Early Easter

Since we'll be apart for Easter on Sunday, the Bunny made a delivery for the boys tonight while they were in the tub.


The Bunny filled Freddie's basket with:

• Crayons and sketchpad
• Bubbles
• Bell shaker noisemaker
• Stacking train
• Stacking shapes
• Pinwheel
• A few Reese's eggs
• A few plastic eggs

The noisemaker and pinwheel were the big hits, and I knew they would be.


He didn't want to let go of that noisemaker. I have a feeling we'll be adding it to our afternoon jam sessions...Mama on drum, Dada on harmonica, and Buggers on bells.


Happy Easter!

13 months

Refusing to sit with your pillow.

Schedule:

• 7am, awaken and call "dada!" after chatting to yourself for a while
• 8am breakfast
• 8.30am walk with Mama
• 10.30am play time or errands
• 12.00pm lunch
• 12.30pm play time
• 1.30 nap
• 4.00pm up and ready for some milk
• 5.00pm dinner
• 5.30pm play time with Daddy
  
• 6.00pm bath time with Daddy
• 6.30pm stories and songs
• 7.00pm light out

Proud, but I think a little disappointed you are done.

Vocabulary:

• Dog! You even called Winnie the Pooh a dog yesterday.
• When asked what a puppy dog says you make a little "woof woof" and you concentrate very hard to get your lips just right.

Body:

• Hair is blonde, and there just may be a curl emerging
• 10 teeth! Two top molars snuck in and I didn't even know it. I think two more on the bottom will be hear soon. Looking pretty crowded in there, my dear.
  
• Lean. Your tiny heiny cracks me up.
• Your cheeks are rosy and your skin is fair.

Moving:

• Walking, walking, walking. You lead with your right leg and kinda pull the left leg along right now. This means you are a bit of a side winder. You're "strolling" more but you definitely do better if you have a destination to focus on.
• Squatting. You've been getting the deep knee bends going.
• Stairs! You had mastered moving up the stairs a while ago, and you have just recently perfected shimmying backwards down the stairs as well as scooting down on your bottom. And for some reason this week you've decided that you want to just walk up and down the stairs, not bottom involved. You at least reach for a hand to help you with this.
  
• Sitting. You are into sitting on things: steps, laps, stools. You make yourself a seat whenever you see the opportunity. The ground just won't cut it anymore.

Eating:

• Picky, picky, picky.
  
• Carbs
• Grilled cheese, sometimes
• 20 oz of milk per day, sometimes more sometimes less
• Cereal bars
• Cake
• Yogurt
• Applesauce, banana, and blueberries
• Oranges, just suck the pulp out

Favorites:

• The harmonica. It's good for making dancing music and you like the vibrations.
• Stacking. You're really working on stacking blocks and you LOVE the wooden discs that slip onto the dowel.
• Books. You love the book I made for you that has pictures of all of us in it. You like pointing to the pictures of my big round tummy.
• Rearranging cabinets, over and over and over.
• The treadmill. It is currently set on a slight incline and for some reason you love to climb up and crawl back and forth on it. Really, you never tire of this.
• Being chased. You love to give a look over your shoulder that says "come and get me" and then you take off, giggling and squealing.
  

You like to sweep!

Watching for Daddy

Interesting:

• You are such a mimic. It really amazes me.
• You are putting things together and developing a context for things. You like to bring BooDog's bowl from the breakfast area and put it in the kitchen by Muppey's bowl and the water bowl. You do this almost every day.
• When you find one of your wooden lacing beads on the floor you head over to your dresser and open the cabinet door where the others are.
• Watching you develop is so interesting. I promise I won't create tasks for you the way Piaget did for his kids, but it is tempting. All of that child development and psychology from college is far more interesting now as I watch you.

There I am!

I just love this story!

Dislikes:

• Letting Mama out of your site. We will be working on this.
• Getting dressed. You resist about 80% of the time, but you do put out your feel and arms to assist while protesting.
• Diaper changes. You cannot stand this. Even if you have dirty pants you still protest. It is as if you do not have time to spend lying down getting cleaned up.

Disposition:

• You are so smiley and giggly.
  
• You're generally outgoing but sometimes you raise those eyebrows and look at people from under those long lashes before you finally crack a smile.
• Affectionate. Sometimes you just reach out for me and give a tight squeeze before moving on about your business. You do it when you're riding in the grocery cart a lot. The other day you heard my voice on the phone and gave the phone a tight squeeze. You also give your dolls great hugs.

Lovin'

• Following him around, all day
• Picking up, again and again and again
• The possibility of a curl
  
• Beach anticipation
• Easter candy
  
• Pep talks
  
• Letters of recommendation
• Sunshine
• Spring fever
• Seafood on Fridays
• Couponing
• $3 "paychecks"
• Sprouting seeds
  

Afternoon nap

He didn't want to nap without his book today. And he quickly discovered he couldn't get comfortable with the book in one hand and the toothbrush in the other, but there was no way he was letting go of either. I watched him try a few positions before I finally left him. I could hear him chattering for a while and when it got quiet I peeked in.


Poor little guy. I snapped a few photos and just looked at him for a while before finally picking him up and helping him get settled.


He still held on to the book, but I suppose he was tired enough that it didn't matter if the corner was poking him in the head.

Pavlov would be proud

Moments after "reading" Doggies to himself and turning the pages and pointing and saying "dog" Freddie brought the other book on the floor, Is Your Mama a Llama, over to me. This is the second day in a row that he's brought me a book. So we sat in the rocker and read the book. And in minutes I was setting him down on his tummy in the crib.

This is his sleep time ritual. I read Is Your Mama a Llama every time there's to be sleep, along with any other book he chooses. As soon as I start reading, even if he had been giving no cues of needing sleep, he begins yawning and rubbing his eyes. I inevitably begin yawning too.


After taking nursing out of the sleep routine mix, I amped up our sleep rituals. Nothing monumental : Read two books, one always being Is Your Mama a Llama (it has a nice cadence), turn off the lights, sing (or hum) "When the Saints Go Marching In", give a kiss on his head, say "I love you" and then he's all set and ready to get comfy in his crib.

I had been thinking we'd add a little cuddling with a "special" blanket or other lovie but I decided it may be best to avoid that in case the blanket or lovie got lost, needed washing, or had to go to high school with him.

Curious to see how this routine translates when we are out of town.

Copy Cat

The other day Bug grabbed the Motrin and dropper off of his nightstand, plopped down on his bottom, and proceeded to tap the lid of the bottle with the dropper and then placed the dropper into his mouth as though he were giving himself a dose!

I've reminded Charlie to watch his mouth, and his Ps and Qs. This boy's certainly a mirror of us, and it's only the beginning.


Other imitations:

• Talking on the phone and throwing in a hardy fake chuckle. Really? Is that what I sound like?
  
• Brushing hair
• Putting on our shoes
• Using full size utensils to "eat" (this recently resulted in some rice actually getting in his mouth which he quickly removed)

Sometimes I turn the tables on him and imitate his movements, especially his dance moves. He thinks this is hysterical and he usually ends up in a fit of laughter. Good times.


Other than the art of imitation I am so amazed that he is remembering things and developing a context for objects. Love watching this.

State of the garden, post freeze

Wisteria blooms about to burst

Dead:

• Angel trumpet
• Butterfly weed
• Cigar plant
• Snail flower vine
• Bougainvillea
• Ficus
• Macho fern
• Coleus
• Mexican heather (most, not all)
• Pentas
• Night blooming jasmine
• Lantana (traditional "wild" type)
• Night blooming cereus
• Staghorn fern
• Arabian jasmine

Althea

Survived:

• Rosemary
• Louisiana irises
• Walking irises
  
• Lantana, recumbent
• Blue salvia
• Nasturtiums, coming back from self seeding
• Passion vine
• Fig tree
• Lemon tree
• Wisteria
• Flowering maple (3 out of 4)
• Ginger
• Banana trees
• Sweet olive
• Sky vine
• Plumbago
• Shrimp plant
• Bird of paradise
• Giant bird of paradise
• Oleander
• Christmas cactus
• Carolina jasmine
• Confederate jasmine
• Althea
• Gardenia
• Bridal wreath
• Hydrangea
• Yesterday, today, tomorrow
• Black eyed susans
• Cone flower
• Passion vine
  

Wondering about:

• Orchids
  
• Caladium bulbs
• Hibiscus

Today I planted:

• Coleus
• Dusty miller
• Impatiens
• Pentas
• Butterfly plant (Pink Gaura)
  
• Basil seeds
• Zinnia seeds
• Cosmos seeds
• Nasturtium seeds

12 month baby pictures

These aren't my favorite of the series. My usual KMart photographer didn't take these. But the kid's still pretty cute, right?


Freddie was very "busy" and really wasn't interested in sitting still for pictures. He really, really wanted to just hang out and bounce on the wooden horse.


Wondering how often I'll be going now that he's made a year.


Surely the grandparents will weigh in on that one.

A year of cloth diapering

It's been just about a year that we've been using cloth diapers on Bordeaux. I know some eyebrows raised when people heard what we were doing, and there were certainly a few comments passed about whether we'd really keep it up. I can honestly say it is a decision I am glad we made.

The decision to use cloth meant we shelled out about $450 up front for everything we'd need. That included:

• 24 pocket diapers (with pads included)
• 30 "wipes" (wash cloths)
• Covered trashcan lined with wet bag for dirties
  
• Diaper sprayer
• Travel size wet bags for diaper bags
• Foaming soap dispenser (5 squirts baby wash & water make up wipe solution)
  

I figured that meant I had to cloth diaper Freddie's bum for at least nine months to break even, assuming I'd have spent $50/month on disposable diapers. I've more than broken even.


When we travel we use disposable and sometimes I look forward to the break. Honestly it isn't as monumental of a "break" as I anticipate and I actually look forward to going back to cloth. I feel pretty guilty looking at the mound of disposables int he trash after a week.

We still put him in a disposable at night though. We started this early on as I did not want to have the extra step of getting the cloth diaper to the bin or fooling with the wash cloths and solution in the middle of the night. And I had some fears about the cloth diaper's ability to handle those early morning explosions. For some reason we have never gotten away from this, but I fully intend to drop this habit this week. Now that I have some experience with diapering, using cloth diapers round the clock is totally doable, even with a newborn.

With 24 diapers and Bug not needing to be changed as often, I do a load of diapers about once every 5 days. Not too bad. And I am never out of diapers. I'd say it takes me about 15 minutes to "stuff" the pads back in the covers and transport to the changing area. Hardly a huge inconvenience.


If I were to order diapers again, I think I'd choose cloth diapers that snap. The velcro is still sticky but it has picked up some lint and is loosing its umph. I was wonder if BumGenius would replace the velcro or if I could bring them to a seamstress to do this.

I am using the same supplies I started out with on day one and have no need to change anything. I anticipate these diapers and wipes will last through potty training and still be in shape to be used by another babe.

Shrimp and corn chowder

The theme around here is shrimp! Eating it at least every Friday.


I didn't really measure and just tossed in a bunch of stuff, and I'll most likely experiment some with this next time I do it. Adding some tomatoes might be nice. Also wondering if pureeing half would really make that much of a difference. I really like it just like this.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups, peeled and cubed, potatoes
• 4 cups stock
• 5 cups milk
• 2 cans cream style corn
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1.5 lbs peeled boiled shrimp
  
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 4 tbs butter
• 0.25 cup flour
• Garlic, lots of it, chopped
• Liquid crab boil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes with liquid crab boil seasoning, following measurements on the bottle, drain when done, and set aside.
   
2. Warm stock in large pot.
   
3. Melt butter in skillet and saute onions and garlic until onions are clear.
   
4. Add milk.
5. After milk is warmed, whisk in flour and stir until thickened.
6. Add milk mixture to the stock, stirring until combined.
   
7. Add corn and potatoes.
   
8. Heat over medium fire for 20-30 minutes.
9. Add shrimp. Be careful that there isn't too much heat after this. Don't want to cook the shrimp and further.
10. Salt and pepper to taste.
11. Sprinkle with green onions.
    

I'm a Big Boy Now

I've got 8 teeth.


I'm off the boob and the bottle.


I shake my head "no", and I mean it.

Lead Level

Freddie's lead level is down to 4.

It had been 3 at six months and 6 at nine months. I'm relieved to see it dropping. I imagine this is mostly due to the reduction of mouthing objects although he is still pretty fond of chewing on most everything he picks up.

We'll continue to monitor it.

Good Catholics on Fridays

It's lent. That means no meat on Fridays. My pleasure!

Charlie loves the grilled shrimp poboy from Guy's and today when Freddie and I walked passed Guy's on the way to the park it was hopping and I could smell the shrimp.

Rouse's has nice shrimp for $4.50 per lb. I'd like smaller for this dish, but I'm not complaining. I peeled 2 lbs and sauteed them in some creole seasoning and a few tablespoons of butter, served them up on some french bread with a side of mac and cheese and an Abita Amber.

Delish!

Thanks for the tip, Ford!

That chocolate chip cake my mama made was pretty good.


I wish I had some milk to wash it down but I suppose I'll try this milkshake she gave me in my Tommie Tippee sippy.

Delish!

12 month well visit

Freddie's Stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz. (Below the 5th percentile)
Length: 27.5 inches (5-10th percentile)
Head Circumference: 46.75 cm (65th percentile)

Vaccinations:

• PCV (Dose 4)
• Varicella
• MMR
  

My concerns:

• Lead: We did another test. Should have results early next week. This time it was a blood draw from a vein and not a finger prick. This should lead to more accurate results because there is less chance of contamination.
  
• Scrawny: He's tiny. Really tiny. Dr. J says he should be getting about 20-24 oz milk per day. He has recently dropped to 1 nursing a day so she estimates he's getting about 6 oz in that feeding, leaving 18 oz that should be coming from milk. He is not there yet, but she said I could continue the milk in a cup rather than try to entice him with warm milk in a bottle. We're doing everything right, sitting down for meals 3-4 times a day even if it is just a ritual because he tosses everything on the floor, offer him a variety of foods even if he tosses everything on the floor, and opt for high calorie foods. She wants him back in a month to track his weight gain. I didn't ask what actions we'd take if he wasn't gaining, but I imagine it to be some high calorie supplement. We'll see.
• Breathing: She could hear a little crud in his chest still but nothing of great concern. We talked about his constant congestion of varying degrees over the last few weeks. His ears were clear and everything looked ok, so she said it's tricky to determine if it is allergies or just a lingering cold. She seemed to hint at the definite possibilities of allergies and recommended testing when he's two.
  

Dr. J said he is *so* 1, with all of his development being spot on. She indulged in lots and lots of tickle time because the kid has got this great laugh.

He made sweet eyes at the nurse even while pinned to the table. Once he caught site of the needle the lip quivered and he howled. Tears didn't last long though. He actually handled the blood draw for the lead test rather well. Definitely some tears, but mild compared to the shots.

Next appointment: Weight check, April 2010 and then another well visit at 15 months.