A Few Goodmans: October 2013

It has been another happy, playful, sometimes challenging, month. Each day has been filled with love.

Aside from wishing for a solid night of sleep and a more agreeable toddler at nap time, we couldn't be happier!

Growth: We are so proud to have two happy growing kids. No height or weight measurements at this time, but Jonah is wearing 18-24 M to 2-year clothing and Tessa is between her 0-3 M and 3-6 M clothing. She definitely looks bigger to us, and has precious, kissable, round cheeks and adorable little rolls.

Sleep: Jonah is giving us the run-around at nap time and seems to delight in pushing our buttons and stalling at every step of the way. It's exhausting, but he seems to still need it since he will nap for about 2 hours. Bedtime has gotten easier and he will go through the routine more peacefully at night. He still loves to climb the stool up to Tessa's changing pad and brush her hair before bed. He nods off around 8:30, while Tessa gets a final feeding for the evening. After that, she sometimes drifts right off for the night, and sometimes chills on the couch with us while we watch TV. She's still too young to be scared watching Dexter :) She goes to bed around 9 or so and has been waking up once over night, often in the 3 or 4 o'clock hour, nursing, and going back to sleep until somewhere in the 7 o-clock hour. Jonah is usually up a bit before her, and he now comes running to our room first thing, announcing "Ducky's here! Daddy, take a shower." Because of that, we moved Tessa into her own room to sleep at night so that he doesn't disrupt her in the morning. By day, she tends to nap in her car seat if we are out and about in the morning, or in her Rock n' Play, then takes a long nap mid-day when Jonah does. It allows us to do nice things like write a blog! She takes another few little naps in the afternoon and evening as well. She enjoys being swaddled and using a pacifier. She finds being snuggled close to your chest or rocked in a rocking chair the most soothing, but she has also been known to drift off silently while in her car seat at a restaurant or play group. We never saw Jonah do this, so that's different.

Enjoying her swing. Thanks for the loaner, Fischers!

Rock n' Play in her room

Jonah LOVES going to find Tessa when she wakes up.
He pats her head, snuggles her, says he loves her, and sings.

Our little puppy after bath

Eating: Jonah's adventurous streak continues. He loves to pretend to cook and to cook with real food too. He eats it all. One of the funnier things he does is ask for a big squirt of Sriracha, dip his bread or other food in for a big dollop, and take a bite. His eyes get a little glassy and his cheeks a little pink, but then he announces "It's sicy. Want more please." He's Julian's.

Tessa continues to be a very good nurser. She will drink her milk anywhere, under any conditions. That is a good trait for any baby, but especially a younger sibling! She is still spitting up quite often, but it seems like it might be a little better, or else we are just getting used to being covered in it and stopped noticing.

Cooking some pancakes

He decided to bake cupcakes, so he went to the cupboard and found my real
muffin tins. So clever!

He has learned to use a fork and knife

Resting on the Boppy pillow after eating

Cooking up some imaginative dish on the stairs

"I want ducky to see me eating"
Loving his new fire truck, bulldozer, and police car plates we got him!

Jonah love Shabbat dinner! He can say some of the prayers
and knows the order or things. He sets the table with us too.

Personality: We love the many sides of Jonah. Most of the time he is a busy little guy, easily entertaining himself playing with his toys and chatting away. He has started interacting more with friends. He loves talking about upcoming plans and reminiscing about things in the past. Like, way in the past. I'm talking seeing dolphins jumping in the water on vacation in February, and asking to look for Easter eggs at Mimi and Poppy's house. He's sweet and affectionate, snuggling, singing, and patting Tessa, and telling us how he loves us. We melt when he says things like "I love Tessa soooo much. She's so pretty." Then there's nap time. The half hour or hour leading up to that just sucks. It's like a switch goes off and he decides to be ornery.

Tessa is our chill chick. She goes along happily with whatever the plans are and doesn't fuss much. She has a wonderful, social, sweet little smile. She loves to look people in the eye and react to their facial expressions with grins and coos. We love seeing the way she looks at Jonah and wonder what she thinks of him.

Watching Sesame St. after nap has become a tradition

Bouncy seat at Mimi and Poppy's

Jonah enjoys "putting on some makeup"

Jonah often fixes Tessa a snack with his play food

Milestones: Jonah keeps getting better with his gross motor skills at gymnastics and can raise himself above the parallel bars and do a tuck, pike, and straddle. He can now jump forward off a stool rather than landing his behind on the edge of the stool. His language continues to be advanced. He has started "reading" books to himself that he has memorized, and turns the pages as he recites the whole thing. He even read the word "stop" on a set of Boggle dice and likes pointing out stop signs, even when it's just an octagon. He has a good eye for what pieces fit where in a puzzle and can do a large-scale jigsaw with some min to mod cues. He gets one-to-one correspondence and counts things as he points to them with his left thumb, making his voice to up at the end of each number. He can tell you the sound of almost all of the letters, and can sometimes figure out what letter goes at the start of a word based on its sound. He also learned how to watercolor this month and has the routine down. He taught Tessa how to watercolor too!

Tessa loves faces (especially her own) and reacts socially with a happy smile and sounds like "ooo" or "mmagoo." She has started to notice toys and handles them somewhat. She has managed to get a few dangling toys and clothes into her mouth. Her neck is strong enough to support her head when she's upright, and she can sit in a supported position for a little while. On her tummy, she can lift her head up part way. She can track with her eyes, and seems to look at Mommy across the room when she is talking.

Tessa's first time sitting supported

He thinks he fits in the entertainment baby chair still.
He calls it "the pool"

Looking at her reflection

Jonah loves finding the shapes that make these puzzles

Jonah enjoys tracing these letters and talking about them

Baby keys in the mouth

Somersault

Reading himself a book

Multi media art project

The pink scribbles are letters, he told me

Events: We have been enjoying the fall weather and having lots of fun. Jonah and Daddy look so dapper in their bow ties on Yom Kippur. Jonah has played at synagogue not just that day, but also at a tot Shabbat, and the new play group. He looks forward to going because they do crafts, sing songs, play with toys, and eat snacks.

We went apple picking at Lynd's Fruit Farm. Jonah loved the experience and ate apples as he picked them. He even got to ride on a little train!

Tessa napped and looked around in the Bjorn Daddy wore

We had play dates with some friends this month. Jonah got to play with Ben, Lydia, and Emmett, and even got to meet baby Ian.

Jonah and Ben, being boys and playing in dirt

He told me he was a paleontologist, digging for fossils

Jonah and Lydia baked apple pies

Skype with Grandma and Grandpa. And ducky.

Playing tee ball with Emmett

Jonah was so excited to get to go "shoe pickin"

We helped Allie celebrate her 2nd birthday. It was fun singing, making hats, and playing on the playground!

He made a hat for himself and one for Tessa

Cake, man

Jonah at school on school picture day

We went to Smith Farm Market's fall festival. Jonah liked the animals, hay maze, corn box, pumpkins, and tractors. Tessa went along with it. That's what she does.