Daily Romp

These pictures aren't the greatest but they're a glimpse of what the boys and I like to do most days after Jesse wakes from his second nap. Lucas hops in the crib with Jesse to play peek-a-boo or "wrestle." Then Jesse eventually gets desperate to come out of the crib so I bring the boys onto our bed a foot away . I love lying there and watching them get silly with each other.

10 months

Jesse-Pie,

It aches inside to think that within a few months you might start walking, and just like that, you'll seemingly shift overnight from a roly poly to a big-boy toddler. We're trying to enjoy every minute of your babydom while we can. And we're loving it.


During your 9th month you started to show signs of separation anxiety, especially with Mama. We know it's normal and often comes during the crawling/cruising stage when the world seems bigger and scarier than before. But since your brother went through a separation anxiety "phase" for, oh, 2 years, you had us nervous for a few days at first. Now we're taking it in stride and taking advantage of the fact that you want us to hold and rock and hang out and put you in a hip sling and cuddle with you all day long. Besides, there is no better excuse for not being able to get anything else done lately. ;)



Your favorite activities these days are: bathing, splashing water in the sink and tub (which means you often make a b-line for the toilet), pulling books off of the shelf, banging toys together, clapping, chanting "a-dah!", opening and slamming closed the kitchen cabinet doors, and of course eating.



Your favorite foods right now: sweet potato, sweet potato, sweet potato. Okay, you do like other foods too but you're most happy when you can feed yourself chunks of food.



The things that make us smile about you are: the way you find a toy then tuck it into your mouth before crawling away to another part of the apartment, your laugh, watching you delight in your brother and vice versa, your wide torso, the way you delight in the baby in the mirror and (want to eat) other babies like Liam and Isaac, the way you wave goodbye and hello without prompting, and the way your hands look like starfish.



The other day I asked Lucas if he remembered what things were like before you came and he said no. I'm not sure he really understood what I was asking him but I'm sure he would agree that we can no longer imagine life and our family without you in it. Thanks for coming to us and finding your place here along with us, Jes!

Cousin Liam

Who are you trying to talk on the phone with, Liam?

Oh, you want to take a snack break? Concentrating is definitely hard work, so okay...

You've almost got it...

There!

Favorite Present

For Christmas our budding artist also received an art box. He loves it! It's just a tackle box filled to the brim with all of his favorite art supplies as well as some new ones, such as: his stamps; various forms of glue, crayons, markers and paper; paint brushes and paints; a hole puncher; scissors (which he is learning to use in preschool); stickers and hole reinforcers; pom-poms and foam shapes; and of course no childhood would be complete without glitter glue (thanks, Abuela and Abuelo)!

And here's what Lucas made for Papi and me as a Christmas present (with a little help from his preschool teachers): his handprint, complete with one of those cheesy little poems on the back that talks about how discouraged we parents must feel whenever he leaves fingerprints on the furniture and wall, yadda yadda, but that someday he'll be all grown up and we'll have a hard time recalling those sweet handprints, yadda yadda, and that here's a final handprint for us to remember exactly what his looked like when he was three, etc. etc.

Those of you who know me well wouldn't be surprised, but the moment of unwrapping our gift turned out to be a great opportunity for Lucas to learn that we cry not only when we're sad but sometimes when we're happy as well. (Mama is such a sap!)

Isn't it beautiful?

Perhaps the best present (for me) comes every afternoon and every night at sleep times when I say good-bye to Lucas before closing the door to his bedroom. I tell him how special he is, and we blow kisses and tell each other "Good night, Mama [or Baby] Bear/Cat/Bird [choose one]" after saying over and over again that we love each other. And then he never fails to surprise me and make me melt with a final, "Mama, you are my best friend."

Lucas, you're my best friend, too.

Oh! Before I go... Here we're reading a book from the "I Spy" series that his preschool let us borrow and that he's hooked on! We'll be getting some more during our next trip to the library...

Inauguration

We've never been the flag waving types...

Until today!!

Conductor Hat

Lucas loves to play dress-up, so for Christmas we bought him this hat from the NYC Transit Museum.

Jesse's Blankie

Where'd it go?

Like Father, Like Son - II

Remember this post from way back when? (390 posts ago, to be exact!)

It's happened again! Do you see another likeness as I do?

I took this picture of Jesse in November and he still does this. He hangs out under the dining room table scavenging like a dog for crumbs and bits of food that Lucas has dropped while eating.

Pregnant

This is not a special announcement. Just a very sweet story.

Lucas lost a lot of weight while sick last month so we've been pretty much feeding him non-stop all day long, as much and as often as he'll keep eating to help him pack on a few more pounds. It's great to see his appetite back up again.

The other day I noticed how full he looked and pointed out to him how big his tummy was and how he must have a whole lot of food in there.

His reply: "No Mama, that's not food in there. That's a baby!"

My reply: "Oh, I see! Are you having a baby boy or a baby girl?"

Lucas: "A baby girl."

Me: "And what are you going to name her?"

Lucas: "Baby Arabelle."

Arabelle is his best friend at preschool! The teachers tell me that the two are inseparable! Is that the cutest thing, or what?

Here's what he did when I asked him to show me how he caresses the baby inside his uterus:

Playdate and Snow

Today Lucas was invited to a playdate at Mateo's house across the street. Unlike our usual playdates, this one was *big-kid style*, which meant that I dropped him off at Mateo's house and was left to have some very rare Jesse-n-Mama time while Papi was presenting at a presbytery conference all morning. Lucas and Mateo played trains and then ate a yummy lunch. They even went to the bathroom together, where Mateo demonstrated the fine art of urinating while standing up (Lucas still prefers to sit). I was told that the two boys were exceedingly polite with each other and a very, very cute sight to behold. Thank you, Diana, Richard y Mateo for a wonderful treat!

Here he is beaming as Diana brings Lucas home from his special playdate:

The camera went out on me here, but Lucas was jumping up and down with excitement to tell me about his morning. He was a non-stop chatterbox up until the moment that I closed his bedroom door for naptime a few minutes later.

After Jesse and Lucas awoke and Papi came home, we went for a little walk just in time for the small snowfall and to catch up with Mateo again.

Here are Mateo and Lucas making tracks with their feet:

Can you tell that we had stopped by the donut shop just before?


Jesse doesn't know what to make of the cold stuff.

We hadn't intended for Lucas to play in the snow until he saw Mateo as we were going back upstairs, so as you can see he had no gloves on. Minutes later Lucas begged to go inside because his hands were red and hurting. He kept asking for ice to help ease the burning feeling! Poor Lukie!

Who's That Baby In The Mirror?

See him waving to himself?

30 Rock

Now that Epiphany has come and gone, we have slowly begun to pack up the Christmas decorations and take down the tree. Lucas has said several times today "It's so hard to say good-bye to Christmas time" and I completely agree!

This past weekend, as a last holiday hurrah, we took Uncle Phill, Mempa, and Mema to visit the holiday train display at Grand Central Station and then the big Rockefeller tree once again.

As I look at these pictures of Lucas in front of the tree all I can think about is how proud of him I am. I'm proud of him all the time, of course. He's become quite a story-teller -- his stories becoming more and more creative and elaborate all the time. His language skills have taken off, so much so that I rarely have to simplify my explanations or book reading to help him relate or understand.

And we've arrived at that place... it's not exactly the 'Why?' Phase but all day long he demands "What is that?" and "What's it doing?" and "Who is that?" and "How does it work?"

If/when we turn the question around ("What do you think she's doing?") he might try to answer, or... he might ask you the question again and expect you to finally come up with a good answer. Life with a 3-year old is more fun than ever but in some ways getting a little bit trickier!

But the big reason I'm so proud of him right now is because he has seen 6 doctors or specialists in 13 days, some of them wielding long, sharp needles. Many times he's charmed the pants off of the nurses and office staff, showing them his new train or asking them what their favorite part of the day is or telling stories or singing loudly or asking his questions that have no easy answers. Two doctors have noted how uber polite he is (as when he voluntarily apologized for earlier yelling at the doctor when she was trying to give him a shot or when he unceasingly thanked another doctor when the she told Lucas how proud of him she was and that she loved him). He's been able to articulate his feelings and his urges ("Mama, I want to hide from the doctor!") and he's shown us how amazingly resilient and courageous he is. We tell him that it's okay to be scared and then we negotiate with him until he's finally able to move forward through the fear to sit still long enough to let someone poke and prod him.

And we're proud of Jesse, too. Here he is snoozing through our little trip to 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Mercifully he hardly makes a fuss as we take him along for the ride to navigate the many appointments and new offices that inevitably ends up messing with his eating and sleeping routine.

Today we combined Jesse's 9-month well-visit and a follow-up for Lucas at the same time. Lucas watched as the doctor gave Jesse two vaccinations and then he had great, great compassion for his little brother. He was quick to soothe Jesse and demand a band-aid for his bleeding thighs.

They're still young, but I think on some level the boys are learning the benefits of having a brother in front to pave the way, and of a brother behind to keep you company. How lucky is that?

Mandolin

Today we're missing Mema, Mempa and Uncle Phill, who arrived on New Year's Day and left just this morning. Jesse was captivated by Phill's singing and by his nifty mandolin.

New Toys

Baking cookies in the couch-oven.

They're ready!


Who wants one?

Here you go, Jesse!