J for Aunt Jenny

Aunt Jenny was here this weekend, and while it was too short a visit, we did manage to pack a decent amount into 36 hours. Dinner at Judy Fu's, breakfast at Endelyn Joe's, and a quick jaunt down to Olympia for the Procession of the Species.

Sunday came much too quickly, and Josh misses you already!

Z for Zensitive?

Monday was "Z" - so after school we spent the afternoon at the zoo with Lauren & Thom & Thom's mom.

After eating lunch with the zebras, Josh & Lauren read up on the monkeys...


And then climbed around on the elephant statue...


We had intended to make baked ziti for dinner, but unfortunately, the rest of the day didn't go so great. Monday dinners are always hectic since Josh has gymnastics, and to make things worse, Josh got hurt not once, not twice, but three times that afternoon?!? The worst was actually on the way to gymnastics, when his finger got scrunched by the automatic window... ouch. He still made it to class, but in a considerably less excited mood...

And in a reminder of just how sensitive Josh can be... that night he asked me to tell him a story about potato bugs, so I made one up about a potato bug that loses his favorite red leaf - but before I could get to the happy ending, Josh burst into tears. "It wasn't red, it was white. And it didn't have 5 points, it was THIN! and it wasn't a leaf, it was a blanket!" And then he started sobbing - not just crocodile tears, but those quiet gasping tears... of course, what can you expect from the kid who cried at "Kitten's First Full Moon?" :)

A for the Always Adorable Anna

We had dinner tonight with Anna, Laura & Morgan. It was great to see them - Anna is really sweet with Sammy. Today she kept kissing his feet! It was also really cute to hear Josh telling Anna that she "needs a baby".




Note the matching blankets - Josh's present to Anna before she was even born. I love thinking about how many babies he gave those to! Although I'm not sure any of them get *quite* as much use out of theirs...

Now, if only he'd give one up for Sammy...

Sam in the Bumbo...

"B" for baking with the boys...

I swapped work days with my co-worker so that her 2 yr old could have oral surgery (yikes!) so I was off on Friday.

Josh has been asking to make Banana Bread for weeks, so it seemed like a good day for the letter "B".

We tried a new recipe that called for orange zest & cranberries. (We passed on those...gone are the days when Josh required a bowl of them before bed!) It turned out pretty good - not as sweet as usual, but the orange flavor was a nice change,and it baked perfectly.
























B for Brothers:


















We spent the afternoon at the Dr's, where I *finally* got the "b"lood test to check my Vitamin D levels, and a T"B" test so I can go to school with Josh.

For movie night we tried the new "B"allard Mandarin Restaurant - our newest hope for decent Chinese food. Not so much... Carlos would say "B for bad..." Disappointing, especially since it's literally across the street from the video store. At least Josh loved the orange chicken...















On a last note, "B" for bizarre - as in the weather. In less than 4 hours, it hailed, thundered, & snowed?!?!

Ham Sandwich

"You're a good ham sandwich and I love you very much..."

Monkey Boy

This week at Gymnastics went even better; Josh made it through the entire class by himself. He really loves the rings. Apparently those skinny arms are hiding more muscles than we realized!

D is for Dinosaur...

We're borrowing a great idea from Josh's friend Lauren's mom (thanks Amy!) and trying to do a "letter of the day". We decided to do them out of order, since Josh knows the alphabet, but doesn't always recognize the individual sounds, esp out of context. So this Saturday's letter was "D" - for Dinosaurs, in honor of Liam's 5th birthday. (Did I mention that I can't believe he is 5 already?!)

We had a great afternoon, and discovered an amazing park in Federal Way: Steel Lake Park - a huge lake, with a sandy beach & a really nice playground - plus easy highway access, and pretty equally located between Seattle & Olympia. Holly & Kip (plus everyone else!) put together a "Dinosaur Egg Hunt", with eggs for the boys to excavate. Josh gave up on the whole slow & steady notion, and resorted to simply smashing his on the ground, but hey, it worked, so... Plus, there was cake. :) Perfect for Josh's new "I only eat sweet things" diet...

Most of all, he had a fantastic afternoon hanging out with his cousins. The weather was perfect, and - as always - it was great to see everybody. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again in two weeks for the Procession.

Since we were already halfway there, we drove down & spent Saturday night at Dan & Marney's. At Josh's request, Sunday was "P" - for playgrounds & playing at the park with planes. We took the boys to Bigelow Park (one of my favorite spots in Olympia) to play with various flying birds, planes, & Stomp Rocket toys. Josh & Gage had a blast, and it definitely brought back memories of living in Olympia when Dan & Carlos made their own rockets... Hopefully Carlos will upload some photos in the next few days.

4 month check-up

Sam had his 4 month check-up today, and continues to tower over Josh comparatively. 14.11 pounds, and 26 1/2 inches. Basically up 2 inches & 2 pounds from his 2 month check-up. Like Josh, he is still disproportionately tall given his parents - he remains in the 90% for height?!

His weight has dropped some, down to the 25-50% (despite those adorably chubby thighs!) but still much higher than Josh, who hovered around the 5% mark at this age... He also got 4 shots, plus an oral vaccine for the rota virus - and like Josh, did surprisingly well. He barely reacted to the first two - and honestly cried more over the oral vaccine. Of course, that could have something to do with his deep-rooted suspicion towards anything resembling a bottle...

In other news, his Dr. (Holly) thinks that the mark on his face may indeed be a "vascular birthmark" - which will hopefully fade by the time he's one. I gave up trying to figure out what to put on it, and ironically enough, it seems to be shrinking. So maybe if we just leave well enough alone, it will go away on its own...

They really are two different kids...

...despite looking freakishly alike.

Both taken, by random coincidence, at exactly 3 months 5 days.


(And the real question - do you know which one is which?)

Just because it's so damn cute

Gymnastics

So tonight was Josh's third gymnastics class, and I think it went pretty well. For the first time, he spent almost all of the class without us. I think it really helps that we've been going to the open gym, plus his friend Lauren from school is in the class. She is as fearless as he is timid... they make a good pair. Plus, she comes with a bonus baby brother to keep Sam company.

So....

My hope is that setting this up will both motivate us to record things more often, and provide some way of posting photos for folks. This is my first experiment with blogging, and I have the suspicion I will distinctly either love it or hate it.

Worst case scenario, we can use it to post photos without having to actually write anything...