Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

He was jumping up and down on top of an overturned Rubbermaid container. Because 3 1/2.

Lisa writes: After James's initial first poop (sorry), there was a long, dry spell which was finally broken today. Reaction #1: Yay! Reaction #2: Nobody warned me that potty training could last two years.

Lisa writes: I never thought I'd forget what James was like when he was little, but already I look at Joseph and I try to remember James at the same age and the memories are gone. So here's a picture of exactly what every after-Sunday looked like in November 2017 when they were 3 1/2 and 13 months old. They come home and immediately dump all of the toys out of both buckets and start spreading them across the living room and into the kitchen. James likes pulling all of the pillow off the couches and making forts or jumping into them from the couch arms. He likes jumping on top of or off of that big, gray crate. He narrates conversations between his dinosaurs, although he'll stop immediately if he catches you listening in. The other day I was in the kitchen and he was in the living room and I asked him what he was doing. "Playing with dinosaurs," he called back. "What are the dinosaurs doing?" I asked. "Just talking," he said.  Joseph likes ban...

Lisa writes: It's the day after Thanksgiving and everything is cleaned up and we're bored and ... let's go to the biggest mall on the biggest shopping day of the year and just see what happens! (Spoiler: We got there early and it was hopping but not packed yet. We just hung out at the playground on the 3rd floor and the boys ran around and had fun.) Since his surgery two months ago, Joseph is catching up on his gross motor skills by leaps and bounds. He's been crawling (in his own special way) for a month, and today he started really standing (with assistance).  

Lisa writes: Here's the whole gang on Turkey Day.  Back row: Zane (Tim's friend from grad school), Tom, Cousin Julia up from Norfolk, Uncle Mark, Lisa and Baby Joseph, James. Seated: Uncle Tim, Aunt Betsy, Oma Trudi, Cousin Martin. We're doing that thing where you can shout "cheese" at Tom's camera and it will take you picture, which means we have about 3000 of these.

Lisa write: Aaah! A beautiful day at the playground, swinging on the big new swings ... the ones with no seatbelts ... with the wiggly 1 year old. You know what happened next. But, for the moment, let's just enjoy how fun it was right before the fall.

Lisa writes: These little guys are a study in contrasts sometimes. Here's Joseph with the sippy cup. No problemo. And here's James and the sippy cup at about the same age back in March 2015.

Lisa writes: This is his shtick -- I say "mama." He says ....

Lisa writes: One thing I didn't know prior to having kids was that you don't just go out and buy ONE carseat. Or TWO carseats. You need at least THREE carseats. Here's Seat #2 for Joseph, the "transitional backwards-to-front-facing" thingybob that will only last him maybe a year. But he's sure happy about it!

Lisa writes: I think they're playing with the audio camera setting (just say "shoot" or "cheese" at the camera and it takes your picture). Tom seems to be loving it more than James. Them giant feets, tho!

Lisa writes: I feel like this is the beginning of a dynamic that's going to play out for a long, long time....

Lisa writes: It's 2 1/2 years later and we're back at El Rinconcito in DC. Guess who still likes pickled cabbage? And guess who tried it for the first time and liked it too? (Featuring special guest Cousin Hannah) The original visit here .

   Lisa writes: If you're in Northern Virginia, I probably don't have to explain this. If not, Peterson's is sort of an institution. It's a tiny place in Clifton (which in turn is also a tiny place) and it's great.

  Ikea, of course. Got this little dump truck toy from Uncle Don Don and Aunt Suzie. Loooves it.