Bring on Nursery

Jason is 18 months old! I am excited to send him to nursery, and I think he will be excited too, especially since his friend Elena will be there. Jason does so many cute things, some of which I will try to share.

Jason is our little parrot. He repeats a lot of words we say. Kyle got him to repeat the alphabet after him, one letter at a time. When Kyle tried to get him to say "W" for the first time, he just giggled. What a funny letter to say. It took him a few times before he attempted saying "W", but now he'll repeat it pretty well. Kyle and Jason have added nursery rhymes to the activity, with Jason repeating the nursery rhyme one word at a time.

He became obsessed with Shrek when we saw a Shrek balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We've also introduced him to Toy Story. Now every day he asks to watch "Shrek," "Yoy-yoy" (Woody), and "Buzz." No matter which DVD we put in first, he'll watch it for three minutes, and then ask for the other DVD. The two are very connected in his mind and he wants to see both right away. It makes me miss the VHS days when you didn't have to start over every time you put the tape in.

Jason's two lovies are his pacifier ("paci") and green bear. Whenever he has one, he also wants the other. Although he mostly calls his bear "bear," sometimes he calls it "Buzz." Can you see the likeness?



Jason loves the outdoors and is becoming more and more social. We have to get out of the house at least twice a day, which can be hard during these winter days, but it is harder to stay cooped up inside.

Although he got new toys for Christmas, his favorite toys remain regular household items. One of his favorites is the toilet plunger. He loves to walk around with it, using it like a walking stick. Jason's four-year-old cousin Sadie saw him doing this one day and said, "Oh no! He has the toilet plugger!"

Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles are also a favorite distraction. Bath time is a favorite occasion because of all the bubbles he gets to play with. One time Kyle was doing the dishes and a tiny bubble floated up towards the ceiling. Jason noticed the bubble as it neared the ceiling fan, and he watched it until it disappeared. Now he studies our ceiling fans to try and find more bubbles lurking about. A couple times when Jason woke up crying in the middle of the night from a fever, he asked us for bubbles when we checked on him.

Jason is becoming more and more picky about eating. He has developed quite the sweet tooth. He has learned the words "treats" and "snacks"; now he asks for treats and snacks when he wakes up in the morning and afternoon. When we were eating at Jason's Deli the other night, Jason became hard to contain after finishing his dinner. He wanted to walk around the restaurant instead of waiting for mom and dad to eat. Kyle mentioned to me that maybe it was time to give him the free ice cream, and at the mention of ice cream, Jason snapped to attention and became the best behaved boy, especially because we really did give him ice cream.


Our favorite time together as a family is getting Jason ready for bed. Kyle and I do it together, one person entertaining Jason with stories while the other puts on the PJs. We all have fun listening to the stories and watching Jason's face as he concentrates on the stories. After stories we cuddle as we sing a song. He is becoming good at cuddling again.

We love you Jason!

Ho Ho Holidays

Jason and I went to Gardner Village to see the cute elf displays.



We took Jason to his first BYU basketball game. It was an afternoon game at the Energy Solutions Arena, so we decided to give it a try. Jason was very entertained by it all for most of the game. He loved the lights, the clapping, and the cheering. He cheered and clapped better than most of us (as you can see by the picture). We all had fun getting involved in the crowd cheers of "B-Y-U- Cougars!" Lucky for us, two chairs next to us were empty, so Jason could have his own seat and some roaming room.


After the game we saw the tree at Gateway, then enjoyed some Costa Vida and cookies.


And last but not least, Jason had his first introduction to Santa at our ward Christmas party. Believe it or not, Santa has Jason on the "nice" list this year.

Noing

It's been "noing" a lot around here, as Jason says it. One of the down-sides to home ownership we've discovered: shoveling your own snow. We were pampered the first three years of marriage by not having to shovel our walks. We're quickly making up for it now, especially since we're not in Provo anymore, which doesn't get much snow comparatively.

I love this picture of Jason in his snow suit. This typifies what Jason often looks like when we get set to go, especially with the bear and pacifier, his two favorite objects. He thinks they need to come along everywhere. We usually let him bring the pacifier, but we try to leave the bear at home since we don't have a spare. Jason is a good sport about getting everything on because he knows it means he's going outside. And he loves tromping around in his boots.


Jason also loves to wear Kyle's hat. I bought the hat in Bolivia to give to Kyle.