Crack a Smile!

Elliott is working on his smile!  He hasn't quite mastered it, but I can see it in his eyes.  If he's a little cranky, when I go to pick him up he immediately calms down and the corners of his mouth curl up a little.  Cute.  Looking forward to him fully mastering a heart-warming grin!

A Month Gone By...

For all the people that say "Enjoy every moment.  It goes by so fast!" I get it.  With Jonah the days, hours, and sometimes minutes seemed to crawl as I tried to figure out how to entertain, stimulate, soothe, and educate him.  This involved a barrage of noise-making toys, floor exercises, and high-contrast images.  Now Elliott gets only gets a small fraction of my attention during toddler outings, playdates, entertainment and tantrums.  We're lucky if he's awake at the same time it is convenient to do tummy time or other baby activity!  The rest of the time, he hangs out contentedly in his Rock and Play, floor gym or my ring sling.  He's probably better off without all the over-stimulation.  Big brother ensures that there is enough going on in the house for Elliott to watch and listen to.  I don't feel so obliged to go out of my way to narrate everything just to keep his word exposure up.

Elliott is a pretty calm baby, or at least I am a more calm mother.  I spent most of Jonah's infancy giving myself great credit for being a relaxed parent...  I had no idea what I was talking about.  Maybe as a new Mom I was a bit ahead of the pack, (which included those that had breathing monitors in their newborns' cribs and minced their food until age 2) but I was quite the novice!  It is easier to accept now that I can't attend to every cry now that they are coming from two directions.

I think Elliott is going to be a good sleeper (knock on wood!)  That doesn't mean I'm sleeping well.  Boy, what I would give for even 4 straight hours!  We typically feed at 7pm, 10, 1, 4 and 6am.  6am.  That's when Elliott is at his most awake, Jonah toddles in to come find me, and I'm desperate to go back to bed!  Admittedly, we usually all land on the couch in front of the TV until I can convince myself there is no more sleep in my immediate future.  Although Elliott is up frequently for feedings, he seems to understand that night is for sleeping and goes down easily in his bassinet.  During the day, on the other hand, he is more often awake and loves to be held! I'm getting used to tossing him into the Maya Wrap just around the house while I cook, clean, etc.

Good Job, Daddy!

Daddy and Jonah do the food shopping.  This week in aisle 9...

Jonah: "Daddy, you found the pancake mix.  Good job!  I so proud of you!"

Favorite Things: February 2015

Jonah: Flash Turtle.  This inflatable cross between a turtle and slug has been rediscovered after sitting around for 18 months.  Jonah is proud to show off his jumping for any and all guests!

"Little Oink"  This book was intended for Elliott, but Jonah loves this story of a piglet that likes to clean, while his parents tell him to make a mess!

Elliott:  Milk.  All the time.

Mommy: Maya Wrap ring sling.  Elliott loves to be held!  I can quickly sling this on to carry him AND  play with Jonah, clean the house, do laundry, and cook dinner... all at the same time.

Breaking Bad.  Daddy and I have been binge watching recordings from the TV marathon.  Guilty pleasure. It feels so wrong while cuddling a newborn!

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.

My Turn To Hold Baby Elliott!

Jonah loves to take a turn holding baby Elliott, usually while Elliott is eating.  When we find a more appropriate time, Jonah will climb up in the chair and hold Elliott as long as I take a picture.  And only for as long as I am taking pictures before he is all done and eager to see himself on film.

Jonah Meets Elliott

Though it had been only hours since leaving the house in the wee hours of the morning, we were eager to to see Jonah and introduce him to his baby brother.  In a matter of a few hours, the whole world had changed!  Not only had our family grown in number, but Jonah suddenly grew significantly older.  In a mere moment he changed from my little toddler to my eldest preschooler.

Jonah immediately identified the newborn in the bassinet as "baby brother" and eventually repeated "Elliott" with the cutest pronunciation imaginable.  (aye-ye-it)  Still, it wasn't long before he was in my lap asking to see baby brother, pointing to my belly.  Not there anymore, Jonah!  Something we all have to get used to!

His interest didn't last long before he was telling PopPop, "I want to go home and kick a ball!"  It seems he didn't notice our absence and had been mome than happy to see PopPop when he woke up!  During his visit, Jonah took photos of the whole family:

Favorite Things: January 2015

Fisher Price Learn and Grow Car.  I thought he had already outgrown this Christmas gift, but Jonah loves to climb in this stationary car and drive to the zoo or otherwise make all the noises that come from the buttons inside.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Almost everything in our house is a Mousekatool!  Finding a big scoop mousekatool was handy in convincing a stubborn toddler to go outside to play in the snow.  And a question mark means the 'mystery' mousetaktool!

Discovery Preschool

Jonah graduated to Preschool this week!  His school offers "Discovery Preschool" as a transition between the toddler room and the preschool classroom.  We received a form letter citing that the teachers have observed his development and feel Jonah is ready, blah, blah, blah.  Really, this translates to: he meets the 2yr 4mo age requirement.  Jonah has been visiting a couple times and seems excited to join some of his friends that have already transitioned.  Some differences I have noticed:

- Drop offs are even harder now that Jonah sees that I am staying home with Elliott.  "No, I want to stay inside!" he screams in full trantrum (meaning he wants to stay home).

- The teacher already seems more observant.  Jonah brought home artwork captioned, "A choo-choo train, my goning on tracks it go to station."

- He comes home and tells me about playing with his friend James, puzzles and the fire truck.  (which is more information than I can usually extract)

Coming Home

Poor Jonah had a terrible cough the night I went into labor, and got significantly worse during his vacation at Grandmama and PopPop's house.  We were thrilled to have him home with us today, but a little under-prepared for how much attention he would need!  If this continues I'll never make it as a parent of 2.  For now, we are blessed to have a newborn so new that he would rather sleep the day away.