The case of the disappearing feet

Every morning Finn wakes up with big smiles. Often it's dark and he's bapping us in the face as he flails. Once he convinces us that we're awake and to stop pretending otherwise, he often gets sat up, at which point he starts trying to grab his feet (a favorite past time of his, especially lying on his back on the changing table) and seems to be a bit perplexed that they seem to have disappeared overnight (he sleeps in a sleep sack, which is like a sleeping bag with arms you button on), it doesn't bother him, he just is a little confused that he used to have feet, and he can feel feet, but he can't see them. Tonight he was singing, which was really just squeeking. I had both boy-o's today so Mama could go to the dentist. Finn thought it was funny when the stroller did big bumps.

Warmer Days

The weather has warmed up, so Finn is getting to be barefoot, and his feet are so excited to be out of their booties and thrilled to be finding each other, they are almost always pressed sole to sole. He's also grabbing them with his hands if they're barefoot or hidden in pajamas. Finn likes dancing a lot, if I bounce him and sing to hiim (They Might be Giants "Never go to Work" for example) he grins so big and starts to laugh. He's also almost sitting up on his own, probably pretty soon. Coming back a little to the rolling from tummy to back (Francesca thinks that maybe because he's bigger it's a little harder because of the extra mass) But also lots of squirming around smiling, Finn dancing, and arching his back, which Francesca says is him thinking about rolling from his back to his front. Had another shot and didn't even notice it. Oliver and I were playing a writing game tonight, where I would write letters and he would trace them, then he was writing words like pretty and room on his own (with me calling the letters out for him.) Pretty amazing children I have. So so so lucky! :)

Toys

Finn is SUPER into his toys. Totally focused and concentrated, grasping one, reaching to grab another, even smacking them into each other. He gets frustrated that he can't reach them and it looks like he is trying to levitate himself over to them. Oliver was never that focused on toys this small, so it's fun to see the start of Finn's unique personality. He's still really focused on Oliver as well, watches him intently whenever he can. Finn has taken up the tradition of not being interested in nursing if there is anything else more interesting happening. He doesn't get to do long naps the way Oliver did, but likely that's because he has Oliver constantly talking and leaping and needing Mama's attention so Mama doesn't have the time to get Finn fully out. He's starting to get heavy, wearing out our arms, he's fitting 6-9 month stuff but he's only 3 months, he doesn't ever spit up so he must just be packing on the breast milk bulk.

Grampa Howard has given Finn his Jewish name: Uriel Avshalom. It's neat to have that piece of his heritage. He'll have to grow some teeth before he can sample some Paella and get the true flavor of his Spanish Heritage.

March

My heart operation went very smoothly. Finn is getting really good at grabbing his toys. He seems to like standing up. Still drooling a ton, we had to dig out some bibs. He puts the giraffe's feet in his mouth often, I think the teeth may be coming soon. More little laughs. He is starting to get distracted when he nurses, if his brother is talking he'll stop to look around. He's often strapped onto mama asleep when I come home, but wakes up and looks for me at the sound of my voice.

Oliver is doing great. Loving preschool. He's picking up letters pretty quickly all of a sudden. He did fine with the upheaval of the heart stuff. Probably jinx ourselves but he's been doing really well with sleeping through the night and we've started working on going to sleep more autonomously. We are pleased to see that our gentle approach has worked out.

So everything's going well. Now that we're passed the operation thing we have the mental energy to pay attention to big picture stuff again.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Update

Finn got a vaccine the other day and REALLY didn't like it. Very primal the way the little ones scream. But he's alright now. But we're thinking we're going to let them poke him twice next time to get it over with faster. We're wondering how we're gonna get any more shots into Oliver now that he's big enough to understand what's coming. Finn's almost able to sit up, when he's propped up he lists to the side like a drunk til he falls over, but very slowly. He rolled over the other day, from his front to his back. Lots of sucking, sucking on his hand, sucking on his blanket. He's grabbing the toys hanging down from his bouncy seat also. He's been a little fussy about nursing, we got him a pacifier in case like Oliver he wants to suck without drinking, but he hasn't shown interest.

Oliver is doing well, he's started preschool and is loving it, super excited to go every day. He seems to be going through a testing phase. When he gets upset he says "I want to be mean" and tries to hit us, or throw things at us. It's a little worrisome but Amanda went through it a month ago so we are thinking it's a phase. Trying to figure out the best way to help him through it.

I have the stupid heart procedur next week. Not looking forwards to it. Oh well.

Francesca got an Opinion piece published in the local paper, yay!

January 2011 videos

Everyone's healthy right now. Finn is drooling a ton, teeth must be coming, but he doesn't seem bothered by it.

Vaccines, drool, smiles

First Vaccination for Finn last Friday, when he got it sounded like a little wild animal. He slept all day, or was fussy when he wasn't sleeping. But by the next day was back to normal. Very drooley lately, like a little spitty bug, maybe he's teething. Whenever I hold him in the sling he winds up slobbering my arm, and he likes to put a toy giraffe in his mouth too. He's still really smiley, he looks up into your face and just breaks into one smile after another. We had him sitting up on the couch and he was entranced with his big brother bounding all over the room. I sat him up on the couch and he "talked" a lot, just like he was having a conversation. Francesca said yesterday he was in the bouncy chair while she was making dinner and Oliver held his hand and talked to him and he was happy. He's getting really strong, his little hands cling tightly to mine, or my clothes. He caught a little cold, he keeps getting very distressed that he can't breathe, he hasn't figured out that he can breathe through his mouth yet.