Bananas!

So Josiah has started to reach for Mommy's plate when Mommy is eating. That usually means it is time to get out the mushy food and the baby spoons. A couple weeks ago, he wasn't ready. He just spit the banana taste out. That's ok, he's only 4 months old, he really doesn't need any more to eat--just look at the size of him, he's obviously not being under-fed.

But today during lunch, he would not be left out. So about an inch of banana was mashed to a goopy mess and down it went:

He may not get to have some every day, but he is well on his way to being a big kid just like his brother and sisters--who by the way are good eaters too. How many of you have children who ask "may I have more brussel sprouts?"?

Nathanael is five!

Nathanael will tell you proudly if you will listen, he is now five-years-old! He is such a big boy now that he is five. He has been doing Kindergarten since September and is reading well. He even is well on his way to earning his first pizza from Pizza Hut (courtesy of the Book It! Homeschool program). His birthday was full of fun for two days.

Since his birthday was on a Sunday Forest and Laura decided to let him have a few of his presents on Saturday. One of which was a brand new lego table. He has been building a lot with the legos he got last year but needed a few more to boost his new-found creativity. And since his gifts from his Florida relatives had already arrived, he opened those too (see Bumblebee below). He really likes to build and play with his Transformers.

One more surprise for him on Saturday was tickets to the theater. He got to go to his first play: "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" at a theater in downtown Louisville--with just Mom and Dad. He will tell you the mouse was silly, and it was funny that everything the mouse had was so big. See, the play only had two actors, Boy and Mouse, both bplayed by grown men. So the set was over-sized and the props the mouse used were huge. It was fun to watch a grown mouse-man try to climb into a gigantic glass of milk. The best part for Forest and Laura was watching Nathanael's face during the play as he tried to understand the play-aspect of the story and the joy on his face as he laughed at the silly parts.

On his actual birthday he got to have two friends come home from church and they all go to ride home in Daddy's big Expedition. The boys had fun eating pizza and cake and playing and rough-housing. It was fun to have a couple of his friends from church over to spend the afternoon and celebrate his birthday.

We have been truly blessed to have Nathanael as a son, and are looking forward to the new adventures and joys in store for the next year!

Growing Babies

Talitha is a big girl. She's very proud of being a girl and makes sure you know that if you call her anything else. Two phrases you can hear from her often are "I'm girl" and "Me doot"--she wants to do everything herself. She even wants to use to potty just like her big sister and sometimes has success. However sometimes she over-estimates her abilities--like when she wanted to carry the stool out of the bathroom and crashed and somehow got a black eye. She can get in and out of her own bed and carseat in the van though. She loves to wear hats and jewelry and take care of her babies--such a femenine little girl. At her last check-up she was 21lbs--finally broke the 20lb mark at 19 months! She finally got some molars too--even though she was pretty proficient at eating just about anything already. Her dad likes to show you her tiny little pinky finger and say somehow he is wrapped around it--she is too cute and adorable for her own good sometimes.

Now, Josiah is growing too. He is now four months old. He no longer stays in one place, unless in a exer-saucer, and even then he spins around to see what's happening. If you leave him on the floor, he'll roll and struggle to get to something interesting. So far he mostly rolls to the right, but in a pinch he can roll left. At his last check-up he was 18.5lbs!! So when you put him next to his sister, they almost look the same size, and when you hold both of them, he feels heavier since he is so compact and doesn't hold his own weight up very well yet. It looks like he'll be getting a new carseat for Christmas if not sooner since his current one only lasts till 22lbs!