8 Months

 How I rue the day I started pretending to be a puppy dog for my son's amusement! But who could blame a Mom for occasionally yanking her son's socks off or grabbing a toy between her teeth while shaking her head back and forth and growling to keep him in good humor. Sometimes I make a ridiculous spectacle of myself for Jonas especial benefit- I consider part of my job.

Only I think in this instance it was a detriment more than a benefit. Jonas has taken to full out growling whenever he gets undressed or is otherwise frustrated- it might be cute if I could convince myself he won't still be doing it in nursery ten months from now whenever a kid comes near one of his toys! And the lolling his head violently around with a goofy grin on his face whenever he feels hyper! If you could see it! He wouldn't stop doing it during our Stake Conference on Sunday- Matt and I were trying desperately (and I fear unsuccessfully) to check our embarrassed laughter during an earnest talk. 

It's taken awhile to figure out where he learned such shockingly abnormal behavior but now I realize he has been taking notes during our playtime. Nothing like a baby acting like Mowgli raised by the wolves or the sobering thought of lifelong impaired social development to make a new mom re-evaluate what her baby observes.

It's a little early for Easter but I thought an egg hunt would be just the thing to keep him occupied while I cleaned his room. Vacuuming, though, is entertainment in itself as he loves to chase the vacuum.

Second rough and tumble incident of the day.

I often have little learning moments about mothering and I received another reminder of one today. Jonas is a pretty rough and tumble boy and while I'm great at soothing him after a tumble, I'm not as great at preventing the incident that requires soothing. Today I let Jonas play with his diaper basket on the floor of his room while I sat nearby to pay a few bills. Once he had emptied its contents he placed his weight on the top of one side of the basket so that the other side flew up and whacked him right above his eye. It was a metal basket and there is a little lump there now. I could try to brush it off as a freak accident or the consequence of a Montessori approach to learning, but the truth is it happens too often to be considered a rare occurrence and while I do believe that children should have freedom to explore their environment within reasonable bounds, it is mostly due to a lack of experience and foresight. Heavenly Father knew exactly what he was doing when he sent a tough headed, resilient baby to our home. Jonas, you will be admirably prepared to enter three year old rugby in two and a half years (yes there is a league in Lloyd and yes Melissa you should become a dentist here and coach it).

Just to be clear- these two photographs are of the same child...taken just moments apart.

Playing in his "doghouse" with puppy. And speaking of puppies there is a hilarious video of him throwing back his head and doing his jolliest belly laughs while watching Kalinda and Mark's dogs. I need to post it sometime.

Jonas' 2 bottom teeth have come in nicely (no fussing!) and there are 3 top teeth beginning to show.