The competition heats up

I've been revisiting old blog entries and pictures recently, comparing Alex and Jonathan at similar ages. I guess I'm not really supposed to do that, but when Alex does something for the first time, we're always surprised. Chris and I try to remember when Jonathan hit the same milestone, and having the blog handy to check has been really nice. Jonathan has been consistently heavier, longer, and rounder than Alex, but not by very much. We were looking at Jonathan's four month pictures and we were surprised how much the boys resemble each other. We weren't the only ones struck by the resemblance. Jonathan always likes to look at pictures on the computer, so he hopped right up as we compared the two boys. He said "Baby Alex!" and we told him "No, Jonathan, that's you when you were a baby." He looked again, turned around to look at us and said "No it's not!"

While Jonathan was bigger, Alex seems to be more mobile. According to blog entries, Jonathan didn't turn over onto his tummy until he was almost six months old, while Alex has been doing that consistently for at least the last week. Every morning I come in to find him sleeping on his tummy. As soon as we put him on his back, he flips over onto his side. He's consistently doing crunches and I have to buckle him into the bouncy seat or he'll fall out of it. He's very good at getting toys or fingers into his mouth, the better to help the two bottom teeth that have just poked through. On the other hand, we have a picture of Jonathan at this age standing up as I hold onto his arms. Alex bounces a lot on our lap but can't hold the standing position for more than half a second. I have the feeling he's going to crawl earlier than Jonathan and stick with it longer.

Jonathan continues to talk, talk, talk. Lately he's been speaking a little more formally. He used to say "Yeah!" when answering questions. But now that's changed and if you ask him if, say, he wants some blueberries, he'll say "Yes" quite crisply and distinctly. And in other signs that our boy is indeed growing up, he used his little blue potty six times today. He figured out he can end naptime early if he opens the door and asks for help with the potty. By the time we've emptied it, flushed it, washed the potty and our hands, and replaced the diaper, naptime sleepiness is a thing of the past. Another benefit he's discovered is that we are so enthused with his efforts, it is a surefire way to get attention off of Alex and back onto him.

New pictures are up, but not very many. We've been so busy getting the house packed and ready to sell. We did have a formal family portrait shot this week, however, which should make up for the long wait. Results coming soon!

No more baby straightjacket

Mom and Dad will breathe a sigh of relief at this one. Alex has finally outgrown his Miracle Blanket, AKA the Baby Straightjacket. It's a complicated little contraption with pockets and flaps that has kept Alex snugly swaddled at nights. We bought it in desperation when he could only sleep in our arms as a newborn, and within a few nights he was sleeping soundly in his crib. For the last week or two, he's protested a lot as we wrestle him into it, then conked out immediately thereafter. But yesterday morning, Chris went in to get him and found him lying facedown with the blanket draped toga-style across his torso. So we have had to find alternate sleepwear. He was very confused last night to placed in the crib with his hands free. I have found that if I hold him until he's drowsy, then lay him down, he will startle awake very quickly. So I have to stand there and hold his arms at his sides for a few minutes until he's deeply asleep.

Besides rolling over and escaping from his swaddle, Alex is hitting some other milestones as well. He cut two bottom teeth this weekend - you can just feel the little points as they've cut through the gum. He has been going crazy with chewing on hands and fingers and shirts and I hope he'll get some relief now that they're through. He's also been eyeing our dinners rather intently. He likes to sit on Chris's lap as we eat and he stares at the fork quite hungrily.

And my goodness, he's a noisy baby. "Mr. Grunt" doesn't begin to cover it any more. He sits in his bouncy seat and starts pumping with his legs until all the toys are flailing wildly about and crashing together. And he shrieks and screams and hollers until you'd think it was Jonathan making all that racket. I really can't believe how much noise this child makes. I'm anxious to see if he starts talking soon, and I get the sense he is, too.

Jonathan and his memory continue to amaze me. I realized last week that he remembers where almost all of his books and toys came from. He will periodically hold one up and say "Grandma gave me this" (covers quite a bit) or "Auntie Iz and Uncle Jim!" This morning, he was playing with one of his fire trucks, content after a breakfast of French toast and fresh raspberries. I was holding Alex on the sofa, enjoying the morning. Jonathan looked at me while holding his fire truck and said "You gave this to me. I want to say thank you. That was nice of you" and went back to playing.

Mixing things up

There's so many things for a two and a half year old to keep straight, it's no wonder that Jonathan gets a few mixed up from time to time. We're still waiting to find out if he's colorblind. He's gotten to the point where he can identify the entire rainbow - but red and green are still a 50-50 proposition. Chris has thought about getting some of those test cards, where the numbers are hidden in the dots, but we haven't so far. It's not as though there's some treatment he's missing out on. We'll just have to wait and wonder a while longer.

Pronouns are another area of age-appropriate confusion. Jonathan's kind of flexible about the gendered ones especially. Some of this may be our fault, since we have continued his habit of calling all the Little People "Susan" - which leads to some funny moments as we ask Jonathan to go put away "the Susan with the mustache." He'll point to characters in his storybooks and refer to them as "him" or "her" seemingly at random.

Once in a while, the confusion is understandable but nonetheless embarassing. I know we have a lot of Charlottesville readers and this is a small town, so I'll have to be a bit circumspect. We have a neighbor, a very nice woman, who is somewhat masculine in appearance. She's usually dressed in casual clothes and has a short hairstyle. Jonathan and I were checking the mail the other day (another area of confusion - he thinks all the mail is his) when this neighbor pulled into her driveway. She waved a friendly "hello" as she unloaded her groceries. Jonathan, for reasons that remain obscure, said to me "That's a man, Mommy!"

I cringed and leaned over to hush him. He shouted again "That's a MAN! Him's going inside! That's a MAN!" I told him "No, no, sweetie, that's a lady" but he contradicted me each time, growing louder and louder. I offered him all the catalogues, the keys, a big stick on the ground - anything I could think of to distract him. Finally I picked him up, slung him over my shoulder, and raced down the hill at top speed.

Like the Grover book says: "Oh, I am so embarassed."

End of an Era

Two years, seven months, and six idyllic days came to an end this morning. Jonathan got out of bed. In all that time he'd never figured out that he can get out of his firetruck bed, open the door, stroll into our room and demand breakfast. Granted, with Alex around these last few months, we haven't exactly been sleeping in. But it was nice to know that once we got the baby settled back down, we could shower, eat breakfast, and read the paper before heading back upstairs. We'd open the door and find Jonathan sitting up in bed. He'd grin, say "I'm all done!" and clamber out eagerly.

The morning, I'd just snuggled in next to Alex for a few minutes more rest when I heard Jonathan saying "It's time to get up!" Next thing I knew, he was standing at my bedside, his eyes level with mine (when did he get so tall?) and he was demanding "uppia!" for a cuddle.

Oh well. He's gotten pretty smart recently. If Chris waits on law school for a few more years, he and Jonathan can go together. Jonathan's come up with an iron-clad defense (in his mind) for any wrongdoing. We'll tell him to pick up his toys, or to stop poking Alex's cheeks, or to use his spoon rather than his fingers at the dinner table. And he'll look up plaintively at us and say "But I'm a good listener!" He's also gotten much more assertive. It's not good to laugh when he unleashes a tirade such as "No, Mommy, come over HERE! It's not your stepstool, it's MINE! Jonathan do it! No hold my feet!" but it's hard not to.

While Jonathan plays Mr. Intensity, Alex is Mr. Mellow. He loves to smile and babble with everyone. He's stil teething and there are two tiny dimples on his lwoer gums. He's become a proficient at thumb-sucking and is a champion knuckle-chewer. And at his four month checkup he weighed 19 pounds, 1 ounce! He's in nine to twelve month clothing sizes.