Yogurt

This is what happened this morning when I replaced the milk in John's cereal with yogurt. Immediate suspicion. Refusal to try. Distress.

Yesterday the three of us walked over to the apartment complex management center to pick up a package and while there took oatmeal raisin cookies. (They always have fresh cookies available.) Walking home, John was eating his so well and I thought I had successfully tricked him into eating raisins. Yeah! But when we pulled him out of his stroller, we found that he had sucked each raisin clean of cookie, then hidden the soggy, slimy raisin mess underneath his bottom. Soooo gross . . .

14-Week Ultrasound Photos

Yesterday I had a 14-week visit with my midwife. Some ultrasounds were taken because something looked potentially funny last time, but everything is absolutely fine.

Last time I posted ultrasound photos, the men in my life could barely make heads or tails of them, but tried to be polite, while the women all remarked that they were the most clear 10-week ultrasound photos they'd ever seen and how cute the baby was. The contrast was so funny to me!

To help orient you, the baby was lying transverse (aka, horizontally) and facing down. In this photo, the head is on the right of the page, bottom on the left.
In the next two photos, the head is on the left of the page, bottom on the right. Look how clearly you can see the facial features! At one point, the baby was sucking its thumb; the baby was actively moving throughout the session. When the photos were being taken live, I could have counted the vertebrae. The technician pointed out the chambers in the heart, the brain, the stomach, the bladder. She even offered to tell me the gender, but I stuck to my promise to Chris not to find out! We agree in principle, but it's oh-so hard for me not to know this time around!

Jack in the Box

John has a new way of relaxing: at least once a day he sequesters himself in the armchair, lies on his back with feet propped up, and reads quietly to himself.
I allowed John to play with my cell phone today and later found it on the ground with a "Quality Assurance" inspection sticker affixed to it. I guess John was just making sure it worked.
John having grand fun playing with an empty box: Here John is making the sign for water, just to tell me that he sees Daddy's water glass on the nearby table:

You probably notice the many unpacked boxes in the background of our photos. "Is Katherine really that lazy of a homemaker that she's not unpacking anything?" Actually, we've put a moratorium on unpacking boxes just in case our house sells quickly, we buy a new house quickly, and we find ourselves moving again before the new baby comes. One can always hope (and pray).

For a heartwarming story, read how this Chinese police officer has been nursing babies orphaned by the recent earthquake.

Cooking Disappointments

We had some success with John wearing hard-soled shoes! I followed somebody's suggestion to put him in socks in his sandals. John still walked in his sandals like he was walking on the moon, but he kept them on with minimal fussing.

In my continued effort to sneak fruits and vegetables into baked goods for John, this morning I made sweet potato pancakes, which sounded really good. Chris swears they were "fantastic" but neither John nor I liked them. And not even my husband can deny that half of the batch was burned black and the other half looked pretty on the outside but was raw in the middle. This cooking disappointment follows a rather icky coffee cake I baked a few days ago, so I'm feeling like a dud of a homemaker right now. At least the bowl of cereal I poured myself for lunch tasted good.

John was fascinated by the tongs:

I already have tonight's dinner (Chris' dinner anyway) cooking in the slow cooker. I hope it works out better than some earlier recipes!

Click here to see how John's younger sibling will be growing for the next two weeks.

Milk Snob

Our son hates fruit so much that he completely rejected a fruit milk shake Chris made for him and me the other night. The only ingredients were vanilla ice cream (which John loves), strawberries, and bananas. John eagerly sidled up for a spoonful, took one taste, and declared it "thbttt!", refusing to try any more of it.

Do any moms want to chime in with tips on how we can encourage John to drink a mama's milk substitute? If I weren't pregnant, my milk would be sufficient for a toddler and, in fact, far superior to other kinds of milk, but my supply is going to go away because of pregnancy hormones. So, I've been working for about two months on having John try other kinds of milk. So far he has rejected vanilla-flavored rice milk, cow's milk, cow's milk with chocolate, and goat's milk. I've tried these things cold, room temperature, and mildly heated. The cow's milk with chocolate did hold John's attention long enough to take a few long sips, but he's never been willing to drink it again. He does enjoy drinking water all day long. And he does enjoy drinking milk with a spoon from his cereal bowl. He won't eat yogurt, including the "drinkable" kids' kind; I haven't tried offering him kefir yet. [Edit: Also, John will not drink juice. I don't particularly wanting him drinking juice since it's mostly sugar water, but I have offered it as an experiment.]

So moms, any tips? Has anyone else had a kid who refused cow's milk? If John dislikes milk, is it possible to get him the right nutrients from enough cheese as long as he drinks enough water for hydration?

Latta Plantation

On Saturday we drove 10 miles north of Charlotte to visit the Historic Latta Plantation on its Living History Day. There were many actors dressed in period costumes doing early 19th century activities. John was particularly taken with the livestock, such as the sheep wandering loose.

John resting on Daddy during a musket and rifle demonstration:

Peering into a livestock pen:
John is saying "thbbbt!" to show me a piece of "trash" (something dirty from the wood).
John found a small frog in the grass:
John enjoyed running in the grass and listening to a flute being played:





After visiting the plantation, we drove a couple of miles down the road to the Carolina Raptor Center, which was interesting. John was getting tired by that point and had a complete meltdown during the live bird show because the Raptor Center volunteer would walk the birds in a large circle so everybody could get a close look--and that meant he was taking the bird away from John. We cut our visit a bit short, but not before seeing some really glorious birds of prey.

Hiding

John has learned about peek-a-boo and likes hiding under a blanket or pillow, to which I am supposed to (always) say, "Where's John? I don't even see him!" Until I say it just right, he doesn't come out (even though it's only his head that is covered, with his entire body sticking out in plain sight). Yesterday he seemed to have purposefully hid behind furniture for the first time and was very quiet: it took me a few seconds to find him once I realized he was "missing"! John was hiding behind a chair on our balcony. Here he is peering into the window . . .
. . . and looking at Mama:

One of John's current favorite books is Moo, Baa, La La La! (thanks again, Lynn!). He refers to the book as "Baa." As we read each page, we pause and point to John to cue him for the words he knows. For example, "The horse says . . ." and John replies, "neigh!" Or, "Quack says the . . ." and John replies with his latest word, "duck!" John loves to imitate an adult saying "no," so his favorite exchange in the book is this: "Three singing pigs say, La la la! 'No, no,' you say, 'that isn't right!' The pigs say oink all day and night!'" John wags his finger saying, "no, no, no!" and then laughs and laughs. This morning when John woke up, he sat up cheerfully and asked me to read this book by saying something like, "Baa! Neigh! Meow! No, no, no!" I'm still amazed when John requests a specific book out of the blue when we're not even near his books (he's thinking about things abstractly? he's remembering his favorite books?) and when I can ask him to get a specific book ("Bring me your book about fish!") and he does it. I know I'll be used to this more with future children, but right now I still feel amazed sort of as if the house cat suddenly asked me to read him Othello.

Click here if you want to see what John's little sibling has been doing for the prior two weeks. I'm reluctantly trying a new drug now, Zofran, because it is a melt-in-your-mouth tablet, so I shouldn't gag on it. Unfortunately, the drug truly tastes like poison, so I have to work on not gagging on the taste. The drug seems to be working for the most part, although the effect does last only about eight hours and I'm trying to get away with taking only one pill per day to minimize exposure to the baby (even though the drug is purportedly safe). Thanks for continued prayers that I will feel better.

Fruit Baked Good Recipes?

John still won't eat any fruit, in any format: fresh, dried, pureed, whatever. My mother-in-law recently made a good suggestion to try to hide mashed banana in Cream of Wheat. Since I don't have bananas in the house right now, I tried apple sauce today. I thought the Cream of Wheat tasted barely sweet and thought John wouldn't even notice, but with one taste, he spit it all out, cried, and refused to eat any more. What kind of kid hates fruit? So strange.

Anyway, I realized today there is one trick I haven't tried: cooking fruit into a baked good! This could go for vegetables too. I'm imagining recipes such as zucchini bread, carrot cake, and apple sauce cookies. I'm hoping that such a recipe would still retain many vitamins and some fiber. I hope to find recipes that are lower in added sugar.

Do any of you have any favorite baked good recipes that contain fruit or vegetables? Please email me any favorite recipes. Or just suggest a recipe (e.g., "try banana bread!") and I'll look up the specifics. Thanks!

Eating Cereal

John really likes All Bran Bran Buds and Flake cereals (which is a good thing, considering I can't yet get any fruit or vegetable fiber into his body!). Yesterday morning I was so impressed that he ate one-quarter of an entire bagel followed by two bowls of bran flakes! He ate his cereal painstakingly with a spoon. Maybe (probably) such a video is boring for others, but I'm still quite charmed by watching him eat like a big boy. And, yes, that is a sippy cup of (lightly chocolate-flavored) milk on John's tray; although John will drink milk in his cereal bowl, he won't drink it in a cup yet.

Where Is My Baby?

When Mama is very sick, sometimes all she can eat is Cream of Wheat. John loves this because otherwise I don't serve him the nutritionally rather empty Cream of Wheat. For a boy who has always rejected pureed food, it is strange that he likes this cereal.

Cream of Wheat has been one of the only foods John would allow me to spoon feed him, but this morning he insisted on feeding himself with his new spoon. Thanks to a lead from Sarah, we bought him an adult-looking small cutlery set by Oneida. I couldn't resist filming my son feeding himself like a big boy. After I turned off the camera, he asked for a napkin, then a glass of water!

Where is my baby disappearing to? After John fed himself breakfast, we had two back-to-back Big Boy Incidents. John was playing in the living room and began whining for his water (not asking, but whining). I told him that it was in the dining room, I pointed to it, and I told him to get it for himself . . . which he did. Then John went and poured some water on the kitchen floor for fun, which I don't mind except that last time he played with water in there, he slipped and slammed his head on the slate tiles. So I handed him a towel and asked him to clean up the water . . . which he did. Whoa.

In unrelated news: John has cut his top two canines! Now he has his bottom canines and all four second-year molars to go.

Angel Hair Aficionado

On our drive home from Atlanta, we stopped for dinner at Macaroni Grill. John loved the angel hair pasta. We leave big tips at restaurants these days to make up for the giant mess John leaves behind.

Sadly, I could not enjoy our meal. My nausea and sickness has been coming back intermittently and in the last 24 hours has spiralled out of control again. At the restaurant I ordered a $2 side of plain pasta with butter. I ate one bow tie and said, "Nope!"

Saturday in Atlanta

Unexpectedly we travelled to Atlanta for the weekend for a funeral. One of Chris' friends passed away from a longtime illness, so while it was not entirely unexpected, we did not know when the day would come. We were glad to be able to make it there during that meaningful time.

We stayed with Chris' parents and got to see family. On Saturday night, Chris' brother and his three daughters came over for dinner (Mama had to work). John is suddenly at an age when he loves playing with his cousins and basically ignores me as long as he knows I am a home base somewhere nearby and haven't had the audacity to wander off and truly leave him alone. The kids had great fun playing with the electronic keyboard:
John received private piano lessons from his three-year-old cousins Sophia.

Miss Sophia is talented in various arts, so also gave John and their grandmother dancing lessons:

John and Sophia were little engineers playing with the piano stand, removing and replacing the little feet repeatedly.

In the evening, the older cousins had fun riding skateboards on their bottoms.

First Balloon

John had never had or played with a balloon before, but lately has shown interest in balloons in books. On our way to the grocery store yesterday, we drove past a store's grand opening and John started hooting about the balloons, so at the grocery store I bought him a helium balloon of his very own.
This video does not capture his enthusiasm, especially the way he went wild with excitement during our grocery shopping as he played with his new balloon. John now makes a sign for EYEGLASSES, which he makes in reference to this balloon (because the chihuahua is wearing glasses). It is particularly funny because instead of holding his fingers in circles around his eyes, he holds the circles up to his cheeks.

Yesterday I bought myself significant relaxation time by giving John a tub of water and some Tupperware on the floor of the kitchen.
Here is John on all fours, preparing to dip his hair in the water and drink from the tub:
Fun with measuring spoons:

What's Cookin'? Last night I made a Greek Skillet, which was so easy, healthy, and a big hit. I split the ingredients between two skillets, one with beef and one with textured soy protein. I also added a can of diced tomatoes and cut the tomato soup and water by half.

A Small Version of Daddy

Whenever John sits in Daddy's big chair, I have to laugh because he's a miniature spitting image. This morning Chris had to take a work phone call while I was cooking pancakes (the first ones ever I didn't ruin!) and the second he exited his seat, John crawled up there, holding the remote control, morning news playing, coffee cup within reach.
Then John began imitating his dad, using the remote control as a telephone. These days when John pretends to talk on the phone, he actually "talks" babbling nonsense words that sound very much like a one-sided conversation, with pauses for the other conversant to speak.

Speaking of speaking, John is on the cusp of saying "no!" I really don't know when toddlers begin saying "no," but I'm surprised it has taken John this long. Of course, he has long been able to express "no" non-verbally, such as by collapsing on the ground, crying in a limp pile of limbs. And he has long been able to physically say the word, as his word for "nose" is a nasally "noooo." A couple of weeks ago, John saw Chris waving his hand once and quickly adapted his own sign--which looked much like "talk to the hand!"--which meant, "You are telling me no." John only used the sign to confirm that Chris or I was telling him no, he couldn't do or touch something. Sometimes he would even use the sign days later when he saw an object he had once been told not to touch. Then a few days ago, John suddenly began wagging his finger and mocking in a sing-songy voice, "no, no, no!" in imitation of a parental figure doing the same. But he still has never said "no!" defiantly and to one of us. I know that cognitive leap has got to be weeks, days, or mere minutes away . . .

How Many of Me?

I don't usually use our blog for this kind of stuff, but I think this is neat (thanks Shelly!) . . .

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 13 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

There are 1,109 people in the United States with my maiden name (first and surname combined), but only 13 with my married name. That's pretty fun!

There are 139 John L----s, but only nine Chris L----s. There are only five people with my sister's married name! I could sit at this website and enter names all day . . .

Many Funny Faces

Chris gave me the most wonderful Mother's Day. I would list everything he did, but it would come off like I was bragging, which I don't want to do. Suffice it to say, he treated me like a queen! Thanks, hon!

While at the LLL conference, we shopped at a shoe vendor and discussed with her transitional and hard-soled shoes. We did not end up buying John shoes, but the saleswoman gave us a good tip. She said that when transitioning her children, she leaves the new shoes out like they are toys, thus prompting the toddler to explore on his own. I recently bought John some semi-hard soled shoes with mesh uppers--sort of like beach or boat shoes. We've left them in the living room and John has asked us to put on one shoe, and eventually both shoes, over and over and over again, like it was a game. At first he'd ask one of us to put on a shoe, then he'd fuss, so we'd take it off, but he'd ask for it again two seconds later. We played the game and within a week or so, John wore both shoes and walked across the living room without crying for the first time. The saleswoman said it can be normal for the transition to hard soles to take some months (which I hadn't realized), so I guess our slow-to-adapt little boy is just taking his time, but making great progress. Here are the shoes:
John likes to play on the enclosed balcony, close the door, then make funny squishy faces at us from the outside.
Gggrrrrr!
I've got to make an effort to get John out of the house, especially since each floor of the apartment is relatively small: John gets bored. Today I took him to a local park which offers a playground. The enclosed play area has about four play structures, the simplest one for 2-5-year-olds. John proved a bit too young for the adventure as he wanted to bumble around among the big kids. A 4-year-old doing nothing wrong almost fell on top of him because my toddler was where he shouldn't have been. The playground offered too many opportunities for me to have to tell John "no," so I felt relieved that he didn't have a melt-down. He was truly fascinated by watching the bigger kids.

John does not like to swing, whether on a bench swing next to his dad, in an enclosed baby swing, or on a big swing on Mama's lap. The one thing he liked to do with the swing was bang the post and peer at me from the left and right of it (like he was hiding behind a tree).

Here is John making a funny face at me as he popped up yet again from his secret hiding spot:
John was taken by the purple dinosaur, which he claimed was a horse ("neigh!").

Real Men Eat Quiche

I've rarely used a stroller with John, having carried him in a sling for the first year and beyond. But now he's big and I'm pregnant and I see a good place for stroller use with my toddler. I finally bought a little umbrella stroller, so light and I can unfold it with one hand while holding John on my hip (two aspects we don't have in our great hand-me-down jogging stroller). It's really convenient for the minimal times I use a stroller. The only downside is that the most pleasant color in stock was fluorescent green!
John enjoys exploring his brand new (never been used) potty, still sitting in the living room. I call this artful photographic series, taken by Chris, "The Many Faces of John."

You know you have a toddler when you find a pickle stored in your desk organizer:


Speaking of food, John is eating a greater variety and quantity of foods every day--such as the pickle above. Perseverance and simply offering, offering, offering is paying off. Plus, I'm sure his getting older is helping too. There are still many things he won't eat, eggs being one of them. I was thrilled to discover last night that John very happily scarfed down big bites of a Mexican quiche (kind of spicy) that I purchased at Trader Joe's. This morning Chris surprised us by buying breakfast and bringing it home from the cafe around the corner. One of the things he bought was broccoli quiche and John loved that too! I'm going to try making quiches (and fritattas?) to get John to eat eggs.