Playing catch-up ... yet again

The past month has been BANANAS. While Matt made the final press to finish his dissertation and worked crazy long hours, we all stayed in Yakima to see friends, enjoy some warmer weather, and have a few sets of extra hands around.

Kees is changing so much, so quickly. He is such a handsome little guy. He continues to be sweet spirited and pretty laid back. His favorite thing to do is hang out in his little jungle play mat. He's getting pretty good at grabbing the dangling toys! He is content there for long chunks of time, which is great. He doesn't eat with nearly the verosity that Calvin did, so the days and nights are a little more chill. We're in the midst of sleep training right now in an attempt to get him to fall asleep on his own while also weaning his night time feeds. So far, so good. He is his own little person though, that's for sure. He keeps finding ways to remind me that he is not Calvin and will be doing things his own way. He has become so responsive! It's really fun. He smiles and is a BIG talker. As Calvin says "Baby Kees has a lot to say". We also started him on some solids last week, just as an experiment. He tried some rice cereal and some sweet potatoes. I don't really think he quite new what to think of it, and had a hard time with the physical logistics of swallowing. We'll keep trying though.

All tuckered out ...

Sweet smile! It's kind of hard to capture him smiling because when he makes eye contact and smiles, his whole body starts kicking and flapping. It is DARLING ... but makes getting a good picture a little bit tricky.

Hanging out with brother ... he loves Calvin and is also just a little scared/flinchy around him. I fear this may continue for awhile.

Loving on Daddy - there was some serious cooing happening when this picture was taken. So sweet.

Candy cane brother photo shoot. Calvin really wanted to hold Kees' hand the whole time ;).



Kees getting to know Nanny ... and mommy enjoying a few moments of free hands!


Calvin has become quite a little begger ... he's enjoying some of Papa's apple pie.

LOVE this sweet little face!

And Papa put Calvin to work vacuuming - he loved it!

Dear Calvin is such a good big brother. He loves Kees dearly and is always wanting to kiss him and hug him and touch his head. We talk a lot about gentle hands and quiet voices ... great challenges for a two year old boy! Calvin's vocabulary is taking off ... he is finally starting to be able to talk in some complete sentences, which is so fun. He struggles to get all his words out, but tries so hard! He's also a BIG watcher and imitator right now ... good practice for mom and dad to be extra mindful of what we say!

Okay ... more to come.