Jon's Scanner Headboard

This is Jon's headboard, staff did a great job!! Can you guess what the scanning code is?

Organizing Jon's Closet

Organized Jon's closet tonight and packed up clothes and stuff he didn't need!

Now this looks neat!  And look at all those empty shelves..wonder what they will get filled with?? The orange bag is full of stuff I cleared out of his closet. Every once in awhile Jon came to see what I was doing..hope I didn't take any of his favorite things!

Curious Jon

 Jon is very curious, he couldn't resist trying to see what could be behind the wall in the storage room. Onto the chair and then the bin..a little support, a little stretch and he managed to peer over the edge.

"Oops..Mom found me! And how did Dad get here so fast with the camera?"

Jon's New Kitchen Cupboards..

Jon has new cupboards in his kitchen! Oh how he loved watching the old cupboards being ripped out, he was right there in everyone's space making sure not to miss a thing!
More changes happening in his house..he will be so pumped!!

We couldn't figure out what Jon was doing on the roof of the truck..we watched him for a bit before calling him down. It appears he wanted to get at the light bulb..he loves to turn out bulbs whenever he is able to..he is very quick at it too. He is the first one to notice when a bulb is missing.
Other than that we had a pretty normal type of evening. Oh there was one other thing..cake throwing..he was very quick with that too. One quick handful and there was cake spread out on the floor!

Jon Loves Trucks!

Even as a little boy Jon loved riding in the truck box, I think he liked the feel of the wind whipping by on his face. And of course a truck box usually carries interesting things. When someone arrives on his yard Jon quickly makes his way over to check out the truck box. And if he finds anything to his liking he will most likely try to claim it as his own.
Here he is checking out Dad's truck and found a tarp strap. I think he is trying to negotiate with Dad.
Note: It took till photo #7 before he would look at me:) Dad is out of the picture so I think a deal was struck..Jon wins again:)

Mennonite Boy

I thought Jon's kitchen should have an apron and who better to model it than Jon himself! He was quite willing to pose for this photo. This is most likely the only time he will ever wear it:) Maybe staff will be happy to wear it while cooking Jon's meals.

Jon did allow a few more photo shoots so may as well share them too.

Our local museum is selling 'Mennonite Girls Can Cook' cookbooks and  they are now sewing and selling aprons as well.

The Fair

Jon loves going to Fairs and it's mainly for the rides. He likes the crazy rides best and I don't think he has ever indicated that any ride scared him. It's a matter of which rides the staff will be brave enough to try:)
He also likes to try his hand at some of the games for a chance to win something. And if he doesn't win he will try to sneak a prize to walk away with!
He's off to the Red River Ex this week..he will be smiling!

Siblings??

Can you tell these two covering their ears are siblings? Methinks one of them is being a little silly:)

Balloons

One might ask, what is it about balloons? Why are they so appealing to Jon? Why, after 36 years, are they still timeless to him?

And I think, I know the answer. 

Balloons are romantic. They are mysterious. They infer adventure, childlike enthusiasm, and wanderlust.

From the Beatles, to kids and clowns...

They are the great love of Jon's mind..

His love affair with balloons began long ago, way back when...

"Nobody can be uncheered by a balloon." - Winnie the Poo

The Farm

We have taken Jon to the farm a few times. The first time he was interested only in the barn fan. Next time he did look around at the animals. We will continue to take him until he is familiar with the surroundings and be able to enjoy his visits.

This farm has horses, cows, sheep, lambs and a cat. The lambs were born this month, in fact the little white one was born just a few moments before we arrived. The cutest little thing..Kaila named him Peter.

Eating Outdoors

Jon loves to eat outdoors! He doesn't mind even when it's windy or cool, in fact he is usually eating outside even before the snow has melted! He is a bit of a messy eater so we don't mind when he heads out!

Oh yes and then there is always the shirt protector..sometimes I think there is almost as much food on there as what has gone into his mouth.

Things that amuse Jon..

 Jon heads to the washer..I think the swishing sound alerted his attention.

 He loves to watch the clothes washing. He knows to shade his eyes because of the reflection.

Walks away satisfied that the washer is doing its job.

New Marble Maze

Jon received a generous gift of money this Christmas from friends of ours. They said he could spend it on whatever he would like. Jon's first choice was to update his supply of marble mazes. His old ones were fixed again and again and it truly was a labour of love as his Dad repaired those splintered marble mazes.  After numerous throws they just can't be fixed anymore, if only Jon could understand this. So Jon 'went shopping' and ordered two new marble mazes. A kind gentleman agreed to build them when John approached him with a broken marble maze in hand. In fact he built a few extra and we purchased them all. Jon has only 1 for now, the rest are hidden away until needed. You should have seen the joy on his face when he saw his new marble maze..his hands fluttered wildly, he looked at me with a wide grin and made grunting sounds of joy! The rest of the evening was spent rolling those marbles over and over again. He was so fun to watch!

Jon's Rocking Chair

Jon's rocking chair is very important to him. This is where he likes to sit and listen to his music or watch his movies. Rocking is soothing to his soul and a place of refuge for him. And because he rocks a lot those chairs really do wear out. His Dad has fixed them so many times replacing springs over and over again.

Can you see Jon's intent look, he loves to watch when the tools come out. And see the little plastic hammer with the red handle? Wonder what he was thinking he could do with that?? Oh and that plastic bin on his lap..one of his favorite things to carry around. Likes putting items into it and is happy when he can swipe a wet dishcloth. Then smiling will hurry off to his room.

Jon's Christmas

 Jon's staff made up Christmas cards for Jon to give away this year.

Christmas Eve Jon joined us just in time to open gifts. He looked all around the room and never once covered his eyes. He looked at everyone and stared a bit longer at the one person he had never met before. Then sat down to open his gifts. We try to think of 'Jon type gifts' which are unique to him only:) A cardboard roll from wrapping paper with a few punched holes in it, a plastic bottle filled with shiny streamers and a book that has buttons to press for different tunes. And gloves and clothes..which he will enjoy later when he wears them but for now the other things meant more to him. Some of the gifts weren't what you would call age appropriate but who cares, they make him happy and that is what counts.

After he opened gifts he wanted to eat and when he discovered the perogies and cream gravy he gave me a big smile..that is all he wanted!!

Once everyone left he got changed into pj's and I tucked him into bed and prayed with him. Throughout the prayer he leaned his forehead against mine..aww:) He was too excited and didn't sleep well, he came to our bed every hour, poking me till I came to tuck him in again. In spite of not sleeping well he was up early and had a great day. We took him home late afternoon, I think he wasn't quite ready as he had hidden his backpack in the farthest corner of our bedroom closet:)
And that was our 2011 Christmas with Jon!

This Wednesday Jonathan was convinced, well convinced makes it sound like he didn't want to go and that's not right, he loved the idea of going to visit my work place. This wasn’t his first visit to the place I work, except this is the first time I was there to tour it together with him. 

He arrived around 4pm and I was excited to see him. I went to greet him and introduced him to my employer Robert Jowett. We then proceeded on our tour of Country Meat & Sausage , the processing plant I work at. Jonathan showed no hurry in rushing to his favorite room from his previous visits. He took his time and enjoyed peeking into every room that was presented. The sausage kitchen was first, we noticed hams and sausages hanging on a rack waiting to be put into the smoke house. We then moved onto the cut floor where Jonathan noticed the man cleaning the equipment. Now this was very unJonathan like in my opinion, he rushed over to greet this man by staring into his face, placing his face just inches away. I think it may have surprised the cleaner, but he just smiled right back at Jonathan. I loved his response and explained this was my brother and he was getting a tour of the building.

We then went to the cooler to see the sides of hogs ready to be processed for selling retail or wholesale.

Next is the room were the pigs are gutted, halved and cleaned. This room was also in the process of being cleaned. The floor was littered with pig pieces and the person cleaning was greeted in the same way as the last. Except this time I was a little worried about the safety of Jonathan’s rushing over to greet the man cleaning, as the floor was unsafe to move through so quickly with improper shoe wear. He was a little shocked and surprised by Jonathan’s quick and personal greeting, I noticed he was unsure how to respond and I explained this was my brother and he was just saying hi. It was comical after I realized Jonathan had not slipped and fallen, but arrived at his destination in safety.

Moving along to the next room.... this is Jonathan’s favorite room in the entire building and I thought twice about posting a picture of Jonathan’s view into the container he loves to peer into, but Mom figured it was OK. So here is pre warning … it’s gross, disgusting, stinky(although you need to use your imagination for that online), and, by the way, Jonathan loves those words.

 Don't continue to scroll down if you do not want to view this , but you will miss the rest of the story... so it's your decision.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*



This is a picture of the offal's. The waste part of the pigs after slaughter. Jonathan's view point into the container.






 When the fan in this room was turned on, Jonathan's joy increased. He loves to hear the sound of a fan starting up. I would have to say the highlight of the tour would be this room. It's smells and sounds ignited Jonathan's senses.




Then it was off to the barn to see the live pigs.

  






Jonathan’s actions, expressions, and desire to stay longer in each room showed that the tour was greatly appreciated.
 I am thrilled he came to visit me and my work place and we both enjoyed it all.

Kitchen Help

He's trying to decide what to bake..I'm thinking banana muffins.

One Happy Guy!

 Does this guy look happy? The reason? Check out the next photo!

Jon loves his Mom, she baked cinnamon buns and he polished off one large cinnamon bun just like that! A dozen went home with him..hope he shares!

Anger Management??

There are times when Jon just can't control his anger and in that moment he will either throw or destroy something. The photo of the broken chair was that moment. You see his shadow in the picture looking at what he did. After his anger is spent he shows remorse when we sit him down and talk to him about it. The ceiling tile was not so much an angry moment..he likes to pull or rip on stuff. He does that with other things, he especially likes ripping paper off drywall.

Jon should have a job in demolition..would someone pay him for this??

Field trip to the Bison Farm

 Jon went on a field trip to see the bison.  Stop..they are leaving!

 One stayed to watch us.

 Then decided it was okay and bent his head to eat.

And where was Jon? Hiding in the van and refusing to come out. Oh Jon..

On being thankful..

It doesn't take much to make this guy happy. No expensive 'toys' needed for this boy!  Give him a cardboard box, cut a hole in it and hand him a bag of toys from the thrift store and he's totally thankful.

If only I could see the world through his eyes..

Happy Thanksgiving!

Watching..

 Watching someone fix the blind..Jon is excited when the electric drill comes out. That's when his shyness seems to be forgotten.

 Jon loves looking into tunnels or culverts. He's at the other end looking in and listening to the 'hello' echoing through.

And here he is looking through the culvert.

Fun in the Country

Jon came to spend an afternoon with us in the country. Dad took him on trail rides with the quad. Mom took him walking through the bush looking for treasures. He found a piece of wood with an interesting shape and a long stick. He kept peering around for more things of interest. After some time of clomping through the bush we headed back to the shed. Of course he wondered if Mom brought food and of course she did..he sat in the screened porch and enjoyed a dish of enchiladas with 'shmaunt fat':)
It was a good afternoon and he went home smiling..carrying his treasures.

Father and son..enjoying a thunderstorm together!

 Waiting for the next crack of thunder..

 Dad, did you see that lightning?

Dad says..'yes Jon I see the lightning and I hear the thunder.'