Christmas!

Christmas is so fun with kids! This year Michael enjoyed everything about Christmas, and thought it was quite amazing that Santa came to the house to fill the stockings (and ate all the cookies, and drank all the milk!). He loved unwrapping gifts from friends and family, each gift so thoughtful and fun, and even waited patiently as we unhooked all the crazy twist-ties that hold toys so securely in their packaging...

Jax got into the action, too, with an added enjoyment: eating the wrapping paper (should we have been surprised?).

We also enjoyed all the Christmas lights hung on houses in our area. The owners of one home nearby have their lights designed by a professional company that links the whole set-up to Christmas songs on the radio. We visited this home several times, as Michael was always asking to go see the "blinking, blinking, blinking lights."

Entertainment at Grandma and Grandpa's House

When Michael was three weeks old he heard an organ playing for the first time and his little soul searched around excitedly for the source of the amazing sound. Since then his interest in musical instruments of all sorts has only increased, and he's been in heaven trying out all of his grandparents' old castaways. In a show of how much his tastes have broadened, he especially enjoys playing backup to Uncle Scott's Wii Electric Guitar...

A few days ago we attended Scott's high school music program. Michael was transfixed throughout the entire show (this was, quite honestly, a big surprise. I had expected to take him home after about three songs - thinking that he would be unable to sit still and quiet for the length of the show). One of the performances included a cello solo, which Michael thought was amazing, and now the violin doubles as a cello at times.

Jax, too, loved the show and kept jumping up and down to dance with the music, spicing things up a bit with an occasional turn. I should have expected her dancing - when we're at home she has a seemingly involuntary bounce that starts the moment music is turned on.

In addition to enjoying all sorts of music, the kids have also been enjoying their introduction to television. Michael's high anticipation of our new "Monday Movies" (fans of "The Office" may appreciate the reference) seem to be helping him learn the days of the week.

Snow, Snow, Snow

We're out in Utah and thoroughly enjoying the snow! Michael and I made a snowman, and I learned a lot about snowman-making-with-children through this experience:

1) Don't expect much help until it gets really interesting (Michael only wanted to help once the snowball got really big and he could help roll it).

2) Once it gets interesting, don't expect the child's interest to last long (I got only about five or ten minutes out of Michael while making the base snowman, then he went inside).

3) If you make the base large enough to get the child's interest, and you're a weakling, expect immense difficulty getting the other two pieces of the snowman on top!

I also learned that it is worthwhile to have the face-makings picked out in advance. After the snowman had been built, I enlisted my brother Scott to help complete the snowman with whatever we could find. If you look closely you'll see two huge rocks (recently dug out of the cold ground) for eyes, a baby carrot for a nose (which pretty much disappeared the next day when it snowed again) and several pieces of celery shaping a mouth. Scott also learned that branches (snowman arms) pulled directly out of a tree can dump a whole lot of snow on an unsuspecting person...

Despite not knowing all these going into it, we all had a really good time building the snow man, and again the next night when Michael and I threw snowballs at a tree to watch them splat, and then chased each other around the snowman throwing snow at each other. Jax stayed inside and looked at us longingly almost the whole time!

How did Jax watch us longingly? Because she crawled! She made the first right-left crawling motion the day we arrived in Utah, and quickly turned "pro." Whenever we were outside she would hurry over to the long window and push herself up to standing so that she could look outside. Our little girl is mobile!

Arrival in Salt Lake City

Wow - flight with two young children is CRAZY! Thanks to a huge amount of help from Mel and Cherry, who accompanied us on their way to a wedding (and got us some fabulous seats in first-class!), we made it to Utah alive and with minimal battle wounds. It was a close call, though, because I was a total idiot and left Michael's car seat in the car rather than bringing it on board with us (I have no excuse but stupidity). All through the security line (which is a long time indeed) I was dwelling on images of families being kicked off planes because their young children refused to stay seated... Thankfully Michael did alright - and I plan to buy a car seat while we're out here so that he's well-secured during the return flight!

Even though it hadn't been long since we'd been here last, both Jax and Michael had a tough time adjusting. Jax was just beginning to experience separation anxiety before we arrived and wouldn't leave my sight (and often my arms) for the first week. Michael did better, but his concern for Jax was apparent. Little by little, though, they began to have fun and overcome their fears!

Playing at Home

Jax is quickly upgrading her position from Michael's "baby" and becoming his playmate. This month the two of them developed some new games, one where they play tug-of-war with a soft soccer ball, and another where Michael pulls Jax in her "car" using a jump rope. The two of them have so much fun together. Jax doesn't yet move enough to steal Michael's toys, so there haven't been any altercations yet!

Jax is starting to move a little bit, though. Instead of doing a normal crawl she break-dances across the floor by tucking her knees up next to her elbows and tumbling forward. I've also seen her reach a toy that was too far in front of her by turning a half circle, backing up to it, and then turning back around (she's quite the industrious little thing). As for true crawling, right now she can't decide if it has to do with her knees or her feet - but she's quite sure that it has nothing at all to do with her arms!

Milestones

Jax experienced two big "firsts" during the last few weeks. Her introduction to solid foods came just after her six-month mark. Admittedly, six months may seem late but, truth be told, we didn't wait as long as we did with Michael... The experience taught us that pediatricians are right, introducing solids is much easier when done earlier (imagine that). While Jax was a little hesitent for the first nanosecond, she quickly began grabbing at the spoon to put it in her own mouth, and crying in despair at the long wait between spoonfuls!

We also took Jax swimming for the first time and saw her dare-devil nature in full force. She had no problem getting into the water, despite its cold temperature, and voiced her impatience when Michael jumped in and she couldn't immediately follow. She jumped and played in the water with all of us and, most surprisingly, when she saw Jonathan and Michael put their faces in the water to blow bubbles she tried it out herself - several times!

Halloween

Halloween is an exciting time at our house, as it is Jonathan's favorite holiday (must have something to do with its proximity to his birthday...). This year Michael helped hollow the pumpkins with us, and busily pounded his pumpkin while the other two were carved.

We used costumes that Nicole's sister made last year for her family. Perfect for us, except that we couldn't very well have Jax wear the Yoda costume! Instead we gave her a little "senator" outfit and - voila! - we were transformed into Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi, Padme, and a Senator (or, if you want to merge episodes, Princess Leia).

As part of the Halloween fun we attended a party for Michael's preschool group, and Jonathan met Michael's favorite girl Cami for the first time. The two are so funny together, and have been caught at preschool stealing a kiss on more than one occasion. With the number of chaperones at this event, their hanky-panky was greatly limited.

Jonathan's brother and his family came to our church's annual "Trunk or Treat" and their costumes were so cute! Sophia was a darling little pumpkin and Hannah came as Princess Pocahontas.

Happy Birthday to Dad

Jonathan's birthday was this month - hooray! For some reason we thought he was already thirty-six, so our discovery that he was, in fact, only turning thirty-six this year was nice and unexpected.

Jared and Heather brought their kids up from Blacksburg to celebrate and we had a party at Mel and Cherry's place. Shortcake with strawberry icecream "frosting" was served, as it is every year, while we all tried to figure out if Jared or Jonathan had first tagged it as the birthday favorite.

Shenandoah National Park

We went to Shenandoah for a few days in mid-October and had such a great time! We knew the kids were in good hands with Mel and Cherry, and so fully enjoyed ourselves without any responsibilities, or needless worrying.

We were able to book a great cabin that had the most beautiful view of the valley below and spent several hours just gazing out the window and talking. We also went on a hike that wound down the mountain alongside a stream; it was gorgeous. We stopped at a small pond and watched the fish dart back and forth before wandering back. The hike was nice and easy - though we realized on the way back up the mountain that we should have had T-shirts rather than sweaters.

The Power of Spiderman Underwear

Michael is now potty-trained! It's amazing, the power of spiderman underwear mixed with reward M&Ms. Especially once I discovered, thanks to a tip from potty-training expert Marcia Stewart (a woman who goes to my church), that Michael should get M&Ms for dry pants (!) along with successful bathroom activities...

Yes, I know this isn't quite so interesting to many of you, but if I don't write this down I will not remember, and twenty years from now I'll be claiming something totally unbelievable ("My son Michael was potty-trained at six-months...").

Grandma and Grandpa Bryson Retire

Michael and Jax are enjoying the happy results of Grandma and Grandpa Bryson's retirement. Retirement for Grandma and Grandpa was, I am sure, met with conflicting emotions but the kids felt only excitement at the prospect of more time with them.


Grandma now comes to play with the kids at least once a week and boy do they look forward to it! Grandpa joins us for many activities, including one of Michael's favorites: feeding fish at the pond (not actually the pirhanas that Grandma calls them, but they do go crazy for a little bread).

Great Falls with Friends

We went to Great Falls with our friends, Tyler and Danielle Kraus, in the end of September - timing it just before we thought the weather would get cold. After a dinner of pizza and snacks (mostly snacks, as Michael is thoroughly un-American at the moment and doesn't like pizza) we walked along the trail toward the old river locks, throwing and kicking what we think were walnuts.

Along the way we stopped to examine a hollow tree which, until going to the park at Great Falls, I didn't know existed outside of books.

Once we got to the locks the boys ran, climbed up stone "bricks," and wrecklessly jumped off again. Michael and his friend Tyler are great pals and loved playing together.

Teaching Jax to Read

Michael is a very quick learner - just two days of preschool and he's already teaching his sister to read!

Michael Goes to Preschool

Michael is now officially a preschooler! Thankfully, he just outgrew the phase of prolonged crying at Nicole's departure, and was therefore deemed developmentally prepared for the rigors of preschool curriculum. As such, we'd like to say he came home happy and unscathed, but instead we'll just say that he came home happy (as he got quite a scratch during a brief altercation over a coveted toy...).

While there, Michael must have been part of the preschool crowd's discussion of "in" items, and has since decided that he must, absolutely must, have some spiderman underwear. Hmmm. Some real excitement is in our future.

In addition to honing his social skills, Michael has also been perfecting his talents in physical comedy. He plays to an easy crowd at home - Nicole and Jax think he is hilarious.

Our Long Vacation Out West

In August Nicole and the kids flew out to Utah for an extended vacation with family. It was great! We spent long, lazy days playing in the backyard - "watering" the sandbox, sliding down grandpa's death slide (!), climbing up ladders, riding cousin Gavin's hand-me-down "motorbike" and playing in the tree house.

The highlight of the trip was spending so much uninterrupted time with our family. On many evenings we'd all talk together in the kitchen for hours, just like old times (though, with a slightly reduced number of people, the decibal level was lower...). Chris and Gavin joined us often, and Michael had such fun with his cousin! Nicole also introduced everybody to her favorite Canadian tween show, "Strange Days at Blake Holsey High," and watched it each night to see how Josie and the gang were faring.

Jax met her namesake for the first time, and they really took to each other. Nicole's grandmother spent many hours answering all sorts of questions about her life so that we can develop a name book for Jax. We learned so many great things! We made some progress on the book, and we're looking forward to continuing the "work" when Nicole heads back to the area in December.