Valentine's Day

Here is my latest attempt to photograph the boys together. Isaac was silly but agreeable. Unfortunately, my flash kept going off in Jonah's face, and his eyes show the effects.









Below, blurry but sweet...Isaac loves to stroke Jonah's soft head. Jonah doesn't seem to mind.





We were on our way to a fun Valentine's brunch with Kari and family and a bunch of friends. I didn't get any good pictures there, but she has some cute ones on her blog:
http://landon-t-c.blogspot.com/2010/02/adler-and-his-buddies.html

Adam and I have boycotted this "manufactured" holiday until now, even though I always kind of wished he'd surprise me and celebrate it after all. My parents always gave us those wonderful heart shaped boxes of Russell Stover truffles, and they still send us funny cards in bright red envelopes that I always save to open on the actual day. No, I never wanted to celebrate Valentine's with Adam just because the stores with all their hearts and rosy-colored displays implied that we should...But I think I've always felt a little left out.

This year, I thought about how hard the monotony of winter cold and snow can be, and I realized that Valentine's Day is part of how we get through this time. Each cold and dreary month needs a bright spot, and in February, that means hearts and chocolate and bottles of wine by candlelight. So we agreed to celebrate this year, and I got us a babysitter and a restaurant, and we had date night on the 14th.

And somehow, even aside from our candlelight dinner, this was the best Valentine's Day I can remember. In the morning, we opened the cards from my parents, and Isaac thought the cat with the big, artificial grin like a pair of vampire teeth was hilarious. We spent the rest of the morning at the home of some of our favorite people, eating brunch, drinking mimosas, and watching 2-year-olds with trucks and trains and babies making their first eyes at each other. After nap, we all took Smokey on a long walk through the neighborhood in the crackling air that burned my fingers and my lungs and frosted my cheeks with cold. It was so cold. But the late afternoon was beautiful, as the sun sank behind the Victorians and the snow grew gray and shadowed. Then date night - our candlelight dinner alone, at a little table in a favorite restaurant just blocks away. We walked there, and we walked home quickly, before the warmth of wine and happiness was edged out by the frigid air. Add to this the fun of sitting on the floor in Isaac's room, before bed on Thursday night, making 10 valentines (paper hearts with stickers and scribbles) to drop in the "mailboxes" of his preschool classmates the next day. And Isaac's delight after school, as we pulled all his valentines out of his bag to see who they were from, and as he carried them around the house all weekend.

Everything is more fun with a child standing beside you. And I can say it now - I love Valentine's Day.

Videos

Jonah is one of the smiliest babies I've ever seen. He opens his mouth so wide, and his eyes dance; his arms and legs become a blur of motion. It's hard to capture. I'll keep trying, but here's one attempt:



We think Isaac has some musical ability. This is also hard to capture, as I never get the video camera out in time. He loves to play the piano, plays it almost every day, and gets mad if he hears someone else playing it.
Actually, I hear him starting to play right now as I type this.
He uses both hands, up and down the keys, sometimes practicing scales that we've never shown him, and even if he sounds like a preschooler and not Mozart, we think he has a really nice touch sometimes. He'll often sing too - the Hello song from music class is a favorite, but he also makes up songs like "Red Horse in a Wagon" and "Three Little Nonnies." If he's enjoying himself (and not banging angrily), I love to listen. In this video, you can hear the last few notes of a pretty song he was inventing.

February pics of the boys

JONAH

Four and a half months old now. As of January 28, he was 13.5 lb and 24 3/4 inches.





If you just glance at Jonah, his mouth opens wide in the biggest smile you can imagine. Sometimes he thinks people are so funny looking that he'll start laughing too.
Jonah smiles all day long - eyes lit up, mouth wide, happy as can be - until he gets mad, and then he screams raspy, angry screams. But only until we fix the problem (with some milk, a nap, a clean diaper), and then he's back to all smiles again.





















Jonah also talks all day long. It's a beautiful stream of coos and words in Jonah language, with a surprising number of sounds mixed in.
Sometimes he looks at a person and says: "Hi!"
And the other day in the car, when we were a little late getting him home to bed, in the middle of his fussing, he said pitifully: "Mama..." I wonder if he meant it.



I love this outfit from our cousin Molly and family.

This was February 3rd, and we were getting ready to walk to a nearby pizza place to meet friends for lunch. I left Jonah and Isaac alone in a room together for a few minutes, watching carefully through our cutout window in the kitchen. Isaac went to Jonah, knelt beside him, and started talking to him. I don't know what he was saying; I could just hear that dear little high-pitched voice, and Jonah seemed to be watching him with interest. Then Isaac slid him off the Boppy pillow - very gently and slowly. I don't know why. But it was cute, and Jonah didn't mind a bit.



People keep telling me lately that Jonah looks very long. I don't notice unless I see someone else holding him, but in the picture above, I do think he looks lanky.

Below: a classic Jonah face, watching the world go by with his sharp, bright eyes.



Isaac runs away from cameras these days, but he let us take a few pictures of his blueberry-pie-covered face last night. A special Saturday night treat: UK-UT basketball game and pie for dessert.




Nice pants.





And headed upstairs after the pie, minus the pie-covered clothes.

Jan 8 - First day of Friday School

Well, we had two weeks straight of illness around here, and I got behind on the blog...will try to catch up quickly now that Jonah has started taking naps!

Isaac has two preschools now, and we call them Tuesday school and Friday school. Each one is just a few hours in the morning. He started Tuesday school back in August, as I intended to provide some consistency for him before Jonah arrived. Friday school starts at age 2 1/2, so Isaac, and 9 other kids who have just reached that age, are in a class that starts midyear. It's a neighborhood cooperative that we've been hearing about ever since we moved here - one class at a time, in the downstairs of an old Denver Square house, with a great playground for a sideyard. I was excited that he got in (lottery), especially since it is a class full of our friends. But I had no idea how much Isaac had been dreading it. We'd been dropping him off at Tuesday school for 4 months and he was fine, but this was a new place and a new teacher, and of course he couldn't understand that he was much closer to home and that it would only last 2 hours instead of 4.



We went to the school together to drop him off, all 4 of us. Several other dads were there too, and some friends kindly took pictures of us (Shawn - the two above and the last one, Leanne - the other two - thanks!!).

After some clinginess, Isaac started to realize that the room was full of fascinating toys. We could see his hesitation, and I dreaded leaving, but at least he knew most of the other kids. Also, two moms stay each day to serve as assistants. Sarah promised me she'd give him a hug if he was sad, and Teacher Anne took him to the window to wave goodbye to us. Adam and I jumped up and down, waved, and made faces at him, and thankfully the little face looking out the front window at us had a smile on it as we walked away. We heard later that he'd hung back and observed for much of the class (typical Isaac, wanting to figure things out for himself before jumping in) - but no tears.




Below, Isaac was thrilled to see Jonah and me but still wouldn't smile for a picture.



I found out how much he'd been dreading this morning once we got home. He was suddenly full of crazy grins and laughter, relief all over his face. It was fun after all, but you couldn't have made him believe it until he saw for himself.

Jonah's 3-month Picture

(actually 3 months and 5 days)