Playing with Ellie

The other weekend we went over to Nigel, Helen and Ellie's house for a few hours. Sebastian and Ellie had fun sucking on each others toys and Sebastian watched Ellie crawl (she just learned!). Nigel read Julien stories about New Zealand, Nigel's home country. Julien loved hearing about all the New Zealand animals, like the Kea and the Kiwi. When we got home Julien wanted to hear the New Zealand national anthem and we found it on line.

In the Hoop

Julien asked me to post these photos of him playing basketball in our family room. These are photos that he directed; he would tell me when he was making a shot so I could take the photo, and then he would check the camera to see if I captured what he was looking for. We did it over and over untill we had a shot of the ball going in the basket. He was very excited about it!

Space Hopper

Julien LOVES his space hopper that Willem and Shana gave him. He bounces all around the house. Sebastian thinks it is a very nice, very large, chew toy.

Nesrin

Nesrin is one of Sebastian's nannies. She is from Turkey. Sebastian loves her very much because she gives him such tender and focused care. She was able to feed Sebastian solid food before any of the rest of us, which made Sebastian's refusal of the bottle easier.

And yes, he still has not taken the bottle, so I go home at lunch every day to nurse him. And he takes solid food (sweet potato and pear are his favorites). I have been donating my extra milk to Abby's twins, Ruth and Stephan. Abby has been having difficulties producing enough milk, and I figure Sebastian isn't using what I am pumping, so I should put my breast milk to good use!

Wild for Cockatoos!

Julien's most recent obsession is parrots- in particular cockatoos. Why? I'm not totally certain. We did see one at the Alligator Farm in Florida, but that alone does not explain it. Julien talks about them constantly. Right now he has two as imaginary pets, Polly and Ten (why Ten? ten is Ten's favorite number). He found Ten at school. He broke his wing against the playground fence and Julien nursed him back to health and let him sleep with him at nap time. At home Ten sleeps in Julien's dresser drawer. Polly has been with us longer. Julien and Richard made him a home, a cage constructed out of cardboard boxes. Last night I saw a scratch on Julien's shoulder and I asked him how he got it. His response? "Polly scratched me by accident when she perched on my shoulder." The other day we went in to talk to Carol, the director of Hoosier Courts (Julien's pre-school). He said "I see cockatoos playing all over the playground, but nobody else can see them!" Carol responded, "but as we know, just because no one else can see them doesn't mean they aren't there!"

Almost crawling!

Sebastian is almost crawling. He can get his butt in the air and his tummy off the ground and rock back and forth. He can also push himself backwards a few feet or into sitting, but he can not yet crawl forward on all fours. It won't be long!

Rocking to Crawl

Ice and Snow

This last weekend we went to Griffy lake again. The ice was even more solid, but covered with snow. The ice fishers were out in force! Can you see that Julien enjoyed falling down and sliding on the ice?

It has now warmed up, so I am sure the ice has turned to mush.

In the last of these photos you can see our new (used) mini-van. We love it!

Good Morning!

Melting

The ice and snow are supposed to melt this week. It has been beautiful, as Julien said, "like fireworks of glass." (This isn't quite as brilliant as it sounds - the Children's Museum has an exhibit called "Fireworks of Glass.") We are ready for it to melt.

Sledding

We took Sebastian sledding for the first time this weekend, and he loved it! We didn't send him down any big hills; we just pulled him around. We went to a park across town with Anna and Jack as well as Alex, Cece and Simone. Jack and Julien practiced snow boarding. Julien figured out how to stand on his sled - he held on to the handle sideways while in a kind-of squatting position. He had great balance and made it all the way to the bottom several times!

Happy Valentines Day!

These are some photos from our Valentines Day card attempt. It didn't work as planned. Julien really wanted to be dressed up as a cockatoo (and Sebastian as a cockatiel) but he found his wings too uncomfortable.

But never fear, I did make cards, and they are on the way - just a little late!

Ice Storm

We had an ice storm yesterday and our power was out for ten hours! Luckily we have a fireplace (albeit with a gas flame) so we were able to stay warm enough. Today almost everything is shut down, even IU Bloomington!

Sebastian moves in circles

Click on image to play short video.

Shirt

My friend Sherry (from work) made this beautiful shirt for Sebastian!

Window/Wall

Some of you may remember Lizzie? She has a new site-specific installation, Window/Wall opening at the Jersey City Museum.

Baby, it's cold outside.

We went to Griffy lake yesterday, and it was frozen solid. It is very, very cold out. There is a low of 0 and a high of 14 today. Yikes!

Julien doesn't mind, as long as he has his snow pants and coat (Unfortunately, his jacket zipper broke last night and we need pliers to get it on and off! So we need to buy an emergency jacket. Of course it would be the coldest day of the year!). Julien loved sliding on the ice. I wanted to play too, but Sebastian was not too happy about the cold, so we quickly went into the van.

"Go Colts"

Of course, everyone has been wild about the Colts this week. We enjoyed watching the Colts win last night, although Julien went to bed at half time. I made root beer floats and Bill's traditional chili (I remember watching the super bowl with my dad while he darned and mended clothes. I have always liked that juxtaposition). Julien and I got a couple Colts cupcakes and a fancy chocolate moose cake from the bake house. Can you guess what Julien liked best? Chocolate always wins.

Julien was more excited making a colts banner that he hung in the window, than he was in the actual game. He also enjoyed chanting "Go Colts!"

Illness

Poor little Sebastian has been very sick this last week- fever of 103, lethargic, not nursing enough, postnasal drip, projectile spit-ups and frequent poops. And very fussy. No fun. We are very glad he is feeling better!