Polywog

As a babe, Dylan couldn't get enough of Mama's arms. Rather than in arms, Avery's favorite spot is lying on our bed on a sunny day. He favorite things to smile at are:
1) Us. She's in heaven if we sit on the bed smiling and gooing at her. She loves practicing those adorable sounds if someone is making them in return.
2) The tacky gold sparklies on our overhead light globe. Oh Man! She loves these.
3) Shadows on the wall
4) Tree limbs waving outside
5) Dylan, if he happens to be jumping on the bed.

As far as I can tell, her best friend is still her fist. Only dire hunger or fatigue will separate her from it.

Before Avery was born, most folks in the grocery store asked Dylan his age. Now they all ask if he likes being a big brother. The suprising answer is that I think he really does. Several of Dylan's friends have also recently become siblings. Some of them (the girls actually) truly ADORE their new babies. They treat them like baby dolls and want to hold them, rock them, kiss them, snuggle them and all out pester them until the REAL mom goes crazy. Dylan isn't like that. Most of the time he ignores Avery. But the suprise comes in how giving he is of my time. Avery is in my arms almost ALL OF THE TIME. Dylan wants to be right in there too...but never begrudges Avery her spot in the nook of my right arm. He doesn't even mind when I read his bedtime stories from the yoga ball BESIDE the bed, because Avery is screaming too loud to read unless we're bouncing (trust us here). The only exception is injuries. The injured Dylan wants undivided cuddles and kisses. But really, who could blame him? Wouldn't you?

Dylan doesn't always ignore Avery though. If she cries, he is the first to run across the house to either
1) find me and say "Mama, Avery's crying"
2) rock her (a little too vigorously) in her chair
3) hand me a clean diaper (as though I should know what to do from here)
4) put his nose to hers and say "SHHHHHHHHHH" (he's very effective here)

Sometimes they even play together. The picture above is just one of those moments. She likes her play gym best when Dylan is under it with her.
When people ask my Mom if Matt and I were close as kids, she always says that we got along fine, but didn't really play with each other until there was no one else around to play with. But really now, isn't that exactly when you need someone to play with most? Thanks, Matt. I'll bet you were a hoot under my play gym too.

It's been a busy few weeks since our big trip east. Most importantly we managed a camping trip to Oswald West, our favorite camping nook. Its only important to our pride, as we were determined not to miss camping this summer for the sake of pregnancy/infancy. If Avery is true to her roots, she'll be proud of her first summer's camping record. I was pretty scared of being left alone to manage the whole crew while Greg surfed, but it actually worked pretty well. Greg squeezed in four surf sessions in three days. Dylan is so well behaved it really isn't hard to have both kids at the camp site. Taking walks with both babes AND the pooch is where things get difficult. Anytime we pass another pouch (or a scary looking person), Dylan wants to be carried. Imagine me slinging Avery, carrying Dylan, walking Lance, and wearing a backpack. Yes, its a crazy as it sounds. And maybe a little dangerous when Lance wants to spin circles around another pup. (Don't even ask about scooping poop in that position.) That aside, the only really tough parts were the fussy evenings. True to her Johnson roots though, Avery is a rule follower. The first night she cried almost non-stop until 9:55pm. Quiet hours start at 10:00.

Greg started back to work with kids last Monday. I think its going pretty well. His old ideals of inspiring the unenthusiastic seems to be taking a back seat to his new appreciation of the motivated. This is a nice break for him in the form of "pre-AP" 9th grade biology instead of standard 10th grade biology.

As expected, Dylan misses Greg very much. But, I think he's very happy to see his routine again. And the Momma's groups are back in full swing. I do love this career path.