Gametes In Love

11.09.2009 (14 months)

It’s still Monday in our neck of the woods, so this counts 🙂

Here’s G “walking” to his toy bin. I put walking in quotes there because he’s not consistently taking 5 steps or more in a row, and that’s when I can officially count it. He does 3 on his own before he plops over. So here without further adieu is G’s walk.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTs4oSCwZMI]

We can’t quite tell if he’s excited about the walking part or the slamming himself against the toy chest part. Well at least he’s having a good time.

I’ve been on the hunt for fall foliage. Have you any idea how hard it is to find fallen leaves around where we live? It’s obviously California Bay Area’s curse and blessing. Our moderate climate while nice (when all the East-Coasters are freezing their toes off in winter), also produces more or less the same view year round: green. I’m not complaining too loudly mind you. All I’m saying is that it would be nice to be able to get some pictures every once in awhile amongst some deep yellow and red leaves. Fall is my favorite season of the year, specifically for the colors. I keep saying that I want to rent a house for a few days in Vermont one year and just watch autumn take over. Sigh — I miss living in a 4 season part of the world.

Anyway, with some hunting I was able to find a tree (1 tree!) in a park that had some fallen, color-changed leaves. I was trying to entice G to play with the leaves, maybe throw a few overhead, but to him the idea of a good time is eating a leaf or two. Eh, you get what you can.

G’s daycare is instituting a new policy in regards to birthday celebrations: only healthful foods, please! This means, no more cupcakes. They’re politely asking that if parents bring in treats to the classroom for the kids and teachers, they bring in low-calorie, low-fat, healthy alternatives. They even provided a neat list of suggestions.

I dig it!

Although I am known as a connoisseur of junk food, I want better for G, and I’m happy to hear that his sugar and empty calories will be delivered by yours trully at home and not at school.

On the bonus side, this also means a lot less effort for me 🙂 I’m a good cook. I really am (and am not ashamed to toot my own horn). And I love baking… just the thought of baking and decorating cupcakes for two dozen kids each year was really unappealing. Cutting up fruit and making fruit kabobs though? Sign me up for that!

PS. If you are into cake/cupcakes though and want a great sugar-free alternative, I highly recommend the Baby’s First Birthday Cake recipe (found here: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipFirstBDay.htm). These are what we served at G’s birthday, and even though there was no sugar to speak of, the treats were plenty sweet (thank you raisins and apple sauce), and super moist. Man, these were good! If you decide to convert this recipe to cupcakes, bake only for 1/2 the suggested time and use an ice-cream scoop to ensure consistent amount of batter in each tin. The recipe produces 2 dozen cupcakes… although less will be delivered to the party as I’m sure you will eat a few along the way… for taste-testing of course ;p

Latest artwork G brought home from school.

10.29.2009 (14 months)

Provided G doesn’t start rolling in a painting each day (or even if he does), as long as I can keep up, I plan to scan each and then make a book (remember Blrub.com?) for each of his years. Here goes age 1-2.

See all of G’s art projects here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avalikelava/sets/72157622699561804/

G woke up at 5:40 this morning. In his defence it was 6:40am by his clock and since S and I didn’t share the memo (with him) that it’s daylight savings, that meant he was happily up for the day.

Still… I feel robbed of my extra hour of sleep.

It’s OK kid — in about 10 years, it will all come back to you. Even if I don’t do it vengefully, you’ll lament the early wake-ups during spring. Karma. It’s a … well, something…

G’s time in therapy is already a given, so I had no qualms in ordering G this year’s costume. As a matter of fact the moment I saw it, I got all giddy.

Have I ever mentioned that my dream is to be super pregnant over Halloween, so I can dress up as a cow? I just want the udders sticking out over my big Baby belly. Alas, I can’t 1) plan for such an event; 2) find a cow costume my size. So, instead I shall live my dream through my son and torment him.

At daycare yesterday, there was a parade and all the kids got treats. Of course, as we discussed last year, since G is too young for candy, what it means is that S and I got treats. We ate his bag of goodies promptly after dinner — hmn… yummo. But don’t be sad for G. We left him the mini Play-Doh, the pencil and paper pad. He can put them to use in a few years.

You know that California Cheese commercial that says “Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California”? Yeah, well, sadly, G was not a happy cow. He wasn’t thrilled about the grass of all things. He didn’t know what to do with it. Yeah, we don’t play in the grass of our yard (like ever), and his daycare playground flooring is foam, so I’m not too shocked that grass is kind of foreign to him: he just wanted nothing to do with it. Yes, a city child you are, My Dear!

“Now listen here, Dad…!”

Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta GO!

From our last swim class

Walking the plank (well, crawling in his case)

Elbow, Elbow, Knee (and soon the other Knee)

Toy swim

Oh yeah, I’m still counting. When will I stop? Nobody knows (hehe).

Although this has been a pretty quiet month, there are three major events that are notable:

• G’s first unsupported steps: you saw it here, Folks! He hasn’t taken off running around the house, or even tried walking on his own yet, but I know it’s only a matter of time. I don’t think the little part of his brain has clicked over to walking yet. He’s a speed demon crawling (seriously, you have to run alongside to keep up with him), so from his perspective, why wobble and fall over, when crawling gets him anywhere he wants? None-the-less, as much as people warn how nice the “non-walking” days are, I’m still looking forward to being able to stand him up. Yeah, I’ll probably be eating my words soon enough, but it kind of creeps me out to see my kid crawl on all fours on dirty ground and then lick his fingers. I’m not a germ-a-phobe, really, I’m not — but that just can’t be good for him! I get the whole “what doesn’t kill him makes him stronger” bit, but still…
• Tantrums: holy-shmoly! G has become a very chatty kid. Yeah, he’s always babbled, but now he’s really communicative. He still only has 3 words (although is working out a few more and I’m a harsh grader), but he grunts, babbles and points his way to what he wants. And if he doesn’t get what he wants? Ugh… it’s rough. We’re talking crying, screaming, throw himself on the ground episodes. I am really wishing that those words will come out already. It’s like being a first-time parent of a newborn all over again. You don’t know what he wants and go mad checking off all the things that can make it better. Sometimes what he wants really makes sense: the toy out of reach, he’s hungry, thirsty, or just tired: for those I obviously cave in. Then there’s the stuff he can’t have: access to electronics power cords, free roam of the surround speaker system, Neko’s litter… So yeah, I want more talking and more reasoning. Right now explaining & reasoning with G is about as effective as reasoning with my coffee table — just ain’t gonna happen. Still I’m keeping at it and trying to keep my cool. At some point it will sink in… right?
• Swimming is fun again! I’m so excited about this. G’s last two swim classes have been really fun. We kind of slacked off and didn’t go as often as we used to. Our busy schedule reduced us to 1 swim class a month (vs. the previous bi-weekly visit). G retaliated by becoming a cling-baby as soon as his toes got wet in the pool. Bath-time at home was all sorts of splashtime fun, but swim class was like attending with a Koala who clung with every tool at it’s disposal to it’s trunk (AKA daddy). In contrast the last two weeks were rad! He participated in the songs, splashed around on his own, and crawled “the plank” like a champ. He’s even mastered “Elbow-elbow-knee-knee” and throws himself into the pool (well into our arms really) off the ledge on his own. I’m hoping this version of G will stick around

Three other minor observations:

• G doesn’t take more than 1 nap at daycare. This drives me bonkers as it produces one mega cranky kid each evening. He comes home and crashes ’till the next day. So no baby playtime 🙁
• G’s hair is starting to curl. It’s cute, but I’m SO ready to give him a hair-cut. S isn’t though, so I can’t cut his locks just yet.
• No new teeth this month. None that he’s let me discover anyway.

Now, onto 15 months 🙂

Uhmn… G has a mobility update:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxK9j-GiY9s]

It’s not true walking, yet, but we’re getting there!