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Advent was fun this year as Jonathan understood more than he did last year. Whenever we heard a song with "Glory to God" in the lyrics, his face would light up and he'd exclaim, "Glory to God in the highest! Peace on Earth, goodwill to men. That's what the angel said to the shepherds!"
He was excited to pull out a new felt character each morning and place it on the flannel. I decided not to be picky about the location of the pieces - and thus we got wise men on the roof of the stable and other similar oddities. Also, I let him pick one character for me to make - he chose an octopus. So now we have the only Nativity scene in the world to include an octopus!
One of our children's Christmas books has on the second to last page a largely pregnant Mary with Joseph arriving at the stable, on the last page is Mary holding baby Jesus with Joseph and all the animals looking on admiringly. One time when we got to the last page, Jonathan asked, "Where's the placenta?" (I told him they probably wrapped it in hay and buried it outside, and that they usually don't draw it into the pictures...)
Noah recognizes his name now. On Christmas Eve Eve (that is, December 23) we put him in the high chair for the first time and he ate some potatoes and peas. At that point, he wasn't quite sitting up independently, but could handle sitting in a chair that gave him support. Now he can sit up by himself, but still needs to be watched closely.
One afternoon, Jonathan asked me, "Where does the dark go when it's morning time?" I said something along the lines of light dispelling darkness. Not too long after came a question that he has asked several times in the last couple of weeks, "Why did Jesus die on the cross for our sins?" He also asked this question on Christmas day, and part of my answer included, "since we are reconciled to God, we are able to be in his presence." His eyebrows went up and he said, "In God's presents!?" And it brought a picture to my mind of Jesus handing the Father a great big wrapped box, and when He opens it, out we come, saying Glory to God in the Highest!
We left the day after Christmas for New Hampshire and we had many adventures there. Noah had some kind of congestion/cough, teething, and it also turns out, an ear infection. Most nights were horrible, with much waking and screaming. Jon, Barbara, and I took turns holding him in the middle of the night. It was so hard having our "happiest baby in the world" be so miserable, day and night. It was even harder when we were at the ski lodge and sharing a room with four other family members.
The top left tooth, his 5th, broke through on the 27th. Number six tooth, top right, came yesterday, January 3rd.
Jonathan had a blast for New Year's toasts. We made 9:00 be midnight, and had sparkling grape juice. We took turns giving toasts and Jonathan took it and ran - "1-2-3, 2006, tree!" [swig] "1-2-3 2006 lightbulb!" [swig], etc. until his glass was empty, and then he asked for some of ours and did a few more toasts.
We visited the doctor the day after arriving home because Noah had been sick for two weeks. He had started getting better, but we thought a checkup was warrented. After determing that he did have an infected left ear, I got some homeopathic ear drops for the pain, and that is working nicely. He is 21lbs, 8 oz, 29".
While we were there, we had Jonathan's 3 year well visit. I thought it would be easier having them together, but it was not. We were there for too long. But Jonathan did great. He is perfectly healthy and 38.5 lb, 39". We did another lead test, just to check up on the decline. (results not in yet.) His height has gone down to 75th percentile, as has his weight. Ironically enough, the same pediatrician who was so concerned with Jonathan being too fat a year ago is now a little concerned that he actually lost weight instead of just gaining height. You can't win if you look at the numbers. Just look at the healthy boy and leave it at that!
And the day's breaking news - dum ta dum! Noah can belly crawl with a lovely cross pattern! He's been so close, but is easily frustrated, which causes him to push himself backwards into more frustration. The past day or so, I noticed him crawling to things about 3 inches away, but couldn't quite call it crawling because it could have just been a long reach. But this morning I put something 6 inches away and he took two "reaches" to get there - right arm/left knee, then left arm/right knee, and he got it! Now he just needs to acknowledge to himself that he can do it and go for more distance.