Plop Plop and Interactive Play

Rice Cereal

Laundry

Plop Plop

Samuel has an imaginary friend whose name is Plop Plop. Plop Plop is a baby, small enough to fit in Marc's shirt pocket and he/she (we're unclear as to the gender) comes with us everywhere. We've had a couple "You're sitting on Plot Plop" moments, but for the most part we've integrated him/her into our day to day.

Samuel has adjusted to winter (far more than I can say for me - I curse the weather at least once a day). He loves "snow crunching" and cleaning snow from the car and shoveling the walkway and driveway. One day this week he refused to go inside because he still had a lot of snow cleaning work to do. Today it rained and he insisted on cleaning the rain off the van with a snow brush.



Interactive Play

Matthew and Renee reached a new milestone today. For the first time, I saw them really interact purposefully with each other. This afternoon, they spent about 5 minutes smiling and laughing at each other this afternoon - no toys in sight, I was out of the way, it was just the two of them and it was fantastic to see. Tonight, they took the interaction a few steps further - before their massage, Renee pinched Matthew and he cried (I have since cut her finger nails), after the massage, he pulled her hair and she cried. A preview of things to come.

Samuel Speak

A few precious quotes from the last week:

Samuel got a bingo game from his Grandpa Paul and grandma Heather. He loves playing it, and insists that we say a blessing before we play "Baruch Ata . . . ". He often calls Bingo "Pingo: which is a Spanish word that describes him perfectly - it doesn't have a translation it's sort of like a combination of curious and naughty / mischievous but without any negative intent

He also tells us to "Sit and listen please" almost every night. We assume he's quoting his teacher.

This morning he looked at me very seriously and said "Mami, I need two pants for school, and two socks, and two underwear" holding 3 or 4 fingers out with his hands.

He's had a ot to say about the snow including "I don't like to eat it, it's not dinner", "Let's clean it up" and when Marc was shoveling he was quick to pint out "Daddy you're not finished yet"

Here is is at the school's Hanuka show. When he saw me in the audience, instead of waving, he blew kisses in my direction!


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Matthew and Renee are doing great. We've been putting Renee is her high chair during the day and she loves it. She's so proud to sit in her high chair and observe the world. She also loves touching my face, and sometimes will catch my glasses. Matthew laughs when you imitate the sounds he's making and is super smiley.


Matthew got a little hungry during a massage:
And, the much requested picture of me with both babies in their slings. This was our last Salsa Baby class.

Solid Food and Sibling Rivalry

We introduced Matthew and Renee to rice cereal yesterday to rave reviews. They couldn't get enough of my mom's homemade rice mush (mmm, mmmm, mmm). I can't believe that they've reached this milestone already, but they were so ready for it.
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One day this week, or was it last week?, Samuel, Matthew and Renee demonstrated first bits of sibling rivalry, and even some cousin rivalry between Samuel and Eduardo.

The day started with Samuel saying "shshsh" to Matthew in an annoyed tone while Matthew was talking during a Curious George video. During the day, Matthew and Renee "fought" over the same toy. Both wanted to hold it, lunging for it, grabbing it, until they found their faviourite toy of all - each other's hands. At the end of the day, Eduardo and Samuel fought over the same chair at he table and the last banana in the house.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling X 2

Matthew rolled over tonight, during the bedtime massage he grabbed his feet, a favorite pastime, looked at Renee who was by his side and rolled over.

And a Samuel anecdote - his school has a fountain in the front hall area. It's one of those fountains that's a vertical pane with water that cascades over it like a thin waterfall. My mom turned around for a minute yesterday which have him enough time to grab handfuls of toilet paper to clean up the water! He's the only kids at the school who has ever thought of doing that.

Five Months

Dear Matthew and Renee,

Today you are five months old. And what five months it has been!

Matthew, you have a most expressive face - when you smile, your whole face lights up, and when you're upset your entire face can quiver. You rarely get upset, but you've been quite fussy last few days. Today you started making new sounds. In addition to the typical baby sounds, you started making sounds like a cat - purring and almost mewing. You love playing with my face and reach out to grab it whenever I'm close enough. You sleep really well at night and I thank-you for that.

Renee, you are so observant, you look around a room and seem to take everything in. You are a determined little one and try to move and reposition yourself as best you can. You like moving objects from one hand to hand. You have a honing sense when it comes to me, especially at night and you often cry when I leave the room.

You are so interested in each other, you talk to each other, you reach for each other. I'm fascinated by watching you grow as individuals and also to see how your relationship is evolving. You both do sympathy crying and calm down when the other baby calms down. I think you know who the other baby is and recognize that it's not just another baby. And you absolutely know Samuel and love it when he comes to play or read with you.

You are brining so much joy to everyone around you.

Con todo mi carino,

Mami