March at our house

The last few weeks have been good. We got back from DC and settled back into our routine. Alex started a new schedule for his gymnastics and swimming at the YMCA. I get to take him to his Saturday gymnastics class. Maybe it's just motherly pride, but he's quite good! He's a natural.


My parents came up for a weekend. Because we "lost" our guest-room with the arrival of Jameson, they stayed at a local hotel. We took the boys there for swimming--Jameson's first time! When we walked in to the pool area, he started kicking and waving his arms as well as making his happy baby noises. When I took him into the water, he was almost solemn for a few moments as he absorbed the new experience. Then Alex started splashing and he was laughing out loud! I wonder how long he'll put up with his brother splashing him! Alex did it numerous times and Jameson always loved it. He did seem to prefer swimming with "Mama" (he was a little wairy of the grandparents!) although my parents and I all took turns holding him in the water. Alex happily demonstrated his skills in jumping in the water and swimming short distances.


Stefan and I went to the annual cadet military ball last weekend. Stefan's parents were very brave and took both boys for the night to their house. Alex got the usual spoiling with McDonalds and special treats, and Jameson enjoyed exploring a new place. They all survived the night, although Jameson kept my mother-in-law up for an hour at 2am! Hopefully they will be willing to do it again sometime soon. Stefan and I enjoyed the freedom!

We had some warm weather last week. The boys really enjoyed being outside without their winter coats! It gave us just enough of a taste of spring to be anxious for it to really arrive.


Jameson
J-Mo has really come into his own and is such a joy. While I'm not blind enough by parental love to see that there are some difficult times--like when he breaks his routine and gets up at 4am or when he's fussy and we can't figure out why--overall he is a happy, delightful, and very cute baby. He's crawling all over the house and only stops exploring when he is sleeping. It once again amazes me how babies have a capacity to absorb and delight in new experiences and new objects. Even the most mundane object--a cardboard box from Alex's yogurt tubes, for example--is a fun new experience for him.


He has developed some stranger anxiety and prefers his parents to all others. He is accepting of my in-laws, and eventually came to accept my parents after a while. (note: except when my Dad poked his head out from behind a newspaper--for some reason, that caused him to totally melt down!) We took both boys to the cabin of our outdoors group Monday night. Jameson (as well as Alex) is always a hit... he got a very strange compliment from one of the older members. He said that Jameson was "almost as cute as my raccoon." Hmm...


Jameson is a great eater. His hand-mouth coordination is improving. He is particulary good at getting "dry" things to his mouth (ie, Cheerios). Wet things are hard to grasp and can slip out of his chubby hands (ie, kiwi chunks). Luckily no food allergies have shown up (so far!). His favorite food so far is freeze-dried strawberries. He is known to "attack" them and getting 5-6 into his mouth (or close!) within a minute or so. He will even carefully pick out the red strawberries from other items on his tray. We are feeding him more "table food," including Stefan's chili (he loved it!).


Alex
I feel like I repeat this often, but we feel so fortunate that Alex is so accepting and loving of his brother. He gets upset in the mornings if I don't bring Jameson in when I wake him up.


Alex is really getting in to "scaring" his brother (and his mom, at times!). Jameson is becoming immune to surprises. Alex will hide and then jump out when the unsuspecting parent walks by--usually carrying the baby. He's gotten me pretty good a few times. Now I am starting to watch out for it.


We had some big decisions to make in the last few weeks regarding Alex and kindergarten. We elected to submit him for the lottery of the "Extended-Day Option" kindergarten program. The morning is the normal "academic" program that all the kids get in the half-day kindergarten and then the afternoon is filled with enrichment activities. We have to pay for the afternoon, but after visiting the classrooms and meeting the teacher we decided to try for the full-day program. It will also give Stefan more freedom to have him occupied for 7 hours a day instead of 3. We had to commit to the program last week--which we did--and then we were selected in the lottery. Yay! A neighbor down the street was also selected in the lottery and Alex will have a buddy in the class.

Alex spent the night with my parents at their hotel. He had a wonderful time and soaked up all the attention. He even convinced them to take him back into the pool one more time!

Just for fun, about two weeks ago I started writing down interesting quotations from Alex in the kitchen. It didn't take long to get quite a collection, so I decided to share them.


My personal favorite:
"Jameson is like a snapping turtle, crawling around with his teeth showing."


"There was a blue whale so big that eight elephants could line up on it's back."


To Sylvie while playing:
"Let's pretend it the times right after the olden times."


To Jameson on a fussy morning:
"Hey, dictator."

A truly bizarre one (I have no idea where this came from!):
"I have a good memory because I don't have any holes in my head. Actually, I do have a hole in my skull, though, but my brains do stay inside my skin."


"Dad, did you know that the biggest squid was 18 feet long?"
Me: "Where did you learn that, Alex?"
"Popular Mechanicals for kids"


"Mama, can we listen to Led Zeppelin? Daddy doesn't let me listen to it while J-Mo is napping but I'll keep it low."

While doing a bizarre trick on my bed:
"It takes all the strength in my body to do this. I have to push it all to my feet. Then, when I am done, I put the strength back into my body again."


And last, but definitely not least, this was a quote from a few months ago when he was in the parking structure at work with me and saw some sort of emergency device:
"Is that the button you push for a pyroclastic event?"

Alex takes Flat Stanley to the Michigan Stadium before being send back to his cousin.