White Sox night, once yearly

My boys willingly and happily sit in the back of the bus. It is going to take them a while to understand Rosa Parks. Train platform. City kids.

Jonah with Southpaw, the Sox mascot. I asked J if he wanted a picture with Southpaw. He seemed surprised, but then ran right up to the creature and (as you can see) posed happily. Manny, on the other hand, has always abhorred live and lifesize mascots; he was not letting go of his grip on Gabe. J, in older sibling fashion, talked several times throughout the night of having his picture taken with Southpaw and wondering aloud, "Why didn't you do that, Manny?" (Implication: "You big wimp.") "Next time," Manny reassures us.

(Yes, that's a plastic bag that I'm letting Iohan play with. We live dangerously 'round here.)

To cut down on concession costs, I packed a "snack sack" for the older boys. It was almost magic. I filled it full enough to last through several innings and we faced barely any requests for ballpark snacks. Next time, the snack sack will be even bigger and better!

Jonah's reenactment of an amazing catch that we saw. Can you feel the magic?

First solids

These pictures were taken mid-May, a few days after Iohan was 6 months old. I finally caved and gave him solid food -- one more meal to prepare, but I can't make the poor child survive on mama milk forever. He loves me all the more for letting him grow up. He's also growing out, thighs chubbier than ever, belly nice and round. Just the way a baby should be. Avocado was Iohan's first food. I look at these pictures, and all I hear is, "Squish, squish, squish."

Hot diggity!

At the beginning of June, we celebrated Jonah's last day of play class with a stop at ye olde weiner stand. Sadly, it only served to remind me why I don't eat hot dogs, but I didn't let my rebelling senses rain on the boys' parade. They were so happy that Manny willingly shared with Jonah. Now that's somethin'. Actually, no, now that I write that I realize that "somethin'" would be if Jonah willingly shared with Manny -- Moosy is fairly generous -- but you get the point, right? They loved it. Possibly atomic relish. I won't use vulgar language, so as to protect the sensitivities of some of my readers, but I will say that I only let my kids eat this, ahem, STUFF once in a while. It was painful to even look at. It actually colored Manny's bowels. Atomic!

Cutest. Kid. EVER!