Here’s a graph of website traffic from August:

So I did something I’ve gotten in the habit of doing with her — I got on Google image search and searched for “sea anemone” so I could show her some different anemones. I have used this to show her all kinds of random things she’s wanted to see. One time I showed her a picture of a horse, and immediately she said, “Want to see a blue one?” Well, you can google for “blue horse” and click “Images,” and suddenly you’re a 2-year-old’s hero.

She was fascinated and entertained by these for several minutes:

In the midst of looking at those, I decided to teach Kaeta how to use the touchpad on the laptop to move the mouse pointer. She caught on to the concept pretty easily, although she kept forgetting that you can’t click on something by touching the screen. Maybe by the time she’s in junior high touchscreens will be standard. Anyway, it was a good father/daughter nerd moment teaching her some basic computer skills.

Then, to practice her skills, I opened up MS Paint and let her draw. She wasn’t good enough to really do much yet (although she mostly made that E shape on the left herself, with a little help). But she told me what to draw and I did it for her — the bottom right is supposed to be Nathan coming out of a box (Nathan is her cousin; she talks about him all the time).

After:

And I know that if I post 72 galleries at once, no one will look at any of them. So we’re just picking up with last weekend… we might go back and post some other things from the past 5 months, or we might not. Keep checking back every 6 hours to stay on top of it (I like to keep you on your toes, Internet!).

Last weekend we went to the Austin Ice Cream Festival. Here’s the thing: it was ridiculously hot, kind of expensive ($7 parking + $2/adult admission + $3-5/ice cream serving), and the ice cream was all melty. And yet, we had a great time! I think it just doesn’t matter what happens, if you’re at an Ice Cream Festival, you are doing something right in life.

I even bought a soy ice cream dog treat for Marty and Hans (Hans is Marty’s brother; we were dog-sitting that weekend) — they weren’t too sure what to do with it at first, but they figured it out.

We saw The Biscuit Brothers, drank some Sweet Leaf Tea, ate a gigantic sausage wrapped in a tiny tortilla, and Kaeta got to ride a pony (don’t miss the pics from that!)… a good time was had by all.

Here’s the gallery.

…and still lives with his parents. Although we know Jonah loves us and still needs his snuggling, we get the impression he wouldn’t mind striking out on his own every once in a while to explore the world. We call him “Curious Jo”, as he is scooting around EVERYwhere and getting into EVERYthing. If he can get his hands on it, he will. And even when he can’t get his hands on it (or so we think), well, that only slows him down a tiny bit. Consequently, Jonah is learning a new word this month (so far it’s his least favorite): NO.

Scooting is still Jonah’s primary mode of transportation, but he is refining his technique and improving his speed. He can get clear across the house now by the time I turn around. He is rocking on his hands and knees a lot, too, getting ready to start crawling. This month he has shown us how well he can pull up on the furniture, usually only to his knees (not yet to his feet, but he’s close!).

Jonah has been very inventive this month, coming up with new games for us to play. His favorite one is his “two-eyed wink” where we basically take turns blinking real big at each other. It sounds simple, but it’s just about the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. He and Kaeta are starting to play together now, which they usually both enjoy. It’s clear by the look on his face as he watches her run around that he can’t wait to run around with her. Oh, and he still enjoys waving. Sometimes I catch him waving when someone says “hi” or “bye” even if no one waved at him first.

And the biggest news is: Varsity Football try-outs in 2 WEEKS! Jonah has been VERY busy getting ready. With his speed and mobility, we think he’s got a good shot at making quarterback. He’s practicing calling out plays (”Nah! Nah! Nah! Hut!”), dodging tackles (with an older sister and a playful puppy, he’s getting a LOT of practice with this one), and carrying the ball. Now all he has to do is learn how to throw the ball. And probably learn to walk, I guess.

So it’s been a busy month for Jonah, to say the least. Oh yeah, and his tooth count is up to 6, going on 7.

Is the midlife crisis hitting early? No, it’s just the ladies in Karianne’s book club are getting together tonight to show off their wedding photos, and they’re all going to wear their veils, and hey, as long as you’re putting on the veil, why not put on the whole dress and freak your husband out? Totally reasonable.

Here’s Kaeta’s reaction:

[Download Video, 3.2Mb]

So, yes. I should be very worried.

And not even in the way you might think. If the first repair took an hour, but I learned something that made the second repair take only 10 minutes, well, I would feel good about that.

But the first repair took 10 minutes, and the second took an hour. The really frustrating thing is, the repairs were identical. They both were simple: dig up the broken sprinkler head, unscrew it from the pipe, and screw in the new one. But the second one didn’t want to screw in. I tried over and over, with no luck. Of course, I couldn’t see what I was doing too well — the hole I dug to reach the pipe was full of muddy water — so eventually I emptied out all the water, getting the last bits with a turkey baster! Still it wouldn’t screw on.

And there was no trick to it. It didn’t work for an hour, and then, suddenly, it worked. The trick was just to keep trying relentlessly. I think this may be the trick to a lot of home repairs, so maybe that’s the skill I need to be working on most!

She thought about it, then said, “Those ladies are eating picks!”

As in guitar picks.  So then I had to explain to her that the communion wafers are not guitar picks.  What in the world must she think we’re doing, going to church to eat picks every week?!

Jonah has been on the move this month. He still isn’t crawling, but he can get where he wants to go by rolling, scooting, and pivoting. It’s not usually a straight line, but he gets there! And he’s pretty fast, too. Most of the time I’ll set him down in one spot and then when I look up a minute later, he’s already clear across the room.

But his new favorite activity is waving. It makes him so happy to wave at you as you’re coming, going, or just haven’t looked his way in a while. Or if you’re looking right at him. He doesn’t need a reason, he just loves to wave. We think he might be trying to say “hi” sometimes, because he often seems to be imitating the “ha” sound as he waves.

In the last month Jonah has acquired his first TWO teeth, and is working on three, four, and five. He also enjoys spitting and trying to do a beatbox with his lips, especially when a spoonful of carrots is on its way to his mouth. He can spray a thin layer of carrots so that it evenly covers his daddy’s entire face!

And just this week, he’s started sitting up by himself. He’s still perfecting this one, but we’ve both found him sitting up in his crib, which is really great!