Category: Jonathan

Though Jonathan read his first word at age 3, three years later he’s never shown much interest in reading novels. Until yesterday. After church, Abigail gave him Stuart Little (which she had just finished reading yet again), and for some reason Jonathan decided to read it.

Last night, as I was tucking the boys into bed, he asked if he could finish the chapter he was reading. Intrigued, I looked over his shoulder to see how far he’d read, and was startled to see he was just finishing up chapter 8. As a side note, he’d read through another 5 chapters before I left for work this morning… he’s really enjoying that book! But here’s the “Jonathan” moment we had last night. The dialog went something like this.

Dad: Wow, Jonathan, you’ve read a lot. You’re all the way to chapter 9.

Jonathan: How do you know that’s chapter 9?

Dad: See the IX in front of the chapter title? That’s Roman numeral 9.

Jonathan: What’s a Roman numeral?

Dad: Remember the Romans? They had a different way to write the numbers than we do.

Jonathan: <pause> Like the Star Wars episodes? They use Roman numerals.

Last evening, as he often does before our supper together as a family, Jay put on some classical music for us to enjoy. He mentioned to me that he’d chosen some Brahms in hopes that it might help everyone feel a little calmer and more peaceful. (Josiah had been yelling for some time prior to sitting down to supper.) Jonathan, upon hearing the name “Brahms” remarked with interest, “Oh, I know Brahms!”

As if on cue, Jay and I turned to him together, eagerly asking him what he could tell us about Johannes Brahms. Our parental ears were ready and waiting to listen to our eldest son’s knowledge about this Romantic composer. After all, Jonathan admittedly floors us almost daily with the wealth of information stored in his clever brain, much of that information drawn from lessons and experiences at his beloved school. Our parental hearts were swelling with joy and yes, admittedly some small amount of pride in this little six-year-old of ours who is rather like a walking encyclopedia and often knows much more about the great composers and famous works of art than do his thirty-something parents.

Unbeknownst to each other, Jay and I were both thinking to ourselves, “Ah, that amazing and wonderful school, where his little mind is cultivated, his spirit is nurtured, and his enthusiasm is fed with not just the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but the wonders of history, the magnificence of great literature, the beautiful artwork of painters and sculptors throughout history, the glorious music of renowned composers, and on and on and on…what interesting facts about Johannes Brahms are we about to learn that we never knew?”

After such a mental build-up you may well imagine our collective shock when Jonathan glibly answered, “You know, Braums…..well…..we went there, and they have great ice cream!”

Well now, indeed they do.

Remember Jonathan’s misadventures? A milestone was reached yesterday when the last of the four damaged teeth came out of its own volition and in its own time. He still has a fake tooth serving to reserve a space for the future adult tooth, but it looks like we are closer than ever to the end of this sad dental saga.

All that remains, these many months later, is to sort out the insurance settlement…

I’ve had several inquiries on young Jonathan, and his dental adventures. Last Tuesday, he lost a tooth. Not the old-fashioned way, mind you. This was in the office of Dr. Bob. Who, my dear friends, is such an amazing pediatric dentist, that my sweet, sensitive creature of a child HAD NO CLUE the guy had actually pulled his tooth out. Yes. That is absolutely true. Not a clue.

It is also absolutely true that I LOVE Dr. Bob for sparing my dear boy trauma in what could have been a really hard situation. And I almost hugged our dentist on the spot. But that might have been weird. So I settled for thanking him profusely, and I also promised to bring my son back in two weeks for a follow-up (the tooth next to the one that was pulled is also out of kilter, and is now wiggling), and to be fitted for a new, false tooth. Which, it turns out, is going to cost a pretty penny. But the x-rays indicate the adult tooth could be awhile in coming down to fill the space, and evidently that can cause other dental issues. So, we are thrilled that Jonathan will not have to sport a huge gap in the front of his mouth for too long, and we are thankful and appreciative for medical technology.

This entry deserves a picture, but since we do not have one yet, it’ll have to wait. Thanks for your patience.

This from our 4 year old earlier today as I was getting his breakfast,

“Mommy, on Monday, is spring going to break?”

Jonathan has an uncanny sense of time and an amazing concept of days and dates for his age. He had been told sometime last week that this coming week is spring break. While I’d tried to include the fact that school would not be in session for the week, etc, he evidently had other concerns about this week. Such as the idea that the season, spring, which he knows comes in March, would start breaking on Monday.

I love the privilege I have as a Mommy to see the world in entirely new ways, courtesy of the thoughts of my children.

Ok, so it’s not a school morning and we are being delightfully lazy around here. In fact we are still in our jammies! But young Jonathan, having loafed around long enough, has decided there is work to be done. He is currently outside in his Spider Man jammies, armed with his little blue-handled child’s scissors, and is cutting the lawn! He informed me that since the grass is getting a bit tall, he would cut it with his scissors! Helpful little boy!

Last night as Jonathan was undressing and putting away his dirty clothing, he forgot to add his underwear to the hamper.

“Jonathan”, I asked him, “Is there anything else you could put into the laundry?”

Looking around and seeing the underwear, he answered quickly, “My panties!”

Mortified, Jay interjected, “No..you don’t wear panties…what are those called?”

After pondering for a moment what the proper answer should be, Jonathan exclaimed proudly, “THOMAS panties!”

For those of you who may not already know, we celebrated both of Jonathan’s previous two birthdays with a Thomas the Tank Engine party. This year was no different; he again chose Thomas for his theme. But for the first time, on this his 3rd birthday, he enjoyed a party all to himself. Previously we threw a combination party for both he and Abigail who have their special days exactly one week apart, immediately following Christmas. This year’s bash was a great success and attended by all of our in town family members plus our family friends the Clemmons who helped to add to the kid ratio at the party.

I think everyone had a great time. We know Jonathan certainly appreciated everyone coming to help wish him a happy birthday. If you have a moment, take a peek at our photos from the celebration. Thanks to everyone who came for making Jonathan’s 3rd birthday so special!!

Here is a picture taken early this morning of our Jonathan, dressed and ready for his adventure at preschool. Despite having missed the official first day of school last week due to a tummy ailment, he jumped right into his activities today with no apparent distress about being away from Mommy for the morning. And, from what we can tell, he had a marvelous time. His teacher, a very sweet, nurturing lady known to the two year old scholars as “Miss Mary” praised him for his cooperative behavior and his enthusiasm at participating in the classroom activities on this his first day. Between you and me, his parents are hoping that such continues to be the case!! We are very excited for him and hope this is the start of a wonderful school experience.