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?