Jonathan continues to learn by observation, imitating mommy in everything possible. Sometimes the result is almost girly, but hey! Mommy is after all, a girl! But Jonathan is boy enough, showing athletic tendencies by homing in on his climbing skills...
Jonathan likes mommy's hair clip. Such a wonderful piece of plastic! It opens and snaps shut, making a fun click noise. Mommy likes to tickle Jonathan with it too, what fun! The love of the clip was a sure way to imitating mommy's use of it, and so, one Saturday morning, Jonathan took the clip and tried to put it on his hair. Other such imitation learning include trying to put his shirt over his head (and also trying to put his ants over his head, after all both are his clothes...), putting mommy's shirt over his head with success and then getting annoyed at the long piece of fabric that seems stuck to his body. His love for removing fabrics and placing them on his had includes tearing his bedsheets off his bed in the kindergarten so he can cover his head with them - and so I made a special cover for his mattress with a zipper. This morning he also removed his sheets at home for the first time (putting blankets on his head and walking with it covering him is already a routine action, right along with emptying his fabric diaper drawer and the towels closet in the bathroom). His love for fabrics, hair clips and glasses (he loves to remove my glasses from my face and then try to put them back on) sometimes truly worries me as too girly, but this worry does not last long when one sees him running about!
Independence steps include repeated trials to drink out of a cup (a skill only practiced when he is in the bath tub, as mommy really cannot stand for liquid being freely poured around the house), trying to take the plate from mommy and to carry it alone to his little “table” in the kitchen, while pouring out half the contents on the way (the “table” - Jonathan has a stool that serves as his own eating corner in the kitchen) and blowing on his fried egg to cool it down (just like mommy does – did I mention he learns by observation?). He also likes to pick up food with a spoon. Despite his very limited success in this action there is always a little bit to lick off the spoon anyway – so he is rewarded, and so he tries again and again, smearing his clothes, face and hands – generally just making a big mess of himself and around himself. When Jonathan is finished with his food he spits it out, making a lot of extra noise in the process, so I will not miss his point! I AM DONE! Thank you! In this protest action he is a lot like me, because when I was a baby and finished my meal, I would just throw the plait away, along with the remaining contents. And my mother had to clean up (she quickly changed to plastic plates...).
Further advancements include climbing down and up the stairs alone standing up and using the fence on the staircase! YES! He can go up now as well, no more crawling up the stairs. Climbing chairs and standing up on them to reach things and climbing the living room table is also occurring already – and so our “grown up” stuff needs to rise even more (our life style keeps rising...). He also likes to throw himself on pillows – he either does that on mommy and daddy's big bed (big soft German cushions make the experience extra fun!) or in the living room, on his big cushion (actually a large cushion for animals that I brought for him and where he has often drank his bottle ever since he was born). He still cannot climb onto our bed, so he walks to our bedroom and asks with his hands to be picked up onto it, by “drumming” his hands on the bed. After he is up he stand up on the bed, plays with switching the light on and off and then eventually throws himself on the pillows. Despite the wild action he never falls off the bed and seams to know exactly where the edge is and how to get off. I rarely have to catch him to prevent a fall (unless he is to distracted having fun... then I do need to watch over him).
I wonder how soon he will learn to climb onto our bed! Even more worrying is how soon will he be able to climb out of his own bed! He is already trying it, lifting his knee... I guess this will determine when we will have to pass him onto a bigger boy's bed.
The only field n which he is making no advancement is getting rid of his running nose and coughs. He is just so full of snot! The doctor says this is just so until the age of 8 years! I do not get worried is he has no fever, or if he can breath at night. If he becomes “to full” I give him inhalation treatments, and then scream my lungs out to calm him down by clowning and entertaining through the treatment ( and then I need the inhalation...). Despite a running nose and in the last few days diarrhea, he is a happy active child! And definitely boyish and mischievous enough!
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