Autumn

Franken-baby walks!

This was taken almost a week ago; Manny is much steadier now, though he still prefers crawling. He's been drinking from a cup (open top, no sippy cut) while standing for at least the past three weeks, without losing his balance. I want to say to him, "Manny, if you can do that, for heaven's sake, you can walk." But the Moo likes to do things his own way, thank-you-very-much.

We call him "Crazy M"

Manny had a very happy first birthday. It was especially happy because he received a (second) Puppy Pal, which he is waving around wildly in this video. Manny is a barrel of laughs!

Sassy AND sweet

Twinkle, twinkle, this is our little star.

Manny's second 1st birthday

The weekend following Manny's birthday, two beloved families who once lived in Chicago but have since moved away were in town for Baby Luke's baptism. To give Manny a 'real' birthday (the kind with cake and friends) and in order to make time for the womenfolk to get together and cluck like a bunch of hens, I planned a Saturday morning brunch birthday. Four women and their children ended up coming and we had a pleasantly full apartment.

All the kids got in on the gift-opening action. Left to right are Jonah, Jackson, Ezra, Auntie Lex, Jude and Manny.
Here Manny takes his new black dachshund for a walk (thanks, Deacon and Mimi!). Manny checks out the tissue paper, while Madrina Corene (in the background) checks out the cuddly blanket Auntie Lexie made for him.

At some point during the present-opening action, Jonah quietly sneaked to the dining room table and helped himself to a cupcake. I've rarely seen Jonah quieter.

Pumpkin cakes for a Pumpkin Pie.

Manny enjoyed his cupcake immensely. So much so that I had to dig half of it out of his mouth, lest he choke on it. Manny is a champion eater, though he does have a discerning palate.

Jonah had loads of fun with his friends, especially Isaac (L) and James. Sadly, James (still known informally to Jonah as "Bia") now lives in Dallas, Texas; happily, we now have an excuse to visit Dallas, Texas (though I didn't know before that we needed one).
When we asked Manny to show us how big he was, he tried to hide behind his hands.

Somebody get this kid a bed! Incidentally, this is the same shirt that Gabe was wearing in the hospital one year ago. If there is anything that makes me realize how big Manny now is, it is certainly this picture. Sweet dreams, Pumpkin Pie!

Ouch.

Jonah "crashed" Manny a few weeks ago. This was Manny's first real injury, though it ended up being relatively minor. I had been trying to get out the door with the boys for a little pre-dinner park play, when Jonah basically laid down on Manny and then steamrolled him ("crashing" is a very specific action for Jonah). Luckily, it was really only Manny's face and mouth that hit the floor, not his teeth. Jonah knew that he was in trouble when he saw my reaction, immediately going to his room when I told him to while I called my mom (who used to work as a dental hygienist) to re-check basic tooth trauma information. Manny ended up being consolable, though it did take a little bit longer than usual, and we ended up going to the park anyway -- I think it had been an all-day-inside day, and we all needed to go out! I made mild attempts to hide the blood on Manny's shirt from other parents at the park, but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth worrying over too much.
(Incidentally, Manny's shirt says "Mean Monday". It was, in fact, a Monday, and, I fear, a bit mean for poor Manny.)
I remember quite clearly Jonah's first big "ouchie". He was just starting to walk and tripped and smacked his head on the corner of a square table leg. A bump formed immediately and the skin stretched so tight over it that it ended up splitting open and bleeding a bit. That was, of course, very sad, but the difference this time is that Manny didn't do this to himself. It was a willfull act on Jonah's part, however low his comprehension of his own culpability and responsibility may be. Because Manny is mobile and clearly not a baby in the 3-month-old sense, Jonah tends to think of him as more of a playmate than he actually is. It's hard not to get upset with Jonah when he does this sort of thing ("crashing" is not entirely uncommon in our house), and it's hard to find the balance between realizing that Jonah doesn't understand the full implications of Manny's size and letting him off the hook altogether. Often, Jonah's misbehavior towards Manny seems to come about when my attention is directed elsewhere; in such cases, misbehavior is completely an attention-getting device. With two boys, I know that I should be prepped for such bruises and blood to happen every once in awhile, though I hope that there are no more until Manny can rough Jonah up a little himself.