Jonas

Jonas is only three for three more weeks! Here are some of my favourite memories from this past year:

• waking up from a nap or in the morning to find Jonas snuggled up against my back, asleep, with his arms wrapped tightly around me.


• walking home from Nana's I commented to Jonas that my cousin Chris, who is lives at my Nana's house, is very tall (an understatement as he is almost 7 ft tall!) Jonas' firm reply was "Hmm, I think my Dad is the tallest".


• Jonas saving a single precious goldfish or bunny cracker from Nana for his Dad, even though he had to walk 20 minutes with it wrapped temptingly in his sweaty little hand on the way home and to wait for hours until his Dad got home from work!


• at the end of each dance class Miss Clare, the instructor, lets each child pick a sticker. One day Jonas picked a red star and put it on the top of Harland's hand. Harland couldn't stop holding his hand up to look at it in awe and walking in his funny happy leaping steps.


• for almost the past year Jonas has had the job of collecting the recycled milk jugs and dragging garbage bags full of them into the bottle depot. He always has something special in mind he is saving for (so far it's been a steam roller, a red Dodge pick up like Grandpa's, a horse trailer and now an ambulance) and he never deviates from it. Anytime we're in a store and he sees a candy or a Hot Wheels car he likes he decides to stick with his goal on own.


• every time we go into the bottle depot he says in a cheery little voice "I think it's going to be enough money Mom". Sometimes it's not enough and we have to make a couple trips before he has saved up for the thing he wants . I almost want to just throw in the extra but I'm so glad I don't. He always perseveres and he is so proud when he can pay for his toy all by himself.


• listening to Jonas read stories to himself and the babies from memory. He gets really excited when he teaches Rhett or Harland a new word.


• listening to Jonas sing his own songs and talk to puppy as he drifts off to sleep.


• watching him create from his imagination! His favourite pretend games are fishing, space station, doctor, Mars, and still anything to do with vehicles. This boy knows how to play outside and inside with whatever comes to hand- no toys needed! Couch cushions, chairs (aka snowplows), vegetable steamers, cake tins and sticks are some of his favourite things (or lately a rubbermaid container lid on stop of a variety of furniture set-ups to imitate the luge and snowboarding he's seen on the Olympics).

Some of his creations: a trailer, Curiosity's tracks on Mars, a delivery truck (I woke up from a nap to find this one!)



Nearly everyday he tells me "I want to play outside alone". What he really means is I'm going with or without you.

Building a Curiosity model head.



A tangram train and a car wash from cut up straws and play playdough.



Using his knowledge of wheels and axles to make Curiosity wheels.



A bird in a nest. I wish I could have kept this sculpture forever.

In other words, Jonas is a generous, creative, patient and wonderful boy!