Having a Laugh

No one quite makes Jonas laugh like Mom can, usually during dinner time. Not that Jonas really needs any incentive to eat, but Mom sure knows how to get Jonas cracking up, especially when she puts some food on her mouth for him to steal away. We're not sure that Jonas can squeeze one more ounce of delight out of his face than he has right here...

Beautiful Boulder

Jonas took his first trip to Boulder yesterday, a city that holds special meaning to Mom and Dad. It's the city where they first met and the city where they got married, and they had a fun time exploring it from a whole new perspective with their new addition. Inevitably, lots of things have changed. Mom and Dad were sad to see their favorite Italian restaurant gone, and their favorite Mexican restaurant, too. Even the newspaper where Dad worked downtown has left its building. But plenty of fun things remain, and Jonas had to get a good lunch in before we got too far. Of course, it didn't take long for him to get distracted by some real-life girls at the next table...

...after lunch, Jonas got to check out the Boulder Farmer's Market and posed for a shot with Mom outside the historic teahouse...

...but it was the shops on Pearl Street that seemed to catch his attention, especially a toy store called Into the Wind, where he could stare at kites on the ceiling and marvel at all the things for sale...

...Mom even had some fun with the Big Guy, courtesy of a funny dolphin toy...

...Jonas scored pretty good at Into the Wind. He exited with a toy drum, some jingle bells, a maraca and a new ball that he played with the whole way home to cap off a perfect afternoon in a very special place.

Kitchen Explorer

A few weeks ago we shared with you Jonas' new confidence in exploring his new home. The other day, his exploring skills came out again when he made his first self-propelled appearance in the kitchen. Dad was quite surprised to look down as he was making Jonas' lunch to find the Big Guy checking things out for himself...

...of course, it didn't take long for Jonas to discover his high chair, where all the fun eating action takes place...

...and then, using his newfound skill of getting up on his knees, Jonas made a valiant effort to seat himself, or at least get as close as possible. Nice try buddy. In time...

Knee Power

Seemingly overnight, Jonas has discovered that he does, in fact, have the ability to get up on his knees. And this revelation has made for a fun new way to play with his toys. He has been making especially good use of an ottoman that seems to be the perfect height for this new exercise. Nothing is more fun, it appears, than putting toys on the ottoman, only to knock them back to the floor again, and again, and again. Next up: Standing.

Helping Hand

Jonas had an extra special treat this week when his Cousin Rachel came by on her spring break to help watch him. The two of them got along famously. It didn't take much for Jonas to get excited by a book...

...then Rachel got to experience one of Jonas' other favorite activities—eating...

...finally, his Cousin Ben stopped by too, and the three Colorado cousins had fun posing for the camera.

Automatic Reader

Continuing on our car theme of late, we'll start with an anecdote from Jonas' daycare. The other day, Dad dropped off the Big Guy and one of the women who watches over him during the day was training a new woman in the room. As Dad left, he heard the regular teacher say to the newbie: "This is Jonas, just give him a car to roll around the floor and he'll be happy all day." This is indeed true. Jonas, ever the boy, has shown quite the early interest in cars. Another amusing example comes from the Consumer Reports car issue that his Mima left at our house the other day. It has quickly become Jonas' favorite book. As you can see, Jonas found it to be an instant page turner...

...and he wasted no time pointing out which models he likes this season...

...and which other models he likes this season...

...hmm, that Toyota Prius sure does rate well on fuel economy...

..ah, here it is! My dream car, a Mustang!

...once I get it, I'm going to roll it around on the floor again and again and again...

Grocery Car(t)

A few weeks ago we shared with you Jonas' joy at getting to ride a racing car cart at Home Depot. Well, the other day Mom discovered a similar but perhaps even cooler cart at the grocery store that allows Jonas to sit at street level while he attempts to guide Mom and Dad through the aisles...

...right away, Jonas got a kick at the car's horn, which allowed him to clear the aisles to get closer to what he wanted...

...interestingly, with Jonas focussed on the ground, Dad took a closer look at some of the things on the upper part of the shelves. And for the first time, he noticed this body fluid cleanup kit in one of the aisles. Too bad it wasn't actually for sale since it seems that all we do most days is clean up Jonas' body fluids...

...soon enough, Jonas wasn't happy merely with one steering wheel. Perhaps he's preparing for a career as a food delivery man, because he seems to have pretty good control of where he's going...

...with his cargo of baby food safely secured, Jonas was ready to ride the day away.

Head of the Class

Jonas had his one-year check-up the other day, and it seems that the Big Guy is joining the pack in some areas. His height and weight, which have always been impressive, are still slightly above average, but are now nearing the rest of the general baby population. But one area that remains noteworthy, apparently, is the Big Guy's big head. The doctor told us it is measuring in the 97th percentile of head sizes among Jonas' peers. Only three in 100 babies have a head larger than Jonas' beautifully and perfectly shaped noggin. As one of the pages in his favorite books suggests, that's nothing out of the ordinary.

Bottle Boy

In this rare Bonus Jonas video footage taken the other day, the Big Guy demonstrates the proper technique if one is not particularly interested in drinking one's bottle.

Air Jonas

Maybe it's all the NCAA basketball that Dad's been watching the last few weeks, but Jonas has developed a sudden interest in putting balls into baskets. In fact, he's become so interested that we think he bears more than a certain resemblance to a certain iconic NBA star. See if you can see it too...