One In the Oven

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Fun at School

Kate has been a busy bug at school. They've had lots of activities planned to keep the kids stimulated (and occupied!). We've seen such a change in Kate since she's moved rooms at school. Because she was one of the younger babies, at first, she didn't do some of the things that a lot of the other kids did. But that's all changed! She can do so much, and we're constantly amazed by the new things she's learning and figuring out.

At least a few times a week, one of Kate's three teachers (Ms. Marie, Ms. Sue, or Ms. Susan), will make a comment on how adventurous Kate is. Actually, the usually tell us that she scares the heck out of them! Since she started standing, she hasn't looked back. She loves to stand. She'll stand and stand and stand. Then her little legs get tired and start to shake, and she has to sit down. But don't be fooled, this only lasts for a second, and then she's back, stand, standing, standing. Sometimes she likes to keep her teachers on there toes by letting go of whatever she's holding onto to keep her balance. She's getting better at this, but liked to test it out way before she was ready...and several times she ended up whacking her head on something (and giving her poor teachers a heart attack). One of the teachers even calls Kate the Little Bird, because she has one specific spot where she likes to perch herself and survey the scene.

In addition to all of her standing, she's also become quite the expert crawler. And man, is she fast! She's also starting walk (I use that term pretty loosely) and can make her way around if she's got something to hold onto. We broke out the little walker at home, and she's figured out how to zoom around the first floor in it. She's pretty fast in that too, but doesn't do so well navigating turns yet. I tell her it's ok, girls aren't supposed to be good drivers :-)

Here are some photos from school....

-- My first piece of artwork! Mommy hung it on one of the kitchen cabinets for everyone to see --

-- It's Ooey Gooey day at school! --

-- Some of my classmates didn't seem like they wanted to play with the Goop, but I LOVED it! --

-- I even loved the bowl it came in! --

-- I'm not sure what was more fun...the goo, or the paper products! --

-- Corn starch and water taste delicious --

-- Now that I'm cleaned up, it's time to motor around the classroom --

-- Pausing for just a moment --

-- Reading a book --

-- My favorite spot! --

-- The Little Bird is on her perch! (and, if you look in the background, you can see the climber...I like to crawl up there and pull myself up so I can see out the window and make all the teachers nervous) --

-- Ms. Susan sent me home with some homemade play dough --

-- Feels funny --

-- I wonder how it tastes? --

-- Yuck! --

-- Kate's class picture (I know you're NOT supposed to do this, but it was too cute - I couldn't resist!) --

Family Visit

When my sister came to visit in February, we decided to go in together on a birthday gift for my dad (his birthday is Feb. 18). We decided to get him a gift card for air travel, hoping he'd be able to use it to visit one of us. Turns out that he, my sister, and my grandma decided to come to visit Kate (Beth just couldn't stay away!), and they all traveled into town the first weekend in May. We a pretty low-key visit that consisted mostly of eating, hanging out together, talking about how cute Kate is, and watching hockey (since I'm writing this a month after-the-fact, I'm sad to report that all of those hours logged watching the Pens for for nothing...they got bounced by Boston this weekend...). Everyone arrived on Thursday, and I was able to take Friday off to spend time with the family. We took my dad to his favorite Belleville eating establishment--Cutters--and did some shopping. When Monday rolled around Brandon and I both had to head to work because we had meetings we couldn't miss, and Beth, Dad, and Petey wrangled Kate and Copper at home for the day. Everyone survived in one piece (I wasn't really worried about Kate...I just wasn't sure if she'd put everyone through the ringer during the day), and Monday night Beth had to head back to New York. Tuesday was school picture day, so Dad and Petey came with Kate and I to the CDC. They got to see her room and meet her teachers, and see her get her picture taken. They left for home that afternoon. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very nice, so we didn't get to do much outside (it was chilly and really rainy), but we had a very nice visit anyway. We can't wait until everyone can come back. Here are some photos from our family weekend...

-- Auntie Boo discovered my weakness...milk and a comfy spot to lay --

-- Copper surveys the scene while enjoying some lobster --

-- I'm just full of new tricks...I started standing up right around this time...and now, I never want to sit --

-- Superbaby! --

-- She got me again! --

-- Copper and his green bone --

-- Grandpa Bob brought me this musical turtle and I love it! Sometimes, it's the only thing that keeps me happy when Mom and Dad are doing things that I hate like changing my diaper or getting me dressed --

-- Grandma Petey --

-- Just hanging out --

-- Chomping on my cow --

-- We look very serious --

-- Ready for the game --

-- Playing the piano --

-- Copper stays warm and snuggly --

-- I'm still loving my Exersaucer --

-- We're trying to wake up in this picture --

-- Playing with Grandma Petey --

-- Aunt Boo and I say "Let's go Pens!" --

A Little Behind...Like Always...

Once again, I'm way behind on the blog updates, so I'll do a marathon session and try to put together everything for the month of May and get it up onto the website. Luckily, I'm pretty good at keeping my planner up-to-date and we take a lot of pictures--both of which help me when I have to think back 30 days to figure out what exciting things we did during the month!

It seems like I always say that I can't believe how fast time is going...and this month it's no different! Where the heck did May go?? Not only is it June already, but it's already June 9th (which means I'm REALLY behind on the blog!)!

So here we go...let's head back in time to cover the month of May...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Our Little Foodie

It's been a week since we introduced Kate to her first solid food. I think there are plenty of folks out there--some of you might even be reading this blog!--who are apprehensive about how we've chosen to transition Kate directly to table food. Well, I'm happy to say that so far it's been going great! Kate's had solid food each day this week. Until she really gets the hang of it, we have her doing milk feedings at school, but eventually we'll get her transitioned over there as well. In the course of the last week, Kate has tried the following foods:

- broccoli
- asparagus
- apple
- banana
- avocado
- pear
- cauliflower
- apple sauce
- rice cereal
- mango
- honeydew
- rice cake
- cucumber
- snap peas
- pear sauce (kind of like apple sauce, but with pears!)
- green beans
- oatmeal
- cheddar cheese
- banana yogurt
- cantaloupe
- carrots
- sweet potatoes

Sometimes Kate sits in the highchair to eat and sometimes she sits on my lap. We (quickly) discovered that it's much easier to strip her down before she eats, and then dunk her in the tub once she's finished. If she's tired, cranky or hungry, we skip the food. That's a little different from the normal "introduce food when they're hungry" mentality, but we really want Kate to "eat" for the learning and exploring experience at this point and not to get rid of her hunger. Sometimes she eats for upwards of 40 minutes--other times she only lasts about five minutes before she starts to fuss. She loves when we give her applesauce or yogurt. It's lots of fun to splat it all over the place. Copper has quickly learned that hanging out under the highchair results in lots of tasty treats. In fact, this evening, nearly five hours after Kate had some yogurt, we discovered that Copper was covered in it. He had dried clumps of banana yogurt all over him. He was in the drop zone under the chair while she was playing. Needless to say, someone will be getting a shower tonight.

Kate seems to really like green beans, and we've been working on drinking water from a cup. Right now it mostly dribbles down her chin, but we'll keep practicing. Thankfully, we haven't had any choking episodes (just like the book said we wouldn't), but there have been a few times where Kate has gagged a bit (just like the book says she would). My heart stops each time it happens, but she always works whatever it is out of her mouth, and I think she's started to realize that she needs to swallow. I've brushed up on my baby first aid just in case (we took a class before Kate was born that went over infant CPR and the Heimlich), but hope that I'll never need to use either. Kate is always supervised and is NEVER, EVER left alone with food in front of her. She's never given small pieces, and food is cooked so that it's soft enough to break down, but not so soft that it disintegrates when she puts it into her mouth. It's so much fun to watch her explore and learn. Sometimes she looks so serious and like she's deep in thought while she's smearing food all over the tray, and other times, she looks like she's just having a blast.

I've taken lots of pictures and videos, and I think that's the best way to share our little foodie in action. Enjoy!

-- Rice cereal--->bad. Baby oatmeal--->yummy --

-- Copper bats cleanup --

-- Working on a tray of green things...honeydew, green beans, avocado, and cucumber --

-- Having carrots for breakfast --

-- Taking a sip of water --

-- Hey! I love sweet potatoes! (and so does Copper!) --

-- Lounging while I enjoy a stick of cucumber and a green bean --

-- Smearing around my yogurt and pears --

-- Winding up --

-- A mess is the best! --

-- Splat! --

-- Yogurt nose --

-- Oh geez --

-- This is starting to get pretty messy...and I love it! --

-- Can you tell that I like to rub my head while I'm playing? --

-- Come here, Mama! --

-- Banana yogurt keeps my skin looking youthful. And tasting delicious. --

-- Eating is fun! --

-- Not only am I covered, but so is the side of the high chair tray! --

-- I think it might be time for a bath. --

-- Just a girl and her green bean --

-- Hi-ho the dairy-o, Kate eats the cheese --

-- These veggies make my mouth water! --

Friday, Friday, Friday

Today was my SDO (that's a scheduled day off for those of you who don't speak government employee), which meant that I got a bonus day to spend with Kate. We had a wonderful day together--Kate laughed and smiled for most of the day and was so much fun to hang out with. She decided to start her day early, and woke up around 3:00 am, ready to play. She normally sleeps through the night, but last night she fell asleep in the car on the way home from school and she never really woke up. I ended up changing her into her pjs and putting her to bed around 7:00. It seems that her first full week in the new room at school wiped her out. Her teachers say that she's all over the place, interacting with the other kiddos and crawling all over. And it took it's toll on the little bug, who couldn't keep her eyes open. But around 3:00 am, she'd had enough sleep and was ready to go. Brandon swooped in to the rescue (good thing too because I was dead to the world--I didn't even hear Kate!) and finally got the little one back to asleep about an hour and a half later. Unfortunately he didn't have the day off, so he went to work feeling pretty sleepy.

The first thing we did on our day off was head to Kate's six month doctor's appointment. Our little Bean is indeed little--she weighed in at 14.4 lbs, which puts her in the 25th percentile for weight. The nurse didn't take a very good measurement for length--it actually appeared that she shrunk since last appointment (and judging from the pile of pants that no longer come to her ankles, we know that's not true). The doctor always measures her head circumference as well, and it turns out that she has a little peanut head--she's in the 10th percentile for head size!

-- All dressed up for my doctor's appointment, and I can't figure out what's on my feet! I'm actually wearing shoes! --

We had a good appointment with Dr. Garrison, who says that Kate looks happy and healthy. He answered all of my questions--and boy-oh-boy, did I have a lot of them--and checked did all the normal appointment stuff. He was surprised that Kate is already having stranger anxiety. He said that it usually doesn't set in until about 9 months, but her newfound anxiousness was a sign of intelligence--she already knows who takes care of her and realizes when she's around someone she doesn't know.

In addition to the regular check-up stuff, Kate had to have another round of immunizations. This was my first time in the room with her while she got shots, and I was afraid that I was going to cry and cry. It turns out that I didn't have to--Kate Louise was a brave little lady, and she didn't cry at all! She whimpered each time she got a shot (there were three), but she never shed a tear. I was so proud of her for being so brave!

After the appointment Kate and I did some shopping. We decided to donate to the "Angels in April" program they're holding at the CDC in support of Child Abuse Prevention month. We picked two "angels" from a tree at school, and bought them gifts. We got a big Tonka truck and some Matchbox cars for Hernandez, and some new outfits and lotion for Layne. We also ventured to Trader Joes were we bought lots of groceries, including some little mini zucchinis for Kate. Once we returned home we spent the remainder of the afternoon playing. All in all it was a very nice day, and I'm so grateful I get to work this schedule!