The Wedding

Jonah and Elliott had their very own babysitter during the wedding ceremony and reception.  The caregiver, arranged through the hotel, was wonderful, although we had our reservations.  Admittedly, it wasn't until a few minutes prior to her arrival that (lacking the foresight to do a background check) Drew thought it prudent to at least run a quick google search.  Later, we learned that everyone at the hotel seemed to know her and reported how well-behaved the boys were.  Still, I did check up on them at dinner, and again for bedtime.  I felt a little sheepish being that nosy parent, but breastfeeding was a good excuse to be there for good-night kisses and prayers!  I needn't have worried.  She was so thoughtful, she even gave Elliott a sponge bath instead of putting him in the tub.

The Hotel

I'm not sure what Jonah expected after describing the hotel as a building with lots of bedrooms for everyone in the family (aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.), but he loved it.  (It helped that the hotel was yellow.)  He loved exploring the game room, lounge, pool, ice skating rink, tower, etc. until he owned the place and would show us how to get around.

Jonah's first ice skating attempt went about as can be expected.  Holding onto a chair, with Mommy holding both him and the chair to keep both from flying, he made it a couple steps before telling me he was all done.  We had a lot of fun riding the chair around the ice, and he eventually gave ice skating another try, holding both my and PopPop's hands, while proudly shouting "I'm doing it!" to his adoring spectator (Grandmama) as if he had mastered the sport.

Elliott wasn't a big fan of the pool, but wasn't quite as fussy as I had feared.  (He has been screaming at bath time for a while now, to the point where we didn't take a bath for a couple weeks!)  As long as he could hold his new Minions ball (from Aunt Pamela) he was content - though not exactly happy about the whole thing.  Jonah, on the other hand, bravely swam with a noodle "all by himself" with such surety he would be across the pool on his own before I noticed!  Good thing there were two of us to chase the two boys, and Aunt Pamela and Uncle Ryan for back up!

We Are Family!

Jonah LOVES the "We Are Family" song!  Not that he knows or has even heard the original.  I once started singing, "We are family.  I have all my boys with me!".  He took a liking, and not knowing any more of the lyrics, I started making up additional lines to the chorus.  Now Jonah helps invent lines, so our song goes something like this:

"We are family!  I have both my boys with me!
We are family!  Jonah is wearing his PJs!
We are family!  Elliott is getting his diaper changed!
We are family!  Daddy is home from work!
We are family!  Mommy loves all her boys!"

Sleepover

By the end of the long weekend with his cousins, we gave Jonah the chance to "sleepover" in the kids' room instead of in the basement with us.  Cailin and Declan had been looking forward to it for so long!  They all were amazingly well behaved.  They were quiet before the end of giggle-time was enforced and slept through the night with only a short water-break for Jonah.  Wow, if only we had kicked him upstairs earlier in the trip we would have had better sleep!

At least!

Finally, at seven months old, Elliott has decided that he will sit on his own!  And roll tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy.  AND scoot backwards.  All that progress was made in the course of one day visiting his big cousins.  They attribute it to the "magic crawling rug".  I need to get one of those!

1.  Elliott has been choosing not to sit.  He'd much rather push back to a reclined position and chill out supine.  Couldn't care less about trying for more than a few seconds, or less if he isn't restricted from lying down.  Yet, when we put a ball down in front of him today, he was more than happy to sit and play with it with both hands and both feet!  As if he could have done this all along, there just wasn't enough incentive in the books, teethers, take-alongs, electronics, blocks, stuffed animals, towers, cars, etc. I had been giving him.

2.  Really, I think Elliott has been rolling for a couple weeks now, but not very prolifically.  He would rather fuss when he's done with tummy time, and if I don't help him roll over, he just falls asleep in place on his tummy.  He doesn't seem to realize that he can fix it himself!  I have noticed that he will roll over at night, but in the morning he always seems in the same spot I put him when he went to bed, (he rolls onto his side to sleep).  But from the vantage of a bed right beside his, I would awake to find him in a new position all night long - and back where he started by morning!  Stealthy.  And here I thought he would be fine without a confined crib, since he doesn't move around much at night anyway!

3.  The scooting thing is also new in that it is intentional.  Elliott has made some progress before in translational movement, but always as an accident of repeatedly lifting up to cobra.  This time, he seemed to understand that he was making himself move and got very upset when a couch or ottoman snuck up from behind to halt his progress.  Such freedom!

Happy Easter!

I may have failed as a Catholic parent this Easter.  I never want Easter to be just bunnies, eggs and candy.  But how do you explain to a toddler what the celebration is about?  Does he understand death?  Is it silly that death is so taboo in our culture, or a good idea to avoid the topic with a sensitive little mind?  I offhandedly gave Jonah a couple soundbites about God, Heaven and Jesus but it certainly wasn't a theological conversation intended to foster deep understanding.  But you never know... sometimes a little phrase can stick with him.  Last weekend, Grandmama asked Jonah if he would come to her house to help find the eggs the Easter Bunny hid.  All week we've been hearing Jonah excitedly explain, "I go Mema's house, she need help finding eggs.  I help Mema find the eggs!"

Easter was a lovely day of Mass (we arrived just in time to get seats in the vestibule, right behind Jonah's friends.  They were all a little more rowdy than usual... maybe from the candy???), egg hunts (which included a full boisterous and theatrical narrative worthy of a Tony Award) and family.

Baby? Shower

Elliott enjoyed the pleasure of being the only guy at a cousin's bridal shower yesterday - and a cute one at that!  His even littler cousin Ruby came, too, so (at least at our table) the conversation was far more baby than wedding!  Sorry, kids, the wedding reception will be adult only.  I wonder what we will talk about???

Back to Back!

At his cousin's baptism today, Elliott had his first opportunity at our family's tradition of "back-to-back".  As kids, this meant standing beside the cousin closest in age to compare height and take a photograph.  Cousin Jonathan is only 10 days younger, and looks to be only half Elliott's size!  Boy, do I envy mothers of newborns with small heads!

Jonah spent most of the ceremony running through the back door, shouting about wanting to use the potty again.  Really he wanted the reward of playing on Grandmama's tablet.

Elliott meets Grandpa!

Grandpa came to visit!  Between the constant snow events and his busy schedule, Grandpa wasn't able to meet Elliott until today.  We were so excited... particularly Jonah, who stole the show!  He immediately wanted to show off for Grandpa: his dancing, his trains, his new room, his RC police car, his symphony, kicking a ball, his car, jumping on Flash.  In fact, after showing Grandpa how high he could bounce, Jonah got off the turtle and pointed, "Grandpa, your turn!"  Then he ran across the room to grab the camera, "here, I take your picture!"  This may have been the only activity Grandpa refused, he obliged Jonah in playing with everything else!  The whole visit, I think Elliott only got a couple minutes with Grandpa.

Children's Museum w/ JK&L

Jonah cashed in on his birthday present from Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lindsay - they took him to the Children's Museum!  Sounds like they had a great time and Jonah and Uncle K became fast buds.   Mommy enjoyed a morning to herself (Daddy was helping Grandpa!) and met up with the crew for lunch.  Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lindsay looked a little tired from their busy morning

Jonah's favorite thing - which he had to show me when I arrived to pick him up - was a fake fish tank like you might find in Spencer Gifts... in a little "cave" in the eave... 3 stories up!  Oh boy.  He also enjoyed making super long trains and is very proud of his artwork, which is a series of yellow ovals drawn by a pendulum, but he always points at the fridge and announces: "I made that!"

Pillow Crashes

We hung out at Cailin and Declan's house today and had lots of fun at their playground, pool, and in the living room.

Jonah tried on a floatie and had an awesome time swimming all by himself!  Even better was the 2 1/2 ft kiddie section of the pool, where he could run around and dive into the water with the floatie catching him.  Nice for Mommy, who didn't have to be within arms reach every second.

Jonah and Declan also started a new game on the couch.  They would both lay face down side-by-side.  Grandmama would pile pillows on top until we couldn't see the boys anymore.  Then the pillows (and kids!) would come crashing down to the floor in a spectacular boom!  They must have done this a few dozen times in a row.

Three Musketeers

Jonah's older cousins have dubbed themselves the "Three Musketeers".  (Or maybe it's Mouseketeers?  I wonder where pre-schoolers learn about French literature.)  They all spent the day with Grandmama and PopPop going to the park and otherwise having a grand time.  Even with the big outing, the highlight of the day [as reported to us] was the three of them holding hands walking down the sidewalk after Mass.  Cute.

Jonah-Sized Closet

Jonah loved showing off his room to his cousins this weekend!  The corner of his room has a little closet under the eave - probably 3ft tall at most.  Perfect for toddlers.  (We recently cleaned out all the outgrown clothes that were stored there so Jonah could have full access to this precious cubby.)  Cousin Declan was too nervous to go inside at first, but they invented a game that suited both boys.  Jonah would go inside, Declan closed the door and ran to the other side of the room.  Jonah would knock, knock on the door, then burst out of the closet in a triumphant peek-a-boo!  They would laugh and repeat, over and over!  Eventually, Declan got up the courage to go inside the closet and Cailin came up to join the fun with the boys.  The little closet was still the preferred hiding place after the 364th consecutive round of hide-and-seek.  With all the piles of toys in the house, it was a clear winner.

New Year's Eve

Jonah had a New Year's Eve party with his cousin Addison and some of her little friends.  It was an interesting change from earlier in the day, when he was the youngest with his cousins Cailin and Declan.  Jonah has 6 months on Addison and Adam, which is the difference between sitting & batting at toys and running & very deliberately manipulating objects.  Jonah was very defensive when I tried to interact with the little ones.  He insisted on having a turn holding my hands to walk, bouncing on my knee, or reading a book.  He is too old for the bouncing game and certainly didn't need help walking.  He wasn't looking for just his turn, Jonah wanted to make sure no one else had a turn with HIS Mommy.

Family Christmases 2.8 & 2.9

Today we had two family get-togethers to attend!  It was a crazy day.  First, we stopped in at Aunt Carol's open house and visited with Great-Grandma Lil.  She was having a very good day and even smiled a bit when the kids came in.  Jonah sang songs and danced a little to bring her cheer.  He was a little grumpy and warm (but then so was I, in my turtleneck and scarf!) but I chalked it up to the new place and strange people.  He did okay eating his lunch and ripping open his new Red Sox outfit (what else?)

Then we moved on to Aunt Terri's and saw Great-Grampy and all the cousins, aunts & uncles in Pop-pop's family.  By then Jonah had had it and was running a low fever.  Poor little guy!  As proud Mama, I was hoping he would show off his physical coordination, new words, and adorable smiles.  Instead, he wanted nothing but to be in my arms.  Except for a balloon.  Uncle Peter distracted him and all the little ones making balloon animals.  Jonah got a monkey!  He fell asleep in the car as soon as he was buckled in and was so glad to be back in his own house to rest and recuperate.

Christmas 2.5

Now that Jonah's cousins have arrived, we got to do Christmas all over again!  Jonah gave his cousin Declan a whole set of new power tools and was very eager to show Declan how they all worked.  The two boys spent the day running around the house with power drills and saws, sometimes even dawning safety goggles!  It was fun to see Jonah copying and trying to keep up with his big cousin.

Christmas 2.1

Jonah's really got the gift-receiving thing down.  This year he recognized a wrapped present and immediately went about ripping the paper off bit by bit until the gift was free.  Jonah gave a big hug to the Curious George from Uncle Kevin and Lindsay, he started reading his new Mickey Mouse book from Aunt Ashley & Uncie L as soon as it was out of the wrapping, and banged out a few tunes on his piano from Santa.  The cutest was watching him climb into his big stuffed chair, like a king on his new throne.

With all the excitement of family visiting, Christmas Mass and presents, Jonah was too exhausted to even make it through lunch.  Unfortunately for us, that meant he was up again just as everyone else was departing, leaving Daddy and Mommy to fight over who got the next turn napping and who got to stay up playing with Jonah!

Christmas Eve #2 (& Meeting the reindeer!)

We had a very nice day visiting with Daddy's Aunt Paula & Uncle Joe.  They live on a secluded bay where lots of wild turkeys and deer roam.  Jonah got to see some of the deer eating from up close through the garage window.  They looked just like Santa's reindeer from his book!  How exciting!  Jonah also enjoyed watching boats out on the water, petting Gus (dog) and peeking in at Sam (cat) in his hideout box.

I'd like to send a special note of thanks to Aunt Paula and Jeremy, who, when I asked if they had seen Jonah's bib, combed through an entire trash bag to recover it.  Now that's going above and beyond!

Undecorating the Christmas Tree

Jonah loves the ornaments and the lights on the Christmas tree.  He loves them so much he will pull an ornament off and bring it over to show you how pretty it is.  Starbuck likes the Christmas tree too, mostly for the pine-flavored water only ferrets can reach, but also for the ornaments.

Thanksgiving!

Jonah had a very good Thanksgiving.  He enjoyed eating a huge plate of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce and passed on the desserts!  Jonah and Declan spent a lot of time hanging upside down from a parent or aunt/uncle.  They would look at each other from mid-air and think it the funniest thing!  Jonah also spent a lot of time playing toys with Pop-pop while Mommy enjoyed a relaxing visit.

Jonah was a good little trooper for our second stop to visit Daddy's family.  He was tired, but had gotten a short nap in the car and stayed up and (relatively) un-fussy.  He loved playing with the doggies, especially Gus.  He chased Gus around and petted his soft fur.  Jonah brought some books, tools and blocks to play with and help fix the house.  Brian (I should note here that he is an adult family friend!) played blocks with Jonah and showed him "how it was done" by stuffing all the shapes quickly into the sorter, each with a loud bang!  Jonah didn't like being beat at his own game and looked upset when Brian neared him the rest of the night.  Fortunately, dragging his tape measure and being chased by the doggy was more fun anyway.