Grayhound Bus Runs Again

Jonas got a "big-boy" car seat a couple of months ago, but Dad has been waiting to use it until the Grayhound bus is running again. Well good news, the bus is running. (The bus has had almost everything replaced, but that does not mean it will work "as new".) Jonas was introduced to the bus in style. He sat in the front seat as the official navigator. The ride got off to a slow start as we sat in the driveway for 17 minutes while Dad tried to get the bus started. Well after a little trial and error success hit and we were off to Max's house to give him some birthday cheer. The ride was a little trepidatious as Jonas decided to navigate in such a way that we hit every red-light and Dad had to gently regulate the gas to the engine to prevent the Bus from stalling at each stoplight in the middle of rush hour.

Jonas has that all too familiar navigator grin of a trip well planned and executed. You can see that he was able to arrive and greet his hosts with an open door to the bus's inner dwelling. Brett and baby Max were excited to hear the bus purr at this point as the bus was nice and warmed up and wanted to keep running for a while so Jonas decided to leave the bus's engine on in the driveway so that Max could have a listen. Jonas planned the bus-ride as a surprise for his Mom. He had to pick up his Mom at Max's house because Max's mom attends grad school with Sara who carpools with Max's mom. Little did mom expect Jonas would be navigating the Grayhound Bus.

Here is a couple of seconds of inside footage from the ride on the way out of the 'burbs' from Max's house.

Safari Max

Max just celebrated his first birthday and Jonas payed him a visit to give him congrats on making it through the first year. Jonas gifted Max several balls that he selected at the toy store. It was funny how it worked out, because we ended up buying duplicates of everything so Jonas could enjoy the balls as well as the birthday boy Max. Max was nice enough to offer Jonas a ride in his new Safari wagon. It seats two comfortable while offering plenty of wonderful rider amenities. There is also safari-side door service for the riders. Jonas and Max did not spot any unusual wildlife on this voyage, just the normal onlookers.

Snuggle, Roar, and Dada

Jonas got a chance to snuggle and practice kissing girls when his kindergarten friend Adison came over for a morning visit. The two of them were very sweet to one another and got a chance to play some games with each other and the pets.

Besides for being a good snuggler, Jonas is also a mighty beast. This is clearly demonstrated in the video with prompting and training from his Lioness. You might also catch a bit of his fascination with his 'Dada' at the end of the lion training. The Lioness knew it was time to develop the cub's vocal prowess because it was his 8-month birthday today.

Acting requires different headgear

Jonas demonstrated his acting ability at an early age. His first assignment was to recreate John Travolta's performance in 'Bubble Boy' about a youngster in a bubble because of Severe Combined Immune Deficiency Disease. He did very well in this role and manged to transport well through the strong gusty winds on the way to get some coffee with his parents. Jonas also was very careful to keep his view clear by constantly licking the inside of his bubble to keep it nice and shiny.

Later on Jonas was required to switch to a role that fit very well to his Scandinavian heritage. He was able to play Thor and clearly demonstrate his mastery of thunder, rain, and life on the farm. This picture was taken right after Jonas struck down several kids with Thor's Mighty Hammer because the children were not eating all of their vegetables.

Jonas Aerobics

It was a rainy day outside so all exercise had to occur indoors. Jonas was ready to workout dressed in his red workout suit and his athletic shoes. Jonas was actually a bit restrained for this workout session that was recorded. Usually he is wiggling and giggling until he is out of breath. A good recommendation to get your heartbeat going and burn some calories is 10 reps of 20 baby swing and tosses per day.

Memorial Union

Finally some nice weather. What's better than ice cream and family at the Wisconsin Memorial Union after a hard day's work? As usual, most passersby were more interested in the hounds than Jonas. He's okay with that since the paparazzi were starting to get to him anyway.

Biking Boy

Jonas has a lot of choices for transport. Luckily for him he does not provide the bulk of the energy needed to make the transport happen. Add one more vehicle to Jonas's collection, the bike. Jonas likes to sing into the wind as he serves as the windbreaker for Dad. It's a great way to ride and the conversations we have are quite hilarious. Jonas managed to fall asleep at the end of a longer bike ride today. When he sleeps he is sorta of a bobble-head doll, only he bobbles from his waist up. So I guess he was more like an bobble-thoracic cavity doll.

Playground

On the walk home Jonas stopped at the playground to get some swinging and sliding in. Jonas has been swinging quite a few times, but this was his first slide of his life. He was a little surprised the first time down, but now enjoys the slide more every trip he takes. It was a very safe trip down the slide thanks to all the safety advice from Grandma. She talked us through the mechanics of safe-sliding for quite a while before we were deemed safe to slide down. Without Grandma's advice we might have gone right over the edge!

Eating Coasters

Greenbay Gpas were in town this last weekend. It turns out that they were fresh out of a rodeo show so they brought Jonas a cowboy cap to celebrate the bronco riding. Jonas seems to be turning the hat strap into some sort of slingshot. Boys will be boys.

Grandpa's mustache was a big draw for Jonas. He visually inspected it for quite awhile before he started to investigate the interesting texture with his hands.



At brunch at the Great Dane Jonas went through 11 coasters. It was the only thing he desired. The lifespan of a paper coaster when used as a toy is very short, especially when you put them in your mouth.

Let's Get A Look at those toothies

Jonas was listening intently to the directions to open his mouth and show off his little toothies. He was able to open his mouth and make a bunch of sounds, but just couldn't hold it open by himself long enough to get a good picture.



So, we did some manual adjustment to Jonas's face so his toothies became visible to the eye and not just to the skin after a nibble.

Here is a nice closeup of his toothies. It's been rather difficult to get a clean picture of Jonas's bottom toothies. Until now. Jonas has frequently interrupted any tooth-shot with a slip of the tongue, a curl of the lips, or some spastic unexpected movement. So, we finally got nice picture of his teeth. Jonas's right tooth has been out in the open now for forty days, while the left tooth is a bit younger. The left tooth has been out for only 38 days, but you would never guess that from the picture because it seems to be more massive.

Coming soon....a top-tier toothie, the tip of an iceberg appeared today above his left bottom tooth.