Happy 4th Birthday, Jonas!

Here is Jonas the very first time I laid eyes on him...

January 29, 2007

And here he was being adorable on his 4th birthday...

January 29, 2011

How far he has come in 4 years!!! Jonas continues to amaze us with his willingness to work hard. He puts in so much effort to accomplish tasks placed in front of him and is such an example to the rest of our family. It is cliche, but I just can't imagine life without him just the way he is. He is so funny and is such a vibrant presence in our house. While he keeps us on our toes daily, he also brings us such joy and happiness.

As for Jonas at 4 years old? He has made some amazing progress lately. His speech started to really take off in August and has not slowed down. He is putting multiple syllables together to form words and is starting to put two and sometimes three words together. Just last week he even started to say his own name which was a huge accomplishment!!!! Clara likes to point out that he can say a whole sentence and then proceeds to have him say "I found it."

He is still the same engaging, personable little boy. He has an infectious laugh and smile and quite the sense of humor. He knows how to get those around him to laugh, even if it is simply with the way he says something, we love his intonations...he has humor figured out.

Another exciting development is that after being shown ONE time how to pull up to stand in his walker by himself, he managed to do it. It takes a little bit of help stabilizing the walker but he absolutely blew us away with how quickly and efficiently he managed to do this.

As for his favorite things, I'll add what I think they are since I am not sure how well an actual interview would go over...

What is your favorite food? Oatabix Cereal, Oatmeal (requested for almost every meal), French Fries and anything with salsa or Tabasco sauce on it...and the more the better!

What is your favorite toy? Trains, Clara's art easel, Handy Manny Tool Set and books.

What is your favorite game? Animal charades where we take turns acting out an animal and the family guesses what it is or our new Zingo game.

What is your favorite book? Winnie the Pooh, Train Books and recently has requested "cat hat".

What is your favorite animal? Horses!! He gets to ride one every other week and loves it. He enjoys riding Puzzle, Murphy, Brownie and Thumper at Follifoot Riding. He does however insist that they are all "pink".

What do you want to be when you grow up? He hasn't exactly told us yet...but my guess will be a comedian.

Who are your friends? Jenny, Jarom, Emeline and Wes would probably top his list.

What are some things you like to do? Play, visit steam trains, go to the park, eat treats

What is your favorite thing to wear? This is a funny one...he is actually quite particular. He has a favorite stripped sweater he loves (calls it his dot dot dot) and he loves that he can put his hands in the little pouch in the front. He also loves his Mickey shirt, train shirt and robot shirt.

What is your favorite color? "geen" or "blue" or "pink"

What makes you happy? School with Mrs. "B B" as Jonas calls her, playing with friends, being with Clara, and oh so many more things.

What makes you sad? Slow music, bedtime, not being able to "hold" the box of food he is eating from, spilling something or making a mess on the table. This requires us to wipe his mouth, hands and table between pretty much every bite...fun times!!!

Other fun things about Jonas lately...

• He loves kissing the baby in mom's tummy and is very gentle
• He is very affectionate and always wants a "kiss" to make an owie better
• Just barely learned to say yes...pronounced "hess"
• Hated the pantomime we took him to in January and had to sit outside and watch it with Devin on closed circuit TV but now can't stop talking about it (and thinking he can watch it on our TV)...especially the part where the boy had pies thrown in his face. He has a great imitation of this.
• Almost always asks for dad first thing in the morning. When I ask him where dad is, he replies "work" then "soon" and when I say, no he won't be back soon he says "later"
• When he wants to see someone or something he says "loooook" and puts his hands like binoculars around his eyes and scans the room. Pretty funny.
• Laughs at all the right parts in movies, books, etc and has recently started to say "funny" followed by his funny fake laugh.
• Says no to every question but in a very silly way.

One thing I know for sure is that Jonas is absolutely adored by his family and we had such a great time celebrating his birthday!!! Can't wait to see what another year holds.