This just keeps getting better. We are loving the way our kids are starting to play together more. Jonah continues to be thrilled to have Tessa in his life and can't get enough. Now when he brings her toys or sings and dances, she reacts, so he reacts, and so forth. Tessa loves watching Jonah play and seems to find him hilarious. Fun times!
Growth: They're growing. Tessa's six-month visit happened shortly after she turned six months old, and she was at that time 17 pounds 2 ounces (65th percentile), 25 1/2 inches (26th percentile) and head circumference 44cm (89th percentile). And they didn't even measure around her cheeks! Jonah will occasionally step on the scale at home and weighs in around 28 pounds.
Sleep: Jonah is doing the same song and dance. In the morning when he crawls in bed with us it has been closer to 8 than 7 sometimes, which is nice. His snuggles are sweet, and he whispers the silliest things to us. A few morning ago it was "Mommy, I want a snack. I want graham crackers and popcorn." I agreed to take him downstairs for breakfast. "Not breakfast, snack." At least he makes us laugh when we are torn prematurely from our cozy slumbers.
 |
| Jonah gets a blanket set up for Tessa so they can pretend nap |
Tessa keeps napping 3 times a day and is still flexible about the location, thank goodness. A million thanks to Julian for sticking out the Ferber method overnight with Tessa because it worked. We set the cutoff for breastfeeding at 6 am. As a result, she has been waking in the 5:00 hour, going back to sleep with Julian's help, then nursing in the 6:00 hour, going back to sleep, then up for good late in the 8:00 hour. Next goal was to bump it back to not nursing before 7, and we were really getting somewhere, but then the teething struck again.
Eating: Jonah keeps rocking the eating scene, and continues to enjoy cooking. He participates enthusiastically in cooking dinner every night and insists upon tasting each component along the way. He has started keeping a step stool in the kitchen which he drags about here and there to help as we go. At breakfast time, he has also been in the habit of using it to stand at the counter and eat. His breakfast of choice has recently been a bowl of dry cereal, NO spoon, and a cup of milk. The boy knows what he wants.
Tessa continues to nurse roughly every 3 hours, but often just wants one side. She looooves to sit in her highchair and eat twice a day; as soon as she gets strapped in, you can hear her legs kicking from a room away. She has added to her repertoire green beans, applesauce, mum mums, puffs, oatmeal, bananas, prunes, and black beans. She has eaten everything equally and happily. Jonah loves giving her a few bites at the end of his meal.
Personality: Our little Jonah has strong thoughts on what he wants to do and how he wants it done. Much of his daily routine consists of a series of non-negotiables, but I guess that's part of being a 2-year-old Taurus. As long as we are not trying to get him ready for bed or out the door, he's pretty easy-going and funny as can be. He will talk your eat off reminiscing about something he did recently, narrating what he is doing, singing a song he made up, or asking his favorite question: "talk about it." He craves information. If we are talking amongst ourselves, he inserts himself "what did you say?" to understand every conversation.
 |
| Making and playing with play doh with Lydia |
 |
| Jonah back massage |
 |
| Where's Jonah? |
 |
| He runs in place at the bottom of the slide and has named it "drubbling" |
 |
| Where's Jonah? |
Tessa has earned herself a fun new nickname that Mimi and Poppy came up with when they heard her squeal through hotel walls: teapot. She lets out this happy, loud, high scream that turns many heads. When their eyes meet hers, there are smiles to go around to see she is grinning ear-to-ear as she shrieks. She loves getting attention and smiling at strangers. She also loves putting everything she can reach into her mouth to teethe on. She finds her brother entertaining and stares at him with a mildly concerned look. One of Tessa's favorite activities in bouncing on Mommy's knees while she sings "The Noble Duke of York." She laughs when you kiss her neck or tickle her sides. She is very content standing in her exersaucer. She still makes her zombie noise, so much so that Jonah calls her "my little zombie!"
 |
| Playing with Anna Bierlein |
 |
| He keep her entertained in the rock and play in the morning |
Milestones: Jonah can now make a coordinated jump over a line. He continues to improve in figuring out which letter words start with and is pretty consistent with this.
 |
| Gymnastics class with a guest appearance from Mimi |
Tessa is getting better and better at sitting up unsupported. We are not quite at the point where we can leave her side, but it's rapidly approaching. She rolls around with great ease at this point. Her feet now reach the bottom of the exersaucer and she loves jumping around in it. Her top right front tooth recently joined her bottom two recently and the left one is on its way as well. She is getting more interested in books and will try to turn (and eat) the pages.
 |
| About to roll! |
 |
| She started off on her back with her feet on the keyboard |
 |
| Soothing teething ring |
 |
| She started on the pink blanket and less than a minute later was under the crib |
Events: We took the kids to see BalletMet's open rehearsal for Alice in Wonderland. Tessa dressed the part and Jonah watched them intently for 45 minutes.
Poppy was excited to take Jonah to a train show. (The girls came too.) Jonah delighted in watching the tiny model trains go around the tracks and even rode on a pint-sized hand cart.
Our littles got geared up for a trip to Disney World on the heals of a Disney cruise. Tessa channeled her inner and outer Tinkerbell and we took both kids to their first movie: Frozen.
 |
Jonah watched every moment of the movie
quietly. Tessa napped a bit, nursed, and
watched most of it. |
Disney World! It was a blast! The first two days there was rain, and so not many pictures. We still managed to have a fun time. Jonah keeps singing "Yo yo yo yo a pirate's life for me." He enjoyed many rides and was understanding despite wanting to go on the big ones for which he was too short. He rode his first roller coaster. Julian asked how if he liked it, and he hilariously responded "No, it didn't go upside down." He liked seeing the characters, from a safe distance. At Animal Kingdom, his highlight was the flamingoes. Everyone enjoyed Nemo the Musical. Air travel went fairly well except for the last 30 minutes of the flight home when Jonah, who hadn't napped in 5 days and had gone to bed waaaaay too late broke down.
