History of the J Man

We’ve taken a bunch of holiday related video lately so I have a few more to upload but this one is ready today.  I doctored it up a bit by pulling out the best parts of a bunch of short videos we have of Jonah baking and decorating cookies and cupcakes.

Holiday Baking from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

Chris only gets to see Jonah for a couple hours a day during the week because he leaves so early in the morning then we try and get Jonah to bed by 8:00.  So they concentrate on playing together on the weekends, especially ones like this one when I had a errands to run for a few hours. 

Here’s a video of what they were up to while I was gone.  Jonah calls these “houses” but I used to always call them forts.  This is exactly why we need a new house with a family room and a separate living room.  So he can use the family room couch cushions for this and not take up our living room. 

They obviously had a good time while I was gone.  In case you can’t tell exactly what Jonah is saying for his name it’s “Big Boy Jonah D….!”  We’ve gotten him to add his last name but that “Big Boy” part seems to be sticking. 

Jonah & Daddy with fort from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

On an unrelated note, he’s still doing a great job with potty training.  We haven’t had any accidents while he’s in his underpants.  He will go and pee in his potty on his own when he has to go.  We’ve even been out in pull-ups a few times and he’ll wait and use the bathroom there instead of going in his pull ups.  He still asks for a diaper when he has to go #2 but I’m not pushing that to change because I figure it will happen on it’s own.  He did get away with a diaper for longer while I was out on Sunday though by telling Daddy he still had “more poops.”  That works with Daddy but this morning he tried to pull it with me too and I put underwear on him and told him if he still had more he could do it in the potty.  So far so good.  We have Thomas undies for Hanukkah and Christmas too, just to keep the momentum going.

Every time we asked Jonah what he wanted to be for halloween this year he said a baseball player…so that’s what he was.  After the one Cub’s game that Chris and I went to this year we stopped in the store across from Wrigley and bought Jonah a pinstriped t-shirt and a warm up suit to go with it.  The costume was super cute and he can wear it again in the spring.

The video below is from one of the homes near my parent’s house in Evanston where we went trick-or-treating.  In addition to all the other cool decorations they had this machine that blew bubbles filled with smoke.  It was very cool and I think it was the highlight of Jonah’s trick-or-treating outing.  That and the candy at the end of course. 

Smoke Bubbles at Halloween from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

Here’s a short video from our trip to Goeberts Pumpkin Farm this year.  Jonah had a great time running around playing with the pumpkins and climbing on all the gear there.  We went early in the season so we had the place more to our selves than in years past.  That was nice. 

Pumpkin Farm 2009 from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

Though Jonah was a bear to get out of the house the morning of Emmett’s birthday party, once we got there he had a great time.  Brandy’s idea to have the party outside at a park was a good one.  Here’s a short video of Jonah playing with the wood chips, then eating a cupcake with Kerala.  The funniest part is a the end, I filmed the group photo session…make sure you have your sound on for that part. 

Emmett’s 1st Birthday from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

Jonah loves his Aunt Amy a lot.  He doesn’t see her all the time but he talks about her all the time.  He knows all the clothes and toys that she’s given him.  I think it’s one of the first names he learned how to say.  He loves his other aunts too of course, but Heather and Kelley are harder to say. 

In this video he asked Daddy to take him to “Amy’s Home.”  She lives downstate though so that would be quite a trip on his hands and knees!  Good thing she’ll be visiting us here in a couple weeks. 

Horse or Car Movie from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

We’ve been slow to post about our annual trip to Michigan because it’s always hard to come back from a trip, unpack, get back into the grind of work and still get all the photos downloaded. 

We actually didn’t take a ton of photos because we had aunts, uncles and grandparents around to act as paparazzi so I really only have the video below to include. 

We stayed in the same house as last year and had a great time.  The weather was nice the whole week.  We got a bit of rain here and there but nothing that stayed around long enough to dampen our fun.  Not that it would have mattered to Jonah.  He loved running around in the living room (as you can see in the video) and making garages and parking spaces for his cars, trucks and trains with the Jenga blocks that Aunt Amy brought.  And as long as Aunt Amy was around he was happy.  He woke up in the morning not saying hi Mama or Daddy but, “Amy, Amy?” 

Jonah at Watervale 2009 from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

Last year the first couple nights sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room were hard for Jonah but this year we didn’t have any problems.  It probably helped that by the time he went down he was pooped!  He slept from about 8:30-6:30 each day.  Of course we always try to tell him to sleep in till 8:00 but that only happens VERY rarely. 

This year we got to spend a day on the public beach in Frankfort which we’ve never really done in the past.  We were going to meet everyone for lunch in town later so we thought we’d just head to that beach and be right there in time for lunch.  We got there around 9:30 and were the first ones at the beach!  By the time we got to Dinghy’s and got our food I literally had to catch Jonah as he fell asleep in his chair.  He was in a booster seat so we were worried he’d fall right out!  He napped for the next hour in his stroller as we walked around.

Jonah also got to go on his first boat ride on this trip. Chris’s parents (and sisters and future uncle) rented a house about 15 minutes away on Crystal Lake. Their cabin came with bikes and a pontoon boat. The day Chris, Papa and Uncle Tim went golfing Jonah, myself and the rest of the Diehl’s went out on the pontoon boat. Jonah even got a chance to drive the boat (he likes to turn left we learned, as we did a complete circle in the middle of the lake)!

I’m not sure why the movie came out so grainy this time but I wanted to give everyone an idea of what I spent my time doing these days with Jonah.  I swear he can keep up this activity for 8 hours a day if I let him.  Who knows, maybe this is what Tiger Woods was like as a kid. 

Play ball! from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

This is what the weather was like on our trip to Florida.  Check out Chris’s jacket and pants.  Jonah didn’t seem to mind too much though.  He always loves to swing.

Florida Swing Video from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

Jonah in a box!  Probably fascinating for about 10 seconds, and then fascinating for family members only.  Anyway, hope you enjoy.  He can climb in and out of that thing with no problems.  One of his favorite things to do is stand in it and then be surrounded by his stuffed teddy bears and/or some plush sporting balls (basketball, football, etc.) we bought for him.

Jonah in a Box from Julie Diehl on Vimeo.

I also spoke to Jonah today about the Super Bowl.  His thoughts are that the Cardinals will win, but I think he’s out of his mind.  Too many people are picking the Cardinals, when one month ago, no one would have given them half a chance against the Bears. 

“OK,” I said to him, “let’s run down this little run they’ve been on.  They beat a very good Atlanta team in a close game at home.  They beat a very suspicious Panthers team on the road, and yes, they were suspicious.  Let me tell you, I had the Panthers D in my fantasy league never totally trusted them.  Then they got to play an Eagles team that couldn’t beat the Bengals in five quarters.  Not to mention they played in the weakest division in football and got blown out several times.  They were practically a lock to finish 8-8 after getting completely dominated in the New England game.  Now you’re going to try to tell me that this team that couldn’t run the ball all regular season is going to turn to a washed up Edge James to get them past the #1 ranked rush defense and the #2 ranked pass defense in the NFL?  Surely you can’t be buying the hype…?  My prediction is Steelers 31, Cardinals 14.  What do you think?” 

His reply: “Dah dah?”

I’ll leave out his prediction on the Chelsea/Liverpool game, though he thinks that one will be a 1-1 draw.