Breaking News: My morning bottle has been canceled! After my aggressive boycots all week, Mom didn’t even try giving me my bottle before she left for work today. I told you that I’m calling the shots around here!
I had a great morning with Nana, even drinking 4 ounces of formula with breakfast. I had a really fun time playing and reading books all morning until my nap time. I slept without any fuss — which is now the norm, especially in the morning — for well over two hours.
My afternoon was even more exciting than usual because when I got up from my second nap, Mom was home early! We spent a bunch of time playing in my room, which is something that I just don’t do enough of.
I have a new favorite stuffed animal: a huge, enormous, floppy, pillow-like dog that Mom’s friend Molly gave me! Mom makes it run around and chase me and kiss me, which I love. We also played with a rabbit and I can correctly answer the question, “What does a rabbit do?” “Hop, Hop” (so, this is definitely my forth word, and I’ve been saying it for a while, now…but it’s quite convenient that it’s so phonetically similar to my very first word: “up”).
I also explored my huge walk-in closet today and took as many things as I could reach on the various shelves and threw them on the floor – just like I do with the bibs in the kitchen.
I had a good dinner, drank some formula, and headed to bed.
Mom tried to give me a bottle this morning. Tried and failed, that is. Nana tried to give me the formula with my breakfast out of a sippy cup, but I didn’t go for that, either. Eventually I relented and drank half a bottle.
Not much else to report today. I was a lot more vocal than usual, repeating my three words (up, bye-bye, mama) quite a bit. I also stood more often and for longer periods of time — I even took three steps three different times, equally my previous record.
At dinner, Mom managed to get me to eat my least favorite food in the whole world: spinach! I would only eat it when she fed it to me with her fingers (I sure wasn’t going to feed that stuff to myself!) and when she alternated it with bites of food I actually like. Even though I gave in on the spinach, I held strong on rejecting any formula. So there.
I woke up just after 6:00 and was a bit more tired that usual — of course, that didn’t stop me from eating a huge breakfast! I slept very quickly at 9:00 and woke up rested and much happier!
After lunch, Nana and I decided that we had to get out of the house — and we weren’t going to let frigid temperatures and a little snow stop us! Wicker Park was so fun. The dogs were especially active today — maybe they were just trying to stay warm! I am so looking forward to the warmer weather when we come to the park every single day!
This afternoon, instead of just getting a bottle before my nap, Nana expanded it to a bigger snack that included some solid food, too. I was so excited about getting to be outside and a bit thrown off by the new food schedule that I didn’t fall asleep quite as fast as usual. By 4:15 I was pooped and slept until about 5:20.
Mom got home and fed me dinner, which included some formula in a sippy cup — yet another innovation! Apparently I’m getting a head start on all of the transitions coming my way in March!
I got up with Mom @ 5:50 and drank an impressive 3 ounces of my bottle. I was in a great mood (and was especially photogenic!) this morning. I got two new foods today! At breakfast I had a tropical smoothie, which was new, but didn’t count as new because I had already had all of the ingredients, separately.
I also discovered a new favorite book today: Where is Baby’s Belly Button?. Nana read it to me three times in a row after breakfast, and many more times throughout the day!
My morning nap routine is really working well. I tend to play in my crib for 20-30 minutes before falling asleep. I woke up in a great mood and celebrated by correctly identifying a yellow circle. Apparently that’s a big deal!
Lunch was crazy. Another not new new food: veggie fritters. Huh? Yeah, veggie fritters. These are pan fried patties made up of sweet potato, zucchini, eggs, and corn meal. I can’t say that I loved it, but it was a totally new texture for me, which was fun.
I had no interest in my afternoon bottle, drinking just about three ounces. Hey guys, I’m almost a year old — you have to treat me like a big girl!
I woke up this morning closer to my usual time — 6:15. Dad got me out of my crib and instead of heading downstairs like we usually do, he was actually getting dressed and ready like Mom usually does! We got downstairs and played for a bit until Nana came and Dad ran out the door for a couple meetings he had to go to.
I loved the strawberry oatmeal and read a bunch of books with Nana before my morning nap. I fell asleep without a fuss and napped for about 90 minutes. I got up and ate a ton! Nana fed me so much food — all of my lunch and even a little extra! I got to eat three fresh strawberries for dessert. So yummy! Speaking of food, here’s a video of me at Moonshine yesterday:
I was in a really great mood all day today. I was really playful and fun and didn’t cry at all. I could tell that Nana really enjoyed that I was so happy. I didn’t really drink much of my bottle, but I sure did sleep well. I went to bed around 3:45 and didn’t wake up until 6:00! Mom was just getting home from work and Dad brought me downstairs, where Mom fed me dinner. It was mostly finger foods (peas, my favorite!) and the last of my avocado and cream cheese puree.
Mom, Dad, and I went down to the office and played around on the carpet until 7:00. Mom and Dad debated whether I needed a bath (as usual, she said yes and he said no). Dad compromised by giving me a shampoo-only. Dad tried to get me to sleep without a pacifier but of course that experiment lasted about 10 seconds, and I fell asleep instantly thereafter.
Even though I got to bed on time last night, I slept in until about 7:15 this morning. Well, actually, I was up around 5:45, but somehow Dad decided he’d let me babble for a while in my crib and I ended up falling back asleep. When I got up, Dad whisked me downstairs and put me right into my high chair for breakfast.
My new food is strawberries — supposedly the most allergenic of the berry family. All mixed up in my oatmeal, they were really good! I gobbled down my oatmeal and then I played with Dad. Well, we didn’t play all that much — really we cleaned up the house so that Mom would feel welcomed back from her trip to Tampa.
I had my bottle at 9:30 and took my nap. I got up at 11:00 and Dad lifted me out of my crib and almost in one fell swoop had me in my coat and out the door. We went to our favorite brunch place, Moonshine, with Jen and her friend from high school (in Belgium!). Dad had brought my food, of course, but he let me eat the strawberry garnish from his flapjacks and even asked Jen if I could eat hers. I love that my diet is slowly creeping into restaurant food! (Oh, and there’s video evidence coming in the next post!)
We left brunch early (Jen and Nate were still reminiscing) and we took off for the airport to get Mom! We were a few minutes late (well, she was early) and when we got there she sat in the back seat with me!
We got home and I played with Mom and Dad — we all had so much fun! Then they tried to trick me! When it was nap time, they gave me a bogus pacifier! They had cut 1/4 inch of the end of the pacifier off — the theory being that they would wean me gradually. Hahahahahahahaha! Do they think I was born yesterday? I’m 11 months old! I didn’t fall for that. I screamed and screamed and screamed until finally I got my old pacifier back and went right to sleep.
When I got up, Jen was getting ready to leave so I said goodbye and Dad gave her a ride to her hotel. Mom and I played and had a great time. I ate all of my dinner and Dad got home just in time to see me stand for 58 seconds (my new record), take one step, and fall on my booty.
Well, since I went to bed so late last night, I wasn’t surprised to sleep in until about 7:15 this morning. Dad always complains that he never gets to sleep in past 7. Well, no more complaining!
Since I usually have a bottle when I get up and breakfast at 7:30, we were in a bit of a pickle. Dad decided to skip the bottle and keep breakfast at the right time. So, we went downstairs and Dad got my food ready. I ate really well, especially the hard-boiled egg, which I love.
It had snowed so much overnight, but that didn’t stop us from heading out on our weekly grocery trip. Our first stop was Whole Foods. I was in a great mood and almost everything we bought there was for me! Then we went to Dominick’s and I was really friendly and sociable with everyone I met. We made a quick pit stop at home to pick up a few things — Dad left me alone in the car while he ran inside! Mom would NOT have allowed that!
We headed over to Nana and Grandpa’s! Now, my schedule was already screwed up food-wise, but now my nap got messed up, too. I couldn’t fall asleep at my grandparents’ house, even though Nana made me a really comfy bed. I didn’t have my pacifier and there was just too much going on to sleep through it all! So, after Dad was “in bed” with me for 15 minutes and I was showing no signs of sleeping, he finally relented and we went into the living room. I mostly hung out with Grandpa while Nana and Dad were in the kitchen.
One of the things we brought with us was an awesome high chair / booster chair. Even though it wasn’t really lunch time for me, I got to sit at the table and nibble on some rice and some apple. All of a sudden, Dad realized that it was 11:45 and we had an appointment at 12:00 — with a babysitter! He jumped up and we were out the door in a couple minutes and eventually made it home exactly at noon. The only problem was that I had fallen asleep in the car on the way over.
So, Dad unloaded the groceries from the car and then left me in the car alone to get a few more minutes of sleep — twenty more minutes, to be exact! Again, I don’t think Mom would have allowed this! at 12:20 he got me out of the car and I woke up. When I got upstairs Jen was around, as was Rachel — a baby sitter I first met last weekend! This was her first time babysitting me and Dad was around to help familiarize her with my various idiosyncrasies.
First was lunch. Well, I put on quite a show — of refusing to eat! I just wasn’t interested in much of anything. But hey, my schedule was screwed up! After Dad gave up, Rachel played with me for three hours. We read books, sang, played music, walked around, looked out the window, and put blocks on each other’s head! She was so worried that I fall down the two steps from the kitchen to the living room…At 3:30 Dad gave me my bottle and then Rachel witnessed the pre-nap routine before taking off.
I got up around 5:00 and soon thereafter had a really messy poop. It took Dad three diapers to eventually get me cleaned up — and that was after some of it got on my onesie. Dad was so frazzled that he didn’t even bother to get me another shirt for the rest of the night –that’s why I’m topless!
Dinner was great. I made up for my poor showing at lunch by eating everything I was supposed to have eaten at lunch and at dinner. I think Dad cheated yesterday, by the way, by introducing cherries into my diet. Apparently he doesn’t count finger foods the same he does the food he cooks. Anyway, here’s a pretty long video of me playing with my cherries. To get you to watch the whole thing, I’ll tell you that I may have said my third word ever at the end of the video. Does it count? You decide!
After dinner, Dad played with me and eventually Jen came back from her walk. I played with the lion and Dad grilled me on the blocks I’m supposed to be learning! At 7:00 we headed upstairs. If Mom were around, I’m 100% sure that she would have insisted on my getting a bath today. Not Dad, though! We read Goodnight Moon and I was off to sleep in no time.
I woke up this morning with Mom and was excited to play with her before she had to leave for work. Dad was so sleep, but got up and played with me. He took today off from work, so we got a lot of quality time in.
We played all morning. Dad seemed a bit disappointed that I had forgotten a few of the blocks that he had taught me last weekend. Breakfast was pretty uneventful. I started showing signs of being sleepy around 8:40, but he started hiding from me all around the house and I got a second wind as I found him each and every time. At 9:00 I went up and took my morning nap.
I slept really well, until about 11:00. Dad came up and, after changing me, starting taking my crib apart! He lowered my mattress down to the lowest level so now I can barely even peer over the top! I definitely can’t fall out now, though, so hopefully that will make Nana feel better putting to sleep in there.
When I got downstairs, there was a new friend waiting for me! Dad’s friend Jennifer from college is staying with us for the weekend. She was really friendly and has long hair that I’m so tempted to pull! I had lunch and then went back to playing around with Dad. Around 1:30 he seemed to be getting a bit bored, so we went downstairs and had a lot of fun playing peek-a-boo with the sheets and pillowcases that were just laying on the futon. I also discovered that Mom & Dad have diwali sticks laying around — and I had a lot of fun with them.
My afternoon bottle and nap were pretty uneventful. Mom got home early, though only because she had to catch a flight to Tampa for the weekend! Dad and I decided to drive her to the airport — despite the rush hour traffic — so that we could spend more time with her. The traffic there was terrible, but it wasn’t so bad coming back.
I gave Dad a really hard time when it came to dinner, though. I really hated the confetti slaw, and wouldn’t even eat a single bite of it. I absolutely love peas, though. I think they might have surpassed carrots as my favorite finger food!
Unfortunately, though, the trip to Midway meant that I ended up missing my bedtime — I didn’t go to sleep until about 7:45!
Today was a really good day. The prunes I’ve been eating have clearly had their clearing effect!
Bottle with Mom was great; breakfast was great. Nana and I played and read in the morning. The only part of the day that didn’t go so well was my morning nap, when it took me about 45 minutes to fall asleep — and then I only slept for about half an hour.
I got to eat one of my favorite dishes for lunch: chicken curry. Everything else was finger food: succotash, peas, carrots, and peaches. I drank about half of my 3:00 bottle and then took a good 1:45 nap.
When I got up — Grandpa Yagan was here! He hasn’t been over to see me since his surgery (but I’ve been trying to go visit him every week). It was so good to have him back! He played with me and then started my dinner, which Mom eventually finished.
I wasn’t too interested in reading Goodnight Moon before bed…maybe Dad’s arguments against the book are sinking in!
I hate spinach. It’s that simple. Why do people keep trying to feed it me?! Apparently no one told poor Nana about this!
After a very good morning — I drank most of my bottle with Mom and devoured my breakfast — lunch was a complete nightmare. I actually ate half of the spinach as a courtesy, but the second half “ended up everywhere” according to Mom. Correction: it was everywhere except in my tummy!
My afternoon nap wasn’t very good, either. It took me a while to get to sleep and then I only slept for about 30 minutes before waking up. Oh, and while Mom and Dad are busy teaching me to identify blocks, Nana is also adding on other things. Today I correctly identified various jewelry (key to being a girl, apparently!): necklace, ring, and watch!
margaretyagan 
