Dis and dat.

All that dancing around to "The Sopranos" theme has turned my little boy into a Joisey guy! Jonathan's on a noun kick and wants to know the name of everything. He sticks out his imperial hand and demands "Dis" or "Dat" and waits for the reply. His favorite book currently is "First Words" with pictures of common items. Over and over and over again, I tell him "That's a plane. . . that's a car. . . that's a banana. . . that's a bird." Sometimes he puts his hand on more than one item and I ask him "Which one are you pointing at?" That earns me an emphatic "Dat!" as he adjusts his finger.

Our bedtime rountine has settled down again since I got back from San Francisco. We say goodnight to the twelve fish and the turtle, then sit down to read our book. Jonathan throws a "Dis!" towards the lamp to remind me to turn it to low. When the book's done, he places it on the nightstand and reaches for his sippy cup of water. Then it's a "Dat!" at the lamp again, because it's time to turn it off. He drinks the water while leaning back against me. Bunny Bear usually comes out of the crib and Jonathan likes to give him a drink. He holds the bear's head to the spout and makes little drinking noises, and then kisses him. Then he throws him on the floor and shrieks with laughter. Finally, when he's done with the water, I hold him for a little cuddle. And that's when Chris usually sticks his head in, because there's a horrible noise coming from the nursery. Jonathan likes to end the evening by giving my lots of zerberts. He takes my chin in his hand and turns my head to position himself just right, then blows a huge raspberry on my cheekbone. Usually he cracks up halfway through. After my face is soaking wet, I put him down to go to sleep. He curls on his side, picks up his Bunny Bear, and giggles when I say goodnight and close the door.

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Hello, Dolly!

I'll admit it. Jonathan has two baby dolls that he loves to play with. He walks around cradling them in his arms, feeds them a bottle, and even kisses them more often than he chews their feet. I think it's neat that he's so nurturing to his "babies."

Lately, it's become obvious that Jonathan understands a lot of what we say. He's also making the first moves towards pretend play. So when he was toting around his dolly the other night, I thought I'd give him a little test. I asked him "Jonathan, do you think your dolly needs a diaper change?" He stopped in his tracks for a moment and looked at me. Then he flipped dolly over his arm, lifted her butt up to his nose, and took a deliberate sniff.

I'm still giggling.

Mr. Ooga Booga and the elephant.

Jonathan and I had a wonderful weekend visiting Aunt Liz and Uncle Jim. We arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday and Jonathan proceeded to explore the house. Aunt Liz was ready to show him some wonderful toys she had laid out for his entertainment pleasure, but Jonathan was too busy running from room to room. When he reached the den, he caught sight of Mr. Ooga Booga, a hairy wooden mask that Jim had purchased in South Africa and hung on the doorknob. Jonathan stopped in his tracks and stared. He looked over at us and pointed, as if to ask if that was really meant to be hanging there. He took a few steps forward, then stopped and looked at us again to make sure he was safe. Very gradually he got closer and closer until he bravely reached out a finger and touched Mr. Ooga Booga's hair. Throughout the weekend, Jonathan would stop in to check on him periodically. Mr. Ooga Booga retained his respect, and Jonathan never did more than lay a gentle finger on him.

We went to Baltimore Saturday night to celebrate Mary Jo's birthday. Jim's extended family were all there, and Jonathan has adopted them all. He spent the first part of the evening riding on the little plastic horsie that Jim used to ride when he was a baby. From the nostalgia it seemed to evoke, I think quite a few people envied Jonathan his ride. He also spoke some sign language to Nanny, although we were hard pressed to explain why, for everyone else, "please" is rubbing your hand over your heart, but that Jonathan instead rubs his stomach. Nanny and Jonathan got along famously and she got the most baby kisses of anyone there.

The one person not at all interested in Jonathan at the party was, of course, the object of much of Jonathan's attention. A ten year old cousin attended but was not feeling well and curled up on the couch, playing Nintendo. Jonathan could not get him to play no matter how hard he tried. He went up constantly to pull on his arm, try to "help" by hitting the buttons, and getting tangled in the joystick cord. Finally the cousin gave up and buried himself under some blankets. Jonathan barrelled over to pull them off and get a closer look. Eventually, we bribed him away with a toy car.

One of the highlights of the evening for Jonathan was the dessert tray. He had been too excited to eat much dinner, although Aunt Liz and I took turn chasing him around, wedging pieces of turkey and ribs in his mouth. He was much more attentive when I scooped some ice cream and cake onto a plate. Bobby volunteered to feed Jonathan the dessert and even got out the special Yogi Bear spoon he had used in his own childhood. We already knew Jonathan loves ice cream, but the birthday cake (more specifically, the frosting) was a revelation! He just about licked any tarnish off that Yogi Bear spoon. Later, I found myself constantly pulling him away from the low kitchen table where the cake rested. He got close to it and reached up a hand to grab some frosting. He was moving slowly, however, and I thought I had him as I reached for the errant hand. Whoosh! His other hand shot up and snagged a fistful of frosting, which he immediately stuffed in his mouth. He was roundly congratulated by many other frosting lovers in the kitchen as he enjoyed the fruits of his labor. We made our goodbyes and Jonathan kissed everyone at the party, which was a good way of clearing the remaining frosting off his face.

On Sunday, Jonathan took his first Metro ride as we headed down to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the crowds were out in force, so we knew right away we had no chance of seeing the baby panda. We walked by some cheetahs, a zebra, and a giraffe, but they were a little too far away and Jonathan seemed more interested in the crowds. So we weren't holding out too much hope as we entered the elephant house. There was an elephant standing right in front of us, reaching her trunk through the bars to play with a big plastic ball! I hoisted Jonathan onto my shoulders so he had a terrific view. Usually he's a bit squirmy up there, but he wasn't moving at all. Liz said he was absolutely gobsmacked and just stared and stared at the elephant. We stayed there for about ten minutes while the elephant scratched her back and picked up apple pieces with her trunk. He ran around a little bit once we left the elephant house, but the experience was so overwhelming that within fifteen minutes he was sound asleep in his stroller. He didn't really wake up until we were back at Aunt Liz's house, where it was time to feast on some Peruvian chicken and check on Mr. Ooga Booga.

Yes, we have no bananas.

Because Jonathan ate them all!

Jonathan is pointing at things that strike his fancy these days. He thrusts his arm forward and starts grunting if he sees something he really wants. From the vantage point of his high chair, he can spot the bananas ripening on the ledge over the sink. No matter what's on his tray at the moment, he will clamp his mouth shut and shake his head "no" until he gets a banana. When we cave in, he starts fussing because we're not peeling it fast enough. We drop the chunks on his tray and he picks them up two pieces at a time. The nanny has to remind him all the time to slow down. He eats an entire banana and you'd think he wouldn't be hungry for dinner - but not Jonathan! That was just a little appetizer.

I was finishing his dinner with some applesauce the other day, and I wanted to be eating my own dinner. Jonathan's been snacking on Cheerios lately and only upends the snack bowl about 50% of the time, so I thought I'd give him a spoon and see how things go. He did very well! He dips the spoon into the applesauce, but doesn't have any concept yet of "scopping" the food onto the spoon bowl. A quick dip is enough - he then carefully manuevers the business end of the spoon into his mouth and starts sucking the applesauce of the spoon. This part he does thoroughly - there is not a single apple molecule left when he's done. Then the spoon wavers towards the bowl again. He may or may not actually get more applesauce on a given trip. Yet somehow, he managed to feed himself half a bowl's worth, and I got to eat my dinner.

Finally, I have to note that Jonathan has fallen in love with a tacky knickknack I picked up in San Francisco's Chinatown. They were selling Lucky Cat banks and I've always thought they were kind of neat. You've probably seen them in various Asian restaurants - here's a sample: http://www.oldjapaninc.com/small_ceramic_cat.html. Anyway, I bought it and lugged it home. When I took it out of the box Chris asked me where the heck I was planning on putting it. For right now, it's on the dining room sideboard. Jonathan loves to go up to the gate and peer into the living room. He stands on tiptoe, stares straight at the Lucky Cat, and waves and waves. He never gets an answer, but it's true love nonetheless. If we let him, I'll bet he'd try to feed Lucky Cat some of his bananas.

Messing with baby's mind

Well, back from San Francisco! Jonathan gave me a delighted grin when Chris brought him in to see me this morning. I took the day off work to spend some time with him. It's still kind of cold outside, so I thought we'd check out the Virginia Discovery Museum on the Downtown Mall.

The VDM is basically a big playspace for kids. They have a frontier cabin, and a pirate ship, and a rainforest and other exhibits. Most of it is geared to the five-and-under set. Jonathan and I plunked down our $8 and went inside. First, I had to convince him to leave the coatroom. I'm sure he thought that was the best room there - full of shoes and strollers. We finally managed to cross the threshold and he promptly proceeded to pick up a piece of train track and start chewing on it.

We wandered around for another twenty minutes. Jonathan chewed on a Lego, a shark, a pirate coin, and the Daddy from the doll house (who was fantastically dressed in a seventies vest and bell-bottoms ensemble, complete with medallion and man-fro, all in injection-molded plastic.) I was looking over the comments on the bulletin board when I spotted "The Kaleidoscope Room."

The Kaleidoscope is two boards that project outwards and make a triangle with the wall. They're mounted on four-foot tall legs, so you duck underneath and stand up to find yourself inside. All the inside surfaces are mirrored, and the images repeat endlessly. I thought Jonathan would LOVE the Kaleidoscope, since he loves to wave at and kiss himself in the mirrors at home.

I scooped him up, ducked into the Kaleidoscope, and gave him his first look. His head whipped around as he saw first one, then another, then another image looking right back at him. He reached out his arms to touch them, so I brought him in closer to the junction of two mirrors. At first he looked thrilled to greet six more of himself. But something about the whole set-up must have been very disorienting. He kept looking back and forth, back and forth. Then he looked up at me and started to cry with a terrified look on his face. I put him down and he didn't even bother to stand up - he just crawled out as fast as he could.

We spent another forty minutes at the museum. Jonathan found a fishing net on a stick and carried it around. Periodically another kid would tackle him, but he didn't seem to mind. Another mom asked if he had older siblings at home, since he seemed so indifferent to getting knocked over. I think he was just relieved that not everyone looked like him anymore.