Mistaken Identity

You probably think you know the cheerful little guy Austin's holding onto here. Sure, you say, it's Handy Manny. No, no, no. As Austin will tell you with assurance, this is Candy Manny. Must be a twins-separated-at-birth kind of thing.

So Adorable

My mom took this picture a few days ago. It is one of my favorite pictures of Esther, ever. So much personality! This child just blesses my heart.

Six Month Old Esther

• At her six month checkup Esther weighed 14 pounds 11 ounces and was 25 1/2 inches long. She seems so small to us compared to Austin at this age (he was over 19 pounds) but she is sticking to her growth curve so it's all good.
• Esther's hair is nearly as light as Austin's. Funny, his started really light and darkened up, hers started really dark and lightened up but they seem to have just about met in the middle.
• Esther managed to roll over in a cloth diaper this month. It was in front of Daddy, so he finally got to witness her new skill in person. STILL no video of this, though, and not for lack of trying.
• Laying on her back and nibbling on her toes is one of Esther's favorite activities. She can only do it when she's not wearing a diaper, though, so most days I let her hang out half naked for awhile during at least one diaper change. This has allowed me to put away much laundry that would otherwise remain in a basket.
• Esther is now a decent bottle drinker. I put her through bottle boot camp a few weeks back and made her take some milk out of a bottle first thing every morning before letting her nurse. It seemed to work. Hooray!
• Up to this point, Esther has had nothing but breast milk with the exception of a tiny bit of formula in the NICU. Time to start solids!
• Oops, that is not quite true. I gave her a tiny bit of banana off my finger the other day. I think she liked it.
• Esther's naps are short more often than they're long these days. I don't like that one bit but am not sure what to do about it.
• Esther still likes to be swaddled while she sleeps. I worry a bit about her becoming too dependent on it but I think we'll let her have it a bit longer.
• She still sleeps in our room but I think we'll kick her out soon.
• Much like Austin did at this age, Esther loves to chew on things. Favorite things to chew on include "The Duckling Book" and her toy cell phone.
• Esther likes to play peekaboo with a burpcloth. Sometimes if I let her hold on to the cloth, I swear she's covering up her own face and then pulling the cloth away. I think she's brilliant, naturally. :)
• Austin is Esther's favorite person, hands down. Everything he does amuses her. We walked up the stairs behind him the other day and she laughed the whole way. Watching the two of them have a "conversation" is one of my favorite things these days.
• Esther is halfway to her first birthday. I know, can you believe it?

Yummy?

Austin ate his dinner enthusiastically tonight. (Apparently the secret to getting your toddler to eat his pasta and meatballs is to let him put pecans and cranberries on them. Our salad toppings, if you're wondering. But I digress.) So Daddy told him he could have some dessert. "Eat some dirt!" Austin responded enthusiastically. So we gave him some "dirt" and he was a happy camper. :-)

Like a Pro

Esther is six months old today, so we figured bring on the food! Good old rice cereal was the entree du jour. Her first meal went extremely well. There were the requisite confused looks, but on the whole Esther seemed to figure out what to do with the strange stuff on the spoon pretty quickly. At least 90% of the food ended up in her tummy. Here's hoping she takes to peas and green beans just as readily!

Conversations With Esther

At the risk of my blog turning into a list of "cute things Austin says," I'm going to post more cute things Austin said today. (Aimee, the more verbal he gets, the more I understand why you started a whole blog just for this sort of thing!)

1. (in the bathroom this morning, where Esther usually hangs out in a bouncy seat while I shower) "Esser, you paying with toys in bouncy seat?" (then turning to me and Zach) "Esser say yes."

2. (this evening while sitting with Esther in Daddy's lap; Esther was trying to grab his sippy cup) "No Esser, it my cup, you can't have it, it too big for you to drink."

"Dorge Pay Tumpet?"

At dinner tonight Zach was telling me how he is going to meet with a former student, Jon, tomorrow afternoon. Austin broke in and said "Maybe Mike?" Zach and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows--Mike is a current student in his studio. Zach explained that Mike has already driven home for the break. Austin continued "Maybe Kelsey?" (Another current student.) No, Kelsey has driven home, too. "Mike pay tuba?" No, Mike plays euphonium, Daddy explained, but funny, he's going to take tuba lessons this semester. "Maybe Dorge (George) pay tumpet?" (Yet another current student.) No, George plays the tuba.

Okay, we have the students over to our house a few times a year, and these particular students are great kids who are active in the studio, but who knew they and Austin were so tight? I think Austin's been sneaking off to the music building after bedtime. :)

Art

Austin is not so much into art. He would rather load crayons into a dump truck than color with them. But that doesn't stop us from trying occasionally.

We gave finger painting a go on Friday. I thought Austin might like that because of the mess factor. He certainly seems eager to smush food around with his hands (and we frown on that sort of thing, generally) so I thought this would be a special treat. Well...

Do you see the delicate amount of paint on his hands? What you see in the picture is all he did before telling me he was "done now." I spent more time setting up the table than he spent painting. Oh well.

But today we hit on a winner. Apparently Austin is more into paper crafts. He loves loves loves the scissors I just bought him. He cut paper for half an hour. To each his own medium, I guess.

Giving

I have realized in the past how easy it is to let oneself forget the real meaning of Christmas in the midst of all the holiday tasks, but never more so than now, with a two year old in the house. Earlier this month I asked him what Christmas was about and he promptly replied "Timas tee" and "Timas yites." (Christmas tree, Christmas lights.) Right, time for some instruction. So I've been trying to have lots of little conversations about Jesus' birth being the reason we celebrate and it seems to be sinking in.

But even a two year old can't help but notice that presents play a large-ish role in this holiday. So we're teaching him that we give gifts to each other because God gave a gift (Jesus) to us. I thought it'd be nice to let Austin choose a gift for Esther. I asked him what kind of present he thought she'd like. "A pink pe-sent." Um, let's not think about the color, what do you think she'd like to play with? "The duck book." Yep, no doubt she would like that because we already own it. Better make this choice more visual.

We had to go to Walmart this morning to pick up Christmas cards (nothing like putting things off to the last minute) so we wandered over to the toy section. I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that Austin's first pick was a large dump truck. I finally located a shelf of appropriate baby toys, reminded him that we were thinking about what Esther would like, and I think he made a nice choice. Doesn't even use batteries. :) Now shh, don't tell Esther what she's getting.

"Silent" Night

I put Austin to bed about 15 minutes ago. I can now hear him humming Silent Night from his bed. Loudly. Oh, the irony.

Austin's New 'Do

Austin got his first home haircut this morning. It went...okay. He was scared of the clippers, I think. He sort of huddled in Zach's lap while I used them. I was a bit worried that I would make him look ridiculous and we would be making an immediate trip to have a professional fix him up. We're happy with the end result, though. My baby boy looks so grown up.

Post-haircut Austin with his "treat." I thought this situation called for a little shameless bribery.

Trip Pictures

As I've mentioned, we traveled a lot in November. Our kids are pretty good travelers, I'd say. All four of us drove to Charleston, WV, and then I flew with the kids to Texas. Here's a glimpse.

Hanging out with her favorite frog on the big comfy bed.

What a balanced meal: Easy mac, baby carrots, and...hush puppies? We needed an excuse to get ketchup from a fast-food restaurant (for Austin to dip his carrots in--hey, he's two) and we just like them.

Playing by the door while Esther napped. Austin was a good sport about this sort of thing.

In Texas now, with Gran, Pops, "Uncy Heath," and Grannie Hardy.

Scary how fast Austin picked up Gran's Ipod touch and figured it out. I'll be asking him for help with the computer before I know it.

Favorite activity: throwing rocks in the pond with Pops. Can you see the cute boots they bought for him so his shoes wouldn't get wet?

Helping Gran cut out pastry leaves for the pumpkin pie.

Just cute.

The youngest and the oldest: Grannie Hardy is ninety-seven! I am so glad Esther got to meet this godly woman.

Five Month Old Esther

• Don't have any height or weight stats for you. I'd guess Esther's somewhere between 13 and 14 pounds.
• Esther became a great sleeper this month...and then un-became a great sleeper. Near the beginning of the month I started waking her up before going to bed myself for a feeding, then we trained her to sleep through the rest of the night. The crying was pretty minimal and we enjoyed the fruits of that training for a few nights. Then we traveled and all those good habits disappeared. Waking up 3 or 4 times a night while we were away from home was all too common.
• Esther spent nearly half of this month away from home. First we went to West Virginia with the whole family, then we (just me and the kids) spent Thanksgiving week in Texas with Zach's family. Esther is a pretty good traveler--she handles long stretches in a car or airplane well.
• Esther rolled over for the first time this month, tummy to back AND back to tummy a few weeks later. So far she has only done it while wearing disposable diapers. Cloth seems to give her too much of a hurdle to overcome. Sadly, her daddy has yet to witness her do it and I haven't caught it on camera.
• Esther's hair seems to be getting a bit lighter. I am kind of sad about that, although she is still beautiful of course.
• The range of sounds that Esther makes is expanding. She talks to herself sometimes in her crib. I like listening to it even if it is keeping me from sleeping.
• Esther has liked to put her hands in her mouth for awhile now, but this past week she's been doing it like her life depended on it. Not to mention chewing on anyone else's arm/shoulder/fingers or her own clothes...whatever is available. Teething?
• Esther really likes her playmat. If she is well-rested and well-fed, she can play on it for as long as fifteen minutes.
• Esther still takes four naps most days, although I think she is transitioning to three.
• Esther is still not a bottle girl. Sigh. I feel like we've tried everything. I'm glad she's almost old enough to learn to use a sippy cup; maybe she'll drink milk out of one when I need to be gone.
• We left both kids with a "real" babysitter for the first time this month. (our beloved Emma; when she goes to college next year who knows what we'll do.) It did not go so well, probably because of the bottle issues described already.
• I really love my little girl. Lots and lots and lots. :)

A Little Trip, By the Numbers

7--days our family spent in Charleston, WV

14--rehearsals and concerts Zach played with the West Virginia Symphony

80--approximate decibel level of the sound machine that allowed our children to sleep soundly in the same room, more or less

2--playgrounds visited (and loved) by Austin

8--number of giant inflatable indoor bouncing apparatus at Jump Craze, possibly the best idea for kids (and moms) ever

3--members of the Collins family who came down with colds during our trip (I'm the lone holdout...expecting symptoms any minute now)

19--peanut butter sandwiches consumed by the family in our efforts to save money. Not much of a hardship; we all love them.

$3.49--cost of a small mocha, apple dippers, and the right to hang out in the Playplace for awhile at McDonald's; in other words, a small price to pay for sanity on a rainy day

1--mommy who is happy to be home but thankful for the little mini vacation she got to take with her family

Gracious

This morning was rough. Austin woke up at 5:45, seemed to be constantly disobedient, and refused to amuse himself. Basically he acted like a two year old. I was frustrated, annoyed, weary...and tempted to respond like a two year old myself. Then he started humming "My Jesus, I Love Thee." The last line goes "If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, tis now." So appropriate. A Sinclair Ferguson quote that the Girltalk blog posted a few days ago came to mind: "How many of us will get to the throne and with a twinge of regret say 'If only I had known You were this gracious'?" And in that moment I was so thankful that I serve a gracious God, gracious enough to atone for the sins of this mother and child.