Christmas in Michigan

Christmas Day for Jonah included: One fat lip (hello, duck bill);

several pieces of plastic food that we kept trying to get him to eat (he's since figured out that pretending is fun!);

and middle-of-the-night vomiting (props to Dada for cleaning that up all by himself) and explosive diarrhea that continued well into the car ride home the next evening. Thanks goodness he had Fuzz and a new fire truck (with lights!) to keep him happy. He's our little trouper.

Fortunately, he did get to ride the carousel at the mall. In fact he rode it four times on two different trips. Not that we believe in overkill or anything.

He did also have lots of fun putting marbles into the tractor-trailer that Mama used to play with.

Manny had a much easier time of it. Besides being over-stimulated by new faces and pretty lights, so that he had trouble sleeping, he had a lot of hugs.

Speaking of our Chubby Buddy: he's now 22 3/8 inches (25th percentile) and a solid 12 pounds, 9 ounces (75th percentile). In other words, he's growing well, especially in an outward direction. He is definitely our little social butterfly (butterball?), smiling and talking to anyone who speaks nicely to him. He did great meeting the relatives in Michigan, and two weeks ago in Iowa. Next up: his godparents, who are coming to Chicago with their three children for Manny's Baptism on January 6. Look how excited he is waiting for them! Can't wait to see you, Padrino and Madrina!

Accusation

"What? You think that I, innocent J, had something to do with those missing truffles? Nah..."

No comment

(Except that they are so sweet!)

Budding artist

Mama got really brave the other day during one of Manny's naps and decided to get out the finger paints. I thought Jonah might enjoy being allowed to get messy. I also wanted to shame him: He would witness my superior painting skills and then fail to acheive the same artistic vision that I so clearly possess. Unfortunately, his series entitled "Handprints and smears" displayed such artistic courage and depth of perception that I was the one who ended up in tears. To get even, I later challenged him to a foot-race, tripped him at the starting line, and gloated for the rest of the day. It's important to retain my "Alpha" status around the house. At least till Daddy gets home.

Can you tell that Jonah is actually upset in this picture? Do you think that it had something to do with the fact that I made him wear a trash bag that I insisted on calling a "smock"?

He's a bit unsure about this. I think he's confused as to why I'm actually encouraging him to smear him hands in this liquid-y stuff. Also confused as to why he can't eat it. Isn't it on a giant plate?
Still upset about the whole trash bag thing, evidently.
He finally managed to eat some. I'd be lying if I said that he only did it once.
All-in-all, a successful (though painfully short! Five minutes!) project.
"Handprints and smears" is on display in the Kitchen Gallery, an exciting new venue, through the start of the year. Admission by donation.

(belated) St Nicholas Day

Do you recall a picture of a certain little boy in holiday pants waiting for St Nicholas to come? The day finally arrived (a couple weeks ago -- we're a bit behind 'round here), and I don't know that any feast day of St Nicholas in the years to come will top this one, at least not in Jonah's mind. This one brought a nearly innumberable quantity of truck books (okay, three), a book about an anthropomorphic pigeon who likes to drive trucks, and a firehouse with a fire truck. Notice a theme? Oh, and pizza for dinner. Really, it doesn't get much better than this.

Even Manny got in on the excitement, lunging after his gift and spitting up all over Dad's shirt. (Manny was kind enough to shield the huge patch of spit-up with his head for this pic.)

And here we're all in such a high state of excitement that none of us can manage to look at the camera at the same time; in fact, we're not even looking in the same direction. Maybe next year...

Happy St Nicholas' Day!

Well-behaved

Here's a picture of Jonah in church: hands folded, intently watching the priest, contemplating the icons, quiet mouth... What? What's that? Okay, okay, you got me. I'm simply wishing that this were a picture of Jonah in church. Instead, this is a picture of Jonah... wait for it... watching trucks on youtube.com. *Sigh.*

Show me your sad face

Who wins this contest?

Jonah's might be worse for sheer pathos. However, the fact that he's actually mad at me for daring to talk on the phone while he's awake makes me feel less bad for him. Poor Manny, on the other hand... he's helpless! Plus, that is a VERY sad face.

I'll post happier photos soon. We are actually quite happy 'round these parts.

First snow

"Hey, Jonah, want to go outside and play in the snow?"

"Mmm, no, thanks, I'd rather look at the trucks in this ALDI flyer."

"Um, I'm not so sure about this. Plus, I look ridiculous."

"Truck!"

"What? There are more trucks at the end of the block? Let's run!"

"Hey! This stuff's hard to walk in, and these boots aren't helping! Give me a hand, will ya?"








"Bye-bye, trucks, I'll see you again soon!"

Recent developments

Look who's smiling!

Isn't he cute? What a handsome little guy. Manny has started smiling in response to us, which is a pretty exciting development. He has started smiling sooner than Jonah did as a baby. I only hope this means that he'll be even more good-natured than Jonah, but since Jonah is such a sweetie, this might be asking for too much. We'll see...

Speaking of Jonah...

Naughty little hoodlum in a knit hat? ...

...Or sweet little elf in holiday pants waiting for St Nicholas to bring him that amazing toy firehouse he saw on-line?

It really depends on the day.


Jonah is starting to talk more, adding more actual words. Very exciting! "Hello", "box", "baby", and "cracker" are among the recent developments, though we're still working on consistency. The cutest one, though, is his enthusiastic wagging of his index finger and his saying "No more" to all those naughty monkeys jumping on the bed. He usually is one of those naughty monkeys, of course.


Manny and Mama are off to our favorite doctor tomorrow (tomorrow is actually Friday... something is weird with the date on this web-log) to see how much chub Manny has packed on in the past month (a lot!). We're also going to see if Mama has a hernia, but that's a whole different, much less fun matter. Will report back! Until then...

Happy Thanksgiving

We at the Sanchez house gave thanks for many things this year.

Among them:

Gabriel and Jonah gave thanks for this delicious dinner (at least, I sure hope they did).

Jonah gives thanks for cucumbers and for the fact that from time to time we actually let him eat them like this.
He also gives thanks that he won't ever have to use his legs for walking again. He's found a better, faster, more noisy substitute.
Manny's just giving thanks that Jonah's latest attack didn't succeed. He hopes he'll be so lucky next time. Ears don't grow back, you know.
Happy Belated Turkey Day, friends and family!

Jonah's new hobby

Around and around and around. A(nother) visit to the ER is imminent. Jonah also runs around our coffee table and around our dining room table, often while dragging his popper behind him. This can go on for five to ten minutes at a time. What must it be like to be a toddler? Besides incredibly fun, obviously.

Jonah's other hobbies include: kissing baby Manny over and over again; staring obsessively at books with pictures of trucks; and putting various objects into his shape-sorter bin before shaking it and dumping them out, at which point he begins the process all over again. He's into repetition.

Jonah also has a new way of expressing frustration: biting! Great! His screams of despair (another mode of expression) we can ignore and actually find somewhat humorous in their pathos, but not the biting. He actually bit his dear Mama a couple days ago and so suffered a restrained time-out on my lap (facing away from me! No face-to-face attention!), as he doesn't get it that he has to stay put during time-out. (Actually, he's typically so sweet that he hasn't had much practice with time-outs.) He didn't bite again after that, though he did threaten Gabe with a bite later. Has anyone else raised a little shark?

Manny's hobbies include: staring at lights; staring at faces; and unloading half of what he just ate onto himself and/or his mother. I've never seen a baby spit up so much. I swear, it comes out by the cupful. No wonder that our laundry has increased dramatically. I'm just glad we can tell that he's chubbing up, otherwise I'd be worried that he's not keeping enough inside.

He's looking sweet here in a baby rhino shirt sent with love from his Madrina Corene and family in Pennsylvania, and a ridiculously cute hat provided by Great-Auntie Lizabeth in Iowa. All together now... Awwwww.

Introducing... Manny!

Here's our sweet Manny (looking extra-sweet in a frog suit sent to him with love from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa in Iowa; you see that they have impeccable taste in baby clothing).

I do realize that Manuel Mark a.k.a. Manny, or, more affectionately, Manny Moo, has already been introduced to everybody via e-mail attachments, though if you've been really lucky, you've met him in person. However, I started to feel a little bit bad that his older brother (whom we affectionately refer to as "Old News") took up so much of the picture space on the last post. As my children will one day look back on this web-log as evidence of my love for them, I figure that I'd best be equal opportunity. Plus, Manny's just so darn cute!

(Though Jonah's face here seems to indicate that he doesn't agree. But I digress.)

This was Manny's first attempt at tummy time. As you can see, he looks a little distressed by this...

And he had something to say about it afterwards. But at least I didn't face the wrath that he dishes out when he's getting an in-the-tub bath.

Finally, I'm including one more picture, since I don't want to give Manny a big head by letting him take up this whole post. Below you will see Jonah's playmate, James, who lives super-close, and whose parents are SUPER-NICE, especially his MOM (we love you, Katie! Clay, you're okay, too). Now all you far-away family and friends can see one of Jonah's buddies and his love of chips in the same picture. I'm also including it so that we won't all be shocked in a year when our little Maya Baby Jonah is playing with our blonde Vanilla Baby Manny. Seriously. It's going to happen. James is helping us with this transition. (And by the way, I was just kidding about that "Old News" bit above. Everyone knows that we love Jonah more because he's our first. Ah! Kidding again!)

Since every other mother I know has a web-log showcasing her adorable child(ren), I decided it's finally time to start my own. This means, of course, that I will become one of those camera addicts, who insists that everything be documented or else feels that it never actually happened. Evidence of this?

Exhibit A:

I dragged my camera to the park this evening just to take a picture of Jonah to post on here. I did not, however, drag Jonah to the park just so I could take a picture of him. He actually spent most of his time on this bouncy bridge falling and laughing, not running.

(Please note Jonah's outfit. This is a favorite of ours, as it is so ridiculous. One might never notice that the stripes don't exactly coordinate, as one is sure to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume stiking the eye.)

There is, however, a more practical aspect to this on-line journal than simply bragging about how adorable my children are, namely, showing the grandparents how adorable their grandchildren are.

Exhibit B:

One of Jonah's new favorite hobbies is holding his baby brother, which we think is pretty cute. Before you're frightened for Manny's safety, please know that my out-of-sight arm is actually supporting our 2-week old's head; I did not entrust that job to my 16-month-old, who doesn't understand (pretends not to understand?) that it's not okay to put his fingers into Baby Brother's eyes. Here he is giving Manny a kiss, not eating him.

Speaking of eating... Left to our own devices (i.e. not having a hot and tasty meal delivered to our door) tonight, the Sanchez family had a fresh-from-the-freezer pizza (which had actually been delivered to us a few days ago--thanks, Katie!) for dinner, followed by... brownie a la mode (don't even ask why we had this floating around).

These are Jonah's favorite kind of nights. He actually burst into tears when the brownie was gone. (We did eat some zucchini, too. Jonah would deign to accept it between bites of pizza, and only between bites of pizza.) Thank goodness our friend Miriam is bringing something for us tomorrow; otherwise, I'm pretty sure we'd end up eating S'mores for dinner. I'm also pretty sure that we have enough crackers and chocolate to make them... who needs the marshmallows?