Elijah Wants a Snack Too

I've had many friends tell me stories of their older child trying to feed the newborn baby (edible and inedible items). One was innocently sharing a Cheerio, while another tried to cram a blueberry muffin down the poor baby's throat. And yet another tried to feed his baby brother the cherries from his Hi Ho! Cherry-O game (definite mental note made on that one!). Because I had been forewarned of this possibility, we always remind Jaden that the only thing Elijah can eat is milk (mom's milk, that is - don't want Jaden giving him a swig of his sippy cup). When we ask him if Elijah can have some of what he's eating, he says "No, not till he's big like me!" So far Jaden's been really good about not trying to feed Elijah anything...until today...

Sam and I were busy getting groceries put away, while Elijah was swinging in his swing. Jaden was helping take the groceries out of the bags for us, which didn't last long at all once he decided he'd rather be sampling the groceries. He handed me a box of dried fruit packets and insisted that he needed a snack (that's his new thing: a desperate "Mom I need..."), so I opened one up for him to keep him occupied while Sam and I rushed to get everything else put away. Jaden went off to eat his snack, then shortly after came back and said, "Mom, Lijah wants a snack too." I thought it was very cute and thoughful of him, and didn't really think much else of it, as I repeated back, "Oh, Elijah wants a snack?" I guess Jaden took that as a "Go ahead and share with him," because he returned again and said "I shared my snack with Lijah, mom." My immediate thought was "WHAT! Does that mean you gave him one?" I looked up at Elijah from the kitchen and could tell that he was definitely enjoying something. I rushed over and forced my finger into his ever so tightly sealed lips and pulled out a chunk of dried pineapple. And boy did he wail when I took that away! And then of course I went on to think that he could have swallowed it or choked on it, and I would have had to do CPR, and would I have known what to do, and on and on and on! But I also just had to laugh at how cute it was and appreciate that Jaden was being considerate of his baby brother and simply wanted to share his snack.

The Backseat Play-by-Play

While we are in the car, I often take advantage of Jaden's full view of Elijah to keep me posted on what he's doing. Today I asked Jaden the simple question, "What's Elijah doing?" and it quickly turned into a detailed play-by-play, sounding something like this:

"Lijah's sleeping, mom."

"Lijah woke up, mom."

"Lijah's looking at me, mom!"

"Lijah's pacifier's gone, mom."

"Lijah's crying, mom."

"Lijah wants mommy."

"Lijah's happy now, mom."

"Lijah spit, mom."

"Lijah's eating his hand, like this, mom (complete with a full demonstration)"

"Lijah's sleeping again, mom."

Boy was that a looong car ride!

First Smiles

Air Show

Jaden loves airplanes, helicopters, jets, birds, just about anything that flies in the sky. So when we heard there would be an air show in town, we had to take adantage of the opportunity. The weather was beautiful outside and the airplane shows were pretty amazing. Jaden got to see (and hear) them up close. We weren't quite prepared for just how loud it would be. We forgot the baby headphones at home, so Elijah had to settle for a makeshift pair and I didn't realize until after the LOUD F-16 show that Jaden's comprehension of "cover your ears" was to simply cup his hands over them, no pressure applied! Poor guy, I should have paid better attention. But we had such a great time! He even got to sit in a real helicopter, stand in a military vehicle of some sort (help me out here, Mr. Bejarano), and Sam got to pose with his beloved delorean. And my personal favorites were the cute little airplanes that did loops and swirls in the air while colorful smoke puffed out of the rear. So cute!

Sleep...What a Treat!

Sleeping was always a difficult area with Jaden when he was a baby. I'm not sure if he was colicky or just overtired from fighting sleep, but we had to go to great lengths to get that little guy to sleep - I tightly swaddled him, we played loud static on the radio, rocked him, played Anne Murray songs over and over, and held him while we bounced on a big exercise ball; and the second we would put him down..."WAAHHH!" Then we would try all over again. This went on for months before he finally started to fall asleep on his own. Elijah hasn't been quite as needy, but it's almost a guarantee that at 7:00 every evening, he is going to fuss and cry until we can eventually get him to sleep. So I definitely can't brag like those parents who say that their baby slept through the night at one month old (and I have to admit I hate hearing about it). But I am very excited to say that last night Elijah slept for four hours straight before waking for a feeding! We've gotten into a pretty good evening routine - we go for a walk, take baths, have story time, then I feed Elijah and put him in bed. Last night he was in bed and asleep by 9:00 and didn't wake up until 1:00am! So I did everything exactly the same tonight, hoping for similar results!

And something unusual happened this morning as well. I actually had to wake Jaden up! He is usually up before 8 every morning and I always hear him over the monitor yelling, "Daddy, UP!" (and much to his disappointment, I'm usually the one who walks in to get him up because daddy's gone to work, and I'm greeted with a "I want Daddy. Where Daddy go?"). But this morning, 8:00 came and went; then 9:00 and I still hadn't heard him. I finally went in to get him up at 10:00. He is usually talking nonstop long before I ever go in to get him, and then jumps up as soon as the door is opened. Today, he slowly got up when the door opened, and he just didn't look well. He looked exhausted, actually. I thought this was unusual after having well over 12 hours of sleep, so I checked the bed for throw up, then hurried to get the thermometer; but no throw up, no fever. I went to get him some water and by the time I came back, he was laying back down on his pillow, which never ever happens because he is always anxious to get up and play. I figured that the weekend's activities and many late nights must have caught up to him. So after going back to sleep, he didn't wake up until 1pm!

And yet another rare sleeping moment (all within a 24 hour period) both boys...and I...all napped at the same time this afternoon. Jaden usually takes a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons, but I thought there was no way he would nap today after waking up at 1:00. So we played with just about every toy in his playroom, then played some more outside. When Elijah fell asleep, I layed him in his swing so that Jaden and I could do a craft activity. The next thing I knew, Jaden had decided that he wanted to lay down too, so he brought his big soft Elmo book into the livingroom to use as a pillow. It's not every day, or any day for that matter, that Jaden will willingly give in to his sleepiness and just rest. And I have to admit that I was exhausted myself, so I had to take advantage of this rare opportunity. I layed down on the couch too, and we all slept! What a treat!

Just Fun

Ribbon dancing with daddy.

Bath time.

Too much icing!

Enjoying the outdoors.

Fixing the family car.

Playing baseball with Gabriel.

Hot tubbin' with Aunt Maureen.

Playing ball.

Tummy time with Annie.

Art lessons with Aunt Mary.

Jumping!!

Swinging with Aunt Melissa.

Just playing - what could be better!

We took Jaden to see Sesame Street Live at the beginning of April and I bought him a new Elmo shirt to wear, just for the occasion. He hadn't worn it since that day. So today, when I pulled that shirt out of his closet for him to wear, his eyes lit up and he look at me with the most excited look on his face, and said "I go see Elmo AGAIN!!" I couldn't say no to that...so we are taking the next flight out to see Sesame Street Live, wherever it may be. Okay, back to reality, I let him watch Sesame Street on TV.

Wine-less Wine Festival

Every year we go to the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival, and it seems like I haven't actually been able to have a drink at it for the past three years. And get this, you have to pay the full price for your wine glass, whether you're drinking or not (and it doesn't even include a free non-alcoholic beverage)! But that's obviously not keeping us from going because we love it so much that we went again this year, despite my inability to participate in the drinking festivities. And I take back my comment about it being three years since I've been able to use my $14 dollar wine glass...last year I think we managed to get to the wine festival at a time when I wasn't nursing or pregnant. But year after year, it seems like I've had my wine glass filled up with more water than wine, and I've come to love my job as the designated driver. But don't feel sorry for me. My bowl of chocolate covered strawberries more than made up for the wine I was missing out on.

Sam, Jaden, Papa Sam, and Bengy

The combination of loud music and a bumpy stroller ride put Elijah right to sleep...no wine (or whine) for him!

Just water for Jaden. And later a snow cone - it was a special day!

But Bengy and Sam, on the other hand, got wine SLUSHIES! The very reason why I love the wine festival so much. They were sure to let me know what I was missing out on...

...as I watched in envy, drinking my lemonade.

Jaden's First "Benjamin"

Jaden was so excited when Uncle Mike gave him his first Benjamin...we won't tell him it's only a Washington! Actually, when Jaden asked Uncle Mike for a Benjamin (Jaden, of course, had no clue what he is asking for), Uncle Mike opened his wallet and told Jaden if he could pick out the Benjamin, then he could have it...Jaden picked the Washington. We'll have to work on that one.

And he couldn't believe all of the money that was in the fountain. He was tempted to jump in and start filling his pockets!

You Have Money?

I'm a little embarassed to admit that my 2-year-old goes around asking people for money, but he does. And I swear I didn't teach him this (although I will admit it's nice having the extra income)! His obsession with money started when he discovered the pockets on his clothes. I'm not exactly sure how or why he decided that it was money that he needed to fill his pockets with; but once he discovered that the pockets didn't come already full of money, he knew what had to be done...and he's good at it. He very simply and honestly asks, "Mom (or whoever the lucky person may be), you have money?" And while it initially catches most people off guard, it's impossible to resist the adorable innocence that he displays when he's asking. We all fumble through our pockets, purses, even piggy banks just to find a coin for Jaden to fill his pockets with. Its amazing how it works. I've tried to tell him that it's not nice to ask people for money, but of course he doesn't understand the concept of money or why it's impolite. So meanwhile, he continues to fill his pockets with pennies, nickels, dimes, Chuck-E-Cheese tokens, whatever - he accepts all kinds. And he is so attached to the money that it becomes part of his play routine everyday; it even makes it into the bathtub every evening. We jokingly told him to ask his Papa Sam for some "Benjamin's" - then we may eventually be able to take that trip to Disney World that we've been hoping for!