2 Brothers Layne

Our evening last night started out with lots of laughs!  I sat down at the registration desk with Jonah slightly behind me in his stroller.  I started going over the admit paperwork with the lady when, from behind me I hear (in a nice strong voice) "And this is my son Jonah Layne!"  I looked back and asked him if I'd forgot to introduce him he told me yes then said, "Nice to meet you lady!"  Both she and I burst out in giggles. Later on shortly after these pictures were taken and Jonah had endured 30+ minutes of the technician applying all sorts of cords and wires, the technician says "You've done so well Jonah"  Jonah says, "I'm amazing!"  The lady giggles and agrees then Jonah suddenly yells (or he tells me he sang), "Somebody give me an AMEN!"  The technician let out an AMEN!  It was sooooo funny!  After this we put Jonah in his crib and the night sort of unraveled.  Jonah kept tossing and turni...

Tonight we get to have a sleepover at the children's hospital.  This is to make sure that Jonah's apnea issues that we believe were caused by his tonsils and adenoids is now fixed with their removal.  If it's like last time Jonah will sleep pretty well and Mommy will spend most of the night making sure he doesn't rip off all the wires. We had a request to post pictures of Jonah's school teachers so I went on Jonah's class's website and downloaded the pictures there.  Ms. Bayer.  She is the lead teacher in the afternoon.  Ms. C (Cinquegrana).  She is the morning lead teacher and she plays a support role in the afternoon.  Often she and Jonah are able to be one on one now that he goes in the afternoon. Ms. Sebree is the aide.  She does a great job with the kiddos.

Jonah did very well in church today.  He's getting more and more relaxed in Primary and participating more each week.  Today he volunteered to say the prayer in class and he was asked to say the opening prayer and scripture next week in Opening Exercises.  I'm excited to see how it goes.  He's bound to love having a "Special Job" for 2 reasons... 1. there is a microphone involved and 2. he gets to be up front with Daddy at his side!

Today we got to help our friend Mr. Mike Presten's birthday.  Jonah made him a pretty green birthday card.  Mr. Mike appreciated so much he hung it on the fridge. The rest of the day was spent cleaning :)

Another amazing moment for Jonah today!  We've worked hard for him to be more independent and today he's made great progress.  Our sweet little guy can climb into his recliner with no help!  He is so proud of himself.  I love that Jonah always seems to rise to the challenge when it comes to his physical limitation.  Today while walking to get the mail we saw 2 neighbor kids riding around on little scooters.  Jonah asked what they were doing and after I explained he insisted that he needs one.  I told him that once he has the balance and courage to walk all by himself really well then he can have a scooter too.  Who knows maybe that will be good incentive.

Jonah's teachers asked us to start sending a multi textured snack to school.  (AKA something smooth mixed with something with texture)  Today I sent some pudding with crushed up Nilla Waffers in it.  I was skeptical as to how it would go but surprisingly he did quite well.  He ate most of it! Not a whole lot else happened today.  Jonah gets a 3 day weekend due to a teacher work day tomorrow!

Before I could get our big camping cooler wheeled out to the shed Jonah claimed it as his truck, just like Papa Dennis drives!  Much time had been spent on and around the cooler and unfortunately one good head dive as well.  Fortunately poor kiddo was more scared than hurt.

Tonight was our Relief Society's Visiting Teaching (VT) Conference and since I'm the VT Coordinator it was my show to run.  I'm grateful for all the help the RS. President was as well as my 2 assistants.  My big concern for the evening was that Jonah (whom I know would NEVER stay in the nursery) would be screaming or crying all night to be held and that I wouldn't be able to do what I needed to.  I'm so glad that "Sister Loni" was in attendance tonight.  She is kind of Jonah's surrogate grandma in the ward and the two of them were pals most of the night.  Jonah wasn't perfect but he was as good as anyone could expect a 3 year old to be! Also tonight we got some bad news about the house we are still trying to sell in Ogden.  We had an interested buyer who ordered an inspection.  The inspector found damage that, what he estimates would cost $15,000 to fix.  This makes our poor little house that much harder to sell.  It's going to take a miracl...

I knew something was up when Jonah's evening bus driver told me that he had had a VERY BIG day and his teachers told him to be sure to tell Mommy all about it!  We hurried inside and I pulled out his communication book.  I found a page and a half written about Jonah's day.  There were 2 things that really tugged at my heart strings. First Jonah's teacher Ms. C said that as the two of them were taking a walk down to the nurse's station Jonah stopped and said, "Ms. C your hair is so beautiful!"  She says that it totally made her day! Second, as they were walking back to class the principal stopped to talk with Jonah.  In the course of their conversation Jonah asked her what her address was.  She told Jonah her address and then she asked Jonah what his address was (I doubt she really expected this little 3 year old to know it).  He quickly rattled it off and Ms. C confirmed that that was truly his address.  The principal was so surprised and impres...

Today was another good day at church.  Jonah did pretty well with being reverent.  The two older ladies got a kick out of him rubbing Daddy's face and saying SMOOTH!  Then there was the incident of Jonah's friend Jonathan was sitting 3 rows behind us and they both caught sight of each other.  This triggered some friendly conversation between the two of them.  The kicker was when Jonah stands up and sees Sister Blackburn (a lady that came and taught me how to make fudge a while back whom Jonah LOVES) and he says, "Sister Blackburn!  It's my Grandma!  She's my Grandma.  Wait! She's not my Grandma."  Never a dull moment with this kiddo around!

We started the day off with Jeneah's baptism this morning.  It was fabulous and Jonah was quiet for the most part.  Of course he tried to clap for the missionary who performed a primary song on the guitar, loudly exclaimed Jeneah's name 4-5 time out of sheer excitement, and needed to go potty 4 times... but hey he's 3.  Jonah was sure to tell everyone that he was getting baptized WITH Jeneah and that he was so excited. This evening, after dinner, we drove to Norfolk to the home of the Preston Family.  We enjoyed their wonderful company and some yummy cake that was left over from the baptism.  So grateful for good friends!

Jonah came home with a cute note from his teacher today.  Ms. Bayer said that they had been looking at pictures during speech time and they came across a picture of a little girl who was crying.  The teacher asked if the kids knew how the little girl was feeling and Jonah chimed in with, "She is sad so she is waiting for her Mommy to come give her LOVIES!"  CUTE! Tomorrow we get to attend a friend's baptism.  She turned 8 a while ago but her dad isn't Mormon and wasn't sure he wanted Jeneah getting baptized so young.  We're all very grateful that he has changed his mind.  Jonah LOVES Jeneah and he is so excited to go tomorrow.  He keeps trying to convince me that he needs to get baptized with her though.  I'll have to keep a tight grip on him so he doesn't end up in there with her!

I find myself holding my breath for the weekends lately.  I guess I'm just missing my hubby and the three day weekends he had before the holidays.  There are whispers that they might be returning!  As for Jonah and I not much happened today.  Jonah is still doing well with school and has started talking about his new classmates more.  I know the names of all of his peers.  His teachers are super on top of things and seem to be pushing Jonah to reach his potential.

The highlight of the day at our house was a quick trip to Shop-O-Rama (Walmart).  Jonah was so excited to get to see the eggs pans!  As we were standing in line to check out I had a new experience.  Jonah starts into I need some black licorice.  When I told him that what he saw was jerky he changed his tune to, "I need some jerky."  Crazy kid has never seen, or tasted jerky.  Guess he's just a normal kid after all!

  Jonah got out his trusty "Minivan" again today.  He was feeling the need to give Baby Ally a ride.  Once they were both buckled in he was off! So here is a short clip of Jonah's time spent aboard his minivan! Jonah developed a fascination with his keys and at one point he leaned over too far over to pick them up and fell flat on his side.  He, at the time, was traumatized but after watching this clip of the fall all he can do is laugh! Jonah had a fun new experience at school today.  The PT came to his class and they all put shaving cream on their bare feet and went "Skating"!  He was so excited!

Today I tried to teach Jonah how to bear crawl.  He does ok.  He tries to walk but he doesn't quite get it yet.  But he is doing better with it.  We invited Mr. Caddell and Darian over for dinner tonight, Jonah had a great time playing with Darian.  He is learning to share.  Tomorrow Jonah goes back to school, and on to another great week.

Jonah has such a cute primary teacher.  The lesson today was about Daniel in the Lion's Den.  She had the kiddos build a den out of blocks then had one kiddo dress up as a lion and Jonah went first at being Daniel.  She told them the story then they got to act it out.  The kids loved it and they all could tell the story by the time they were all done.

Jonah has had a FANTASTIC day!  This afternoon we met Ms. Angela at the Aquarium.  As I shut the car door after Jonah had been buckled in and walked around the car to get in, Jonah started to scream at the top of his lungs.  As I sat in the passenger side seat I turned around to quiet him and he suddenly stops and yells I'm SOOOOO EXCITED!  We arrived at the aquarium and had a fantastic time showing Ms. Angela around.  As we got in the car to come home I told Jonah that Angela was going to follow us home then we were going to Ti Ti Carla's house for dinner and a few rounds of Fruit Ninja on the kinects.  As we pulled into the driveway Jonah yells, "It's a Party Party Day!!!" I made homemade onion rings and french fries and Carla made the BEST hamburgers I've ever tasted!!!  Jonah got his wish of playing fruit ninja and a good time was had by all!

Today was a pretty good day for us.  I was able to be home for the evening.  We had a some very enjoyable quality time.  We had some home made onion rings for dinner.  At school Jonah went on his daily walk today with his teacher.  They played I spy with colored flags.  Then Jonah would walk to the flag.  He seemed to really enjoy it.

Jonah went to school today!  He did great and he tells me that he fed himself with no help!  He is doing great navigating the school in just his crocodile walker (we stopped sending his stroller last week).  His AM teacher Ms. C is taking him out around the school during the second free play time to work on steering, stopping, and navigation from point a to b.  Here's a conversation that took place at our house tonight... and yes it's word for word Jonah (to Mommy): "How are you this evening?" Mommy: "I'm feeling just fine, and how are you Sir?" Jonah: "Mmmmm (thinking) Fairly well." What a character!  I had to remind myself that Jonah is 3 not 13!

My poor little guy is still coughing up a storm.  No other symptoms and his lungs sound clear.  Guess we'll just keep on top of the extra inhalers and wait it out!  I got feeling a little overwhelmed and down today and a big dose of Jonah was just what I needed.  We have laughed and laughed tonight about the silliest things.  Oh how I love to hear Jonah sweet little laugh!  Jonah also had a breakthrough moment!  He figured out how to make his sit and spin go!  I'm so proud of him!

We got Jonah all geared up for school today then decided we'd better keep him home for the day.  He has developed a nasty cough and had diarrhea in the morning.  No fever though, which I appreciate.  Wish I could figure out whats going on with this kiddo.  We'll see tomorrow if he seems well enough for school. On a more random note, Jonah has a new favorite saying...  "My grandparents are SO CUTE!"  No idea where this came from but he sure says it a lot lately! 

So yesterday Jonah ran a fever until around 9am at which point it broke never to return.  Odd!  So Jonah went to school today and had a breakthrough.  His teacher tells me that at snack time Jonah insisted that he feed himself his applesauce.  They allowed him to do so and he successfully ate all that I'd sent all by himself!  AMAZING!  Then to top it off, this afternoon Jonah asked for applesauce for a snack and again fed himself.  Granted it wasn't as much as I sent for snack but he was interested all the same!

So this morning Jonah woke up with a fever of 102.  We started the emergency procedures but he never showed any further signs of being ill.  Also, Tanya was ill also today.  Jonah and I sent her to bed and she had a long 4 hour nap.  Which seemed to help.  While asleep Jonah and I made mommy some get well cards. 

Today had a bit of a slow start at our house but once everyone was up and going we had a GREAT time.  The weather today was in the 60's so we made the most of it and enjoyed some time at the park.  Jonah loves to swing and today he was especially brave and let Daddy push him higher than ever before.  We spent some quality family time in Jonah's fort (secrete hideout).  It was a tight squeeze so Mom and Dad stuck their heads in on each side of the blanket and Jonah had the whole of the floor space to play.  Molly was in heaven having everyone on her level and she quickly took to pouncing on each of us and trying to get us to follow her.

So as you can tell from last night's blog Mommy was a little out of it and Daddy stepped in BIG time.  I spent the day down for the count fight with a nasty UTI.  I literally did nothing all day but lay on the couch.  When Daddy got home at 1am his thought, as he walked through the door, wasn't "My wife is worthless" but "Wow, Mommy is really feeling bad, I can help!"  I woke this morning to the dishes all rinsed, and the house all clean!  You can't ask for better than that!  I'm so very blessed As for Jonah, he is doing great with afternoon preschool.  He gets a lot of 1 on 1 attention from Ms. C and he is surrounded by kiddos who speak and interact.  We're so glad the transition has gone so smoothly.  The two of us have had some fun tonight with a card table and a couple blankets... AKA a secrete fort!

It has been a rough day for us today.  Tanya is not feeling very well.  Jonah was sleeping when I got home and seemed to be doing well.

Jonah had another great day at school.  He is even going potty for them!  I posed a question to Jonah's new teacher Ms. Bayer.  I asked if she would support us in not sending Jonah in his big stroller for a while.  This will force him to use his crocodile walker, which, he is getting more and more proficient with.  He knows his right from his left and is able to steer in the direction he is told!  Ms. Bayer said that she talked it over with Ms. C and they think it's a great idea.  Ms. C will even be one on one with Jonah when they walk places as a class.

Jonah's first day of afternoon preschool went GREAT!  I dropped him off after his Dr. appointment.  His teacher reported that he made the adjustment well with no tears or anxiety.  He spend the day with a 15 minute nap that he snuck in on the drive between the hospital and school.  He was very ready for bedtime and I was very ready to take him there.  He was a little on the cranky side by 7:00. The Dr. visit went well, they cleared him from his tonsils but they did order a follow-up sleep study.  They want to confirm that the apnea issues are resolved.

This evening we kind of invited ourselves over to Titi Carla's house.  We wanted to try out their kinect.  It was way too much fun!!!  The favorite game was Fruit Ninja.  It is a game where you use your hands to chop fruit as it comes across the screen.  Jonah was able to play this with a little help from us.  I think he loved it.  He kept saying, "I'm a ninja."  We also played some of the other games.  Tanya is convinced IF we ever get a gaming system it will have to be a Xbox 360 so we can play the kinect.  Jonah on the other hand is doing great.  We had a visitor from our past drop by today.  Pat.  She was Jonah's case manager when he was in the UP TO THREE PROGRAM.  She brought him a guitar/piano for his birthday, late but it was great to see her.  The guitar/piano has been played with non stop today.  Either by Jonah or by me.  It is a lot of fun.  Jonah even learned a new statement today,...

With the New Year came a fun new adventure... Primary.  Jonah finally got to be with his peers rather than having to stay with Mommy and Daddy for the entire 3 hours.  He did amazingly well.  Mommy stayed with him to see how things were going to go.  Jonah really enjoyed singing time and even sang a little.  His class was excused just before sharing time to go to class.  In class they started with a prayer that Jonah offered independently.  Jonah's teacher Sister Meghan Stubbs did a really nice lesson that the kiddos did a great job of listening to and participating in, then it was potty break, hand washing, and snack.  They all enjoyed some fruit loops and Jonah was not to be left out.  Mommy gave him 2 fruit loops which he promptly and safely consumed.  Then it was coloring time.  Jonah colored a crown that says "I am a Child of God" on it.  Once the coloring was done it was play time.  Jonah did great playing blocks wit...