For A Good Laugh

If you've had a bad day, this will cheer you up.

Do You Think John Knows What's Up?

John has always loved his mother quite dearly, but lately, he's been cuddling more and more with her. As you can see, he has taken to resting his head on Maureen's belly. Do you think that he knows his little brother is on the way? Do you think he's trying to communicate with Nicholas?

Who knows, but it's such a gosh darned cute photo and story.

DJ Lance Rock Would Say: Chewing and swallowing Cheerios is AWESOME!!

Our John has finally decided that the time was nigh for him to eat Cheerios. You have no idea how pleased Maureen and I are with our boy. DJ Lance Rock would say it is AWESOME!!!

It all started quite innocently. I was giving him soft pieces of Sourdough bread. Maureen saw this and thought that this might be a great time to try Cheerios again. As some of you know, John has rejected all efforts to eat any foods that require chewing. Sure enough, he just kept on chomping on the Cheerios. We moved onto baby cheetos and he loved those. He really liked those. It looks like there'll be no stopping our little Mr. Muncho.

Great Weekend

John had a big day on Saturday, September 26, 2009. He had three big adventures and he behaved, for the most part. In the morning, we did our jurisdictions at the grocery store. He was a prince as we went through Ralph's and Trader Joe's. In the afternoon, we headed to St. A's for the Kindergarten Ice Cream Social (YUMMY!!!) Finally, we went to the Lowther residence in the evening to celebrate Mrs. Lowther (9/24) and Cousin Marbleann's (9/1) birthdays.

Nothing special happened during our jurisdictions, so there's nothing new to report about that. Well, actually, there is some disturbing news. My dry cleaner mentioned that a certain singer is a real jerk. Maureen and I were crestfallen over this news. We like his music and we like his family. Oh well, maybe Art caught him on a bad day.

At St A.'s, John was quite popular with the girls. When we put him on the play structure, all the little girls surrounded him. There was one little girl that kept talking about her cousin, Donovan. Sorry little girl, I could care less about Donovan crying at his baptism. ALL BABIES CRY AT THEIR BAPTISMS!!! Anyway, John had some ice cream since it was the ice cream social. Once again, he wasn't too sure if he liked it or not. With every spoonful, he'd get a pained look on his face, but he kept opening his mouth. I'm sure it was brain freeze.

In the evening, we drove out to Sylmar to the Lowther residence. It was past John's bed time, so he was a little on edge. The acoustics at the Lowther residence tend to increase the sound. That was a little off putting to John. He can be delicate to loud sounds. Still, he did enjoy playing with his cousins and walking around the table with a bottle of water. If only it were that easy to entertain him, we'd be much happier. Instead, we have to watch the same episodes of Sesame Street and The Fresh Beat Band over and over.

Sunday started out in a great way. John slept in until 7:15. You have no idea how happy we were to have that extra sleep time. To celebrate, we walked over to Fiddler's Bistro (If you are ever in the area and want to go have a nice meal, let us know. It doesn't take much to get us to go there. I had the pancakes and Maureen had the El Greco. John had some oatmeal and apples. He wasn't too pleased at the restaurant because he wanted to walk around. He thinks he owns the place, but we made it through breakfast quite nicely. By the time we got back to our place, John was winding down for a nap.

After lunch, Maureen took John to the Grove for some shopping. Unfortunately, I could not join because I had jurisdictions to do at home and shopping with our John can be an exercise in futility. Maureen tried to try on some tops at The Gap to no avail. She tried to buy John some new shoes because his monkey shoes won't go with everything. She thought it would be best to head home after purchasing a monkey for John. On the way home, they stopped by the putting green next to the fountain and John had a lovely time walking around the green.

Sunday at St. A's

Today, we went to St. A's for mass. It's the annual Catechetical Sunday, Ministry Fair, School Support Sunday, and Pancake Breakfast. I'm not kidding. All those things were going on at once. Anywho, Maureen had to go to 9 AM mass to receive a blessing, so John and I joined in the fun.

Being early, we headed over to the Ministry Fair on the baseball field. John was a little scared of the grass, but he evenutally warmed up to it and really enjoyed walking on it. Take a look.

When we went to mass, John was a little fidgety; however, he did get to greet many of his fans. He even got a special hello from teen eighties star, Anthony Michael Hall. As he walking in, AMH gave John a smile and a wave. About five minutes into mass, our John wanted to walk around, so we headed to The Diamond Courtyward for a walk. It was a good 55-minutes of walking before mass was over. That boy is like the Energizer Bunny. He keeps going and going and going and going.

To quote the Fesh Beat Band at the end of every freaking episode:

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!!

Where The Wild Things Are

Look at our John tame his zebra birthday present. He even knows how to dismount the beast. He's learning all sorts of new tricks. He's basically running around the apartment and we're just trying to keep up with Speedy Gonzalez, but let's enjoy this video of a boy and his zebra.

Johnny the Gymnast

Back in her youth, Maureen was a gymnast. I believe she broke her wrist doing gynmastics. That same day, she received the Gymnast of the Month. Was that a coincidence? I don't know, but Maureen seems to think so.

In my younger days, I was quite flexible. After several cocktails, it didn't take much prodding from my hockey team mates to do the splits. I even did one on a back street in Las Vegas on the walk from The Las Vegas Hilton to The Stardust (R.I.P.). I even did my world famous split, against Maureen's wishes, at one of her birthday parties.

As you can see, Little Mr. Jones seems to have inherited our skills. Watch out Mitch Gaylord! Johnny's going to star in American Anthem 2!

Fun in the Tub

Being the good clean boy that he is, John enjoys his bathtime. Check out the fun.

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Shelby

I hope you like your present. I picked it myself. I can't wait to meet you. Love John

Louganis Moment 2

Some of you may recall that John dove back into Maureen when he was pulled out during the C-section. We thought that was all the interest that he had in diving, but no, we found out differently today.

John was wandering around and he decided to go to his bathroom to play rearrange the shampoo and body wash bottles. After a while, he lost interest and decided to toss his bottles into the bathtub. So, being the smart little guy that he is, John started to reach for them. He got up on his tippy toes and sure enough he went, to quote my friend Sean Monahan, @$$ over tea kettle. That is to say, our boy took a header into the bath tub.

All I could think was, "Drats, why didn't I have my camera rolling."

A Tip To Parents

If you are looking for a place to entertain your child FOR FREE, go to a bookstore with a great children's section. Not only will you get a chance to read some books to your kids, but chances are that there will be a bunch of things to keep little minds entertained.

Actually, if you have a local bookstore where they have book readings, go to them. On Larchmont Boulevard, there is a nice lady that reads the books. She was kind enough to read to John before the reading session. Remember, reading is fundamental.

Just a Perfect Shopping Day

This morning, we decided to go to the Century City mall for a quick looksee. John made his first visit to Tiffany and Company. Don't worry. He didn't buy anything. Maureen just wanted to take him in. He talked with the clerk who was pregnant with a little girl. John charmed her as is his custom.

We went to Borders and that's where he was in HAPPYLAND!!! It was great. At first, he was a bit hesitant to walk around in his Robeez, but he got over his misgivings and started walking over to the best bead chaser EVER!!! Grandparents, I think we know what you all need to buy. John played with it for a good 20-minutes before I noticed a certain scent coming from our John's diaper. Maureen took our John to the restroom to change him and was complimented on her parenting skills. This is the second time that a stranger has complimented her at this Borders for her mothering skills. Let this be a lesson to all mothers. Go to the Borders in Century City if you want to have strangers shower you with kind comments.

Anywho, John came away from our "window shopping" trip like a bandit. He gots some new Robeez with monkeys on them, a couple of toys, and some new jammies. Did mommy and daddy get anything? No, we just got lunch at the food court. Oh well, we get our present in early December.

John and Shoes

Last night, we went to 5 PM mass. Since we knew John would be full of energy after his nap, we thought it would be best if he wore shoes. Sure enough, he just wanted to walk all over the back of the church. Mind you, this was the first time he wore shoes. He stumbled a bit, but by the end of mass, he was almost running around the back of the church. As always, he entertained his church friends. If he wasn't talking, he was laughing at the wrong time. Oh well, he did play the little baby Jesus in a Christmas pageant. I think God will forgive him.





Unfortunately, I don't have pictures. It's sacrilegious to take photos during mass. Anywho, take a look at this video of JD walking and watching his favorite new show, The Fresh Beat Band. He really likes Kiki.

Non-Silent Interlude*

Take a look at this compilation of our John's ambulatory adventures. I'd like to give a special thanks to Caroline Klein for recommending the accompanying soundtrack.

* No one will probably get the reference to GI Joe # 21.

John Sings

Not only does he read in the tub, but he also sings. Enjoy the dulcet tones of a future American Idol.

John's New Pastime

John has picked a new hobby. Actually, he doesn't really pick his nose. He just puts his finger in it. I'd much rather have his finger in his nose than in his, what the Hawaiians call, okole...you're smart people, figure it out.

Our Smart Boy

John is very good at communicating his needs to us. His grunts mean different things like, "Read the book again." or "I want to watch this section again."

He's also good at notifying us when he has taken a bowel movement. After a movement, he crawls over to the bedroom where his diapers are changed. He gives the "I'm ready for a diaper change" grunt. If only he could communicate all things in that way, our lives would be so much easier.

Dr. K's Worst Nightmare

Don't worry. He wasn't alone next to our apothecary cabinet. He just likes to pull our OTCs out of the apothecary. Hmmmm, maybe he'll be a pharmacist. They make a good living.

Happy Birthday

John would like to wish his cousin, Marielena aka Mia aka Marble-Ann aka Marvelann (watch The Trouble with Angels and Where Angels Go Trouble Follows), a very happy birthday. That's exactly what little Mr. Teeny Tiny Tumbles is saying here.