Busy. Busy. Busy. Too busy to sit down at the end of the night and bore you with the minutae of my life.
So in the meantime, please click on this link to see an amazing Christmas card video. Brilliant.
Enjoy! Will post soon! Must tell you about all of little c's toofs.
http://melancholysmile.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-video-2010.html
This is how little c looked when he woke up yesterday a.m. I didn't try to fix it or anything for the photo. If only my hair looked so cool.
Wow little buddy! What a big month you've had. Daddy just said to me that it seems like you are learning something new every single day. I think he's right.
I don't even know where to begin.
I think the biggest change is you're crawling now. Well, you crawled for a week or 2 but now you like to cruise around the house holding onto furniture, walls, door jams, garbage cans, toilet (which you like to flush) and Mommy & Daddy. Anything is fair game, as long as it will help you get from point A to point B without crawling. Sure, you'll crawl when you absolutely have to, but only as a last resort. Your teachers at school said you won't stay still or sit and play with anything--you must be on the move at all times. That's the Pat I remember going crazy in my belly one year ago.
You also like to clap. I think because it causes Mommy & Daddy to go berserk when you do, so you keep doing it to get our reaction. Cause and effect buddy, good job for being perceptive.
One of my favourite things you do is shake your head no. You keep going and going and I can't believe you don't make yourself sick. Up until yesterday, you could only shake your head from side to side. Today is another story. This morning you nodded for the first time and showed off again tonight.
Another first is waving. That's a new thing in the last day or two. Toni at your school said she's been working with you on this and it's really paying off. You're a waving fool! Now you can wave at Lucy, and Nathaniel, William and all the other kids in your class.
You like to repeat lots of words, but you've really nailed the siren noise that I make when we play cars. I need to capture it on video as I think it's pretty cute.
You still like to wake up at o dark thirty and I'm hopeful that you'll shake that nasty habit soon. Mama needs her beauty sleep.
You still amaze us with your voracious appetite. You're currently off hummus and cheese but you love broccoli, green beans, bread, any kind of fruit, turkey meatloaf, eggs, waffles, yogurt, and baked yams. You pulled the salmon out of your mouth--guess we'll have to keep trying with that one. I bet your teacher has never seen a baby show up with meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli for lunch before. Leave it to Cohen.
This morning you brushed my hair for the first time. I've only shown you a couple times how to brush your hair and mine and you decided today would be the day for grooming. I think I need to show you how to scratch my back now.
You're becoming quite the dancer, little man. Every day when we get home from school, you hang out in your crib and hang onto the rails and dance your rump off while your best friends get tossed around the room to songs by the Barenaked Ladies, the B-52s or Keane. Oh how you laugh when I spin you around the room or do the two step with you. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I hope you didn't inherit my dancing genes. Life will not be easy for you if you did.
You're enjoying your books more and more. While you've always enjoyed sitting on our laps and looking at the pictures and turning the page for us when we ask you too, you're becoming more of an active participant now. You love to kiss the Mommy Fish in your "Hooray for fish" book and you look for Little Fish and touch him now on almost all of the pages. I still cannot get you to sit through "Goodnight Moon" but I'm not going to lose sleep over that.
And you are now in your big boy car seat since we couldn't stuff you into your baby carrier anymore. You do not like being placed in the seat too much but once you get settled, I think you're pretty comfortable.
Oh Cohen, you are an absolute joy and life would be so dull without you. I never imagined that you'd make so many leaps and bounds over the last few weeks and I can't even begin to imagine what you'll be doing one month from now when you're 1!
Keep up the strong work my love.
Love,
Your biggest fan, Mommy
xoxo
Actually sitting still for once.
All bundled up for our Thanksgiving Day walk.
Oh how you love hanging out with Eric. He's a lot of fun. Oh, and technically, last week was your second Thanksgiving, just so you know. We can't forget about Canadian Thanksgiving in October.
I couldn't resist taking a shot of your cute butt.
An ordinary day in the life of a fashionable young chap.
I am the mother of an 11 month old today. TODAY! I cannot believe he'll be 1 year old in 30 days. And I still don't have a birthday party theme picked out yet. Worlds. Worst. Mother.
The 11 month "Dear Cohen" is coming. I hate to admit this but The Biggest Loser trumped the blog tonight. Hurtful, I know. But it's coming soon. As is little c's "school" photo and some other fun things.
In the meantime, here's a little something to imagine which will more than likely ruin your day, as opposed to being something lovely to start your day as I suggest in today's title.
Now that little c likes to cruise around the entire house walking from one piece of furniture to another and using big c and me in the gaps, he's pretty unstoppable. It's great. If I could freeze this moment and live in it for a long time, I absolutely would. Anyway, being used by little c as a means to an end usually works out okay, except in the mornings when I'm making his breakfast for him and wearing my pajama bottoms that are a little bit too big. Little c will grab hold of my pants while I'm scrambling him an egg, or cutting his waffle, or stirring his oatmeal, and he will pull my pants down so they're almost around my ankles. I usually can't stop what I'm doing, and so there I stand for the entire neighbourhood on Bryan Avenue to see, mooning anyone who might walk by while I flip an egg. Fortunately he's oblivious, or he might just lose his appetite.
Did you just throw up in your mouth a little?
Happy Wednesday!
You know how your parents and grandparents love to talk about the weather, all the time? And you know how they're always talking about the big storm of '68, '77, and '89? Well, we're bracing ourselves and battening down the hatches for the big one of '10. Metereologists are saying that it's officially categorized as a blizzard, first one in decades I think. Schools and businesses closed down today at 2:00 (my office and little c's "school" joined the ranks) and are predicting that they'll be closed tomorrow too. We just cancelled a 325 person event scheduled for tomorrow morning too.
I love a good storm. Must be the Canuck in me. I wonder if little c will inherit that trait? Will it run thick through his veins as it does through mine? Time will tell I suppose. We'll see if he crawls himself over to the window tonight to watch the flakes fall. I will tell him that it's an option and see if he takes me up on it. Then we'll know.
Hancock Manor is preparing for the storm by charging cell phones and laptop, locating flashlights, candles and matches, making sure there's enough hot chocolate mix and Baileys, and pulling all the blankets out of storage "just in case." And of course, I have all of little c's hats ready to go.
Is it weird that I hope the storm lives up to all the hype that's going on today all across the valley? I guess I just want an excuse to stay indoors and play with little c all night and all day tomorrow.
Wherever you may be right now (geographically and/or emotionally), I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and you know that you are loved indeed.
Do you remember me telling you about sending little c to "school" with almost a complete Thanksgiving meal back in October, and how his "teacher" said that was the first time she'd seen one of the babies show up with pie for dessert? Well, a couple of weekends ago I made pancakes for all of us on Saturday morning and had some left over, so I sent little c to "school" with one on Monday morning. Again, Phyllis said that that was a first.
I started to think, "Am I feeding little c the wrong things? Should he not be eating a lot of what I'm giving him? What are the things he should be eating that I'm not feeding him?" So I turned to one of the resources I have, apart from my friends and family, "Super Baby Food," by Ruth Yaron.
So here's what the book recommends on a daily basis:
1. 4-5 servings of vegetables and fruit (each serving is 3-4 tbsps). Ummmm, little c definitely has 4-5 servings of v & f and has WAY more than 3-4 tbsps at a time.
2. 4 servings of super porridge cereals (each serving is 1/4 - 1/2 cup cooked). Well, he has cereal every morning for breakfast, except when I feed him waffles or pancakes, he has cereal added into his vegetables or fruit, and he has at least 1 slice of bread per day. Add in the puffs and he's at 4 servings easily.
3. 2-3 servings of legumes, nuts or seeds (serving size varies). Okay, I fail here. I don't give him any, except when I give him lentils. Ummm, doesn't this author know about nut allergies and we aren't supposed to give babies nuts until they're like 1 or 2?
4. 1 serving of dairy per day. Little c eats yogurt every day now that he won't eat cheese or cottage cheese anymore so I think we're good.
5. One egg yolk every other day, 3-4 egg yolks per week. Little c eats about 4 per week and eats the whole egg. I didn't realize that egg whites were a major allergan. Oops! I I guess he's not allergic to them.
6. Nutritional enhancers (1/2 - 1 tsp of brewer's yeast and a pinch of kelp and 1/2 - 1 tsp of desicated liver). I'm not a hippie living on a commune in Montana. I will not add this to little c's food, even if you pay me. It's too far outside my comfort zone. Desicated liver? What in the world?
Also included in the book is a summary schedule for introduction of foods during baby's first year. Nowhere is hummus, pancakes, or pumpkin pie, but tahini, an ingredient in hummus, was listed for 8 month olds, as are garbanzo beans in month 9, so I'm thinking hummus is good. And you know what? I see no reason why pumpkin pie and pancakes are so strange.
All in all I think little c is getting his nutritional needs met. He eats until he shakes his head no or til he starts pulling it out of his mouth or letting it fall out onto his placemat. He eats a lot more than his nemesis, N, who weighs a couple pounds more than little c. I really do think he's got a high metabolism because he should weigh about 25 lbs based on how much he eats.
So, the long and drawn out point is this: I think little c is doing fine and I think I'm doing a fine job of giving him what he needs. I'm not going to worry about his teacher's comments anymore and will continue sending him to "school" with whatever I fancy. Maybe I'll send him with sushi tomorrow just to see what she says!
Regardless of what he eats, the kid is so freaking cute, as evidenced below. Enjoy and bon appetit!
As I'm writing this, gigantic snowflakes are slowly falling from the heavens and I'm enjoying a steaming mug of hot chocolate. All is peaceful and bright. The babe is snoring softly in his footie pajamas and the husband is doing dishes. It's a good night.
Busy-ness at work coupled with a little nerd baby that likes to wake up between 4:00 and 5:00 every day has caused for some tired evenings. So tired that the last thing I want to do is blog because I can't keep my eyes open past 8:00 p.m. I've been falling into bed at 9:00 most nights. It makes trying to finish reading my book impossible as I can usually only keep my eyes open long enough to read 2 pages each night. At this rate, I should be finished it by 2012. I'm currently reading "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. "Funny, irreverent, scandalous" says the Daily News. You'd think a book fitting that description could keep someone awake long enough to maybe read 3 pages. But no. Wow, I remember 1 year ago when I could read a book in a couple of days. One day that will happen again Kristyn, one day.
So little c has been saying a few words lately. Well, you probably wouldn't understand them but we sure do. He repeats "bread", "cheese", "bear", "blah blah" (the name of one of his best friends) and now "douche". No joke on the last one. I came home from a 50th birthday party today and big c was beaming. Sorry Mom. I know you're probably shaking your head in disappointment right now. But it was bound to happen that one of little c's first words would be douche.
Crawling, clapping and saying the word "douche" all in a little over a week. This kid is brilliant!
Big news around Hancock Manor this weekend is the planned installation of baby gates tomorrow. Big day! We also need to pick up some plug covers as little c is oh so curious about electrical sockets now. And while we're at it, we might as well get one of those thing-a-ma-jiggers that you put on cupboards to keep children and small animals from opening the doors and drinking bottles of bleach that are dangerously within reach under the sink. We're in full on Cohen-proofing mode around here and I couldn't be happier. I've been waiting for this moment for so long and I'm honestly enjoying it.
Next up on my to-do list is to figure out 2 different first birthday party themes for little c's cross-border birthday fling that's only 5 weeks away. Any fun ideas out there? While you ponder that, here are some photos of the little monkey from a couple of weekends ago when I went nutso and shot over 500 photos of him and haven't picked up the camera since.