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A little Christmas in July

Cousins: Owen and Jonas

Jonas playing the piano

King Jonas

Jonas watching Jonas

On the front porch swing

Lately, one of my favorite things has been to laze around on our front porch swing with the Lil' Man in tow. He enjoys it too - he has always loved being outdoors. So here's a pic or two and a short video of us having our fun.

Kate's Birthday

We had a nice dinner at Pops in Durham. Kate is wearing a lion-shaped neck pillow that she received as a birthday gift. Jonas is wearing cheeks.

Da da da da da.

Many of you have already seen this video. But since our blog is the linkhouse to all the other digital representations of Jonas out there on the Interwebs, I wanted to link to it from here - so all can access it. Also, this will give me a chance to give a little context to the video.

About a week ago (sometime mid May 2009), Kate called me up at work and said, "Babbies has a surprise for you." I said, "Oh really?" She said, "Yup." And the surprise was that earlier that morning Jonas had just starting babbling certain syllables over and over. The three syllables of the day were: "da," "ba," and "ththhh." That last one is hard to convey in writing.

It just happened out of the blue. One day he was making noises without consonants; the next day he was making noises with consonants, and in staccato patterns.

I'll note that there was a point when Jonas was about 4 months old that he had made a similar run at producing repetitive vocalizations (all vowels - ahhs and oohs). For several days he did this and then, just as fast as he had started, he stopped again. We were sad because we didn't really get any video of him doing it and he wasn't interested in that series of oohs and aahs anymore. So, this time when he started using consonants, we immediately grabbed the video camera. After a couple unsuccessful shoots over a day or two, finally one morning at about 7:00 a.m. (while Kate was still in bed beside him) Jonas busted out with this little aria. Enjoy!

Parkers in Durham for Katie and Steve's wedding

The Parkers, the Hollingsworths, and the Manchesters were in Durham for Katie and Steve's wedding. This slideshow shows the Parkers at our house, giving Jonas and Owen a chance to spend some quality cousin time.

Photos of Jonas from the month of April 2009

April 2009

Owen's Birthday

This weekend we went to Atlanta to visit the Hollingsworths, specifically to visit cousin/nephew Owen on the occasion of his second birthday. This was Jonas' first real major road trip in a car. He did pretty well. We had to stop a couple of times to feed or entertain the lil' man in response to a few bursts of backseat tears. No sweat, though. There are many times that the drive through South Carolina and northern Georgia on Interstate 85 bores even me to tears!

We stayed with the Parkers in Woodstock (north of Atlanta). Thanks to Erin, Chaz, and Owen for hosting us at their house. Owen and Jonas got to play a lot with Owen's toys. Owen is really good at sharing them.

Aside from the "First Long Car Ride" mentioned above, the weekend included a couple of 'firsts' for baby Jonas:

1. He got to play with bubbles for the first time. He kicked his feet and laughed as we blew bubbles towards him. He even liked it when they landed on his face.

2. Jonas also got to play in a sandbox for the first time. The sandbox was Owen's big present for his second birthday. It was a pretty great sandbox. It was supplied with a number of fun toys and other sandy accoutrements. Owen was okay with it for a while, enjoying sifting through the sand to find the plastic bug toys and such. But then, all of the sudden, he decided that sand was not a substance that he enjoyed having on his feet. So, he retracted them, held them to his chest, and refused to put them back in the sandbox. It was really cute. Jonas on the other hand kicked his legs and laughed. This is pretty much his stock response to most new experiences at the moment.

It was great to spend some time with the extended fam in Georgia. It's hard for each side to travel one way or the other, so we try to make the most of the chances we get to spend time together.

Here's a picture of Kate holding Owen. Jackie and Ben (aka, Joy Mama and G-Daddy, or just Joy and G for short) got to spend some good quality time holding and playing with Jonas.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was when the two boys got dressed up in matching outfits, were propped up on the couch, and posed for a lot of cousinly pictures. Here's a nice one.

Here's a slideshow of some pictures that we took showing Jonas with Joy and G:

"We Roasted Ourselves to Our Own Satisfaction"

It was a busy weekend. On Saturday, the three of us (yep, Jonas, you go everywhere we go - for the most part) went to Raleigh to go on the "Triangle Modernist Home Tour." We saw an amazing range of houses (ranging in styles and age). It inspired me to want to build a modular dwelling some day! I might start with a garden shed/backyard studio and see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe I'll build a house someday. Here are some pictures from the "TMHT" tour:



After we returned to Durham, we had another adventure with some friends. A little background: part of my job is to develop programs for the library. One of the recent programs I developed was a book talk by the author Nancy Carter Crump on her book Hearthside Cooking: Early American Southern Cuisine Updated for Todays Hearth and Cookstove. Inspired by the book, I dragooned three of my friends into trying out some hearthside cooking with me. It was truly an amazing experience! I'm so glad we finally did it, after many cancellations.

We cooked three dishes on the hearthside: cornbread, mushroom soup, and stewed beets. Managing the coals was definitely the hardest part: keeping a steady supply of them going, keeping them hot, keeping a fresh supply underneath and on top of the dutch oven, etc. We did pretty much "roast ourselves to our own satisfaction" as the book suggested we might. But, the great reward of eating the fruits of our sweat and toil, made it all worthwhile. Here's a short clip of my friend Michael, stirring the mushroom soup:

Two Firsts in One Day

First #1: Jonas's First Time Wearing Shortpants

Courtesy of his wonderful Joy Mama and Aunt Erin of the Atlanta Hollingsworths! How cute is this sight?



First #2: Jonas's First Vegetable

= carrot!

Check out this video of the boy taking part in that ancient battle of man vs. pureed vegetable. Two shall enter, one shall leave with orange-stained nostrils. And though it may look like Jonas wasn't really into carrots from this video, be it known that by the end of the session he was licking it off of the edge of the high chair. Yummers.