'Cause Baby I'm a Thug

He thought this was the funniest thing...only after I put up my hood with him though :-)

Week of 2.1.2010

Monday 2.1.2010 :: "James enjoyed the company of his peers today as they explored the climber and refined their going-up-the-stairs skills. He also manipulated "Math Counting" books."

Tuesday 2.2.2010 :: Happy Ground hog's Day (he didn't see his shadow, 6 more weeks of winter, surprise, surprise)! "James had fun around the climber, he practiced coming down the stairs using his large motor skills." Can you tell he really likes the climber? He often climbs up the stairs and stands on the loft area, talking to anyone who will listen and trying to shake it or teeth on the railings :-)

Wednesday 2.3.2010 :: "James has been a very busy person. He moves around the room quickly exploring everything in sight. James also climbs up the steps to the loft area where he stands and makes lots of noise. When he is done, he goes down the steps carefully on his belly face down :-)" He also actually tried some table food at school today (he usually just tosses it on the floor) -- pears, Spanish rice, taco meat, cheese and tortillas at lunch time and tried some pretzel bread (he has never liked it) at snack time.Thursday :: James did not take his morning nap at school (he's been refusing it a lot lately -- he just wants to play play play). Needless to say, he was extremely tired! Fell asleep sitting up in his high chair. I gave him some Puffs while I washed up his dishes and turned around to see him snoozing :-)
Jim held him for a bit and then we put him on the ground to sit and try to wake him up since it was close to bed time -- he just rolled over and fell back asleep on the family room floor -- poor guy, but Easton enjoyed the company :-)
Friday 2.5.2010 :: No teacher notes but James was so tired that he refused lunch but perked back up at snack time when they celebrated one of his friend's birthdays! They brought Puffs for everyone to share (totally gonna steal that idea) and they wore party hats as they sang Happy Birthday to her (she's the one in the picture of James and her looking out the classroom window into the pod a few posts ago).

Above :: James' new favorite instrument to play is the washing machine. He likes to come "help" me do the laundry by playing me some music on his bass drum :-) He just loves music -- anything he can do to make a beat -- he figured out his friend Katie's xylophone on the first try, likes to use blocks to make noise, loved the wooden spoon and pot to bang together...research shows it helps with brain development, so PLAY ON, little man!

Below :: Jim caught a picture of James trying to play with Easton (who wasn't really interested in playing)

Playing with blocks for the first time at home. We took James to his friend, Mason's, 2nd Birthday party and Mason's Lego's were in the living room. We ended up making most of the figures and James just smacked them together, but we decided it was time to bust his out of the toy chest :-)

A video of James using the garbage can as a walker -- he just wants to go fast and is smart enough to know he is much more sturdy while holding on to something :-) We have to keep a close eye on him though because he knows how to open the can to get to the garbage..yuck! He also loves the "try to get into the cabinets" game...he's obsessed with opening and closing the doors and trying to get the pots/pans/lids out. We finally broke down and bought some of the locks because the game was getting pretty old and telling him the cabinet was "all done" wasn't really working effectively anymore :-)

SUPER BOWL 44 WEEKEND :: LET'S GO COLTS!!!

Easton vs Speaker Wire

We woke up Sunday morning in Indy to Easton throwing up. I thought he was just hungry, so I gave him a small portion of food. It lasted him about 2 hours and then he was getting sick every 20 minutes or so and couldn't keep anything down in his belly -- gentle rice or water. Poor puppy was feeling awful so Jim and Pops took him to the emergency vet -- x-rays showed that Easton still had some of the speaker wire in his belly from a couple of weeks prior (we thought he had thrown it all up or maybe lost it out the other end since he hadn't been sick). So the vet gave Easton a shot for the nausea and vomiting and we hurriedly packed and drove straight to the ER vet up near our house. They did emergency surgery and went into his stomach to remove the mass -- it was being suctioned in to a part of his belly where he couldn't throw it up or poop it out. He did really well and they had him out of surgery around 7pm. They called the next day and said he was doing fantastic and we should come get him that night. We were very excited to see our puppy but I think it would have been best for him to stay one more night there -- he just moaned/whined/cried all night and didn't even want to lie down. Tuesday, Jim took Easton back to the vet so they could check the incision and Easton came home with a supplemental pain pill (helped a ton and he slept much better) and an antibiotic (didn't think there was an infection but wanted to be sure). Easton is recovering slowly (he had massive stomach surgery) but is by far better than the beginning of the week. He is actually wagging his tail and barking and lying down with ease again.
Above :: James found that he can use the garbage can as a walker on the hardwood
Below :: our puppy patient made it through the emergency surgery (there was about a 3-4 inch long and 1-inch wide/round piece of speaker wire in there)...he has to wear the cone until he gets his stitches out in 10-12 days from surgery (one week from posting-date).

Christmas in Indy

We met up with Uncle Dominic and Aunt Jen at Chevy's for dinner on Friday night -- James sat in a high chair for the first time! He was a little small for it, so we had to keep a close eye on him, but he did great! Wiped it down and gave him some toys and a sippy and he was set!
Saturday morning we drove down to Indy for the Christmas celebration with my friends from undergrad. James got some QT with GG, Pops and even saw Aunt Kiki for about 20 minutes :-) His favorite part I think though was having access to all of Charlie's doggie toys -- a doggie bone works for teething in a pinch :-) Ewww (don't worry, I was going to take the pic before the bone made it to the mouth, so it was only in there for about 3 seconds -- but how stinkin' happy does he look!?!).

If there are no doggie bones around, a beer bottle will work for teething :-)

All the kiddos -- lots of girls! Sadie, Kennedy, Avery & Elle, Taylor, Grace, James and Austin. I hope we can get this same picture again in a few years to compare as they all grow up!

James and Austin had to stick together with all those crazy girls around!

HI AUNT KASEY!!! Thanks for keeping me happy at the end of the night while I waited for Mommy and Daddy to gather everything up!

GG was tickling James

Pops was crawling around playing with James -- those old bones had some trouble getting up after, but he loved every minute of it!

Homemade Baby Food Recipes

I went to a baby food cooking class with my neighbor a few weeks ago at Whole Foods and am just now getting around to posting the recipes -- I figure some people who read this may have young kiddos now or will eventually, so I hope this gives you something else to put in the rotation! I made the Mama Grain Baby Food for James minus the quinoa (keen-wa) as he doesn't care for its texture and I don't need him gagging himself and throwing it up all over the place -- still yummy and gets him some protein!
*************************************

HAPPYBABY’S Mama Grain Baby Food
Ready at about 8 months; makes 48, 1oz. servings
1 ½ c. organic black beans (if canned, rinse salt off first; if dry, soak overnight and then cook until tender)
4-5 organic bananas, coarsely chopped and steamed (use ½” water to boil-steam) = 3 c. banana, reserve liquid to use later
½ c. cooked quinoa (keen-wa) (bring 1c. water to boil; add ½c. uncooked quinoa, bring back to boil, cover and simmer over low heat about 10 min or until quinoa completely absorbs water; remove from heat, fluff and let stand until cooled; has a white ring around it when ready and will be very tender; makes 1 ½c. cooked quinoa)

1. Put all ingredients in blender w/ reserve liquid (add one ingredient at a time to avoid backup). Finished product should be slightly chunky.
2. Place food in ice cube tray that have cover (or Saran wrap tightly). Freeze. Good for 3-4 months. I use individual plastic baby food containers that I've washed from the store after use.

**************************************

HAPPYBABY’S Great Greens Baby Meal
Ready at about 5-6 months
1c. steamed organic spinach (about 1 bag fresh)
½c. ripe organic mango (1 med sized)
½c. ripe organic pears (about 2 pears)
1. Peel, slice and steam mangoes and pears until soft and juicy (about 5 min; steam longer if need more sweetness)
2. Wash spinach thoroughly and place wet spinach in large pot. Steam until wilted and bright green (over cooking causes spinach to turn brown).
3. Add all ingredients to blender with any remaining water from steaming and blend to smooth puree.
4. Immediately freeze into ice cube tray with lid (or Saran wrap tightly). When frozen, pop into Ziploc bag and label.

Week of 1.25.10

Story of my working-momma life: always behind on things such as dishes and blogging :-) The week of 1.25.2010 had James taking 8 steps all by himself! He's getting pretty steady on his feet but much prefers his crazy fast speedster crawling mode of transportation over trying to walk. He is pretty sturdy though playing with toys with both hands off the furniture -- good balance = good hitter, right :-) He can stand for +30 seconds at a time before falling on his padded toosh. Also, a new trick: standing up and walking up the stairs on the climber at school...very impressive, little man!
Above: look closely just above his left eye and you can notice the end of his first shiner
Below: sharing the pillow with Daddy as it got close to bed time

Above: how James enjoys reading...with the book on top of his head! Such a goof ball, but at least he's finally getting more interested in books

Below: James' hair is getting long! Daddy can get some sweet mohawks during bath time :-) I love it and want it to keep growing because I know it will curl up (he has some pretty good ones when he's all sweaty or right after the bath but they go away when his hair dries) but Jimmy is itchin' to cut it. James still has some bald spots up front, so I think he needs to keep the hair long to cover them up :-)

Tuesday 1.26.2010 :: "James visited Toddlers today with (his teacher and some friends) -- he had a fun time playing with his old friends." He is still just trying the solid foods but went to town on the mashed potatoes today! He still refuses the pretzel bread but enjoyed animal crackers and goldfish for the first time this week.

Wednesday 1.27.2010 :: "James has been very active crawling super fast from here to there. He participated in a buggy walk with the other Infant room from 1:45 to 2:25pm. James also has been playing peek-a-boo with the sheer curtain at the cozy corner. He really likes when one of his friends does it. He laughs every time she hides and then appears :-)"

More Sledding Pics