Scenes of early summer (through the eyes of my blackberry)

Boundaries

Why is it that, for a two year old, the one place you don't want them to go is the one place they want to be more then anything else in the world?

Here is a recurring example in our house: We have sitting in our living room, posing convincingly as a coffee table, Aiden's toy chest. Aiden has been told in every way that it is possible to tell a toddler that:

"No, in fact, that toy chest is not for sitting on/ laying in/ climbing into, it is simply a place in which toys are to be stored..."

Of course, it is no sooner that those words leave our mouths and reach certain tiny ears that the toy chest becomes the only place to sit in/ lay on, etc. It is the ultimate place of rest, better then the softest lazy-boy (and certainly better then the large, empty couch sitting mere feet away.)

Is it practical? No. Comfortable? I can't imagine that it is. Ergonomically sound? Certainly not. And yet there we continue to find him, reclining amongst the Hot Wheels and building blocks, pretending for all the world like the toy chest is very own sleep number bed.

I know that this "problem" is not so much of a real problem as a way of life. And I also know that parents with older kids are chuckling quietly to themselves thinking, "they 'aint seen nothing yet."

True, true I am sure, oh wise parents. Sitting on toy chests is small potatoes when compared to cars, curfews and other perils of teenage parentdom. And yet we will continue on, I suppose, making boundaries and having them tested.. and sometimes even broken.

1st official haircut

Aiden has had a few little trims from his Mimi, but a few weeks ago I (Jen) decided that he needed to get an actual haircut. I thought about taking him to one of those children's haircut places just for the experience, but I knew that even sitting in an airplane would not make Aiden forget the fact that someone he doesn't know is touching his head. It's funny because Aiden is not a shy kid anymore (much to our surprise) but when it comes to the doctor, or in this case a hairdresser, he knows something is up, and he doesn't like it. I had a hair appointment scheduled for myself and I asked Julia, who has been doing my hair since college, if she would trim up Aiden's hair. I warned her that it may not be an easy task. My mom met us at the hair place so that she could take Aiden after he was done and I could finish my appointment. Luckily she had her camera (I know, I'm a bad mom forgetting mine) so she snapped a few pictures documenting the occasion.

Aiden refused to sit in the chair alone and wear the cape even though we tried to convince him it was like superman.

He agreed to sit in my lap, and a small bag of chips helped sweeten the deal of trying to sit still and not pull away.

LOVE the look he is giving me in this next one...

Lookin' good!!

Thanks mom/Mimi for getting these pictures and to Julia who was such a trooper with my difficult little boy!

Pictures Galore!

We certainly do not shy away from taking pictures here at the Jones Abode. Just like any new parents, we tend to get a little camera happy whenever Aiden is doing, well, pretty much anything. But despite our sizeable archive of pictures of Aiden playing with stones and/or sticks, we have never had the opportunity to take any kind of professional shots of him during these first few years.

Well, last week we did finally have that opportunity. Christy Willard is a friend of ours from church, and addition to being a mother of two, and a fellow blogger, she also really knows her way around a camera. Jen won a photo session with Christy via her blog A Heartening Life, so this past friday we put on our finest duds and drove over to a nearby farm park to take us some pictures.

The pictures that I uploaded here are just the tip of the iceberg, but they are certainly some of our favorites. Enjoy!

Mother's Day

Nothing quite like a quality Mother's Day snuggle.

Happy Mother's day to Mothers everywhere.

Hello summer. Welcome back. We missed you.

Ok, ok, ok... I know that the calender says that we are still firmly in spring territory, but with temperatures flirting with ninety degrees this past weekend we at the Jones Abode have been fully embracing the mid-summer vibe.

Let me set the scene for you: the lawn is lush and green, the patio furniture is set up for lounging, and the grill has had it's first official firing of the year- if it's not techincally summer it just might as well be.

On Saturday we were even inspired to break out the lawn sprinkler for a mid-summer experience that was a first for Aiden. It took just a little convincing from Mom, Dad and Grandpa, but it wasn't long before Aiden was fully on board with the joys of sprinkler-playing.

As with so many great summer activites this one ended with Aiden dripping wet and very happy. Thus the change of clothes before he chipped in to help Dad mow the lawn.