So the plan was to get this blog entry posted on time. Maybe even early! You can see how well that worked out. It was a busy month of celebrations and most recently a week of us being sick. We believe we are now all on the upswing and we are excited to share this past month's adventures.
Growth: Both kids are growing, though we wouldn't be surprised if our little Jonah lost weight being sick this week, so lets save ourselves the anxiety and not put him on the scale. Tessa, on the other hand, is a very hungry caterpillar. She weighs 21 pounds and has earned a new nickname: spurt. It must be a growth spurt, right?
Sleep: This is all much the same, which is mostly a good thing. Jonah's day starts around 6:45 or 7 when he come running (
thud,
thud, thud,
thud) into our room and asks for Mickey. Daniel Tiger has been knocked out of the top spot by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Tessa is happy with her naps at 10 and 2 and has been sleeping in until more like 7:30 some mornings without any interventions.
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| Jonah putting on makeup in the morning ;) |
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| The kids watching TV while we get ready. The arm around the sister was unprompted. |
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| Checking out the new reading nook in our bedroom |
Eating: Jonah and "spurt" are good eaters who sit at the table for a good long meal and eat what they're given. We couldn't be prouder. Jonah's favorite food at this moment is "squirty tomatoes" (cherry tomatoes that squirt when you eat them) and Tessa eats everything that isn't too hard and has to wait a few more months to try peanuts butter, shellfish, and honey. She is least picky eater we've ever met. She follows a simple formula:
Is is food?
Yes.
She'll eat it.
Is it food?
No.
She'll eat it.
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Grandma made Jonah this banana dolphin
(So what if he protested about me taking a picture) |
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| They both love this |
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Tessa eats a banana for breakfast each morning
This particular morning, it became hair product |
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| We love our Whole Foods Mondays! The kids share a cart now. |
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| Using chopsticks for seaweed salad quite effectively! |
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| Beautiful weather for the Chipotle patio. Tessa got her first kids meal! |
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| The Indian buffet didn't see Tessa coming. She hit is hard! |
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| Jo"naan"a |
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After dozens of times having sushi, Jonah decided to scoop up the whole clump of wasabi and eat it.
We couldn't stop him in time. What a red-faced, crying, water-drinking mess he was. Then immediately: this. |
Personality: These kids are such good friends! They just crack each other up. She laughs, smiles, and flaps her arms and legs when Jonah sings, plays peek-a-boo, and runs. The running is her favorite. In the evening, one of us is usually holding Tessa when Jonah bolts for the stairs to go up. She delights in watching him run so much that as he skampers along, she wildly flails her arms and legs, bouncing up and down, and letting out a loud, shrill shriek. Now, before Jonah even moves a muscle, she knows it is time to go up, and she starts that whole flappy dance. They both enjoy splashing and laughing in the bath, sharing the sandbox, and playing with cars. Jonah loves the moon and likes to look for it whenever he can. He loves to show it to us and tell us about how it follows him home. He is so caring and concerned about others; we love when he can tell something is not right and asks "Mommy, how do you feel?" When you're holding Tessa, it's quite likely that she will bury her wet little mouth in your arm or shoulder and let out a huge raspberry. Anything she can get her mouth on, she manages to get a hilarious, slobbery, very audible farting sound to come out. She's our lady!
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Jonah loves giving Tessa a checkup.
Her heart goes "tonk tonk" by the way |
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| Little drummer girl |
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| Somehow the sock made its way here, Mom. I don't know how. |
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| Taking a spin in Aunt Alana's car, blowing kisses, breaking hearts |
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| Peek-a-boo with her baby doll |
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| Snuggles in the sleeping bag |
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| Jonah doesn't like to dress up, but he likes to dress Tessa up |
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| The kids enjoying Boker Tov play group |
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| This guy still asks for his bench picture |
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| Tessa discovered she loves being upside down |
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| Snuggling and watching Frozen with Olaf |
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He started the month being scared of sitting at the table to sing and eat at birthday parties.
By the end he had gained enough experience to become not only comfortable, but ice cream-covered and happy! |
Milestones: Jonah has consistently remained potty trained and we are so proud! It will be especially nice for the pool this summer. At nap time, he has a few books memorized that he likes to "read" himself. He can get all the way through both Little Blue Truck books, The Cat in the Hat (the abridged version Daddy reads him), and a few others. Jonah has also started to put on his own underwear, pants, and shirts.
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Taking off his pajamas, and in the process announced:
"I have a bra!" |
Tessa has really begun following along and understanding the context of what's going on around her and responding to our words even when we weren't talking to her. She can sign "more" for food and claps when she's happy, when you clap, or if you ask her to clap. She can also pull a little blanket up over her face, then pull it down and laugh when we say "peek-a-boo!" We found her sitting up in her crib sometime in the middle of this past month, and since has become proficient at sitting herself up from any position. She can get herself wiggled around any which way, but hasn't advanced herself in a crawling fashion as of turning 10 months. Spoiler alert: next blog post will contain a crawling update!
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| The very start of a crawl. She wanted the shoes. |
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Standing steady at the activity block. Wearing a size 3-6 M dress/pants just to see how she'd grown.
It is more of a shirt and shorts now. |
Events:
We celebrated Passover this year with a seder at Aunt Mary and Uncle Greg's and one at Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Larry's. Jonah engaged in most of the seder and both kids loved the food. Tessa ate so much gefilte fish we started calling her "gefiltessa." The highlight for Jonah this year was the matzoh.
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| Tessa playing on the floor alongside Daddy |
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| Jonah and his "wine" |
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| Gefiltessa! |
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| The kids and the afeikomen bargaining for a prize |
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| Mimi and Jonah peering into the seder |
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| Jonah, aka Pharoh |
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| Matzoh boy! |
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| The afeikomen search! |
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| The cousins posing with their freshly-found afeikomen |
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| The cutest plague: Jonah the frog |
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| Jonah loves matzoh ball soup |
And because you can't have Passover without Easter, we dyed eggs and set Jonah off on a hunt around Mimi and Poppy's yard.
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| The dogs are very gentile with Tessa |
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| Bella loves to make out with Tessa |
Due to Passover, Jonah's school was closed for a week. We found lots of fun things to do together! There were 2 trips to COSI, fun at the playground with friends, play time at Mimi and Poppy's, and much more.
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| Our little undersea explorer |
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| Tessa loves watching the other kids play from the baby area |
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| Riding a pretend produce cart |
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| Tessa and her friend Asher, 1 day different in age, enjoying fresh air in the swings |
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| We hit the playground at nap time. |
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| And this happened |
We are so happy that Grandma, Grandpa, and the GGs came in town to hang out with us and play with the kids. It is one of Jonah's favorite things to have them over. He asks for Grandma to make french toast every Saturday morning and he loves to show them all of his toys. Tessa loves the attention and it makes it easier on us to take care of her needs, like nursing her and putting her to sleep, when we know Jonah is so well taken care of.
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| GG literally running around in circles with Jonah |
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| Tessa's first time in the firetruck |
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| Helping celebrate Grandpa's birthday |
Next it was on with the Jonah/Mommy birthday celebrations. We bookended Lindsay's birthday with a friend party for Jonah and a party with the family. When we gave him multiple options for a birthday party theme, he vetoed them all and knew right away that he wanted a Mickey Mouse party. Good thing he stuck with that, because we shopped, crafted, decorated, and planned a menu around it. He was delighted to see how it all looked and had a ball partying. Jonah can get shy in busy environments with lots of kids, but as we said, this was a home game. The kids piled in and he was completely comfortable and happy until one moment: the cake. Even with us preparing him and getting his permission for what we were about to do, the moment the cupcake showed up he cracked. Oh, the tears! The good news, is he cheered right up, and after that each time went better. On his birthday itself, there were special celebrations at school. The kids had a treat (without singing, per Jonah) and then the birthday kids get to go up front for the blessings. We are so proud of him for going up and being happy and confident, though he did insist on bringing Mimi up with him. That night, we went out to Spaghetti Warehouse with both sets of Grandparents. We were all happy to see Roy and Judy again, and Jonah was happy to eat calamari (!!) in a trolley (!!!). He even let us sing out loud. By the time we celebrated that weekend, he was comfortable with the whole thing and had a great time running around calling his cousins after him.
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| Mickey PJ&J, grapes, and Donald Ducks |
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| Yep. It was that bad. |
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| Enjoying a new favorite toy |
Then it was onto Lindsay's birthday!
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| My turn to celebrate my birthday!! |
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| Making Tessa teapot noises |
Amidst the sea of birthdays, we celebrated with a dinner out at Bareburger.
Mimi and Poppy took Jonah on his first trip to Build-a-Bear. He picked out a dog and named him "Bear." We melted over the care that he took building him. He has been sleeping at the foot on Jonah's bed.
Next came Jonah's actual birthday. All 3 meals were special that day!
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| On his birthday, Jonah got to eat "colored Cheerios" that he had on vacation |
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| Jonah listening nicely to a book at school |
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| Blessing the candles at Shabbat Assembly |
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| Blessing the wine and challah |
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| The kids all leave assembly like this to the train song |
With the way Jonah likes animals and gymnastics, we figured the circus would be a hit! We bought tickets super last-minute and went for it. Tessa waved at the performers as they walked by and Jonah liked the animals most.
