Going to work

Jeremiah loves to copy me (Jon). So today he put one of his toy cars in his back pocket. That would be his billfold. Placed a baggage tag attached to a lanyard around his neck. Then he put the baggage tag inside his shirt. That would be me wearing my airport badge and putting it in my front shirt pocket. Finally he attached my cell phone to his shorts. He always sees me with my cell phone on my belt. Then he walked to the door leading into the garage saying "waauk" (work). He did this several times and smiled every time.

A Time-Out and A Dance

As many of you are probably already aware, Jeremiah is not always obedient. For those of you that this comes as a shock, you shouldn't be. Anyway, the other night Jeremiah was listening to music on the stereo downstairs, dancing and generally having a good time. However he found a way to get into trouble. While he was in "time-out" the music was still going on the radio. I (Jon) thought instead of us just sitting here staring at Jeremiah while we wait for his "time-out" to be over, I will ask Mindy to dance. So we danced to the music while Jeremiah stared at us. Of course when his "time-out" was over he wanted to dance with us too. So all three of us danced together. It was a very nice moment.

Random Jeremiah Moments

Sue often tells Kristin and I that we need to write down things that the boys say and do. We may think now that we'll remember them forever, but it's too easy to forget, even a few weeks or months down the road.

So with that in mind, here are a few random things that Jeremiah has said and done the last few days.

• When he got put in timeout and I told him not to get up from his rocking chair, he waited until my back was turned and then moved the chair to be where he wanted and never got up. Now I have to be a bit more specific with my instructions.
• He woke up early from his nap the other day to the sound of an airplane flying over. He said, "Ai-plane," immediately followed by, "Daddy."
• We've been reading Blueberries for Sal this week, and I told him that this little girl was helping her mommy pick blueberries just like he helped Daddy and I pick raspberries. I pointed out the pictures of her sitting and just eating the blueberries off a bush and her getting a big handful from her mother's bucket. Jeremiah has always eaten one or two raspberries as we've picked them off our bush in the backyard. But that night, Jon said he ate so many more off the bush and kept getting handfuls out of Jon's basket and eating them. I guess he was paying attention to the book!
• That same boy who will eat raspberries off the bush refused to eat them off his plate tonight. Sigh . . .
• When we said goodbye to Jon before he went to work, I said, "Say, 'I love you, Daddy.'" Jeremiah said, "I love you" for the first time in his garbled toddler language.
• Jeremiah jammin' out to "Axel F" and "Chicken Fried" playing on the computer.

Oh what an energetic, bouncing, exploring, getting-into-trouble-one-minute and being-so-sweet-you-can't-stand-it-the-next boy!

Cousin Kaylee visits (aka: Kay Kay)

So the last couple of weeks Brandee has been in Lincoln, at the University, working on part of her Master's Degree. We have been fortunate to have Kaylee and Brandee's niece, Taylor, over to visit during the day. Jeremiah has gotten used to this routine and in the morning now asks for, "Kay Kay." To which we reply that we'll be going to get Kaylee soon. We'll miss seeing them every day but we know they'll be glad to be home.

Things heard around our house these days . . .

From Jeremiah:

• "Kay-kay." Cousin Kaylee, who's here for a visit.
• "Up, up, up," as we pass by garage doors on a walk around the neighborhood.
• "Me!" meaning, "I will open the door for Maggie/go down the stairs/kiss my owie myself!
• "Poopy." Can refer to a dirty diaper or the "fun" game of looking for Maggie's deposits in the backyard.
• "Jay Jay." Means, "I want to watch only the opening theme song of Jay, Jay the Jet Plane, and then I'm done." I think that of the 7,200 views of this YouTube video, over 200 of them are ours.
• "Daddy," as he points to the iron. I really do iron . . . sometimes.
• "Owie" as he points to a bit of a fingernail/toenail that needs trimmed, or as he pats my shoulder and kisses it. What a sweet boy!
• "Oh my!" Also refers to a dirty diaper. Evidently I've said this a few times as I've changed his pants.
• "Me-ma." Means "camera," which must be taken out and used when he puts on our shoes, plays the piano, wrestles with Daddy, etc.
• "Mommy! Daddy!" Heard multiple times throughout the day, but never more frequent as when he's just gone to bed.

From us:

• "Jeremiah, don't climb on that/pull that out/open the fridge/throw that toy . . ." You get the picture.
• "Yay, Jeremiah." Used for eating more than one bite of a particular food or even more recently, when he goes to the bathroom in the toilet like a big boy.
• "It's not time to get up yet, Jeremiah. Just lay in bed and talk to your puppies." Heard almost every morning anywhere from 6:15 to 7.
• "Wow, we're tired." I can't imagine why. Can you?
  

Play Me a Song

Here he is "learning" to play the piano!

Branding Pictures

Here are just a few photos of the branding at my parents' ranch last week--all taken by Jon. He's the one who got up before 4 a.m. and went on the round-up. Me? I slept in until 6 and helped with the dinner. It's a lot less smoky in the kitchen.