Jones Eckelman Family Blog: September

Today is the first day it feels like fall. High of 67 degrees, sunny, cool crisp air. I said as much over breakfast this morning and Iris added "summer's over." Sigh. All is well in the Jones-Eckelman household.

Iris has just started full-time daycare. On the one hand, it frees up more time for Matt's work (he's busy as ever this semester, teaching, writing, researching, traveling for conferences) and Iris loves it there. On the other hand, we miss her. Iris is a blast - she's a total goof ball, making jokes, both verbal and physical. Her daycare providers noted last week that "she rules" at the playground - she even went down the slide head-first on her back the other day - quite the dare-devil. She still loves songs and music. This morning, I asked her to sing to Baby Hazel and she busted out with 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed, a song we've sung many times, but she's never sung alone. She immediately revised the lyrics: after one round with a monkey, the next round had Hazel jumping on the bed, and the third round had Mama. That round went: "leaving one little mama jumping on the bed; she fell off and it's all good." That was the end of the song. Too funny. Iris is also well into the "I do it myself" phase. Ahhhh . . . . patience . . .

Iris really loves Hazel - it is so sweet - she tries to calm her down when she's upset, loves to give her hugs and kisses and is generally a great big sister.

Meanwhile, Hazel just turned four months. Her well-baby check-up is on Monday, but unofficial weight is 18.5 lbs on the home scale. She is large. Hazel is getting stronger - sitting in the Bumbo, holding her head up, and getting close to flipping over. She has a lovely calm temperament so far. She's still up 1-2 times a night to eat, but naps well during the day, so we can't complain too much.

Two weekends ago, Daddy took Hazel to a family wedding in San Diego (no photos yet), while Mama and Iris stayed in Boston. We got to help Alison, Matt and Petra move into their new house, spend time with JJ, D-Dad, Grandpa, Karen and Uncle Brian. Photos from that weekend and other September adventures can be found here. In addition, Alison has posted her Maine photos here. A few highlights below.

This weekend, we're off to Newport to visit various members of the Denton clan; the following weekend back up to Boston to look at houses. As usual, life's just a little bit too busy.