Bird Flies Across the River Again

Today was one of Julie's co-workers in Admissions' last day so she and Clara trekked across the river for the farewell lunch and cake. Clara was bright eyed and bushy tailed practically the whole time they were there! She was her usual mellow self, taking it all in, and thus, Julie thinks it is fair to say, charmed all she saw. She was ZONKED after they left and Julie was able to stop at the bookstore and the bakery and take her from the bucket to the Moby (or Noby, as Joe says) and back to the bucket with Clara barely batting an eye.

It's been one of those perfect days where the Birds have been totally in synch, and Clara hasn't had to struggle with nursing, which makes a world of difference. She is at her most content when she nurses well. The weather also continues to be perfect so the Birds' daily, early morning walks have been especially nice this week. This must be what a charmed life feels like.

All Coy Like

After Julie and Clara got home, and Clara was nursed, we were headed out again for a walk with Sara and Connor. Julie got Clara all packed up in the bucket. Julie usually puts the bucket on the porch chair nearest the door, gets Clara settled, and then dashes inside to grab the bag from the coat rack. This afternoon, when Julie came back outside to the porch, Clara was looking all coy like with her blanket. She was probably just trying to free her flippers, but either way, she sure looked cute.

Another Lunch Out With Daddy

Fans, the weather here: fabulous. Just right for lunch outside on a patio with Daddy. Today, Julie and Clara picked Ted up for lunch and they went to the Punch in Uptown. Baby Bird was squawking by the end, so they all strolled around a bit and stopped in at the fancy schmancy baby store up the street. We got Joe some fancy schmancy alphabet cards to hang on the wall like we did with the word cards when he was just starting to get words, and some fancy schmancy pink fleece pants that were on clearance for the Bird to wear this winter. By the time we were back to the car, the Bird's feet were out as per usual. Baby Bird is nine weeks old now which means regular lunches out with Daddy are drawing to a close. Now that's something to squawk about.

The Letter U (or Homophone Fun)

KinderCare has a display near its entrance with ABC blocks, and the letters D, E, F, and G affixed to the table on which the blocks are sitting. Joe likes to point out letters on his way in and out. This morning, the whole family went to drop Joe off (Julie and Clara were then continuing on to Lake Calhoun for their daily walk; early today) and Julie walked in with Joe. We stopped briefly at the blocks and then continued in at which point Joe ran to the desk to point out more letters in the "Sign up today" posted across its front. He was stymied by the U and asked what it was. When Julie replied that it was a U, Joe promptly pointed to himself and said "You right here!"

Poop

Julie has refreshed the book selection for Joe, and one of the new books in rotation is Everybody Poops. Of course Joe now loves this book and requests "poop" many times throughout the day. He seems to enjoy the word itself - it doesn't hurt that Ted says it with many different enunciations which Joe then tries to imitate. We have decided Poop's companion volume, The Gas We Pass, is written at a more advanced level, so we will stick with Poop for now.

Utah Is For Bikers

Joe recently received this vintage 1991 shirt from Aunt Kate. It was discovered while clearing out Grandpa Tom's house. Now it serves as a reminder of where his friend Elsa lives. Elsa's picture was put on the refrigerator again recently so her face and name are known well!

Loo Loo Darlin - the video!

As promised, here is Joe singing "Skip to my Loo." We couldn't get him on camera singing the whole thing on video. He is on to us - when he sees that camera he stops performing. So here are some bits of the song. He also has been randomly saying "Happy Birthday", so that got tacked onto the song too. The toddler mind is a fascinating thing!

Big Storm

We had no more picked Joe up at school than a big storm began. We made it home just in time to run through the initial downpour--which then let up. Clara Jane stayed the driest in her little bucket with the bonnet up. Joe was drenched and then sported the tousled-post-bath look after he was visited by the Towel Monster. The storm lasted through Joe's dinner and while Julie was upstairs nursing Clara, they heard the hail begin. Pretty good size (even Clara jumped a bit!), but it didn't last more than a minute. Berenice hopped right up on the bed and tucked herself as close to Julie as she could get (that Clara was in the way!). All's quiet now, though Raleigh is still hot on this poster's heels what with Ted off picking up a pizza for dinner.

Two Month Weigh In

Clara Jane had her two-month doctor visit today. She was a peach through the whole thing. Even after the shots she calmed down fairly quickly once Julie held and rocked her. Just like her brother, she is staying at the top of the growth charts. Here are the official stats: Weight 13lb 5oz (97%), Length 23 1/2" (90%), Head 15 3/4" (89%).

Brown Bear Resurgent

Fans, Brown Bear is back! Who knows why. But it is. Last night, and again tonight, Joe was all about Brown Bear. Tonight, Julie discovered that Joe can "read" it along with her. Super fun! He will say, for example, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" along with her. He doesn't then chime in on the rejoinder, "I see a red bird looking at me," but at the end, he will read along on the summary page, too. Cool, cool, cool. Julie called to Ted to take some video, and Joe then decided to switch up the readers (Dada read Brown Bear, too?) so here's a still shot of the boys reading with video to come (and we know: you're all waiting with bated breath for the breakout smash hit video of (Skip to My) Loo Loo; it's coming).

Peek A Boo

I see you.

BYOB Yoga

Yesterday, the Birds went to a Bring Your Own Baby (BYOB) Yoga class. Julie would have been too nervous with Joe to go to something like this--What if he cried? What if he needed to eat? Now she knows that crying is just what babies do and if they need to eat, you just feed them and no one (especially at a crunchy granola yoga class) is going to bat an eye at a nursing mama. So off they went! It was, perhaps, not all Julie thought it would be, if she's honest with you, Devoted Readers. It was fun and all, but to her, it seemed like paying to play with your baby the way you can for free on your bed at home. The idea that the mother is also getting some good exercise is, in Julie's opinion, pretty laughable, though she heard (twice) about a woman who breast fed her baby while doing the Warrior I pose. Julie also laughed to herself about this tidbit and the admiration in the teller's tone because of the manner in which breast feeding mother's are beat about the head with suggestions to gaze at their baby and coo at their baby and sing to their baby--certainly not READ while nursing which is what Julie does. Julie long ago stopped feeling guilty about this and now feels even less so with everyone hailing the mama breast feeding while doing the Warrior I pose.

Oh and in case you're wondering Fans, all three babies present at BYOB Yoga kept up a steady soundtrack of crying for the entire hour. Exactly: super zen.

Standing

Clara likes to be held such that she can "stand" so we spend a fair amount of her awake time doing that. Here she is while Joe was eating dinner last night practicing standing on top of the dining room table. Joe pointed out the bear on her butt, but saying "Clara bear;" which is interesting given that he recently learned the word butt because of his diaper rash and the butt paste that was used to treat it. Maybe he knows it's not polite to talk about a lady's butt, especially your sister's.

Bird About Town

There's a new development in St. Louis Park called "The West End," where we saw a sign months ago indicating a Sauce would be opening. We'd been to Sauce out in Tucson so we were pretty excited. The grand opening was this past Monday and Baby Bird was so there on Tuesday. Since it was opening week, they were fully staffed up and there were all kinds of people falling all over themselves to do things for customers and, as it happens, to coo over babies so even though she was asleep, Clara got the royal treatment, too!

Footy Pajamas

Ted and Julie were talking today about how much they love seeing Joe in his footy pajamas (especially his little diaper butt), and wondered how much longer they would see him in them. (Do they make footy pajamas in 3T?) So tonight, Julie snapped this picture as Joe put away his toys before stories. We should also report to Joe's legion fans that moments later, he was on the couch rearranging the pillows (one of toddlerdom's greatest joys, for sure), when he took a hard, hard fall onto the floor. He appears to have landed squarely on his right cheek. Purple yummies (read: Tylenol) were ordered and the floor was admonished: "No, no floor."

Just Like Julie, Just Like Joe

Here's Ted kickin' it Julie style on the porch with Baby Bird while Julie was off to collect Our Hero from school. We used to all do drop off together and Julie would pick Joe up on her way home, but since Clara arrived, Ted has been doing both drop off and pick up most days. Julie misses these times though so sometimes, Ted stays home with Clara so she can keep her hand in at pick up. Today, Joe was playing in the hallway with his friends when Julie arrived. They went in to collect his "sheet," (his daily report; and today, an incident report--a "friend" bit his shoulder) which Joe insists on holding. As we headed out with Joe announcing that he had "two sheets," Ms. KeKe told Julie that not only does Joe love holding all manner of sheets, but that he also always requests to hold the clipboards on which the teachers keep track of things throughout the day when they head outside. Of course he does! That's just like Joe.

Little Bird in a Big Boy Bed

After Ted got home, we all hung out on Joe's big boy bed for a bit with Clara who was wide awake and up for some playing. After she had been worn out on her tummy, we flipped her over and sang her what we refer to as "the smile song" (really, the chorus of Tim McGraw's Just To See You Smile) and we think she maybe smiled?! Could have been more of a smirk that said, "Aw look at these suckers. I'm gonna keep 'em waitin'."

Lunch Out With Daddy

Today, Julie and Clara met Ted downtown for lunch. The Birds have been reminded that this meal is a great time to try or go to restaurants when dinner out is tougher to swing these days. Lunchtime is where it's at. Last week, they had lunch with Elise and Charlotte's handler, Laura, at Spoonriver by the Guthrie, and today with Ted, they went to the Northeast outpost of Brasa. It's a rotisserie place that serves, among other things, the "original" Dr. Pepper from Dublin, Texas.

When we got back from lunch, Julie took this picture. Baby Bird always manages to work one or both feet free of whatever blanket is covering it or them, wherever she is--carseat, crib, in someone's arms. When Ted got home from work later, Julie and Clara were just coming back from running an errand and sure enough, a foot was out. Ted said, "What's this?" and grabbed it. Maybe that's why she sticks them out there, so people can shake a wing.

Big Orange Shopping Cart

Our back screen door has been in a mutilated state for months in the wake of Dog Walker Lise getting used to the fur flying fun that is suiting up Berenice and Raleigh in their leashes for a walk (this poster believes it was Berenice who charged the screen). Ted decided today was the day to replace it, but discovered mid-project we were out of screen material which meant a quick run out to Home Depot. We made it a family outing. Joe was loathe to be pried away from Guitar so was lured with the promise of riding in a shopping cart. He is a huge fan of the Big Red Shopping Cart at Target that he rides in most Saturday mornings. Home Depot has a big orange shopping cart that looks like a race car! As we tooled about the store, it was referred to by Joe as Big Orange Shopping Cart, then Digger, and finally, Choo Choo Train. Ted asked Julie as we left the parking lot what she needed (the DQ is across the parking lot) and Julie demurred, but as we rounded the corner onto Raleigh, what did we hear from the backseat? "Ice cream? Joe Joe ice cream too?" Ah. How well we've trained him.

Splash Pad

This morning, we met Marco and his handlers at the long-talked-of-and-never-before-found Oak Hill Splash Pad. This past Wednesday was Water Day at KinderCare and Joe purportedly loved it, rushing right to a sprinkler. Well, the Splash Pad sprinklers are some kind of sprinklers so Our Hero was a bit daunted at first. He spent the first part of the time there racing along the edge, and squealing "No, no Marco! No running!" through his giggles--just before he started running himself along the edge of the Splash Pad. Then he saw someone with a purple bucket (sand mold really, just so you can get the appropriate metal picture; it was a castle). He immediately asked for a bucket and we were chagrined because we'd not thought to bring water toys. But then Ted remembered we had some yogurt containers bound for the number 5 plastics recycling bin at the Whole Foods in the car. In other words: cups! Hooray! Our Hero crossed over the edge, cup in hand, and had all kinds of fun filling his cup up with water and dumping it out. So the Splash Pad is all it's cracked up to be, once you find the thing. It's like a unicorn, no joke. We also discovered that Oak Hill Park is home to two playgrounds: one with toddler-sized equipment, and with equipment for bigger kids. Pretty fab.

Guitar

It's a real toss up as to what the most exciting bit of the weekend was, as you will see as you read on up. Joe's friend Graham has a purple guitar. It's pretty fab, folks. So we got Joe a red guitar. It arrived Thursday. Before use, the pegs needed to be tightened so it was taken upstairs before Our Hero arrived home. All was well until Our Hero followed Julie upstairs Friday morning and spotted it instantly. He grabbed it and immediately pronounced it "broken." Once we got past that little hiccup, several things can now be heard with regularity now at 2908 Raleigh:

• The dulcet strains of an untuned guitar;
• Joe crowing variously "Guitar!", "Red guitar!", "Guitar Graham's house!" [loosely translated as "The guitar lives at Graham's house," which was true before Red Guitar entered our lives]
• "Loo Loo Darlin'" to the strums of an out of tune guitar. [This is Skip to My Loo. Look for the breakout, smash hit video in a subsequent post.]

We hung out with Graham Saturday morning. We started at the "blue park" but decamped to Graham's house when it began raining almost as soon as we got there. Julie stopped by the house to collect Joe's guitar and the boys strummed together for a while. Sara took some shots that, let's be honest, are destined to be the cover of their first studio album.

Big Stick!

When Joe arrived home, he immediately busied himself with collecting the "big sticks" he saw in the yard. The storms that blew through Minnesota on Thursday brought us a lot of gusty wind and a scary looking sky, but not much else besides a lot of twigs and small branches in the yard. Joe likes to pick up the sticks and "put blue bucket" [put them in the blue bucket]. The blue bucket was full so he was stymied, but only momentarily and took right to the suggestion to put the big stick in the beige bucket.

Daddy Sprung Himself!

Father's Day weekend began with Ted springing himself from work late afternoon so he could take the Birds for a walk around Lake Calhoun. It was a beautiful day! It was just breezy enough to make the water sparkle, and we saw lots of windsurfers and sailboats. It was also truly sunny so Julie got a chance to wear her new aviator shades, which she since made a special trip with Clara earlier in the week to pick out. (Her old sunglasses were stretched out a bit by Our Hero. She is hoping these new sunglasses make her look like Coach's wife, Tammi, on Friday Night Lights.) Ted and the Birds had just reached the playground when they happened upon an ice cream cart that had strawberry and chocolate eclair bars. La! (Sadly, we can now report that Good Humor is the only brand to humor on that front. These were Blue Bunny and Good Humor eclair bar frozen treats they were not. Ted got an lemon Italian ice and said it was no Martinelli's. Now we know: you wait until you get to the Tin Fish cantina by the docks and you get an ice cream sa'mitch.) After we finished our walk, we went and sprung Our Hero early.

Who's That In My Crib?

Changing Joe's diaper is a two person job right now what with the diaper rash (it is slightly better today). Last night, the diaper change hit when Clara was being held in advance of a bath and being nursed, which is to say not able to be left without some supreme distraction or comfort. So Julie put her in the crib and set the mobile a-going. We were mostly consumed with changing Joe's diaper, and he was mostly consumed with wailing, but still, we waited to see if Our Hero would feel his sister was an interloper. He was completely nonplused, and when then asked where big boys sleep, he pointed right to his big boy bed. (We often wonder if Joe is thinking to himself something like, "Duh. How many times do I have to tell you people where big boys sleep?")

It Doesn't Get Much Better

The best part of the perfect day came just after Clara drifted off to sleep during the home ec lesson (who can blame her?): as I picked her up to head off to lunch with Kendra, Clara kept on sleeping, but flopped ever so gently against my chest and tucked her little head in my neck.

Bright Eyes

Here they are! Julie and Clara had a parfait day! Clara was up at 6am, instead of 4am or 5am, so she was back down for a morning siesta not long after. Julie loves when days kick off like this because Julie gets up and gets her face washed, teeth brushed, and breakfast eaten and is all gathered for the day before Clara wakes up again.* When Clara went to sleep again, Julie caught up on her correspondence and tidied up. When Clara woke up, after she ate, she hung out watching Julie iron, which is when this picture was snapped. While Julie was discussing the finer points of home economics, THE SUN CAME OUT!** Julie almost peed her pants; Clara pooped her pants. So she was changed out of her sleeper and into the Liberty outfit we had bought because of the ruffled bloomers, in case we had a girl. Then we were off to lunch with Kendra, came home, nursed, walked over to Yum! for a Muddy Mousse cupcake, stopped in to see Sara, Connor, and Sara's mom, and came back on home. Ted's just off to get Our Hero, and we are just off to get his dinner ready.

*Conversely, if Clara wakes up at 4am or even 5am, Julie has a hard time getting herself gathered to further gather herself, and so doesn't get up until Clara is up a second time which inevitably means Julie doesn't eat until say 9am which is not so very good.

**We've not seen it in about a week so ALL CAPS demanded.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

The good news is: Clara finished up her course of antibiotics yesterday. We're thrilled as this means we don't have to subject her to the indignity of the baby-sized syringe of medicine stuck in her cheek pocket twice a day, and her diaper rash should abate on its own. For the past week, her diaper rash has been kept at bay with a prescription concoction called--and we are not making this up--"Butt Paste." This has some sort of somehin'-somehin' in it, as well as an "anti-fungal" (and here, we fervently hope this last bit forever remains a prophylactic measure).

But we no more got one bottom healed up then the other wee bottom broke out in diaper rash, and Fans, we fear we are entirely to blame. As you, Joe's legion fans, know, Our Hero is mad for the fruit, especially the berries. We suspect we have allowed him too many blueberries. He's in detox for the berries, and we are now using the Butt Paste on him.

Another Rainy Day

Fans, it's another rainy day here--which means Raleigh doesn't quite know what to do with himself. Clara has also been a little out of sorts this morning (lots of burping, very uncomfortable). We'd no more worked out the burps and settled in for a good nurse, when Raleigh decided to begin bounding up and down off the bed at every little thing. It's no use hissing "No!" at him with every bit of menace you can muster because all bets are off on rainy days and "Really," you can hear him thinking, "you should know this by now." (Please note, dear Readers, that it is only RAINING. It's not storming. The dog is a mess.) Julie sighed; Clara rolled her eyes. We powered through and Baby Bird has settled into her first restful sleep of the day. But we're off to the lactation consultant in half an hour. Poor Baby Bird. It's just one thing after another today. But we are planning to stop at Rustica on our way home for a treat. Really, it's a way to avoid being in the house with Ribbons on a rainy day. Really, he should know this by now.

Tearing It Up With Graham

It had been a while since Sara and Julie had hung out with their boys, what with giving birth and all! It was too wet for the park this morning, so Sara and Graham came over to play. It wasn't too cold for the porch though, so Sara and Julie camped out there while the boys went back and forth between the porch and the living room. You can see that most things ended up in the porch. When we were cleaning up, Julie laughed upon discovering that every single toy from the basket and almost all of the toys from the bins in the living room had been carted to the porch (or, it may be that Joe was carting them to the threshold of the porch and tossing them in the porch?; tossing is here a polite euphemism for throwing--Julie recalls telling Joe "no throw"). The boys enjoyed a fine meal, too ("Pretend eat!"), after going to the grocery store for muffins and jam (really pretend eating as muffins and jam are not to be had among the plastic food offerings). Can't wait to see Clara and Connor tearing it up with the big boys before too long.

Big Boy Bed Update

The first night in the big boy bed came, and went. Looks like our Big Boy has a new roost. This means, Baby Bird will have a new napping roost on weekdays, when Big Brother Joe is at school--only during weekdays for now. Don't want Big Brother Joe seeing his former nest honed in on so quickly. It also means: The Return of the Mobile! Hooray! Julie has so missed the mobile which twirls mesmerizingly and plays classical ditties and keeps wee ones occupied for about half an hour sometimes.

Big Boy Bed

Today was a big day in this Ekkers household...Joe transitioned to his "big boy bed!" Loyal fans will know that his twin bed has been set up for several months now, and we have been waiting for a sign from God to tell us when to transition him. The sign came in the form of a chicken salad sandwich from Panera. That is what Julie was eating on Friday when she suggested making the transition this weekend. So this morning, we had Joe "help" Ted put together the bed rail for his bed. We also talked about how wonderful this big boy bed would be all day long. We even had him try it out with his blanket and ducks, and he seemed to get the idea. When it came time for nap, we put him down in the new bed and he squawked only a little more than usual as he got himself to sleep. He never moved from the traditional sleep position, so our fears of him scrambling off the bed to hunt us down were unrealized. When he woke up, he still lingered in the bed until Ted showed up. Ted climbed in the bed while Joe rolled around rubbing his eyes and then Ted dragged him to the foot of the bed - which made Joe giggle. And to top it all off, there were warm freshly baked cookies waiting for him for a post-nap snack. Some people pay a lot of money for this type of life...Joe gets it for the occasional hug.

Clara on Bed

Tonight, Julie had set Clara down on Joe's bed while he was getting his pjs on, and when he was set down on the ground he exclaimed "Clara on bed!" He walked right over, climbed up on the bed, and crawled over to gently hold her hand. He had fun holding her hand and looking at his sister. Ted joined in on the fun and ensured only gentle touches were being executed - knowing that at the end of the day Joe gets a little loopy and can spontaneously flail himself around. Joe behaved himself and Clara seemed to enjoy staring back at her big brother.

Make Dinner

Joe invented a new game called "Make Dinner" in which he says "Joe make dinner" and then proceeds to lay out all the utensils on the floor, and pick them up one by one and pretend to eat from them. The first time he did this he laid out a couple disposable place mats that he had lifted from his mother's purse, tonight's version did not include placemats, but he got on the oven mitts to handle things.

Our New Friend Connor

Today, Clara and Julie went to visit Sara and Baby Connor. It was fabulous for several reasons:

1. Clara made a new friend. As you can see, Connor was so excited he was flapping his arms all about.

2. Julie and Sara got to chat.

3. It was an nice excuse for Julie to get Muddy Mousse Cupcakes from Yum! for the not-exclusively-milk crowd.

4. Connor's house is quieter given than it does not have a Raleigh living in it. (We were there when phone books were delivered so we missed out on that cacophony.)

Scooby Joe

Joseph is, of late, all about repeating everything he hears, chant fashion--e.g. last night, he had BBQ chicken for dinner and after pointing at a dollop of BBQ sauce on his plate and being told it was BBQ sauce, he proceeded to say BBQ sauce about 15 times in a row. The other day, when something fell, Julie said "Ruh roh, Raggy!" This morning, while Julie was inside brushing her teeth, she heard Joe on the porch repeatedly crowing, "Ruh roh, Raggy! Ruh roh, Raggy!" Just so long as he doesn't start asking for a Scooby snack.

Julie and Clara's Porch

Today is a rainy day so Julie and Baby Bird camped upstairs and listened to the rain. When Julie was on leave with Joe, they camped out on the porch. Joe, as his legion fans no doubt know and remember, was an avid eater. He probably could have nursed while Julie stood on her head (if Julie could stand on her head). Baby Bird is an eager nurser, too, but has had to contend with an overabundant milk supply making for a veritable geyser to swallow before the flow slows to a manageable pace. Julie and Baby Bird have begun working with a lactation consultant to reign in the dairy's production, but they had felt their way toward some tactics to this end on their own. Chief among them was nursing lying down (a "gravity-neutral" position we were told yesterday by our lovely lactation consultant, Kathy). So that's why Julie and Clara's porch is the upstairs. It is especially nice on a rainy day when they feel snug in their little nest, or on sunny and breezy days when they are level with the leaves on the trees being rustled. It's like the ocean. (That's what you tell yourself anyway when you live about as far from one of the two nearest oceans as you can get.)

Here you see their set up: all phones, Julie's book (Now in nook format courtesy of Ted! We love it! We love Ted for getting such a fab surprise!), burp rag (not pictured), and prophylactic towel or blanket. Interestingly, the prophylactic towel or blanket was de rigueur if nursing Joe in this same fashion because he could be counted on to spit up most times, but Baby Bird is not a spitter upper. Instead, she is a champion belcher. Clara can be counted on to do two things surrounding feedings: 1. belch and 2. poop. If one removes her diaper in advance of nursing her and she has not pooped, one would be well advised to simply put the diaper back on and wait a few minutes and Clara will poop, and with gusto.

This picture was in fact snapped when this poster did not act according to her hard-learned knowledge. Julie had just taken off Clara's very wet diaper and had a new one at the ready when the phone rang. Julie knew it would be Lactation Consultant Kathy so she leapt at it (the nurses are planning to strike on Friday and this includes lactation consultants, so Kathy had kindly told Julie at their appointment yesterday that she was taking a few days off so call today with immediate questions). While she was talking to Kathy, Julie heard Clara pooping well and loudly, all over the Pack 'N' Play. Miraculously, the onesie Clara was wearing could be salvaged so we didn't have to do a complete presto chango. Truly, miraculous. If you could see the size of the spill, and also, bear in mind, Clara is on antibiotics right now making for more poopy poops than usual.* Clara did her part by sucking away contentedly on her pacifier while the PNP was changed even though she was due to eat, and even allowed the picture to be snapped. (She was all, "My work here is done.")

*The photo editor elected not to take a picture of the damage.

Mama Walking Shoes

Joe has taken a shine to what he has dubbed "Mama walking shoes." He had them on for a while last night, and wanted to sit up in the red chair with Julie and Miss Butterfly-On-My-Butt while he had them on. Sort of awkward as he clambered up in the chair, but we got it figured out in the end.

Match!

Joe is all about matching right now. At bedtime, he likes to dump out his dinosaur magnets and match them to the legend on the side of their box, or to dinosaurs in his giant fold-out dinosaur book. His favorites include the Iguanadon--IG-AN-A-DON!!!!!--and the Tyranosaurus Rex. Is it any wonder given that both of these dinosaurs are on a giant fold-out flap? Of course not. Julie's favorite is when Joe decides to scoop up the Triceratops magnet and make a match with the Triceratops on the cover of the book, because sometimes when he does, he will charmingly add, "One-two-three! Tri-Cer-Tops!" Usually though, Joe will simply note "Match!" The other popular match "game" is to find all three of our books in which grasshoppers (grass-HOPPER!; emphasis on the second syllable) appear and match those up.

Sunday morning, we played with our matching cards. Julie noticed Joe matched up all the straight up colors and the object that is that color first (yellow and banana); textures and textured objects (e.g fluffy and bunny in immediate foreground) were saved to be matched last. But look at all the matches we made! Joe lined them all up like that once they'd been made.

Fashions From the Island

More from the runway. Joe is finally big enough for his Long Island sweatshirt the Marcouxs gave him just before he turned one, and Sunday morning was chilly a la Southold summer nights so we were finally able to break it out.

Classic Joe

One of Joe's signature poses is to rest all too-cool-for-school style with his hands behind his head. It's usually a sign that he's tired or winding down and taking it all in (this picture was taken before his nap Sunday).

He is sporting the shirt that Ted got for him at the same time he got the Big Bird fashions. It prompts Julie and Ted to sing the ditty the alphabet magnet toy does: "J says JUH! J says JUH! Every letter makes a sound. J says JUH!" (Some letters have a bonus sound, in which case there's the "and sometimes [insert sound]," add-on.)

Birds Got Some New Feathers

The day we left the hospital, Ted arrived after picking up lunch with some gifts as well: a Big Bird onesie for the Baby Bird and a Big Bird shirt for the Big Bird (Readers, do you rally need to ask who this is in the Ekkers household? ;) ). So great! Here are the Bird Girls sporting their new threads. (Baby Bird is also sporting her fierce hawk eyes.)