Jack and Belle Have A New Cohen Cousin!

We are so excited for Flint and Alli! Their daughter Sierra Elise was born on April 29 at 2:40 am, 22 inches long and 8.4 lbs. We're hoping to meet her in August if we can make all of our schedules work together. I was trying to explain to Jack this morning that he had a new cousin and he said "cousin Autumn?" I said "no, cousin Sierra." He thought about it but still can't wrap his head around the concept.

Sometimes It's Like Living with a Screech Owl

Jack has always been such a sweet, quiet child... Until recently. He has discovered (all on his own) his lungs and his love of screeching, yelling and talking loudly. Ah, toddlers.

Movie Time!

I really love going to the movies with Jack, on Sunday we took him to see "Monsters vs. Aliens." He cracks me up because he watches movies just like an adult, when the popcorn bucket is in front of him he reaches in without even looking at it. Sometimes I think that he gets more excited about the popcorn than the movie! He's becoming such a little boy that calling him a toddler doesn't always seem right to either of us. It's terribly cliche but he'll always be my baby boy.

Belle's Nine Month Stats

Belle had her nine month check-up a couple of weeks ago. She has gone from 20.5 inches long (85th percentile) and 10.8 lbs (<97th percentile) to 28.75 inches long (75th percentile) and 16.9 lbs (5th percentile). She has become a string bean like her big brother and really has become a terrific eater, she is strictly on table food and she loves it. Belle also has learned how to drink from a straw which was very exciting for me. I am still entertained by how such small things make me cheer.

My Amazing Jack

I have to admit that before we had kids I always knew that I wanted a boy and a girl (we got lucky). However, I was always a little scared about having a boy. Would I be able to bond over trucks and trains? Will I become interested in sports? Will a boy have interest in food and cooking? I can happily say yes to all of those questions. Jack at 2 1/2 is becoming a total foodie, it is now confirmed that he likes anchovies. He's had them several times and always wants more. He loves "cooking" in his play kitchen and loves to help me bake. It takes me a little longer but I love teaching him how to cook and bake. I'll measure the ingredients and he dumps them into the bowl and stirs, he gets very excited to help mommy in the kitchen. I may never become a sports junkie but I am looking forward to enrolling him in soccer and martial arts in a few years. I do love playing with cars and trains with Jack. The Easter Bunny brought Jack a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine and he has been obsessed with the trains ever since then. We have to force him stop playing and to eat sometimes and he always sprints back to the train set. He kills me when he looks up at me and says "you play trains with me mommy." My heart just melts. The trains really are fun and we arrange the track differently each time.

Jack absolutely blows me away. The kid has an astounding memory and as his language skills get more sophisticated I am constantly surprised by his vocabulary, of course we teach him new words almost every day. He really liked the word "roomy" which was used to describe the new minivan interior. Recently Jack woke up in the middle of the night because of a bad dream, Bruce went in to comfort him and Jack said that Handy Manny's toolbox would help him sleep. This toolbox is about three or four inches long, I would have no idea where it would be, but when Bruce asked him if he knew where it was he said that it was in the bathroom. Bruce went and looked and sure enough there it was. A week or so ago I took Jack grocery shopping with me, it was really windy and my list blew away. This really seemed to bother him at the time and he kept saying "you yost the yist?" (you lost the list). Once in a while he pipes up with "you yost the yist?"

He is still going through an aggressive stage with Belle but most days are pure pleasure. It's going to be hard on me when I start school in the fall and I'm not with them both all day, but I know that both kids are going to love being in pre-school.

Back on Track

After we got back from our trip to DC Belle went on a solid food eating strike. We tried everything to get her to eat solids to no avail. We decided to try moving her to table food and that didn't work either. We started thinking that she got spoiled by jarred baby food and prepared ourselves for a few weeks of reintroducing her to homemade food. Then we saw a tooth break through! It turns out she was teething really badly and didn't want anything solid at all. Now she is eating nothing but table food which has made our lives much easier. It's great to see her beginning to east just like Jack. We moved her on to table food much faster than we did with Jack, we're chalking that up to being first time parents, we just did things much slower with him. It's absolutely true that you get more laissez-faire with the second child, you just feel so much more confident in your parenting skills.

Belle is now crawling everywhere and pulling herself up on anything she can grab! She'll take a few steps alone but she is nowhere near ready to walk yet. Jack has begun to try carrying her and pulling her around so we have to watch the two of them constantly. He also still likes to "smother her with love", squeeze her face because "she's so cute, she's so adorable" and occasionally he grabs her head and starts banging it into the floor or whatever she's clinging to. Ah... fun with a toddler.

Guess Who Dressed Me!

This person also pointed out that her green socks matched the green flowers on her onesie. Really.

It's Been a Busy Few Weeks

We had a great visit with family while we were in Northern Virginia over spring break. We did Belle's baptism and naming and we got to see most of the immediate family. A few members of our family weren't able to make it and they were sorely missed.

The rest of the week was very full as we wanted to take Jack to see a few things in DC, Belle of course is just along for the ride at this point. On Monday we went to the National Zoo but as it is still pretty much winter many of the animals were hibernating or they were renovating exhibits for their busy months. However, there were still plenty of animals to see and it's a great zoo to walk around. We also went to see the FDR memorial on our way home as Bruce and I hadn't had a chance to see it yet. It's beautiful and particularly timely with what is going on with our economy today. On Tuesday we hung out at my parents house and let Jack and Belle and cousin Autumn have time to play (Jack and Belle adore their older cousin), that afternoon Bruce and I decided to bite the bullet and buy a mini-van. With two kids we really need the space and Jack always wants to climb into the car himself. Jack loves the new car and he is still gushing about it "I love big car, I love it." I am still getting used to driving such a big vehicle. On Wednesday we took all three kids to the Natural History Museum as we had promised Jack that he would get to see dinosaurs this week, Autumn also loves dinosaurs so both toddlers were thrilled by their afternoon at the museum. My dad was able to meet my mom, Bruce, me and the kids for lunch which was a nice treat for all of us. Thursday was filled with a trip to Sport Bounce, it's a place that has huge inflatables for the kids to jump in and slide down (pictures will be up soon). Bruce had to take Jack down once and then he was hooked. He scampered up himself from that point on and some of those slides are very big. We followed that up with a few hours at Chuck E. Cheese (much to Bruce's chagrin). Jack and Autumn had a great time running around and it's always difficult to drag them out of there and I'm happy to announce that Bruce survived his first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Friday we took the kids to the Baltimore Aquarium, it's a great aquarium and all three kids loved it.

The longer we live away from the east coast the harder it is for me to leave my family after a visit. At least we had a comfortable ride back to Arkansas for us and the kids and after a week or so away it's always nice to come home.