Beautiful baby boy

Ethan turned 17 months with panache last week. He's such an entertaining kid. He's so curious about everything. He loves puzzles and can find where the pieces go, although he doesn't usually put them in the correct orientation. He won't continue the puzzle, though, until his assistant spins the piece so it drops into position. I suspect he's doing it on purpose. 

He is happiest when he is outdoors. The cold doesn't bother him at all. This week the temps have been in the 70s, which his caregivers greatly appreciate during our frequent jaunts outside. Today he let me know that the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing were too cumbersome, so I took them off and he happily wandered the streets in his diaper (cloth, so he still looked moderately dapper). 

His vocabulary is gradually growing. He's added 'bye' recently, though it usually sounds like 'die', which hasn't caused too many uncomfortable situations yet. He mostly sticks to his old favorites, uh-oh, wow, and yeah, which get him through most situations. Oh, he still doesn't say 'no' but he shakes his head with an adorable 'unh-uh'. 

He is a master sidewalk chalk artist and has now discovered the joy of crayons. Most of his creations consist of many dashes across the page, which I find utterly beautiful. 

He's a great hugger. For a few weeks as soon as you asked he would run up for a hug. Now his hugs are more often given to his stuffed animals, but he will still offer hugs to mom and dad sporadically. He's also given me kisses several times. That's just about the best feeling in the world. 

His favorite things right now: balls, sidewalk chalk, water, stacking things, puzzles. 

He continues to be fiercely independent. He only takes your hand if he needs assistance climbing onto a curb. He can't yet dress himself but he wants to. When he's standing in his 'learning tower' in the kitchen and I lean on the edge, he will often push my arm away to let me know I'm getting in his space.

Not a fan of Santa this year, like every other 1-year-old.  

4 months (plus a little)

Emily Hope turned 4 months old a few days (ok, weeks) ago. We did take 4-month photos but mama didn't get around to posting till now. 

This kid is a spitfire. She's got a delightful, easygoing personality - until things don't go her way. Then she rages (much like her mama, actually)! Most of the time, lucky for us, things do go her way. She's still sleeping through the night, though this week has been a bit rough due to teething. She has one itty bitty tooth coming through and she's drooling like mad. She gnaws on our shoulders, fingers, anything we're holding. 

She rolled from front to back for the first time on 12/7, just before her 4-month birthday, but she refuses to repeat the feat. She is really not a fan of tummy time. She does seem to want to crawl - she pushes herself up on her knees but can't get forward propulsion without parental assistance. When she's on her back, she loves rolling to her side - it won't be long before she rolls over. 

It's just delightful to see her taking the world in. She studies our faces, her brother when he's playing, the TV, the fan. While she definitely smiles and laughs, it's only when she's considered the situation and deemed it sufficiently amusing. No smiles for the ceiling fan, like E used to give willy-nilly. If you have received a smile from Em, you can feel proud that you've earned it. 

We haven't tried 'real food' yet since she doesn't seem particularly interested. I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition of baby-led weaning (modified) with Em starting around 6 months. 

Look who's 4 months!!!

3 months already!!

Miss Emily turned 3 months old yesterday!

She's such a lovely little lady. With quite an unladylike propensity to toot and belch, but that's to be expected, I guess. 

She doesn't smile as often as her brother but when she smiles you know she means it. We pulled out the bouncer a few weeks ago because she loves to stand and kick. She loves it! If she's a little irritable we can drop her in the bouncer and she'll bliss out for a while. 

I'm almost sad that she's growing up so fast. Some day soon she won't nap on our chests while massaging our arms anymore, and there aren't any more babies coming. 

She's such a mellow little lady. The only time she cries is just before she falls asleep - and then she gets a bit hysterical, turning a deep red and crying so much she forgets to breathe. Then within 2 or 3 minutes she's out. 

Happy 1/4-birthday, sweet Emmy!

Hiiii.

My new favorite thing: When a car passes by our house, E does his little reverse wave (holds his hand beside his cheek, palm facing back, and flaps his little fingers) and sighs in this soft, itty bitty voice, 'Hiiii.' Adorable. Hopefully video footage to follow.

His vocabulary right now includes Hi, Yeah, Uh-oh, On/Off (which unfortunately both come out as 'Ah'), Ooh, and Wow. So fun to watch him point at passing airplanes and say Wow. Or draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and say Wow at his own creation. Or throw his food on the ground and say Uh-oh. 

It feels like any day now he's going to really start talking and just not stop. Knowing his pedigree, it's likely that he won't stop for at least 45 years...

Routines

We were having a lot of trouble getting E to sleep through the night after he moved down to his new bedroom a couple months ago. It was also almost impossible to give him a bath - he hated them. Cried, clung to us, was generally miserable. About 2 weeks ago we finally started a very fixed routine: around 8:30 he brushes his teeth, takes a bath, plays for about 20-30 minutes in his room, reads a book or 2 with mama, says prayers and goes to bed. For two weeks he has slept through the night almost every night. Occasionally he'll wake, need a hug, and falls asleep within 15 minutes or so. 

Tonight when I took him downstairs I asked him if he was ready for his bath. He walked into the bathroom, reached up for his toothbrushes (doesn't everyone brush with a toothbrush In each hand?), raised his arms for me to take off his shirt, and happily played in the bathtub for 10-15 minutes. Then when I put him in his crib he didn't cry for a moment, just lay down and fell asleep within a few minutes. I'm so proud of how much progress he's made. 

Obligatory pumpkin patch post

We waited till late in a very long day to get pumpkin patch pics today, hence the tired mom and kids and the lack of dad pics. We're lucky we got one with both kiddos in the same frame at all!

E had a great time in the hour before these photos, running through the fair, collecting trash and giving it to his mom (he's quite fastidious), bouncing in a bounce house, and trying to destroy a random nursery room at the church where the fall festival was held that I commandeered in order to change Em's diaper and feed her. So he was rather worn out by the time his dad joined us and we headed to the pumpkins. 

We took some cute pics at Trader Joe's last week too. None of Em because she was a bit too floppy for their display and I couldn't climb in to prop her up...

Obligatory pumpkin patch post

We waited till late in a very long day to get pumpkin patch pics today, hence the tired mom and kids and the lack of dad pics. We're lucky we got one with both kiddos in the same frame at all!

E had a great time in the hour before these photos, running through the fair, collecting trash and giving it to his mom (he's quite fastidious), bouncing in a bounce house, and trying to destroy a random nursery room at the church where the fall festival was held that I commandeered in order to change Em's diaper and feed her. So he was rather worn out by the time his dad joined us and we headed to the pumpkins. 

We took some cute pics at Trader Joe's last week too. None of Em because she was a bit too floppy for their display and I couldn't climb in to prop her up...

Little sis is 2 months old!

Happy 1/6 to lovely miss Emily Hope!

This little lady is such a dream baby. She's an excellent sleeper who occasionally sleeps all through the night but even on 'bad nights' she wakes once, eats quickly, and falls asleep again without a fuss.

She definitely likes attention - about the only reason Em cries is that mama is playing with her iPad while holding her. All eyes must be directed at Emily!

She has the most piercing gaze and is very good at staring you down. When Ethan's in the room, she studies him constantly.

She's quite strong, holding her head up like a champ and kicking furiously on her play mat. I was impressed with how well she sat up and moved around for the 2-month photos this morning!

We've seen a few smiles, but she seems much more serious than her brother was at this age. And looking at his 2-month update, we were struck by how talkative he was. Em is much more quiet. E looks like his mama but has his papa's personality; Em looks more like her dad but acts like her mom.

Although there's not a ton of hair, what she has is dark and straight. She has big, dark blue eyes which may or may not stay that color. Her eyelashes are long and lovely.

She's not as interested in the pacifier as Ethan was - which is fortunate, since E is a proud binkie thief who will yank it out of her mouth when we're not looking.

Our cup runneth over.

Nap time

Ethan's favorite morning nap spot.

Summer at the zoo

Yeah, Em mostly ignored the animals.

We took Emily on her first trip to the Houston Zoo last week. Because summer is still in full effect here, we planned a morning excursion and even so only lasted ~2 hours before the heat and humidity sent us running for an air-conditioned restaurant!

The ones with the protruding ears are sea lions, not seals, dad.

Gran and Uncle Gokul joined us for the adventure, ate lunch with us, then drove to the airport to fly to Australia.

Ethan wasn't walking yet the last time we went - it's so much more fun now! Everyone went on the carousel, and E rode all by himself (with dad hovering beside him, of course!).

There are chickens just strolling around. Is that odd?

E enjoyed the children's zoo area, although he's still a little young for most of the activities. He studied the goats in the petting zoo and almost touched them several times. He also showed us the safest way to descend a 3-foot slide (turn around and slowly, oh so slowly crawl backwards), a method he also uses for stairs, sofas, curbs, thresholds, and gentle inclines.

Safety first!

Hopefully Gran will send me the pictures she took so I can add them...

I made my mom stand in front of the Australian kookaburra. She went to Australia for 5 days, including the 2 days of travel. Is that odd?

Mom took a special photo for my brother, who's a pointing enthusiast. Fortunately for her, I did not make her take a special photo for my sis-in-law, who is a jumping enthusiast.

Emily turns 1 month old!

Little Bit is a month old today!

Poor second child, she doesn't get an 'E for Extraordinary' treatise like her big brother did on his 1-month birthday, but she will always know that she is, indeed, extraordinary. She's a strong little lady who guzzles milk, swings her little arms and legs and holds up that head, and fixes you with penetrating stares so intense that she must be reading your mind and gleaning all your deepest secrets. Mostly, she sleeps.

Happy 1-month birthday, little one!

Thirteen months and counting

So a week before Ethan turned 13 months old, he achieved the momentous life milestone of becoming a big brother. Thus far, he's been a fantastic older brother, which I define as not maiming, breaking, or scarring his infant sister. He really seems to understand 'Soft' and 'Gentle', which is probably because we've spent so much of the past few months encouraging him to be gentle and soft with the 2 dogs. 

What to say about our wonderful 13-month-old?? He really is pretty awesome. I've decided that the best adjective for this kid is jolly. He loves to laugh, smile, run, dance (an absurd little squat-sway-clap that happens when we put any music on, from classical to commercial jingles to hip-hop). He delights in handing us whatever he is holding, in feeding us his snacks, in high-fiving over and over again. There are tears, of course, especially when his father goes to work or goes downstairs or leaves the room or puts him down. Rarely there are hysterics, when we are outside and a storm is coming and I pick him up to go back in the house or when dad won't let him eat the dog food. Generally, there are smiles and giggles. 

He is just smitten with his own reflection and can't pass a room with a mirrored surface without stopping to check himself out. Oh yeah, and he can't pass up a good light switch either - his favorite is the one in the bathroom that he can just reach if he stretches.

Many evenings, starting a couple of weeks ago, we take him and his sister out for a neighborhood stroll, once the temps drop below 90 degrees or so (around 7pm - gah!). Mister Independent likes to walk all by himself, stopping to investigate many phenomena along the way (such as pine cones, puddles, asphalt spills, street lights, teenagers on bikes). He refuses to hold hands, except when he is having trouble transitioning from the street to the grass and he needs moral support. 

He loves the swings at the neighborhood park and laughs the whole time he is swinging. What a delightful sound!

He loves to be in the pool or the hot tub and loves going to splash pads, but until very recently he's absolutely hated taking baths. We have spent the last few weeks gradually re-introducing him to the bathtub and yesterday he got a bath and a shampoo without tears (hooray!). Hopefully soon he'll enjoy bath time as much as any normal toddler.

He's gotten really good at mimicking - we have to be careful what we say around him these days! He still doesn't use a lot of words but he definitely says 'ball', 'mi[lk]', and 'hi'. Oh, and 'mmmmm' while he eats.

As you can see from the photos, he's just getting cuter every day. Happy 13 months, E!