At seven weeks, Xander is: really becoming quite the little clock with his wakeful times, eating habits, and sleeping patterns; continuing to work on his nursing skills (thanks to Betty, the dear lactation consultant at Vanderbilt, who is graciously walking with us through the process); and stealing my heart when he smiles at me behind his bottle.
After ducking into a neighbor’s house out of the rain on our evening walk last week, we found out about a splash pad at a local park. Intrigued, Tom and I loaded Jonas and Xander up on a Sunday morning and headed out with Aunt Beans, who was visiting with us (and who also took this wonderful picture), for a little family fun. I don’t know who had more fun…Jonas or DaDa.
Inspired by MeMe and her ability to expand the artistic horizons of wee ones, I cracked out the finger paints with Jonas a few weeks ago…
I was super excited to use the easel we found at a yard sale earlier in the summer (a great deal at $3) and super nervous to let Jonas be free to bolt and run with paint all over his hands. HaHa!!! He was not a big fan of the smock, so we opted for less clothes and the meal time bib. Tentative at first, he kept pushing me towards the easel and saying, “MaMa do it!” He warmed up to it after a little while, though, (although still not keen on having paint all over his hands) and here he is putting the finishing touches on his first finger painting. Beautiful, eh?
In his sixth week, Xander is: continuing to eat and sleep like a champ; holding his head up with surprising strength; and smiling whenever he hears Jonas’ voice.
In his twenty-first month, Jonas is: amazing us with his two to four word sentences (sit up MaMa, Petra come, hello Good Dog, buckle up, be careful, Petra get off couch, DaDa mow yard, DaDa throw Petra ball, etc.); trying to jump (although he can’t quite get both feet off the floor…this is one of my favorite things he tries); attempting to go up and down the stairs one step at a time without holding MaMa or DaDa’s hand; reaching for door knobs and light switches; working puzzles with surprising accuracy; identifying colors; saying no; cheers-ing with drinks; climbing up into his high chair and car seat; taking a big boy bath; working on eating with a big boy plate (still not there yet) and with big boy utensils (doing great); and trying his hand at finger painting.
At five weeks, Xander is: sleeping through the night more times than not (the five hour kind…and we are totally thankful and AMAZED); enjoying his bottles of breastmilk while we work through our nursing issues; smiling and cooing quite a bit; and emerging as quite the “soul searcher”.
At four weeks, Xander is: starting to coo; tracking really well with his eyes; hitting a bit of a snag with nursing (but we’re working on it); and taking several good naps a day in his pack-n-play.
We really enjoyed our weekend visit with Jonas and Xander’s Aunt Sherri, Uncle Rich, Cousin Kaitlyn, and Cousin Andrew (consignment sale shopping, splashing in the pool, playing Wii, having fun with play-doh, and catching up with great conversations over car rides and neighborhood walks). Here’s a picture of all of us on our evening walk (from left to right): Tom, Jodi and Xander, Kaitlyn and Jonas, Petra, Sherri, Rich, and Andrew.
