Our kiddos continue to be wonderful little people, and we just love every day with them!
Growth: Again, nothing official. Jonah is somewhere between 38 and 40 inches tall and we've retired most of his 2T pants and some of his 2T long-sleeved shirts. Tessa is also filling out 2T sizes pretty nicely. The kids' hair has been growing too! Tessa was ready for her first haircut. The kids loved sitting in firetruck and airplane for a trim. Tessa wears the bangs well.
Sleep: Aside from vacation the sleep schedules have been pretty much the same with naps from around 2-4 and bed from 9-7 with Jonah getting up a little bit before Tessa in the mornings. The big change for Jonah has been getting his own twin sized bed. He had a little trouble falling asleep the first few times he used it and we could see him on the monitor quietly looking around and talking to himself, but he got the hang of it and loves it. Before falling asleep he says "Thank you for making this bed. It is soooo comfy!"
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| Our clean little puppies, after their baths. They've also started hugging each other when they get out. |
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| Sometimes Jonah goes in for Tessa while we get ready. One day we found this. |
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| Good example of the "too much snuggle" that can happen sometimes. while enjoying TV together in the morning. |
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| The big boy in his big boy bed! |
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| A morning bottle for baby doll |
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| Another example of what we sometimes come in to see in the morning. |
Eating: Tessa is really getting pretty good at using utensils, at least the initial part of getting food on a utensil. She sometimes still winds up with more on her than in her if it's something like yogurt or applesauce, but we let her try quite a bit. She still marks the end of meals by starting to swipe the food off of her tray. (Jonah announces wildly "she's swipey!") She loves fruits, cheese, tofu dogs, yogurt, lox, and pretty much anything else you can put in front of her. For the majority of this month Tessa has been nursing before nap and before bed, but while on vacation we dropped the mid-day nursing and she has not had a problem with that. Jonah usually has his good table manners but sometimes gets a little rambunctious, especially when Tessa starts doing her swiping. Mostly he is open to trying new foods, but sometimes has to be talked into the "1, 2, 3, plan," something developed by Mimi's parents to get kids to try 3 bites before making a decision.
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| Chef Jonah and a curious Tessa |
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| Life is good when your sister offers your a lollipop (Jonah's favorite treat) |
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| Tessa has started setting the table, which is to say she gets everything out of her drawer and carries it to the table. |
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| Our final delivery from our CSA arrived and the kids delight in checking out the contents of the box |
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| Juicing oranges with Grandpa |
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Jonah made some banana swirl (frozen banana smoothie).
You can see Tessa liked it! What a mess. |
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| Learning refried beans are not a finger food. Or are they? |
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| Our little Whole Foods shopper investigating the cheese. |
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| Jonah brought Ducky sushi for his bowl. How thoughtful! |
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| Tessa is happy to ride along in the cart |
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| We love involving these kids in the grocery shopping. Rarely do we make a trip without them. |
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| Sharing a noodle with Daddy at TAT |
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| Udon. Classic American toddler food. |
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| He was very excited to try a cup of tea. He didn't drink much, but enjoyed the experience. |
Personality: Tessa is quite the ham. She prefers to be playing with Jonah or sitting in a lap reading a book or sitting in a high chair eating something. She loves playing peek-a-boo, saying "cheese" for the camera, imitating others, and being upside down. Jonah is still for the most part a very polite and loving boy, but has had his moments of rambunctiousness where he defies us directly or is far too rough with Tessa. We keep working to teach him otherwise and for the most part he's a wonderful big brother.
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Jonah tells everyone how much Tessa likes babies.
That's right Tessa. She's the one who likes babies. |
Milestones: Tessa's vocabulary continues to grow. She now can say "mook" (milk), "buckoo" (buckle), and several others in addition to her growing collection of words. She is up to about 20 words and uses them in context. Her comprehension continues to increase as well as she can follow commands we give her. She will also hear something she understands within a sentence and indicate she gets it. Her walking and running are pretty well down at this point and she is even working on jumping a little bit. Her attempts to throw bring a smile to her face, but result in a ball lifted overhead and dropped behind her.
Events:
We got to see a sneak peek of the Nutcracker, starring (in my opinion) Ainsley and Jillian. Tessa got to watch from Ainsley's lap and Jillian performed choreography from her role as a page. The kids enjoyed listening to the story and interacting with the performers some of the time.
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| Excited to be posing with real set pieces. |
We were happy to host Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend of Thanksgiving, and to have Mimi, Poppy, the aunts, and Austin over for the holiday meal. Jonah gets SO excited when he hears that they are coming and has the time of his life playing with them.
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| Love these buckeyes! |
ALRIGHT, here comes the big one! We took a trip toooooo DISNEY WORLD! Aaaaa! It was so fun! The 4 of us, along with Mimi and Poppy, rented a condo and spent 5 days in the park exploring, playing, and staying up way too late. We have included lots of pics, so we will narrate as we go.
Our travels went smoothly and Jonah enjoyed the process of flying. What a relief, since we have a cruise booked in January! He loved pulling around his new "Trunki" suitcase and kept busy and happy on the plane. His favorite parts are the escalators and baggage claim. He was pretty pumped that Trunki got to ride a carousel.
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| Upon arriving, we grabbed dinner and cheered on the Buckeyes to a glorious win! |
The morning of day 1 started with what Jonah remembers from last year's trip to Disney: "colored cheerios" (Fruit Loops) We don't buy him that junk at home, but he had it at the hotel's continental breakfast, so we indulged him in his request. I mean, look at that face! That day, we explored Epcot.
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| Packed lunches made the day go smoothly. And cutely. |
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| And then you have room for a treat later. |
The kids enjoyed the Imagination ride a few times and loved playing in the area as you exit the ride.
As you journey around the countries of World Showcase, there are "kidcot spots" where the little ones can bring this little Perry guy on a stick to a representative of each country to adds a little drawing to signify something form that part of the world. We didn't realize how excited he would be about doing that!
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| Jonah and Perry in "Canada" |
In England, Jonah was excited to wait in the line to meet Pooh and Tigger, but once we got inside he didn't want to get any closer than this! Still, he seemed to enjoy them from afar.
Now here's Tessa's highlight: the food! This girl attacked a chocolate mousse...then she attacked me with it!
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| The holiday decorations all around the parks were really spectacular. Each park had a beautiful tree. |
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| The classic shot we get each time we go |
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| Silly boy dining in Morocco for dinner. Delish!! |
A highlight at Epcot is Illuminations, but it doesn't start until 10pm and Jonah has no interest in sleeping in a stroller. We are so surprised we (and his brain) talked him into doing it so that we could stick around to watch the show. It was not easy to wake him up to see it, but once he did it was a magical moment.
We don't have a lot to show for day two since there was a fairly steady rain. We went to the Magic Kingdom and despite being somewhat cold and wet had a good time seeing the sights and riding the rides.
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We put Tessa in the Cinderella dress.
She immediately went for the mop. |
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| We conquered "It's a Small World." |
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| Yo-ho, yo-ho, a Tessa's life for me! |
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| Dinner at Tony's. When in Rome... |
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| A prinTess and her castle |
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| Enough said. |
Day Three brought us to Hollywood Studios. Not as many rides there, but some good shows including Fantasmic and a stunt driving exhibition, as well as special Frozen areas and an awesome playground.
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| Nice and sunny for us! |
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| They had fake snow for the kids to play in! |
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| Enjoying the Frozen sing-along |
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| Meeting Lightning McQueen and Mater |
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| Getting closer with Mater |
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| Note: do NOT try this with most characters |
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| Lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe |
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Tiny Jonah, or huge Play-Doh?
Enjoying the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area |
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| Spider-Jonah! |
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| Jonah loved seeing Buzz and Woody |
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| Spectacular lights! |
As you journey around the countries of World Showcase, there are "kidcot spots" where the little ones can bring this little Perry guy on a stick to a representative of each country to adds a little drawing to signify something form that part of the world. We didn't realize how excited he would be about doing that!
Now here's Tessa's highlight: the food! This girl attacked a chocolate mousse...then she attacked me with it!
