Category Archives: baby

10 Months

Our Phoebe girl will be 10 months old tomorrow… only 2 more months and she’ll be an entire year old! Talk about changes too. Over the past week or two, this girl apparently came to the decision that she had taken things slowly long enough and she was ready to move on.

She want from slowly scooting around to full on crawling overnight, although she still does it at a very slow and calculated pace. She isn’t one to rush around, and I kind of enjoy her laidback pace. If that continues she’ll be a good companion when it comes to slow walks, and maybe, just maybe I’ll have time to actually take photos again when we’re out and about because I won’t have to chase her the way I do her brother.

She’s also gotten very good at pulling herself up on everything. It was a slow process, and then BAM – up on everything. I don’t think Enzo was ready for it either. He loves his little sister, but now has to get used to her being able to get into everything, including his favorite toys. We have to explain a lot lately that anything special he needs to keep out of reach or in his room. Phoebe takes it all in stride, though, and just moves on to something new.

She’s mostly obsessed with the train table and trains, as well as the ride-on Firetruck and Batmobile. I’ve been letting her crawl around the kitchen nekkid after bath time and she makes a beeline for either of these every time, which usually means leaving her towel and piddling all over the floor. After a really nasty case of a yeast diaper rash, I’m doing whatever I can to prevent another one, and that means as much diaper-free time as we can.

As far as other things go, Phoebe continues to grow and make us all laugh with her funny sounds and faces. I love watching her face light up when I pick her up at day care and she gets just as happy to see her big brother once they are reunited. She often sits in her car seat and watches him, just waiting for him to play with her, which he often does by yelling “Boo!” at her or whatever else they manage.

She continues to be a really good natured gal with a smile that lights up the room. Everyone is enamored with her hair, and people often point it out. How can you not love it? I will be sad when her hair grows out, I admit it. It always makes me a little sad to see her get so big so fast, but what can you do? Either way, I love this little lady more and more each day.

Munchkin Meals – 2 years old & Almost 10 Months

Linking up this week for Munchkin Meals again!

The food rut kind of continues. I keep meaning to start scheduling meals again and look up a few new recipes, but then life happens and we get busy. I’m starting to think of new things to offer the munchkins, but if they’re enjoying what they’re getting and it’s healthy then I might as well stick with it.

We aren’t doing many purees with Miss Sassy Pants anymore simply because she really has no interest in them. In a pinch (or if she’s really hungry and decided she didn’t want what was offered) she will accept a pouch, but really prefers to hold onto it so she can feed herself. She’s gotten to a point where she also prefers to attempt using a spoon for yogurt herself as well. It’s messy, but she enjoys it… mostly. We’re still dealing with some frustrations as she tries to make her hands do what she wants them to.

One thing she greatly enjoys is salmon, and you really can’t blame her. It was one of Enzo’s favorites when he was a baby as well, however, he has decided he no longer likes it. More salmon for us then?

I’m hopeful that Phoebe’s willingness to try everything will stick with her. I want to say that even as a baby, Enzo was a tad more picky about food than Phoebe is, so we’ll see what happens. I also know that picky eating seems to just be a standard toddler thing from talking to other parents.

One thing that’s funny to me is that you can generally guess what Phoebe will reach for first on her plate. If there’s meat – she’ll definitely go for that first. If there’s something like banana bread or some other tasty grain – she’ll make a grab for it. I want to say that Enzo was the same way. Now, we just patiently wait to see what Enzo will eat first because we never know.

Okay, generally he’ll go for fruit first (especially watermelon)… or his dipping sauce. We try not to give him a spoon when there is dip on his plate otherwise he’ll just eat that plain when you aren’t looking. Kids. Like I said earlier, our meals haven’t been super creative lately… mostly because we’re busy and since I know I can count on Phoebe to eat roasted carrots and green beans, we eat a lot of those. We also discovered that Enzo will gladly eat green beans, but they have to be fresh – not frozen. Guess I can’t blame him, they are far superior.

They also both love pasta and watermelon. I’ve been trying to get Enzo to enjoy some of the amazing nectarines and peaches I’ve been buying, but the boy is so picky. Occasionally I can bribe him with a candy or something and he’ll realize they’re delicious and eat everything and accept a couple measly candies, but that doesn’t always work. Oh well, we’ll keep working on it. One thing we’re pretty firm about is that dinner is his only option. No snacks if he gets hungry later, and we’re doing better when it comes to keep him from snacking before dinner.

You see, when Enzo gets picked up from day care usually the first thing he asks for is a snack, so he we’d give him one. We realized that his snacks were filling him up just enough that he’d decide not to eat most of his dinner. We’ve been a little more firm lately about giving him only a tiny snack on the car ride home if he really wants one (some raisins or something) and he’s been doing much better about eating his meal.

Also, we finally bought a drop cloth for baby girl… bet you can’t guess why. 😉

Siblings.

It was a lovely long weekend with a bit more rain than I would have liked, but we still managed to be productive and have fun. That being said, I have photos and other things to sort through and organize, so no time to really write a lot. One thing, has become quite clear, though. Having two kiddos close in age has gotten easier and easier. I know they won’t always get along as well as they do now (Enzo gets a little irritated at how grabby his baby sister is), but I can dream, right?

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk. – Susan Scarf Merrell

To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. – Clara Ortega

If you want to do really important things in life and big things in life, you can’t do anything by yourself. And your best teams are your friends and your siblings.

Deepak Chopra

Elmo, Thomas, and Mickey

It’s amazing how much quickly a toddler’s interests can change, and also funny how some things they will never tire of. I’m trying to think of what his first real “obsession” was, and I think it was Elmo. We got him a plush (non-talking version – I’m not crazy), shoes, shirts, books and other paraphernalia and he was happy as a clam. But then along came Thomas.

All we heard about was Thomas and how he wanted to watch Thomas, so we gave in and watched so much Thomas. His next pair of shoes were Thomas and he got a blanket that he still loves as well as plenty of shirts. After some time he got his beloved train table and finally some track and trains, which we’ve slowly added onto. And what little boy doesn’t love hot wheels? Or grown boy for that matter.

Then came various Disney movies (right now happens to be Tangled) as well as his new obsession – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I had to break down and buy him a couple of DVDs so we didn’t have to keep re-watching the only MMC movie available on Netflix. We also got him a plush Mickey that he happily carries around with him. The first day he insisted on bringing him to day care, which was pretty cute.

We also have a new obsession with bubbles, which has made bath time even more fun. Phoebe doesn’t really care one way or the other; she finds Enzo’s antics more amusing or just splashing everything in sight.

And then you have the ridiculously random things that toddlers and babies like such as boxes, bags, balloons, and shoes. I catch Enzo in my shoes fairly often. He thinks it’s hilarious to clomp around in them. It’ll be interesting to see how long Phoebe’s interests stay the same as her brothers. Obviously right now we have a house full of gender-neutral toys as well as toys geared towards boys or girls, so I wonder if/when she’ll decided she watns to dress like a princess or play with dolls and houses rather than trains and cars. Maybe she’ll do both like her mama. 😉

Sidewalk Chalk & Landscaping

We’ve been tearing up some of the landscaping in our front yard, so it’s been a good reason to get the kiddos outside now that the sun hasn’t been blistering hot. I’m making a note that our next house has to have an entrance that doesn’t have full afternoon sun, or at the very least it has to have some kind of porch or overhang so that you don’t have to wear a glove to open the front door.

Anyhoo. We’ve just always been more play on the deck types because the deck is right off the kitchen and provides an enclosed area where we don’t have to keep a close eye on the toddler. However, since we’re trying to move a ton of rocks from the front landscaping to replace with mulch, it’s a slow process (mostly for Josh), but it was a nice day so I took the kids outside to watch him and to play with sidewalk chalk.

Enzo obviously loves sidewalk chalk, and Phoebe would love to just stick it in her mouth… like my shoe. Whoops. (Don’t worry, I immediately moved my foot when I realized she was really going to go to town if I let her).

She also insisted on tasting the driveway as well.

Thankfully Enzo is past the stage of putting everything in his mouth so coloring with crayons and chalk is a lot more fun. He had me write their names and draw different shapes, which is thankfully all he asked for because that’s really the extent of my drawing capabilities.

Now that we’ve finally reached that time of year where the air is going to start feeling more and more like Fall, we should probably take advantage of these nice weekends we have left. At the very least we have to get all of the shrubs with invasive roots pulled and areas prepped for bulb planting (which I’ve never done, so let’s hope that goes better than the rest of my failed gardening this year).

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures