Thursday, September 29, 2011

the cow says "moooo"

last night was milo's last bottle of formula. we'd switched to whole milk for his nap-time bottles a week or two ago? (i can't remember exactly when.) but he'd still been getting formula for his bed-time bottle.

last night is when the formula can went empty, so now it's whole milk from here on out.

i also tried giving milo crayons to see if he could discover the most fabulous pastime of coloring. he thought they were a new snacky treat and only tried to eat them, despite my many efforts to show him their magical properties of producing color on a white blank page.


Sunday, September 25, 2011

he's a busy little boy.

well, the boy has two molars coming in - both on his left side, one on the top, one on the bottom. two little sharps pokes that have just barely broke through the gums. if your front left center tooth is number one, this would be tooth number four on the top and i think number four on the bottom, too. although he still hasn't gotten the two teeth next to his bottom center teeth - so i'm not sure where they're hiding. maybe he ate em?

the boy eats just about everything these days. he loves getting to eat "grown up" food and getting to shove fistfuls of flavorful cuisine all over his face, and by chance getting some of it in his mouth. mostly i think he enjoys the independence, but the new flavors seem to be quite enticing as well.

peas, corn, deli meat, bread, even cucumber bits. the egg-bake that i made for mops (that must not have appealed to many of the moms because only 4 squares were gone - of which i ate one), noodles, especially noodles. i'm very grateful for his current lack of pickiness when it comes to the new "mommy and daddy" foods that we put on his tray. noodles and spaghetti sauce, roasted butternut squash, spaghetti squash lasagna (spaghetti squash, pasta sauce, spinach, ricotta and mozzarella) as well as our crock pot chili.

those are all the foods i can think of that i know he's eaten with great vocal approval and lip smacking and enthusiasm.

he's also walking, like, walking walking, a lot! he walked all the way from the front door to the back door while i was going back and forth between the kitchen and porch yesterday. i suppose it's more of a waddle than a walk, but he's still getting really good. he does continue to crawl still, especially if he wants to get somewhere quickly, and he still falls down to his bottom from time to time, but i think he'll be a full time walker by his birthday, which is only a matter of 2 weeks from today.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

project babyproof still underway...

we finally moved both mine and milo's dressers into the living room to replace the tv stand. while we now have to venture into the living room to retrieve any clothing we want from the dressers, it's worth it to have the tv and electronics higher, and thus out of milo's reach.

we've also relocated my desk - which used to be in the living room - to the bedroom. another one less headache to have to worry about milo trying to scale or maneuver around or bump into.

overall it's been a huge sense of accomplishment to feel the house getting more organized and cleaner as we sort through clutter and move furniture, and not having to constantly redirect milo from the same issue over and over again is probably the biggest thrill of all.

see ben? we don't have to move every year, you just have to let me rearrange the house every couple of months. ;)

now if we can find a new home for the cat. a lady and her 4 year old daughter called on the flyers i put up; they're supposedly coming today to meet kittles. maybe this one will actually work out - the last call i got was from a high school girl who's mom is "kind of allergic" (according to the teeny-bopper)... i'm guessing that one's not gonna happen. mom and 4 year old? i have high hopes for them.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

milo's first family vacation

so technically, milo's been on a few trips with us visiting relatives/friends/etc for various holidays and road trips that have happened over the past 11 months... (uffda! can you believe it's been over 11 months already? i'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole parenthood thing, let alone that we've been at it for almost a year now.)

anyhow, we finally took our first trip as a family unit of just us three to northern minnesota - it's our last night here in lutsen, just off lake superior.

highlights from the trip include:
  • milo's first taste of pizza at the famous sven and ole's pizza place in grand marais (he loved it, of course. how could he not, being my son? pizza is one of the main food groups in the zoe book of cooking.)
  • we've given our son the native name of "wampum big mess" (i googled "wampum" to see what it really means, and i'm deciding to ignore the fact that it's the white shells used in beading... sometimes it just helps to ease the frustration of milo dropping food on the floor for the umpteenth time by sighing out "oh wampum, please eat your food instead of playing with it.")
  • not realizing that the window shades we put up for milo were partially closed on the outside of the car door (whoops), we tried to figure out the rattling sounds coming from the back seat. as milo was more or less asleep, we knew he wasn't throwing anything, so we starting coming up with our own stories of bigfoot throwing rocks at our car. ben mentioned how he would be scared if bigfoot was running as fast as our car going 55 mph, and that no wonder no one had ever seen him. we decided a tank would be too slow, and with bigfoot coming after us, it was time to get a hummer.
  • milo seems to enjoy the hiking backpack, and our mini hiking trips - as long as they don't interfere too greatly with napping or eating. even then, we've been able to push the limits a little bit, and while he's certainly a little fussier, ben's reassurance that long-term he'll be just fine seems to be accurate. if in 10 years, however, we're still asking wampum big mess to stop throwing his food on the floor or rubbing it in his hair, i may look back to this time for a scapegoat. fair warning. ;)

overall, i'd say it's been a good trip - good to get out of town, away from the every day rigamarole, away from the hustle and bustle of busy cars and busy people and busy life, to just slow down, see the trees, discover mushrooms growing on logs, yellow ferns, the way my calves feel way too tight from hiking in shoes that are probably a little too small, to invent stories about bigfoot and retell childhood stories of why there are signs for "fallen rock."

it's been good to just focus on our time together and how to enjoy this time as a family.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

he walks!

he did it!!!!

today, after we got home from a grand day out, my mom was getting the last of our groceries while i brought milo inside.

i put him on the ground to get out some wiggles, since he'd been in either the carseat or a shopping cart for the majority of the day.

he saw the cat and wanted to walk towards her, but didn't even bother holding onto my hands, so i was holding him under his arms, but only just barely.

he started walking towards her, and he seemed so steady and focused, so i let go of him completely, and he did it! he took four steps on his own towards the cat.

he's just shy of 11 months old, weighs in at 21 pounds (i checked him on the wii fit this morning) and he's finally taken his first real steps.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

"curiosity killed the cat"

i never understood that phrase growing up.... i seem to remember my brother telling me that when i would go into his room and play with his star wars toys while he was at school, and i remember thinking about it over and over, imagining different scenarios of how cats might die from curiosity, but it still didn't make sense.

and no, our poor cat is not dead, but i've decided it's not worth it to me to keep her right now, and curiosity is the culprit. not her's though, oh no. milo's.

aside from the already established fact that he's obsessed with her, but doesn't know how to show his affection in ways that are appropriate, i've started keeping her in the basement so that she can get to her litter box and food, but with the door closed, she also gets no attention whatsoever. she doesn't seem to mind as much, but on occasion when i let her out and leave the basement door open, then i have to blockade milo from the kitchen.

up until now he had not noticed the basement door, the stairs going down, the fact that there's a whole new world (cue "Aladdin"music) down there to explore.... but then he found it.

i knew he was crawling around in the kitchen. if i'm not watching him, i try to keep a vigilant ear on where he is, and thus knowing what he's getting into without even seeing him. i've gotten decent at it. silence is golden when he's sleeping, but awake, it's a red flag. i looked over to the kitchen area, and there he was, at the basement door, staring at the cat, who was on the step, waiting to get out, staring at him.

so now that he's aware of the basement, i have to keep that door closed all the time. and since blockades work better on the cat then on milo, and it just doesn't seem fair to keep her locked in a basement all day long, and we hope to have another baby or two (eventually), which would mean i'd have to go through this whole charade again?

thanks, but no thanks..... sorry cat, i'll at least do my best to find you a good home.