A Few Goodmans: November 2014

These two just crack us up everyday. We fill our days with fun, and this fall the fun has been nonstop.

No updates since last post on growth, but we've had to retire a few pairs of Jonah's pants (based on length alone, obviously).

Growing and growing!

Sleep: Both kids nap 2-4 (except for the occasional miss on Jonah's part) and bedtime is about around 8:30 or 9. Wake up has varied since Tessa had actually gotten in the habit of sleeping until 8 or so pre-time change, and now 7 or so. Jonah wakes up towards the end of the 6:00 hour. And then again they can both wake up around 6 and, well, that just sucks. It would suck less if OSU would quit playing these 8pm games.

Jonah loves to go in for Tessa when she gets up

Getting ready for work like daddy, with a belt and pager

Getting ready for work like Mommy with shoes

Sweet morning snuggles for Ducky

Eating: Both kids continue to be willing to try new foods. OK, so that's an understatement for Tessa. She is getting better at using utensils though things go much better if we help her. Jonah still takes a long time to eat, with all his storytelling and singing, so sometimes we end up feeding him just to get food in him. One of Jonah's favorite breakfast foods is pancakes which he cuts into shapes with cookie cutters. He will ask at least a couple of times a week to make pancakes (he helps measuring out some of the ingredients and cracking eggs) and we try to oblige him as much as possible if there's time. Other favorite breakfasts are oatmeal and Rice Krispies. They both enjoy helping in the kitchen. This month they got to experience the apple corer/slicer/peeler, which was a hit!

She made off with an apple

Tessa meets cookie

Jonah has always, always loved lemons!

A late night dinner at iHop was lots of fun!

Self-feeding chili

Preparing to devour falafel etc at Lavash

A breakfast favorite these days is listening to (and eating) Rice Krispies

Personality: Jonah and Tessa have had a lot more interaction these days and truly are the best of friends. He is very aware of her safety and announces loudly if "she's going to stairs" or if she's eating something off the floor. They also have a ridiculous game of laughing, screaming (loudly!!), and spitting near the end of meals. It's super annoying and we wish it would stop, but to the kids, it's hilarious. We've tried a sticker chart and removing him from the table when he does it, but he still chooses to do it, so I guess they're just having too much fun angering us. But really, he is such a sweetie the rest of the time. He has very nice manners, such as asking for things with "please" and "may I" and says "thank you" unprompted. He's a favorite patron at restaurants, getting everything from other servers being brought over to see how polite he is to his very own dessert from the owner just for being such a good little guy! Jonah is very into playing with flashlights, blocks, trains, board games (not that he follows all the rules), and crafts with stickers. Both kids love books; Tessa has just discovered her love for reading and many times a day she will walk up to you, "bup" extended toward you, and plop down on your lap. She is also in love with her "baby" who she pushes in her little stroller. Jonah also loves changing baby's diaper and clothing. It's so sweet! She loves slides as well and will make endless circuits of the playhouse in the basement.

Jonah likes to be unbuckled first so he can play with Tessa while Mommy unloads the car

This boy has a wonderful imagination. He is pretending the rocking chair is a rollercoaster.

Dressing Tessa up in jewelry

This girl looooves to rock and bounce

Little bookworms

Jonah loved showing Tessa the sukkah at school

Not too cold for the sandbox in their book

Tessa has been more interested in making art, and so Jonah has been doing more than he had been as well.

Dry erase marker art on the kitchen door

Art at Piccadilly

Both kids have been especially close with Alton lately

Tiny "teenager" in her North Face and Ugg boots heading home from the gym

Sillies at Shabbat Assembly at school. This is the part of the song where they pretend to sleep.

Diapering baby doll

Go Bucks! Enjoying dinner at Indian Oven.

Made a trip to Larson's, a local long-standing independent toy store which will be closing soon.

Mommy made purple sparkly bat slime!

Tessa's favorite part of gymastics

Milestones: Tessa is able to say more recognizable words all the time. She loves her "B" words, "bounce," "book," "ball," all of which sound like "buh." She loves her "baby," and is pretty good with "mommy" and "daddy" as well as the occasional "Mimi" and "Poppy." She says "sh" for shoes. The biggest game-changer: "noo." Jonah's favorite word she says is "go." He'll say, "Ready, set, ..." and wait for her to finish, which she usually does. Her walking is getting more and more confident, though after sitting for a while her first few steps are usually a little wobbly, and she has occasional issues like last week at soccer class running headlong into the edge of a table. Jonah continues to work on counting and reading skills, though if we try to hard to get him to read a word in a book he gets annoyed.

Big enough to do the art project at Whole Foods

Events:
We visited King's Island for their Halloweekends event. Jonah loved the "lobsters" ( and got to go on lots and lots of rides that went in circles. We shared some huge laughs on the scrambler.

The whole family enjoyed Taste of Bexley at the Franklin Park Conservatory. Jonah loved eating all the foods and rocking out to Captain Captain of The Shazzbots.

The kids rode along in the jogging stroller for their first organized race, our second. They were pleasant passengers, and enjoyed the bagels and festivities at the finish line.

Poppy had an injury and hospitalization this month and is on the mend. The kids enjoyed selecting a goodie for him (and themselves) from Resch's and Jonah shared his train movie with him.

Jonah has continued to enjoy soccer, and Tessa is a lovely spectator. He has also started dance class at BalletMet this month. He had been asking about taking class, so we signed him up. It's called Come Dance with Me, and each kid is paired up with their grown up for the class, which is exactly how Jonah would like all of his activities to be. There are very few opportunities to do this by age 3, so we are happy we found one. There are many precious Jonah Mommy conversations to and from class and we love the fun moments that we share pretending to be leaves and leaping over sleeping alligators.

Halloween:
We went to Boo at the Zoo and the kids got to debut their costumes. Jonah decided to go as "Marshmallow," the snow monster from Frozen. We appreciate his creativity. We went off of his selection with our family theme of Disney villains. Tessa's costume wasn't quite ready, so she went as Belle. Jonah was most excited to see the pachyderms and to play in the airplane in Africa, but he handled it very well when we learned the Africa exhibit was closed. We made it up to him with a haunted train ride.

Aboard the train

The kids and Mommy enjoyed the Piccadilly Halloween party. Captain Captain was there playing some great tunes, Jonah made a mummy cookie, the kids made art, and they had a professional photographer. When we pick those up, we will be sure to share. Tessa made her debut in the Ursula costume, and it was the only time she wore the necklace that since Ariel's song.

We had the Bendler bunch and Alana's boyfriend Austin over to watch Nighmare Before Christmas and carve pumpkins. Jonah wasn't real sure he wanted to reach inside the pumpkin and preferred a spoon and directorial position. Tessa dove right in.

Jonah was SO excited when Trick or Treat came. He loved going house to house with Mommy and Daddy and passing out candy as well. Tessa wasn't so sure about the whole thing, but she seemed to have a good time.