Jonthan loves to watch DVD's, picture albums and to read books. He loves cars (and to drive...) and he loves music. He has therefore many achievements related to his best pastimes. Summing up such achievements, which have occurred in the last two months is turning out to be along blog insert...
One day, when visiting a friend, Jonathan pointed to a drawing of Micky Mouse and said “Mouse” our load. Then he pointed to a family portrait and was able to name is friend in it and also to day “dad” indicating that the man in the picture with the other little boy, was his father. This is how we first learned that Jonathan understands the concept of images depicting people. It was however sometime until he started recognizing his own family (mommy and daddy) and himself in pictures. My mother was the first to take a picture off the wall so that Jonathan could point to his daddy. Then one day Jonathan recognized his granddad and that is when I started looking at picture albums with him, usually before his bed time (instead of reading a story – he is still not patient enough to hear one properly, with the exception of two very particular books he practically knows by heart.) By now he is also recognizing both his grandmas and his nephew from my side and a niece from my husbands side.
Jonathan is showing some good memory skills. He remembers the way to his favorite ice shop, even though its winter and it has been some time since we went there. He remember the way to a friend's house – and that he was served a delicious cake there (the following visit he requested cake again from our hostess, just because he knew there would be some.... He remembers to associate a clown song with a certain clown puppet that has been shut up for months. At first I thought he remembered the song from his previous daycare group and I was astounded – its been half a year since he attended the group, in which one of the teachers used such a puppet and sang the song. I have understood however that they also play the song in his current group. Pity, I was enjoying the long memory effect fantasy as a doting mother should do. Still it is always a surprise to witness just how much he learns and remembers.
Not only his memory is impeccable, his speech is improving. Words are spoken more clearly and he is able to mumble through tunes with certain half words and sounds so that I can mostly recognize what song it is he wants me to join him in singing. He is also starting to formulate short sentences such as “where is bear?”, “no juice”, mommy to sit down etc. grammar is not perfect, but he is perfectly understood. Jonathan's language skills are not limited to human languages though, at a visit to an animal “stroking” facility he took up a conversation with a goat! The goat called “baaa” and Jonathan answered her “baaa' and so they exchanged a few more “baaa”s before we had to go. I found this extremely funny because I used to do the same when I was a kid. I especially remember a conversation with a wild goat I ran into on a school excursion when I was 13. I managed to keep up the “baaa” exchange for about 15 minutes and the goat and I eventually had quite a crowd...
Words and sentences are mostly spoken in Hebrew but his German is also improving fast, especially since he started visiting a German play group once a week. The group closed but my husband and the father of another boy still meet regularly with the boys, so the German group lives on and contributed much to Jonathan's vocabulary. The more we associate with boys Jonathan's age, the more we understand that our boy is a strong strapping youngster. Somehow we tend to end up in a relationship with boys who are relatively small and usually a head shorter than Jonathan. I am sure this actually serves to build his self esteem and the other boys however do not seem to be the losers either – they all play together so happily.
It was at a friend that we learned that Jonathan wishes to take up his love for music into an active level. It was at his friend's house that Jonathan first played the harmonica. We then got him a cheep copy but it only made three sounds so he lost interest. Since then, my brother has brought a more advanced harmonica for Jonathan and he enjoys playing it very much (and is grateful to his cool uncle). He is really skilled – he gets both major and minor noted out of the harmonica, blowing air in and out. He also can move the harmonica across his mouth and he gets a whole scale played doing his – like running you finger on a piano. Jonathan also plays the piano on occasion at my parents house, usually in the company of his other uncle – my sisters husband – who is a musician. All he does is pound on the keys, but I did show him how to run his fingers on the piano and he immediately copies my actions.
Playing on a tambourine and on an Arabian drum is also an enjoyable pastime. This however he especially loved to do in my company. To some extent, Jonathan is a performer.
He has taken up to performing at a private puppet theater, using two sponge glove figures that are actually intended for washing up. The sponge gloves are shaped after cows for children's amusement. We never used them for washing, I used them as puppets to Jonathan's delight from an early age. He has now however taken to doing the puppeteering himself. He loved so much that I brought a special Micky mouse glove for him to enjoy. Jonathan not only loves to perform, he loves to boss his crowd while he is at it. In our last visit to my parents Jonathan took to singing, demanding that I join in, and then cuing me when to stop and clapping hands to signal to my parents and husband that the performance was over. He did this repeatedly and we all laughed our heads off. After all, Jonathan was seriously producing his own show! Jonathan chose the song, chose who was to sing it with him, when it should start and when it should end and then the crowd was ordered to clap hands in a timely manner – like in a TV show! The boy has what is takes to be a director! Or perhaps a conductor. He had 4 adults at his finger tips and was enjoying the whole scene immensely! My mother took the opportunity to mention that from all his grandchildren, it is only Jonathan who had managed to order/boss my father around. Jonathan practically ordered his granddad top sit down and enjoy the show (or rather take part in it when clapping was required). We all has a great time!
Wanting adults to share in his games is becoming more often. Ordering adults around is normal to Jonathan – he demands that I share in his activities – rather than asking for my company (and I always tell him to say please, and he does). He invites me regularly to sit and watch a DVD with him (he cuddles while doing so, mommy serving as great recliner too), he loves to match animal cards with me, calling my attention with great enthusiasm to the different animal images and he likes me to chase him when we go out for a walk. He will tell me when to run and when to stop. He liked things organized – having me sit in my usual chair when he goes to bed (if his daddy sits there instead of lying on the bed which is my husband's usual spot – Jonathan will re organize us to our respective places).
But is not all commanding. There is a lot of playful fun. My husband was eventually rewarded for his effort in the last year when one day, as Jonathan came to us in the morning to the “big bed” he played hide and seek in the blanket with his daddy. He also throws a blanket on my face and asks “where is mommy” and then reveals me with sequels of laughter. In the shopping mall, to which we like to go as a family for a simple family outing, this game is continued in the dressing cabinets of shops. Jonathan hides in the cabinet and waits for us to remove the drapes and find him. He loves mirrors too! The fashion shops are a mirror bonanza and Jonathan dances with his figure in the mirror or with the boy who gets reflected from the glass of the near by bank. A set of two mirrors opposite each other, which cause for “hundreds” of Jonathan to appear, seam to scare him off. Two mirrors creating a corner that “cuts” his body from the waist down as he beds to look around it, thus having “two heads” is however an effect he got curious about in a lively manner of bending and checking that was quite heart stopping and delightful to watch.
His motoric skills are as advanced as ever. He practically swims in the bathtub and rolls about. He has not trouble grabbing and stopping himself safe if he slips. Climbing in and out of the tub is also not an issue – but he prefers to be lifted out of the tub by a hugging mommy – I am lucky he has this preference, or I would loose total control of him during a bath – he splashes about and then delights in the fact that he can create rain in the bath! The only thing he loves more, I believe is to pour water into my belly button from a plastic kettle, when I choose to share a bath with him. He loves to shake out all the kitchen playthings into the bath tub – naturally wanting to do so by himself and getting the net that houses the toys all tangle up. Occasionally he will help me take the toys out of the water – but usually he throws them out for me to pick up! Seeing them flying out of the tub is a cause for much glee to Jonathan.
Jumping on one foot is not a problem, neither is drinking from a cup – though he prefers his bottle. In fact he wants to do everything himself and scolds if we do it for him. He must open the front door when we leave and close the gates of all the yards in the neighborhood when we are taking a walk. He likes to pour his own juice into the bottle and put chocolate power in a bottle to make his chocolate drink – he then also diligently wipes away excess power, making a mes in his efforts to clean up his own mess. If he eats and drops his food, he picks it up and if his hands are sticky or there is juice on his chin – he does not like it. He complains but if I am not fats enough in cleaning him, he will wipe whatever is bothering him on his sleeve.
He is actually a tidy boy, bless his heart. He puts his shoes away in their place, he will return pants to their drawer and diapers to their shelves. He will shove puzzle pieces into a box – even if its not the right one...He puts away his play kitchen into any large box he can find – the point being – all must be stowed. He has learned to return a DVD into its box when it is not being used and he usually does that (on occasion however a DVD gets lost, as do cards and other parts of his games, he is after all a 2 year old toddler). Despite all this tidiness, he is just as capable of sending every toy in his possession flying about the house and there can sometimes be no stopping him. Its is mommy and or daddy who will end up tidying the mess. After such scenes searching for parts is an integral part of putting the house back in order. Jonathan does not really tend to help in such searches, but he will imitate such behaviors if chasing a ball around the house. He loves throwing a ball around, even if he is not 100% tuned in on the social value of throwing the ball to another person just yet. Chasing a ball around the house and making sure I follow his performance while doing so is at this stage entertaining enough.
Doing things by himself includes also trying to get dressed alone, especially pulling up his pants. He puts both legs into one pant hole and pulls. Sorting it out is however not easy, because he insists on repeating the mistake because he wants to get dressed by himself. We also negotiate daily on his clothes, because he likes to choose them himself. Sometimes I think his choice is not warm enough and then we have a wailing argument about putting on another shirt. I resort to tricks of preparing two shirts one in the other before putting them on Jonathan at once. He also tries to put his shoes on, but he always does it the wrong way around. I wonder if this is a toddler thing and that the mind is not 100% ripe with right and left, after all the left part of the brain controls the right part of the body and vice versa. Jonathan still operated with both hands playing an active role. He is still stronger with the left had and tends to do more gentle actions (like eating soup from a spoon) with the left hand but the right hand is catching up.
DVD control is a big issue – because Jonathan is practically addicted to the TV, even if he does not watch it, he likes it to play. I think this is left over from the first day care center. He can play with other toys quite contentedly and so we try to limit his daily DVD doses. Since he started climbing the shelves to get to the DVD player, we lowered its position and he now can operate it from a small stool – the DVD;s however remain located in a high place and so far he still asks for them to be brought down and he has not taken to climbing up to get them. He did try it once and I got very angry – lets hope he remembers that for a while... after all the removal of the DVD's themselves from reach is the only control method I have left (except unplugging the player, but do not tell Jonathan that...or he will swiftly learn to plug it back – cables were never problem – Jonathan changing cables in the TV has already led us to getting our TV set repaired).
Solo action also include raiding the fridge by himself. He is powerful enough to open the door and he knows where is food comes from... I accordingly located his favorite yogurts and fruit on the bottom shelf, so he can take them out if he wants. We have a water dispenser installed in our fridge, and Jonathan likes to press it – this however is strictly forbidden! Jonathan will pull up a chair if he wants to reach the dispenser – or anything located higher up. He will sometimes bring a chair from another room for such a purpose. Jonathan also likes to “pull up a chair” in the local delicatessen. He comes into the small shop and sits on a high stool demanding a piece of ham. Both owners know him by now and gladly treat him to a piece of “Shinken”. My husband and Jonathan are regular visitors. After Jonathan eats his piece , they purchase some of the delicious ham to take home. I ran once into one of the owners at a Falafel stand in the street, while I was walking with Jonathan and the delicatessen owner particularity greeted Jonathan and not myself...Today Jonathan even gave one of the owners a hug!
Jonathan has a few such favorite eating spots. The delicatessen is the ham spot, he has a shop for Humus around the corner, a particular ice cream shop on a near street and another in the near by shopping mall. Close to our apartment he also has a juice stand he loves. We buy him fresh fruit pressed (sweet tasty vitamins) and so toddler and parents are both happy. Last week we have been getting hot weather in the middle of February (usually the coldest month of the year) so my husband and I both took Jonathan to the juice stand on two separate occasions in one day. In both cases Jonathan not only drank his fill but chose to share his drink with the parent escorting him. He did so by pushing a second straw to his cup and inviting me to drink. My sister was with us and took a photo of Jonathan and me drinking “head to head” from the juice cup. When I showed it to my husband I found that Jonathan has done exactly the same with him earlier that day. He really is a very loving child!
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