Got Snow? Use It! First Sled Ride

Jonas received two major transport upgrades from family members. Gamma n Gampa T thought Jonas needed to enjoy all the snow that we have in Jonas's first winter. Jonas took the sled for its first spin to his friend Cory's house to deliver Cory's present. Jonas really enjoyed the ride and the non-obstructed view his sled provided. Jonas's Dad (The Sled Engine) is sporting some new gear also. (You might have noticed the tags hanging off his clothes.)

Family Slideshow

A few "standard" portraits of Jonas's loving family.

Christmas IV Grandparent Induced Giggles

The final straw in the hat of the holiday season for Jonas 2007 was Christmas IV. Jonas had more than enjoyed himself at the previous celebrations, but we just happend to catch a giggle from his Gamma and Gampa Tangen acting silly!

Xmas with the Fredricksons!

Jonas made his second trip to the Milwaukee area in five days to celebrate Christmas with the Fredricksons. Jonas was intrigued with all the little rugrats running around and was in a good mood throughout due to the entertainment. Turns out that, according to Great Grandma Fred, Jonas has such an amiable personality due to my large consumption of dark chocolate while pregnant. I think I'll continue this theory and keep it up because it must reach him through the milk, too, right? Jonas, being large and in charge, dwarfed a one year old, a two year old, and almost was as big as a three year old in attendance. Good job, buddy.

Santa Slideshow

Jonas did pretty well with all his travels and irregular schedule. He enjoyed his time smiling with relatives. He still has a few more journeys to make this holiday season.

Sailing Away

Jonas was introduced to the open ocean from his neighbors the Dotts. Fresh off a stint around South America in "The Footsteps of Darwin" Bob and Nancy presented the SS JONAS. Jonas christened the ship by gnawing the hull of the mighty vessel. The SS JONAS is personalized for Jonas. It includes pictures of the hounds, Jonas's birthdate, his birth address, apples and books for his parents the teachers, and the fact that Jonas is legend-dairy.

Giggles

It's probably hard to judge who is having more fun, the parents or the baby. Jonas was laughing for about ten minutes straight. What was making him laugh? Dad was yelping "Setup the toys tonight?" in a very-high-pictched and fast paced manner (While hopping up and down). I don't know if Jonas knew what I was talking about, because he was at the store when we bought his new toy. Jonas was sleeping at the store, so we think the toy will be a surprise.

Pet cat, pillow cat

Nice kitties...

Jonas sees the world!

Jonas went on his first front-facing adventure in the baby Bjorn. It was a short trip delivering Christmas cards to neighbors, as the mercury was barely pushing 0 degrees Celcius.

A Dragon transforms to a Little Devil

Jonas started off as a "lounge lizard" enjoying the fresh snowfall through the windows in the solarium. Jonas is able to sit up by himself for the most part. When he sits he sometimes resembles the Leaning Tower of Pisa. (The adjustment to straighten Jonas is a lot easier than the subduction issues at the tower.) Jonas underwent some adjustments with his grandparents. Basic baby rituals of bouncing and noise-making transformed Jonas into a little devil. He was quite amiable company despite his devil costume.

Jonas Training Session: Snow Removal

Certainly with all this snow it is never too early to train the young one in the art of snow removal. The technique requires some practice before mastery. We went through things quite quickly, but for an introductory session I was pleased with his progress. The tools are basic, require a little muscle, are quicker than a standard snow-blower, and emit very little carbon dioxide (~.035 grams/ breath). Jonas has been given a timetable to complete his training. Hopefully he will reach this goal.

Escape From the Snowbank

After a bit of playing (sitting and doing ab crunches) in the snow Jonas had to find a way to escape the snowbank. He called on the rescue squad (pictured) and had a pretty routine rescue.

First time playing (sitting) in the snow

We've had quite a bit of snow for late Autumn in Wisconsin. So far: 25.8 inches in Madison. Jonas got a chance to spend some time enjoying the pre-Winter Wonderland in his front yard. He was doing some birding, pointing up to the sky with his left hand. At first I thought he was just trying to get me to look at something that was not there so he could say his first words, "Made you look.", but this wasn't the case. After some time he finally convinced me to look up, and believe it or not I spotted one of our local Hawks sitting in the tree. I guess Jonas's eyesight is coming along quite well.

(Note, you might notice that there will be no VW "Grayhound" bus rides this upcoming winter, sorry for the inconvenience.)

Jonas Plays the Inverted Toy Crane Game

Jonas's dexterity was put to the test in a simulation of a toy crane game. He showed plenty of signs of being ready for this test with his constant grabbing of pretty much anything that he can put his hands on. He needs to work on moving his arms to the correct spot. Right now he is very easy to trick, if you move what he wants to grab quickly in any direction he is not able to adjust and grab it. Thus I am dominating in games of keep-a-way from Jonas. He has completed the inverted toy crane grab several times in different settings, but was not able to pull it off during this camera session. I thought that the footage was insightful to be able to see some of his early weaknesses in case you challenge Jonas to any sort of competition. This is sort of a 3 month 1 week video scouting report on the babe's ability to use his fine motor skills.

St. Nick: Jonas vs. "The Others"

Jonas enjoyed a rash of chewable and noise-making items from jolly old St. Nick. He seems ready to use and enjoy everything that he received. You can take a look at the slideshow to see a few of the items that filled the stockings. Thanks St. Nick!

Waiting to Burp

First off a warning, not only is there a burp near the end of this video but there is also some bonus feta cheese production. It actually took awhile to get this shot, about seven minutes of Sara tapping on Jonas to work up the belch. The belch was not the most impressive belch (5 of 10), but it is like waiting for the geisers at Yellowstone National Park, even if its not the biggest geiser blast the geisers are still impressive. Jonas just passed 3 months old the other day. He tends to wear outfits that are for 6-12 months because he is a very long lad, and barely fits in the outfits that are made for tikes that are at 6 months. He tends to wear several outfits a day, mostly due to his ability to self-produce feta cheese and puke or drool it all over his clothes when its done fermenting in his tummy. Try to predict the moment of the Burp.

The best things come in 2s

A stack of 2 kids: Cory (in front) being coaxed to sleep by Jonas (in rear). Similar situation in the 2nd picture except Jonas is in the foreground and Cory is replaced by Oscar the cat.

Dog or Baby or DogBaby? You decide.

With all the "baby talk" going around it gets difficult to determine dog from baby at times.

Lights: One of my Favorite Things

Oprah eat your heart out, Jonas's list of his favorite items is readily available to almost everyone, lights. Jonas and Grandma tour around and check out lights, at which point Jonas will smile and gaze, or politely ask to move to the next light.

1st Thanksgiving

Jonas enjoyed meeting some more members of his family at his first Thanksgiving.

Baby Interrogation

The "relaxed" restricitions on basic civil liberties in the United States have provided parents with a lot of new tools for finding out what their kids are up to. This is one method that we wanted Jonas to get used to so that his parents would always have a way to get to the truth. At this point it's not working. He has yet to speak up and say one word. It doesn't matter what questions we ask him, he just stays mute. A good side effect to all of this is that he loves watching the lights swing around.

Beautiful Bubble Bath

Every day it seems that Jonas gets just down right dirty. It comes with the territory when you can't stand up yet, that you might make a mess here and there. Luckily every night between 8:15 and 8:45 he gets a bath. (Bubbles and Ducks vary)

Jedi Training II: Rattle, Poop your Pants, Relaxed Yawn

The premise was simple: Move your hand while grasping the fuzzy giraffe and the giraffe will rattle. This was close to what happend. The was a short bought of rattling, interrupted by a strong grimacing facial expression while Jonas worked out some poop into his pants. The final stage was a relaxing yawn of a job well done. As the experts say, "Baby steps".

Passed Out after Jedi training

Training can be grueling, especially inder the watchful eye of Yoda. A bit of rest can help anyone be ready to go back after it, even little tikes.

Too much Vitamin D

Jonas now gets regular blasts of sunlight indoors thanks to help from Grandpa Tangen. Dad and Grandpa helped cut out eight 14 inch holes to put some tubes in. Two of the tubes are pictured here. (Jonas is not allowed on the roof, that is why there is not any pictures posted of him finishing up the shingles.)

Picnic Point in November, yep with this great weather.

This was our first adventure to the tip of picnic point in Madison. Jonas selectively picked his awake times to correspond to adventurous moments. He loves looking at the branches of the trees as the light is filtered through. He got a chance to see the water and felt a couple splashes from the waves hitting the rocks.

Jonas was dazzled sleepless at the view of the State Capitol.

Lots of migrating water fowl in Lake Mendota. Jonas tried to get a peak at a flock, but no luck, they flew away.

The view of the post trip arrival at home. Minus the dogs who jumped out seconds before the picture.

Little Mr. Dress Up and Dog-cakes

Jonas donned his fancy outfit to celebrate his breathing Nitrogen for the last 10 weeks. He was receiving all sorts of advice, from GPa's tilted hat/hand-sign-flashing to recreate a JJ Cool L persona, to GMa making him pucker so sweet for the camera. The hounds made it into this photoshoot. They had clean up duty on GMa's unfinished cinnamon/apple/banana Dutch pancake which was too big for one human to consume. The Dutch cakes served as energy to get some natural light into the house for Jonas. Jonas managed to direct his workers to not only feed him at requested intervals, but also to cut holes in the house so some solatubes could be installed.

Bath time with GPas

Bubbles galore awaited Jonas and his pirate duck as GMa and GPa got a chance to check out Jonas's buoyancy. He did float. He also got cleaned up.

Cory amd Jonas...perform in record setting sleeping contest.

Cory and Jonas hung out for a few hours the other night. They discussed animal prints on their clothes as well as diaper routines. This went on for a while before an unprecented sleep contest broke out. We didn't have the clock ready to time the lads, but it was an impressive double nap.