Africa Hot

For those of you in other parts of the country, it's been Africa hot in our neck of the woods for the last week or so. John doesn't let that hinder his development. He just rolls with it and walks around in his skivvies.

John and His Show Car

John no longer needs his walker. It's in semi-retirement right now until Nicholas enters this world and needs it. Nonetheless, JD still enjoys caring for his hot rod much like his Grandpa Dick used to take care of his hot rods. Since he is my son, I'd be a horrible Shell employee if I didn't mention he uses Rain-X on the windshield, and Black Magic on the tires.

A Clean Boy

When we got home this afternoon, Maureen thought John was too tired to take a bath and told him that he was going to skip it tonight. Being the clean boy that he is, he crawled over to the bathroom and started to tap on the tub as if to say, "Please fill the tub. It's time for my bath." He's not like Wesley from Mr. Belvedere who'd just turn the water on and just wait a while before he'd exit the bathroom with a towel.

An Important Message

I'm not sure what he's trying to say, but I'm sure it is quite important. Look at how animated his hand gestures get toward the end of the clip.

Birthday Wishes

The last couple of weeks have been filled with birthdays:

Grandma Gonzalez: August 10

Auntie Lisa: August 14

Auntie Sydney: August 14

Grandpa Gonzalez: August 17

Uncle Rick: August 19

Uncle/Godfather Matt: August 19

From all of us, we wish you all very happy birthdays.

On a side note, I got around to building John's birthday gift from Maureen and me last week. It's a little zebra that plays music and he can sit on it. Some Negative Nancys told us that a gift like that was a waste of money. PHOOEY ON YOU, NEGATIVE NANCYS!!! He likes to dance to the music. He'll buck around on it for a while. He loves the spinner. And, he's mastered the art of dismounting. We have to help him get on the zebra, but he's good at riding.

Eating Update

John likes his food to be mushy. Anytime that we have tried to introduce chunky food to him, he starts to gag and spit it out. It's a big concern for Maureen; however, I figure he's just being like me.

Anyway, Maureen had to go into school today for her parents' meeting and it was up to me to give our boy his lunch and bottle. He wasn't interested in the bottle at all. He actually rejected it, so I decided to give him his yogurt and fruit. I thought this would be a good time to get him to eat his chunky foods, so I mixed in spaghetti in tomato sauce with beef into his yogurt.

He did his normal "yucky" face when I gave him the first spoonful, but then he opened up his mouth and gave me the grunt that means, "More". He kept on eating it and he chewed with every mouthful. This is definitely a step in the right direction for his eating habits. I even tried his lunch. It was pretty good. I can see how adults can subsist on baby food if it all tastes that good.

Update on Little Mister Jones

He's had an interesting week. As you saw earlier, he had his first "date" with Little J. He also had his first visitor to his new place this week. Uncle Steve flew in from Oklahoma and crashed with us. John did his best to impress by showing off his walking skills, his taking laps around the giant cube, and his great manners. He was very good on our walk to The Farmer's Market for donuts at Bob's Donuts. He just let us have our yummy breakfast and played with his cell phone. That phone is the best $7.99 I have ever spent at a Walmart.

Also, he let Maureen and I have a nice lunch at the Woodranch Grill at The Grove on Friday. Normally, he gets quite cranky if we try to eat at a restaurant, but he was great. We think it may have been that he got to see the fountain. He loves fountains. In any event, he was pleasant and gave us that time to have a fine meal. He even had a nice meal (yogurt and fruit mush).

The Ladies Man

Guess who went on his first date today? Yes, our JD went on a play date with a sweetie that we'll call Little J. Maureen and Little J's mom have been friends since preschool (I think. I'm pretty sure it was preschool, but I wasn't there.). So, JD and mom went over for a visit today. For the most part, things were copacetic. John enjoyed her toys and she enjoyed his toys. Everyone had a lovely day. Little J is ready to walk according to Maureen and she's just 8-months.

When they got home, JD was his normal charming self. He was kind enough to show off his walking skills some more. Pretty soon, he won't be tumbling over and giggling. He'll be running all over the place and we'll need to chase him down.

Baby Genius at Work

Look, he knows the difference between a ball and shoes!!

The Best Toy Ever

I must say that this is a great toy for any child. John just loves to do laps around it before he settles down and decides that he's going to play with the magnets. It always happens the same way; however, it's still entertaining.


Do you like his "Clown Outfit" as Maureen calls it? She wanted to get him dressed as soon as possible and grabbed a pair of shorts out of the laundry without really looking.

Forever in Blue Jeans

Friday night was a terrific night. CBS had a great Neil Diamond Hot August Night Special on. We DVR'd it and are going to enjoy it; however, to celebrate the greatness of Neil Diamond, we present to you Johnny Blue Jeans (No, not the Viva Variety Johnny Blue Jeans, but our little Johnny Blue Jeans). It's his first time wearing jeans, courtesy of the Kaewmanaprasert family. And they are not just any old jeans. He's wearing Lucky Brand jeans, fancy lad that he is. He also has another pair of cool Charlie Rockets jeans from Aunt Lori from the OC, but he's still too little for those. Anywho, he didn't like the long pants at first, but he grew to like them.

John In Action at the Park

The last couple of weeks, I have been posting about John's exploits at the park, but most of the stories were related to me by Maureen. I had the distinct pleasure and privilege to see John in action on the slide and the swings. Mind you, I'm not one who likes the park. I don't like the sand. It gets all over the place. Maureen enjoys her trips to the park with John, so I suppose I can go once in a while to see the glee on my boy's face.

On a typical day, JD and his mother will walk to the park. He likes to look around at all the cars and things that go by on the street. He's quite observant in that way. He just sits up in the stroller and keeps his head on a swivel. Today, we drove because I couldn't find an empty parking space in our complex and I didn't want to go park in my spot in the structure.

Aside from that, it was quite a lazy Saturday. John was kind enough to entertain himself until about 6:30 AM this morning. He was a good boy at the Farmer's Market and Ralph's at 8 AM. He took his nap like a trouper from 9:30 AM to 11:15 AM. We took him to Babies/Toys R Us and picked up a belated birthday present (thanks Mr. Pistey). He loves his bead chaser. He fell in love with it at the Wiseman residence several months back, but he really loves it now that he has his own!!

As if that weren't enough of a great day, he's been so good this evening whilst Maureen is over at Fiddler's Bistro for her brother's surprise birthday dinner. He was great in the tub. He didn't whine when I washed his hair. He was very cooperative when I had to change his diaper. And, he only cried for 2-minutes when I put him down to sleep.

He's really such a good little boy.

Like Maureen says, "Who needs Disneyland? We have the park!!"

No Story Behind This One

It was late yesterday afternoon and we were just winding down in his room.

Our John Still Likes the Park

Over the last couple of weeks, John has really started to like the park. He now interacts with the other kids, he climbs up the slide, and he will ride on the swings.

In this next clip, John talks to his little friends as he lords over them in all his majesty.

God Help Us!!

It's happened. Look at the video. He's starting to walk.

He just kept pulling himself up on the desk and taking a few steps before doing a face plant into the carpet. For some reason, he found it very entertaining because he did it for a good 30-minutes or so. Maureen said he was quite sweaty after he finished.

Does he remind you of anyone in the clip below?

Basketball Jones

With extra space in his room, we've been able to set-up more toys for Little Mister Jones. One of them, his Little People Basketball Hoop, wasn't a favorite of his for a while...until this past week. He's been slam dunking with his tongue hanging out like His Airness himself. I'm not saying our boy will be a basketball star (genetics are against it since Maureen and I are neither tall nor talented at the game), but the boy can slam dunk like no other baby at this point in time. Dare I say, he is the best slam dunking baby out there. If anyone cares to challenge this assertion, throw down the gauntlet and let's get it on!!!

John Likes To Play Cards

Esquire Magazine was kind enough to send me a deck of playing cards when I subscribed some years ago. It's deck called "Women We Love".

So, I was playing Solitaire one day and left them sitting out. John saw them and decided that he was going to play with them. Maureen has noticed that he prefers to play with the blond lady cards (no, they aren't nudie cards). I suppose it is true that gentlemen prefer blonds if a fancy lad like John likes them.

He'll sit there for a while and just shuffle through them for a good ten minutes before he loses interest.

John Enjoys The Park

A week or two ago, Maureen took John to the park. She was displeased with the playground because there were some ruffians hanging out there. She spoke to her mother and learned that she went to the wrong playground.

Maureen has been taking John to the the right playground for the last couple of days. It usually takes him a while to get into the playground, but once he does, he likes to crawl on the spongy play area, pick up loose leaves, and talk to the other kids as they run by him. He sometimes even goes to play with the play structure.

Today, he ran into some friends who live in our building. Apparently, he and little girl, B, had a lovely conversation before she took a swipe at him. Fortunately, he didn't swing back. He's far too much of a gentleman to do so.

John's Latest

John has started to do "Ninja Rolls" and giggle when he gets tired. He's so loopy that he doesn't know what to do with himself. He just starts rolling around as if someone were tickling his innards with glee. Take a look. What do you think? I think he really takes after Maureen. Whenever she gets really tired, she gets all loopy and starts to laugh like she's drunk. It just runs in the family.

The Next Gordon Ramsay?

This evening, John decided to do a little work in the kitchen. As any good chef knows, you need to know your tools and you can clearly see that JD is looking for the right pan to make a cake. What kind of cake? I'm not sure, but I bet it'd be the best tasting cake ever. After all, his t-shirt does say it all. If John doesn't rule, then I don't know who does.

As a side note, our dear sweet and tender hooligan, is almost off formula. Maureen's been giving him milk combined with formula for the last week and he has been responding to it quite well. Thankfully, he's not one of those delicate children that need to drink soy milk...you know, the ones that all the kids will make fun of later on in elementary school because they have to eat the weird food. Those of you who went to Catholic School know what I am talking about.

Finally, Maureen has decided to start making fresh baby food to see if John will start eating chunkier foods. Personally, I'm ok with the little jars, but I'm just a viewer in all this. Anywho, she's combining it with the jarred food. Hopefully, our little man will be able to adjust quickly.

In the meantime, enjoy this video of Chef John in the kitchen. See how good he is when we tell him not to play with the burners. Don't worry, we don't leave him unattended. He's never in the kitchen by himself.

Sorry for the Delay

As most of you know, we moved last week and we have been trying to get things set-up, so we are a bit preoccupied. We're almost finished; however, there are a couple of boxes that still need to be emptied. It doesn't help that Little Man Jones, aka John, wants to help by getting in the way.



Anywho, John's doing well. He's got a bit of a cold and he's teething, so he's a bit irritable these days. He enjoys his room. There's so much space to roll around and play with all his toys. Once we're finished with unpacking, there will be a nice photo shoot to show you all the great things about his room...including a view of the Griffith Observatory.







One thing is certain about our Little Mister, he's ready to walk.