Our little girl is a year and a half! And our little boy is three and two thirds! Time is just flying by with our little family.
Growth: Nothing official, but according to our scale Tessa is 27.6 lbs and Jonah is 32.2 lbs. Tessa will have an 18-month checkup coming up later in January and we'll get formal numbers for her then.
Sleep: We've had a few late nights with holidays, but in general we're still getting the kids to bed between 8:30 and 9:00. Jonah usually gets up around 7:30 and Tessa closer to 8:00 or so. They're still taking a two hour afternoon nap (closer to four hours for Tessa for the first few days after getting home from vacation!), though Jonah did skip it once.
 |
| Nightly routine of feeding and tucking in baby dolls |
 |
| Frequent sight on getting Tessa out of bed |
 |
| He's added the Boppy to his baby doll feeding routine |
 |
| Watching after waking up |
Eating: Tessa still goes for pretty much everything. She is pretty good at feeding herself with utensils without making too much of a mess, until she starts trying to make a mess. She will often wind up throwing her food on the floor and saying, "Uh oh!" We politely inform her that this was not, in fact, an "uh-oh" given the intentional nature thereof. The biggest eating-related change for Tessa is that she is now officially done nursing. She continued for a short period after returning home from vacation with a before-bedtime feeding, but since dropped that and has been rocking to sleep. Jonah is usually a very polite table guest and has gotten very good at clearing his place after meals. He tells us that he actually
does like eating chocolate now after having some Chanukah gelt.
 |
| Jonah loves the little carts at Trader Joe's! |
 |
| Trying to steal away a banana which Grandma and Grandpa brought |
 |
| Our little barista |
 |
| He loves slicing the credit card at Whole Foods |
Personality: No major changes here. The kids are both hilarious in their own ways. Tessa remains outgoing and a ham, and Jonah is a little more retiring most of the time but occasionally gets his crazies out there.
 |
| Snow day with the Rubins |
 |
| Parachute fun |
 |
| Dabblers class at Piccadilly |
 |
| Loves the pizza chefs at Dewey's |
 |
| What's up, doc? |
 |
Tessa and I always meet Jonah at Shabbat Assembly at his school.
Tessa has started really getting into it, dancing with his classmates and pantomiming the blessings. |
 |
They have to hug each other every night
after getting out of the tub |
Milestones: Aside from the aforementioned weaning, Tessa is continuing to become more and more a toddler. Her comprehension is excellent and she will (most of the time) follow commands well. Her speech keeps improving and she's up to probably 50 words; we've lost count! She still says "no" as an answer to most yes/no questions, even when it's not what she means, but she's pretty good at expressing herself. Jonah has decided he wants to wear underwear to bed, so we've compromised with him and got him some pull-ups.
 |
| Jonah's second movie at the theater, Big Hero 6 |
 |
| Second haircut |
Events: December had a lot of fun after we got back from Disney World! Grandma and Grandpa came and helped us celebrate Chanukah. The kids just love their new learning tower and helped make French toast, of course!
 |
| High-stakes Dreidel |
 |
| A trip to the water table at Cosi |
We took Jonah to the Nutcracker. He got to see Ainsley and Jillian up on stage and gave them flowers afterwards. He was a good little theatergoer!
 |
We were in the front row, so when he got
antsy he stood up to watch the orchestra |
We had several other holiday parties and had a good time, particularly at the Margulies family party (after a little warming-up period for the kids).
 |
| Pretty girl and her handsome Daddy at the Lees' holiday party |
 |
| Jonah and Ella loved the bunny. Tessa was terrified. |
We celebrated Christmas at Mimi and Poppy's. Jonah just loved opening presents and playing with new toys!
Ari, Nicole, and Oberon came down from Ann Arbor and spent New Year's with us. The kids loved playing with (and trying to feed) Oberon.
 |
| Celebrating "midnight" a little early |
We rang in the new year as usual with a party at the Smiths' house. Jonah found trains, which kept him occupied for hours!
We celebrated the Buckeyes' national championship run (and victory!) with a party at our house. The kids didn't really care much about the football game but had lots of fun with our guests and stayed up until 10.
 |
| Getting her "hat" and "bock" packing for our cruise! |
