Funny pictures

These are pics I've taken over the past two months but never posted.

Things I like about you...

Jonathan is now 13 months old and I'm loving every minute of him. Other than the post I wrote just a few days ago! Here are some things we love about Baby J~

--He points at EVERYTHING! First thing he does when I go into his room in the morning is point. He's not pointing at anything, but he's pointing at everything. Sometimes he doesn't even look at what he's pointing at - his finger is one way and his eyes are another! I joke with my dad that it's all because of him. My dad likes to take Jonathan around the house or anywhere we are and point while "stating the obvious." Tree, ball, dog, car, mirror, plant, wall, light, coffee table, airplane, picture, squirrel... you get the idea... Jonathan has totally picked up on it.

--He says "ba" to anything that is round. (That's "ball" to you baby talk novices)

--He gives sloppy kisses! Shannon was an eye witness to this. Today I was holding him and asked for a kiss. He opened his mouth wide and I kissed, like normal. Then he proceeded to open his mouth and push his tongue in and out all over my mouth! It's seriously one of the funniest things to see because he's truly giving me what he thinks is a loving kiss!

--He's learned sign language for "more", "milk" and we're working on "mommy", "daddy", "please" and "thank you". SMARTEST BABY EVER! Don't hate!

--He takes tremendous naps! 2 1/2 hours a day, twice a day! Again, don't hate!

--He sleeps till 8 or 9 am, almost every day and goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm.

I just know I'm gonna get beat up the next time I see some of y'all! :)

Patience is a virtue... or so I thought...

I have the most impatient child! Has anyone else experienced this? I need help! It's especially bad when I'm feeding him. If I run out of food and have to go to the pantry to get more, he freaks! It's immediate meltdown time and I'm at my wits end!!! I try to calm him down and speak in soothing tones. I ask him to use his words and he signs "more" but it's a recurring cycle. First he yells and cries. Then he smacks his tray. Then he looks at me with his big blue eyes and signs "more." Can we just skip the first two steps and quietly ask for more?! How hard is that? I'm trying to get him to understand the concept of "inside voice." Ask me how that's working out! When he gets like this, his voice goes into hyper annoyance mode - it's nasaly (trust me, it's a word!) and piercing and downright annoying!

You're probably thinking, "Erin, why not grab a lot of food and take it to the table? That way you won't have to get up in the middle of feeding him." Well, smarty pants - let me just say this. My son is a beast and I can't keep him satisfied! A normal meal for him is 4 containers of pureed baby food (i.e. green beans, mixed veggies, apples & chicken, and some kind of fruit), a piece of wheat bread, cooked macaroni noodles, green beans and 2 clementine oranges. That's more than I can eat! And he's still hungry! So even when I think I bring enough to the table, he still signs for "more"! I finally have to cut him off! It's last call at the Martino Kitchen! I feel like a bartender!

I'm open to suggestions...

Sticky fingers & chocolatey goodness!

I put Jonathan down for his afternoon nap around 3:30 and started moving around the house, picking up this, putting away that. After about 30 minutes, I laid down on the couch and was just starting to feel relaxed when I heard a rustling noise coming from his room. I immediately think, "Somehow he's found a plastic bag and he's choking!" so I rush to his room and barge in. This is what I find...

My sneaky little gremlin remembered the bag of Famous Amos cookies left in the side of his diaper bag just within arm's reach from his crib and decided to have a pre-nap snack! He ate the ENTIRE bag! Mind you, it wasn't a big bag but a good 8 or 9 cookies were left! He just sat there smiling, and I couldn't help but laugh. How can you resist that face???

Here are some more pics...

Surveying the damage

Check out his sticky little chocolate hand!

Getting rid of the evidence...

If you look hard, you can see the smeared chocolate on his white blanket. It was all over his bed, clothes, hands, face... everywhere!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just a recent pic of J and me before we went to our ward V Day dance. Wasn't too exciting so we wound up going out to eat shortly after we got there.

Finished product

Here is a pic of the finished backsplash J did:

Pretty schmancy, huh?

Happy Birthday Baby J!

Jonathan turned one this past Saturday, February 7th and I may have been more excited than he was. We had a BIG day ahead of us. He woke up pretty early which was surprising because Jonathan is a sleeper but when I went into his room he was wide awake and smiling. I sang Happy Birthday to him and when I was done, he signed for "more" so I sang again. :) (We've taught him baby sign language like "more" and "water" so he can communicate what he wants. I know - it's disgustingly cute!) I made cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast. He's never had anything other than pureed veggies and fruits, lunch meat and bread so imagine his surprise when he put something so delish into his teeny little mouth -- He LOVED it! He's never finished something so quickly! The only downside was the intense sugar high that came almost immediately. I've never seen him crawl so fast or clench a toy so hard!!!Next we watched a Veggie Tales Sing Along and snuggled on the couch (following the sugar high, he crashed pretty quickly!). My camera wasn't charged so I didn't want him to open presents just yet. Not surprisingly, all three of us fell asleep so we put Jonathan down for a morning nap and we did the same. We woke up around noon and opened presents. Jonathan got his very first cell phone and set of keys from Joseph and me. He also got this super cute Dunk n' Cheer basketball hoop that plays music when you put the basketball in the hoop. He loved it!

Next, we went to Chik-fil-A and Jonathan had his very first chicken nugget. It was a day of firsts! Then he and I went into the play room and went down the slide. This was done only once due to the back breaking effort it took to climb up jungle gym stairs hunkered over the size of a toddler! After that, we went to Target so Jonathan could pick out his own toy with money the McConnells sent. Joseph wants this to become a tradition for our kids and I think it's a fun idea so we strolled through the toy section and found ourselves in the ball aisle. Jonathan immediately started pointing at every ball he could and when we pulled down three different ones to choose from, he chose a Tigger & Pooh bouncy ball. Super cute and fun to see his face light up!

Chicken nugget proof

In the tunnel before the slide. I love how you can see his little hands.

"Walking" away from a job well done.

After Target, we went home and cleaned up while I made his birthday cake because Jonathan's cousins and friends were coming over to play. We had a great time talking and laughing and once the cake was put in front of Jonathan, we sang and waited for him to take a big hunk out of the side. Instead, my abnormally clean child merely poked his finger slightly into the frosting and smiled. That's all I got! I guess I can't complain... :)

I really thought he was about to go nuts but he pulled back just before touching the cake.

Check out my hand. Take a big ol' hunk outta it!

Enjoying his first cake

All in all, it was a fantastic day and we were POOPED at the end! I can't believe I have a one year old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONATHAN TANNON! YOU ARE A JOY AND WE CAN'T IMAGINE LIFE WITHOUT YOU! AND ONCE AGAIN, WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN ICE CREAM!

Some other random pics from the day:

Pointing to the red balls in front of Target

Jonathan standing next to his favorite reason for coming to Target.