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| We went with the whale cake -- again. The icing got tested a bit before I pulled out the camera, though. |
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He has just recently become willing to look at baby pictures and hear that he was once smaller than he is now.
He finally decided it was time to take us up on the potty-training offer -- for the day time, at least.
He loves his "Stomping shoes" that grandma brought from America last year, and will tell you, "My rocket shoes are too small so now I wear my stomping shoes."
His favorite foods at home are eggs, pasta, shrimp, corn (on the cob) and broccoli -- preferable all at once and definitely cold.
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| A birthday dinner of his favorite things. All cold, of course. |
He is fine with Vivienne dressing up. He'll even call her "Princess Anna" when she's wearing her Princess Anna dress. However, under no circumstances does he have any desire to dress up as anything but himself personally. (He thinks the idea of "pirate pants," as in part of a pirate costume, to be particularly laughable.)
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| Costumes may not be his thing, but sunglasses are great. |
He loves saying "please," "thank you," "I'm sorry," and "it's all right," and will remind others to say so as well. (An oft-heard conversation around here: J: Vivienne, say I'm sorry. V: I'm sorry. J: It's all right.)
He loves watching daddy play computer games, but he's a little less-than-supportive when Stephen dies (as in, he laughs maniacally at Stephen's misfortune and thinks it's great fun).
Sometimes he likes to threaten punishments on his sister of "no happy birthday and no Merry Christmas" if she doesn't do as she is told.
Sticks are the best outdoor toys ever!
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| This is how Jonathan loves posing for photos these days. |
Every time he sees a plane he thinks it's grandma and grandpa and Uncle Jon flying home.
He has always been a kid that gets into everything. One sign of his growing up, though, is now he tells me, "Mommy, put it where I can't get it," when I yell at him for getting into something he shouldn't. (Of course, there are very, very few places he can't get to.)
He still loves sweeping up messes.
He's a little monkey who climbs absolutely everything.
He has to be in the middle of every activity. "I do it" is one of his favorite phrases.
He LOVES roughhousing with daddy.
He was very excited to get his "tadpole blanket" for his birthday today. (It's an Ikea duvet cover we chose a while back on-line that they didn't have in the store when we looked for it. Once I knew I could give it to him, I mentioned it a few times to keep up his interest. Recently, I think he was getting worried he couldn't get it, so when he opened it today he hugged it for about two minutes straight with the biggest grin across his face.)
When he turned three a year ago he was barely speaking in two or three word sentences. Now, he is the master of talking.
He really likes his Spiderman sunglasses and his Diego hat.
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| Jonathan in the hat mommy made for him, not his Diego hat. He insisted on wearing right away. |
He loves church, especially Uncle Fawkes, Uncle Michael, Aunt Katie, and Teacher Ariel.
He has gotten over his fear of the beach, though he's not sure he wants to make actual contact with the water yet. Sand no longer petrifies him, though. In fact, he's a big fan.
The pink water bottle is his. So is the monkey cup.
He loves belts, but insists on doing them himself.
Baby Giraffe is still his best friend and companion. And he still gets lost on a regular basis.
Contraband is most often his in the pirate ship, a pop-up tent clubhouse in his room that was his birthday present last year.
Sometimes he likes to say, "Ay-ay, Captain," instead of "OK, mommy."
He is Vivienne's best friend and a great helper with David -- when he's not in too crazy a mood at least.
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| Back when they were one, two, three -- years old, that is. |
He has finally figured out that he is supposed to say "two" and not just grunt for English's second integer. (Or is two the third integer since you start with zero?)
He doesn't like scarey things, so no shirts with dinosaurs or lions or superheros for us at the moment.
However, watching videos of dinosaurs with mommy or daddy on the computer can be fun.
He's a fan of "Tommy Train" (Thomas the Tank Engine), though he isn't familiar with the show. He particularly loves when he gets to put on his "Tommy Train" helmet and go on an adventure with mommy. He is particularly impressed with Costco.
He loves Diego, Dora the Explorer's cousin.
Technically, the only legal name he has at the moment is his Chinese one, which he doesn't actually recognize since it's only ever used to call us in the waiting room at the doctor's office.
Although he was more into it a few months ago, he loves the iPad app "My Singing Monsters," which I maintain for him and he visits from time to time.
He loves playing in the water in the shower for as long as you'll let him.
Every once in a while, I'll catch his dad's British accent coming through, like the way he says the word "laugh." With things like the "r" sound, I'm not sure if he's being British or just toddler, which is him main accent.
He gets a Mister Men book read to him every night by daddy. He is still a fan of Curious George, the old favorite. Sometimes he likes to pretend to be Mister Topsy Turvey and put two socks on the same foot or a shirt on backwards or upside down. ("Ooops! Silly." Followed by really cute giggles.)
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| Yes, I know four is too old for a pacifier, and I am sure if he didn't have a little brother we would have been on that by now. |
Last doctor's visit, he actually cooperated fully. My baby's growing up!
The only Bible verse song he lets us play in the app we bought is the first one, so it's the only Bible verse he knows. "I John 4:10 - God loved us and sent his Son." His favorite Bible story is Jonah (I think because of the lift-the-flaps whale) and he tells us "Sometimes Jesus loves me and sometimes Jesus don't love me." When he's "XiangFan XianSheng" (my name for him which means "Mr. Opposite" in Chinese) he'll say, "No, Jesus don't love me." We're working on his theology, but a few months ago he didn't really like talking about God or Jesus at all since they were too abstract for him to handle (like the aforementioned baby pictures) so we're getting somewhere.
He thinks grandma and grandpa (my parents, I'm guessing) own everything in the store. He's never been to their house, so I'm not sure where he's getting that idea from.
In good, little boy fashion, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING can be a weapon. (His sister is not always a fan of this. Good thing he has a little brother growing up fast who can join him in his boy games soon!)
If he says the wrong thing he'll say, "Oops! Sorry! I said the wrong magic word." He's got his sister doing this, too.
"When the sun go down, we say 'ah-men' but when we're awake we say "ay-men." (Mommy's American and Daddy's British. Mommy prays on the way to school; daddy does bedtime prayers.)
He is bothered by mess and chaos. However, he is usually the cause of it in the first place.
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| Yeah, this is definitely a trio that knows how to create chaos. |
