We think Jonah is the cutest kid around, and we can't understand why everyone we meet doesn't immediately acknowledge this fact. Maybe we're biased -- who knows? -- anything's possible... But really -- isn't he cute?
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In the backyard, with chalk, it's the cutest baby ever.____________________________________________________
For us and our cute kid, summer has been sailing by. We just spent a nice Sunday up in the north bay. In the morning, we drove up to Santa Rosa and met our friends Scott and Molly and their 18 month old daughter Audrey (who were up there to watch another friend run the Vineman triathlon) at
Howarth Park, which is this ridiculously big kid's park with a half-dozen different play structures, ponies, trains and a merry-go-round. If you're ever in Santa Rosa with kids between 1 and 11 -- unlikely, I know -- you should really check it out. We then drove over to Sonoma while Jonah took a quick snooze in the carseat, then hopped on bikes (with Jonah in the Burley trailer) for a
20 mile ride through wine country. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and cookies (and Jonah put grilled-cheese-grease handprints all over the mirrored walls) at a cafe in Sonoma. And we managed to make it back down the 80 on a Sunday night without hitting any traffic. All in all a nice way to spend a weekend day -- we need to do more of this.
As summer passes, Jonah continues to grow. Lately it's feeling mostly like "slowly but surely" growing. Nothing dramatic like learning to walk. But there are little things every day, like drawing with crayons and chalk, learning to climb up on the bed (and the kitchen table!), picking up a new word. Each day a new "baby step" toward growing up, I guess.
There have been a few rough patches too, no doubt. A few weeks ago, Jonah was getting in four new molars and at the same time we were weaning him off the morning nursing. Much as Ruth Ann loves the nursing, it was getting exhausting for her, and with us thinking about trying for #2 (yup!) the concept of nursing and growing another baby at the same time was just too much. So for a stretch of days, morning wake-up duties were entirely mine. And what fun they were! Jonah would wake up early and grumpy (you might too if you were growing four new teeth, I suppose), and I'd drag me and my sore back out of bed, over to Jonah's room, and through his door with as cheerful a "good morning" as I could muster. Jonah would take one look at me, quickly determine that I was not the one with the long hair and breasts, and throw himself on the floor of the crib, wailing with maximum intensity. Talk about a rough wake-up. Good news is that phase has passed and lately Jonah is back to waking up cheerfully, babbling away in his crib until someone comes in to get him and start the day.
Jonah was having so much fun this summer, he insisted on putting together this slideshow to prove it to you. (Clicking on the slideshow should get you bigger pictures -- enjoy!)
In just the last few days something small but notable happened: Jonah started towing around his toddling pull-toys -- of which he has several -- and get this, 'cause this is the important part: he's towing them by their string! 
So, go figure, from time to time these toys really do get used as intended. I'm sure it's only going to be a couple months more before Jonah learns that a pull-toy, when whirled about by its string, makes a convincing facsimile of a medieval mace. 