Sunday, July 31, 2011

3 Months!

Our little turned three months old on Thursday. He's slowed down his pound a week pace, but the thighs are still doing quite well (see below).

He's a happy little guy--happy to hang out on the floor or in the sling or in someone's arms. He's starting to accept the car.

He's a good sleeper--naps are getting longer and more predictable. About half the time, he thinks he's sleeping through the night; he'll wake cooing and kicking at six something. Nursing and snuggling can usually coax him back to sleep, but I'm quite sure he'd be happy to get up then for the day.

This month, we heard his first giggles and he's starting to use his hands.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Bedtime

Tonight Elijah wanted Josiah to sit in his lap and be included in story time. He pulled out two big stacks of board books for us all to read together.


Thursday, July 21, 2011

Cousins

We tried to get a good shot of all four smiling and looking at the camera...






Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Harbortown

Last week, I took the boys up to Ventura to visit my grandma and my sister, who was out visiting. It was lovely to have all the cousins together. We played at the beach (cold!) and then warmed up back at the pool. Elijah thought the jacuzzi with its bubbles was exciting. Ella doted upon Josiah.





Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Montessori Mobiles

I wanted to get a mobile for Josiah. My sweet mother indulged my whim of wanting Montessori mobiles. Little did I know when I asked that a little shop in Australia was the only place we could locate them.









































Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Our 2 year old

(from the drafts folder)
Two is quite the age! Lots of fun times. Life also has a greater undercurrent of urgency ("Tuck me in!" "My bear fell!")

He loves taking care of his "whole baby." Baby gets changed, feed, burped, and bathed. In the picture, he's using a rock as his bar of soap.

His imaginative play has grown lots. He can pretend without props. The other day, he stuck a flower upside down in a pot and told me he was drinking apple juice.

The transition to big brotherhood has not come without some bumps along the way. He alternates between being endearingly sweet and wanting to dispose of his brother as quickly as possible. "Daddy, hold Josiah! Two hands, Mommy!" And then on Sunday, he spontaneously went over to Josiah's bed to pray for him.

This kid talks and talks and talks. Since figuring out dependent clauses and conjunctions, his sentences have gotten quite long. I'd gotten used to hearing my phrases in his mouth, but now he repeats back whole sentences. Some of my favorite vocabulary additions: connection, Tchaikovsky, ingredients, pretend

After reading to him, he often takes the book with him to bed, although he complains that, "I don't remember the words!"

He loves to read! The first while of naptime is spent reading until I come in to tuck him in and tell him to put his book down. Favorites include anything Richard Scarry and anything vehicle-related; Shirley Hughes has also been popular.

He doesn't need much of a segue to jump into a conversation with his own thoughts. A mention of keeping track of something starts him off on a whole speech about trains. Or the other day I told him to eat his food, so he began talking about how Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat from the tree.


He loves to play with his trains, airport, and trucks! His little counting bears are always ready to join in.

Not that we were wondering, but he's definitely an introvert. We headed to a regional park for a family outing and as we got close, he yelled at the cars, "Go a different way. Too many cars!" He also told me the other day that there were too many kids (i.e., his brother was one too many).


Same outfit, different boys

Can you tell who is who?


Josiah's on top at a little over two months and Elijah's on the bottom at almost four months...And we thought Elijah was a roly-poly baby!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

4th of July

We used our long weekend to head up to Fresno.

Lots of time was spent playing--Elijah loved the space station set. Elijah liked the bath toys so much that he started telling me he was dirty and needed a bath.

And we went for daily swims.

Josiah enjoyed his first dip in the pool.

Elijah's still deciding what he thinks of the pool this summer.

We spent lots of time talking, eating, and playing games.















Dustin's parents hosted two extended family gatherings, so we enjoyed seeing family that we hadn't seen since Christmas.



















We set fireworks off in the street. Elijah loved the fireworks. He's still talking about how we had to wait until it got dark and then Uncle Jason set off fireworks.