grrrowl!!

some new things mo's started doing this week:

• he's started to do this thing after i put a spoonful of yummy food in his mouth.  he opens his mouth and lets it all fall out.  i haven't figured out if he's doing it for any particular reason, or if he's just doing it because he's figured out he can.  it's partly cute/funny as anything, and partly annoying.  you know.  i hope it doesn't develop into a habit.
• he's started carrying stuffed animals around.  like he's showing them around.  it's so endearing!
• he's started to play and throw his pacifiers out of his crib and cry/scream before his naps.  for like half an hour!  i'm pretty sure he cries because he feels he needs those pacifiers to help him fall asleep, but after much thought, i have decided to stand firm in the fact that i am the boss.  and he needs to learn, either stop throwing those pacis out, or sleep without them (which he'll need to learn soon, since i had thought i might take those pacifiers away at around 1 year... eek!).  i figure that if i go in to retrieve his pacifier, the baby will learn what he needs to do to earn a social visit from mom.  then he is the boss of me.  *shakes head*  i know it will pay off someday, but i do feel bad that our neighbors have to hear all the paci-drama. 
• he's started growling.  not menacingly or anything, just vibrating his voice box.  it's so fun to witness him discovering things he can do.  

something else that's new is that one of the neighborhood kids called me "moses' mom."  it instantly made me feel weird, even though i know i'm moses' mom, i guess i didn't realize i had become one of those women whom [polite] kids aren't supposed to call by their first names.  all the information the kids need to know is that the baby's name is moses, and that he belongs to that lady over there and we need to ask her for permission for moses to come out to play.  and yes, the neighborhood kids come over frequently to ask if moses can come out to play.  he's a popular kid.

lovelove,
moses' mom

infant swimming

so, i've been taking mo to the pool about twice a week since we moved up to ATL.  we have a community pool that is a very short walk from our house.  he absolutely loves water.  i've been trying to teach him to swim, but it is admittedly going more slowly than i would prefer.  partly because i don't like to go everyday, as some recommend.  partly because moses still seems to drink a ton of water instead of holding his breath.  partly because i don't really know how to teach swimming to anybody, much less a baby.  ha. it's been fun anyway.  and just so you know i'm not crazy for this endeavor, i was inspired by this amazing video:

the most helpful website i've found so far for teaching infant swimming is: http://www.uswim.com.  they have videos (with lovely aussie accents), lesson sheets, and even certificates you can print.  enjoy!

lovelove,
me

book review: french kids eat everything

i just finished this delightful book called French Kids Eat Everything.  the tagline reads, "How our family moved to France, cured picky eating, banned snacking, and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy, healthy eaters," and basically sums it up.  it was a quick and easy read, and even has 18 French recipes at the end of the book.  the author was super relate-able, as she was very honest about her struggles and doubts, and she really described her own journey quite well.  she is also a professor of something or other, so she's really educated and included a lot of summaries of relevant research studies that she looked up during her year in France.  there were three things that really stood out to me.  

(1) the first gem from this book was really the first rule that she discovered, which was "you are in charge of food education."  the French think it's important to teach kids the proper way to prepare, cook and eat healthy food.  it's as much of a life-long skill as potty training or reading, so they take as much (or more) care to teach their kids to eat well from infancy.  it was really reaffirming for me in my own philosophy, to be honest, because i've been painstakingly trying to teach moses how to eat without making a mess, how to behave during mealtimes, and how to eat (and like) a variety of healthy foods.  sometimes i feel like i'm being ridiculous because most popular (American) websites and books will recommend that you let your baby eat what they like, hide vegetables in their food, and give your baby complete freedom to explore their food.  but you know, i made a resolute decision early on that i would not spread out a tarp under his highchair during mealtimes or have to wipe baby food off of walls.  so far, i haven't had to, and moses is one of the cleanest [baby] eaters i know.  another interesting thing about food education is that the French work on developing kids' palates for healthy food, so they calmly say that if a child doesn't like something, they just haven't tasted it enough times.  i can't remember exactly how many times they have to taste something, but i think it's somewhere up past a dozen or more.  i like that.

(2) many of the author's rules can actually be summed up by saying that the French have a loving but authoritative parenting style.  they schedule the meals and menus (kids eat what adults eat), family eats together, no emotional eating, variety of vegetables, no snacking, taste everything.  it seems that the French parents make the decisions and are in charge.  too often, i think that kids are in charge of their eating in America, ending up with kids who only eat french fries, chicken tenders and mac and cheese.  all yummy foods, to be fair, but the French seem to be doing something right when their kids are eating all kinds of vegetables and are polite and clean eaters by the time they are toddlers.  

(3) French versus American attitudes toward food.  there was a study that the author summarized, and i thought it was fascinating, so i'll just copy it directly:

Americans tend to be anxious about food and to identify health, nutrition and dieting as the key issues they associate with eating.  The French, on the other hand, almost never mention any of these topics when as for their thoughts about food.  Rather, they talk about pleasure, tasty food, socializing, culture, identity, and fun. In one of the most revealing studies, Fischler showed a picture of a chocolate cake to both American and French people and asked them for the first word that popped in their head.  For Americans, the most common word was "guilt." For the French, the most common word was "celebration."  

there were tons of studies and conversations that pointed to these sorts of differences.  differences that made the French actually healthier eaters.  i love food, and i love food in different cultures.  i want to instill a healthy love of food in our precious baby too.  

basically, what i've been trying to say is that i've totally bought into it.  maybe we need to move to French-land.

lovelove,

moi

forget it, i don't know anything anymore

i like to think that mo has come to the point where his routine is predictable, but really, that's just in my imaginary world.  because sometimes he takes a two+ hour nap, sometimes he takes 45 minutes.  sometimes he wakes up screaming, sometimes he wakes up and quietly and contentedly talks to himself.  sometimes he screams bloody murder for 30 minutes before his nap, throwing his two pacifiers and blanket out of the crib, and sometimes he just zonks out.  i cannot wait until this child can tell us what's up.


but i'm thankful.  he still does like to take two naps a day, and they are usually substantially longer than 30 minutes each.  and he sleeps all night every night.  well, except last night, he randomly woke up and cried for like 15 seconds, and then got quiet again.  


this first year of life must be so tough.  i'm glad that, by the grace of God, we don't remember it.  


it's been a little while since i've reported any new things that mo's been doing, so here it goes:

• he loves to press this little button on one of his toys to make it play music and immediately move on to play with other toys.  it's like he presses it just for the background music during his playtime.  
• he can pull up to stand anywhere, including walls!
• he is very interested in eating what adults are eating, but he still doesn't chew that well, even with all those teeth.  i'm still in the phase of supplementing his baby food with table food, mostly because it takes so long to feed him table food and because we've been eating some spicy food these days.  he still cries like a baby when he eats spicy things.  i think i want to introduce him to kimchi sometime soon though.  i will not have a picky eater if i can help it! 
• he started snuggling before naps!  he puts his arms around our neck and lays his head on our shoulder!  it melts my heart *every* time!  i love that little boy!
• he's been learning that if he doesn't know if he should do something, he goes close to it and looks back to see me.  if i shake my head no, he stops going toward it (usually).  this is very exciting to me.
• we transitioned to bathing him in the regular tub a couple of weeks ago.  it's weird.  i miss our little plastic whale tub.  
• he's started to kimchi squat these days.  
• he's very suddenly started babbling with more sounds last week.  he sounds like he's actually talking.  this, after his nearly two week period of saying, "boom boom boom."
• i may have mentioned this before, but cheerios are one of his favorite foods.  they're so precious that he doesn't hardly even drop any when he's eating them.
• he's getting much easier to take grocery shopping.  on today's outing, he didn't fuss at all, even with no snacks and only one toy!  an angel!  
• he's learned how to crawl around on the couch without falling off.  
• he can reach things on top of the kitchen table now.  oi.  i'm trying to train him to stay out of the kitchen area, but it's been truly challenging.  

lovelove,

me

sensitive parents, sensitive baby

what did we expect?  two sensitive people having a baby--of course he's going to be sensitive!

with that being said, moses has been more sensitive this week than he's been in a long time.  i thought it was just going to last a few days, but it's still happening.  he's been unpredictably fussy (read: wildly moody, both ups and downs) and an ever-present, clingy (though cute) barnacle on the helen mothership.  as i type, he is actually sitting on my foot rather than exploring and playing with toys.  i find it both endearing and somewhat worrisome (worrisome, mostly because i worry about... well... everything).  how long with this bout of clinginess last--days, weeks, months, years?!?

i have been trying to feel out what could be the problem, and i've narrowed it down to three possibilities: (1) teething, which could be the culprit for years (!) (2) a growth spurt (which usually doesn't make him cry, but i'm guessing he could be hungry at random non-meal times (?) or (3) shane started work this week, which means he's been gone for a good part of each day this week.  i'm leaning toward 3 being the answer because mo's gums are smooth with no signs of additional teeth these days, and well, mo has been a tiny bit easier today, and shane's been home during the day today.  i think babies might catch on to more than we think... well, some things quicker than others.

one thing that's taken about two months+ is that the balls of wool tumbleweed that shed off our area rug aren't good for eating.

lovelove,
sensodyne

wipes epiphany

so, i'm going to admit to you that i am a creature of habit.  i love routine, doing things the same way every time, putting things back in their rightful place every time.  i am predictable. it is usually quite nice, if i do say so myself, as things are orderly and quite peaceful.  the only drawback is that... as i've mentioned before... this motherhood thing involves a lot of trial and error, especially as the baby grows and changes.  so keeping things the same, no matter how much i want to, is not usually the best option for very long.

also, i feel the need to reiterate here that i have very little experience with babies.  changing diapers is one particular area where i have only about 10 months of experience, since moses's was the first diaper i had ever changed in my 32 years of life.  so, i was thinking about our wipes one day, and what a struggle it is to fish out wipes from our box.  it was then, after 10 months of doing things the same way every single day for thousands of wipes, that it came to me.

see, i purchase wipes refills that come in those plastic sleeves.  and i have stuck those into the larger plastic white container each time they ran out.  i'm sure you're familiar with all these items.  what i didn't do was take the wipes out of the plastic sleeve when i put it into the larger bin.  so, i was sticking my fingers into the hole on the top of the larger bin, and then into the hole on the top of the plastic sleeve and blindly pinching at the wipes in hopes that i could grab just one and that it would come out with the next wipe following after it, so that i wouldn't have to pinch for the next one too.  what i mean to say is that those wipes did not want to come out of the little hole on that darn flimsy plastic sleeve.

i was *so* relieved when i realized that i could rip open the side of the sleeve like a bag of potato chips and just slide those wonderful wipes out into the large bin.  and throw that darn flimsy plastic sleeve in the trash.  i was also astonished and a little bit embarrassed that it didn't occur to me for 10 months.  *10 months* of struggle with these wipes!

i have got to start thinking out of the box more.

lovelove,
me

product push: playtex straw cup

okay, here's my first official product push as a mom.  i purchased this sippy cup a couple of months ago after a dear friend mentioned that her little andrew was liking straws already.  i thought, my son has never even *tried* a straw!  so, i trotted down the sippy cup aisle at Target, thinking, i'll have to get one with a straw because mo seems to be having trouble getting the hang of regular sippy cups.

well, this particular cup has a straw, and it's made so that you can squeeze the bottom and get the fluid into your baby's mouth.  after a week, moses was drinking like a champ through the straw without any coaxing from me (though not much, since he never really seems to be very thirsty).  and now, months later, i can let him drink from any regular cup using any regular straw.  it really still seems like a miracle to watch him do it.

thank you, brilliant sippy cup!

in related news, i've been giving mo a regular plastic kid's cup with a bit of water in it the past few days.  this morning, he held the cup with both hands, tilted it back to his mouth and drank all the water in it without spilling any... all on his own!  i couldn't believe my eyes.  i felt like i was watching a monkey braid someone's hair.

so, i think we're not going back to the bottle (which he rejected suddenly a few months ago) or even the regular sippy cup from here on out.  moving forward.  growing up.  boo hoo hoo.  :O(

lovelove,
mummummuum

we survived the high temps

you may have heard that atlanta had a heat wave this weekend--temps of 104!  it was sure hot.  and moses also had a heat wave last week, or some might say he had a fever, but he had temps of 104 too!  it lasted four days, though the first day and the last day were at about 101.4, and not so bad.  the mornings and the late afternoons were the worst, where he was in the fussiest moods and he felt hot hot hot.  after some otc medication, juice and time in his diaper, he seemed to do better.  i was so thankful that shane's an ER nurse, because he knew just what to do (and i would have been a hot mess without him).  he's a great dad.

the fourth day, we wondered for a little while whether we should take him to see the doctor, but he really was doing better, and on the fifth day, he was back to 98.7, and happy as can be.  in fact, all the fussiness of the last month or so seems to be fading now.  i guess all the transition of moving and the cold that had lingered for weeks really had him down, but he was all smiles for a lot of today.  i'm so glad to have my baby back!

lovelove,
me