Meet Jonathan...

"Out of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable." - Plato

On that note, allow me to introduce to you- Jonathan. He is 2, and he's a boy... What else needs to be said??

I'm a stay-at-home mum, which means I have the ultimate pleasure of the constant (I repeat, constant) love/hate relationship (especially since he's learnt the word "No!") with my youngest son, Jonathan. He is incredibly amusing, though, so I thought I would take this chance to share with you some of Jonathan's recent examples of how cute and funny (though sometimes -in the moment- frustrating) he can be!

Jonathan loves the outdoors. He loves sticks, rocks, dirt, and MUD! The day I allowed this to happen was a day when I thought "Sure, why not, what's a little mud- I'll just wash the clothes"... (It certainly beats the stress of trying to keep Jonathan OUT of the mud!) And at least he had gumboots on :)

During the Easter break, we stayed with my husband's family, who own quad bikes!! AND a massive 6,000 acre property! This is where my boys (all 3 of them) are in their 'zone'. Miles (literally) of land to explore, fresh air, quad bikes, and about a dozen dogs to play with! Jonathan certainly paid attention when he was on the mini quad bike with his brother and sister, because once he was on it alone, he FOUND THE THROTTLE! He knew how to make it go forward, but not how to stop OR turn! I am thankful for a fast husband, and kill switches!

Where we live, we are lucky enough to have many parks around us, all within walking distance (whether it's a 2 minute walk or a 10 minute walk)... OR if Jonathan is walking, it's sometimes a 30 minute walk... We also have a Community Centre that organises a 'Meet Your Neighbour' night each term. Last term's 'theme' was St Patrick's day, and the Hub was set up for the occasion. Amongst the novelty items, was a tiny green beer mug, which Jonathan used to go to the bar and get a 'refill' for his lemonade. It made the bartender laugh and made me laugh, too, as he was trying to be so careful bringing his tiny drink back to the table, that half had spilt out of each time!

Because Jonathan's such an active little boy, it can be tricky getting a good photo of him!! Lucky for him, I do not stop my attempts at photography when he goes to sleep.. From our collection of 'sleeping' shots, I think we have about sixty 21st invitation possibilities!

I've mentioned in a previous post that we recently got a new puppy! Well... This is Deefa :)

Jonathan LOVES Deefa!

For a little while after we got Deefa, we thought that maybe (as older siblings sometimes do when there's a new addition to the family) Jonathan started adapting his behaviour to be more like the new cute little puppy... He started sleeping on the floor.

And he always wanted to sleep RIGHT NEXT TO THE NEW PUPPY!

We are sometimes concerned about Jonathan's relationship with food... Often on Friday nights, when my husband is out at Youth Group, the kids and I will have a 'movie night'. We sometimes make popcorn to accompany the evening, and recently Jonathan's been watching it cook! He will no joke watch the microwave and listen to the pops for the whole 3 minutes, constantly asking if it was ready yet! And constantly commentating that it was indeed popping! But, if it's not about him WATCHING the food, it's about him WEARING the food! My favourite is his Spaghetti Bolognese face.

But when it comes to APPLES, he will only eat bits of them! In one morning... ONE MORNING (and I've since learnt to move the fruit bowl) I found 5 half eaten apples around the house!

Luckily, Deefa also likes apples!! Strange puppy :)

A couple of weeks ago, a small white kitten followed my husband home from his evening walk with the Deefa and the kids...  For the entirety of the weekend, Jonathan's new play thing was the kitten! He would pick it up, saying "my kitty", and wonder why she wouldn't stay on his lap for long! She was a cute kitten, whom I had temporarily nicknamed 'Kayfa' (If you weren't aware, Deefa = D for Dog, so Kayfa = K for Kitten)... I thought my husband was joking when he said he wanted a puppy, and wanted to name it 'Deefa'.

And that is a little bit about my youngest son, Jonathan. He's cute, he's funny, he can understand and have conversations with people now, he calls old men in the supermarket "Grandpa", he says "good morning" to anyone who passes us by on the footpath (or screams it from the other side of the road), and he has great manners, and always says (sorry, YELLS) "Dankoo" when you give him something... He loves wearing shoes (unless they're his own), taking off his pants, annoying his big brother and sister, squishing into tight spots, and picking his nose!

And that's why I love him so much!