Spring

Jonas' favorite color is now green. We had special green shakes from McDonald's today in celebration of Gammaw's delayed flight.

Gammaw has been visiting for the past two weeks, and the boys have enjoyed seeing her. She eats popsicles with them and help dye Easter eggs. We dyed 5 dozen; about 1 dozen were immediately cracked by an exuberant Gill. Jonas tried to protect them from "Gillzilla." There was a lot of screaming.

During Gammaw's visits, she inevitably catches the germs that they bring home from school, so we always send her home sick. But she keeps coming back. After the arrival of cousin Olin just 2 miles down the road from her, we thought we might see less of her, but were pleasantly surprised with this recent visit.

Gill's hair has stayed curly. The longer it gets, to more curls. And when it's freshly washed or humid outside, it's really curly. I like to brush it out and make it look wild.

Jonas is talking more than ever. He was given the Denver II test at school, and scored low in verbal and social development. My theory is that his constant, year-long ear infections really cost him some language development. Gill had tubes early and is talking up a storm too. Jonas is also a bit "slow to warm" and become reserved in large group settings. There are 35 kids in his class, though only 20 on any given day. That is a lot of kids to interact with. In any case, I'm getting his hearing checked and having him tested further. His teacher did come to visit us at home and observed that he is much more talkative and social than she sees at school. She does note repetitive behaviors and some rigidity to routine. He particularly does not like to get his shirt wet or his feet dirty. He will also get quite upset if his morning chocolate milk (dosed with Miralax) isn't placed on the shelf above the toilet in the master bathroom.

My favorite thing about Jonas is what a cuddler he is. He is a very loving child. Though he and Gill fight, he is protective of his brother, and very oriented to his company. He likes to have him home when he's home. When he gets out of class at the end of the day, he runs to Gill's room. Gill, who is almost always in a good mood, will hop up and down when he spots Jonas. He follows Jonas everywhere and mimics everything that Jonas does.

The boys will be getting a kite and parachute circle thingee, plus a few Sid the Science Kid videos for Easter. And minimal chocolate, hopefully. Noni already sent two packages and Easter is still a week away. The first package had a Clifford DVD, edible Easter grass, and candy. The 2nd package contained a hopping, dancing bunny who sings "Here Comes Peter Cottontail." It's not a song you hear these days, and that's the (only) charming part of the dancing bunny. Gill is very reserved around it, and did try to hide behind the sofa in a crying fit, screaming "no bunny!" I have it on video. If I can figure out how to get it off the stupid iPad, I will post it here.