. Our hotel, the Wyndham Grand, was on the Disney complex, so we got to take advantage of a lot of the amenities.

We spent most mornings at the pool. Jonas loves the water as much as ever. To try to protect his incision, we put a shower cap under his helmet. He looked kind of funny, but it worked pretty well. Jonas loved blowing bubbles in the water, jumping off the edge of the pool, and just paddling around.

We were on the tenth floor, and our balcony overlooked the pool and a lake. Jonas got to practice saying "up" and "down" a lot as we rode the elevator, and he made lots of friends by saying "hi" and "bye bye" to other conference attendees and hotel staff.

We could see the nightly fireworks over Epcot Center and Magic Kingdom from our balcony, so that was cool. Jonas liked saying "boom" and "more" as he watched.

I'll have some other posts about how else we spent our time in Orlando, but it sure was nice to have some days of sun and heat, since Denver has been so rainy!

Last Life Lately

I promise I'm going to quit this blog. Soon. I really just need to take some pictures of Jonas's room, because I want to have a post showing that, and then I'll be done. In the meanwhile, here's a last "Life Lately" post, and then I'll do a few about our time in Orlando (that's where we've been for the past week) and other random things before quitting for good.

In no particular order, here's what Jonas has been up to lately:

We visited Zack at work for lunch one day and checked out his office. If I could caption this shot, it'd say "C'mon people, I told you I needed those reports an hour ago!"

Jonas sleeps in some odd positions. We've found him upside down, completely sideways, half hanging off the bed, covers almost always off, etc. This "touchdown" position is probably the most normal position we've found him in!

Jonas loves playing at Wash Park. I'm so glad it's only four blocks away from our house.

We've had a few follow-up appointments at Children's Hospital. Jonas now recognizes the campus and looks for this bear statue, where he always makes the cutest growling sound and puts his arms up in the air.

A few days after our Mother's Day snow, it was 75 degrees outside, and Jonas said goodbye to what was left of his snowman.











Zack found this hat of his and put it on Jonas the other day. Super cute!

Jonas's new favorite hobby is chasing birds. Seriously-he could do it for hours. Too bad they always fly away!

We spent an afternoon at the Five Points Jazz Fest. Jonas got to try cotton candy for the first time. He thought the texture was weird and didn't eat much of it.

He also got to try out some stilts. Hey, as long as he has his helmet on, I don't care what he tries!

















Jonas has gone to lots of library story/craft times, another music class, and some playdates with friends. It's funny to see him interact with other toddlers. He often likes to copy what older kids do and usually finds one or two toys that he "takes over" and doesn't want to share!

Jonas is my little buddy, as we do most everything together nowadays. The other morning after dropping Zack off at the bus station to go to Boulder for work, we went to Union Station and had a "date." We shared donut holes, and I had a chai latte while he enjoyed a chocolate milk. We have lots of good times together!

You've Got Mail

So, many of you who read this blog have probably already gotten our adoption announcement in the mail. It took me awhile to finally send them, because I was waiting to get pictures done with Jonas by a photographer who is part of the Red Thread Sessions program. These photographers waive their session fee for adoptive families, so you get awesome (free) pictures of your new family! We did our session at Wash Park shortly before Jonas's surgery. So here is the adoption announcement I sent out to some friends and family members, along with other pictures from our session. Jonas looks so different now; I feel like we need to get new family pictures taken!

Garden Helper

Jonas "helped" me with the garden the other week. All of these antics are of his own doing, well, other than asking to be put in the wheelbarrow. He cracks me up.

He really enjoys moving my plant markers around and sticking random ones next to random plants, so I may end up getting carrots where I'm expecting peas. We'll see!


















Denver is still getting tons of rain, which is great for the garden, so we should be able to enjoy lots of fresh veggies this summer. Not that Jonas (Mr. Picky Pants) will eat any of them!