He has Baby Pageant Hair

It's hard to believe that this little dude has been out of the womb longer than he was in it.

I love the photo for several reasons:
1. It demonstrates the height of his baby hair.
2. It shows his preference to use his left hand.
3. It reiterates that he is the Best Baby in the Universe because he loves the cilantro-garlic hummus that I made for him.

I also love lists.
 
Other 9-month-old baby things about Beau:
1. He loves to read books, especially touch-and-feel books.
2. He prefers to feed himself, rather than be fed with a spoon. His new favorite fruits are plums and figs, and avocado is still a top contender.
3. He can sign "milk" and is beginning to sign "all done."
4. He LOVES Gizmo.
5. He is only waking up once at night (usually around 3:00 am), but then nurses and goes back to sleep.
6.When he is playing with his toys, he always gravitates to his blocks. He takes them out of the bucket, and then puts them back in. Then, repeat. OVER and OVER again.

Why Paleo Denies us Dairy

We recently learned that Beau loves shredded cheese. We love to give it to him because it's one of the few finger foods he can feed his toothless self without choking, and throwing it into the air like confetti entertains him long enough for us to eat dinner. (To clarify: he throws it into the air and then he and Gizmo attempt to catch it in their mouths, not us).

The only problem with his new love is that now he has put on a bit of weight and can no longer roll over. Now that he has a big ole belly, he can barely push up onto his hands and knees, and his upward climb on the developmental chart toward crawling has come to a standstill. So, for right now, he just sits and reads his books and plays with his toys. And that's ok. He doesn't seem to mind.

My Little Assistant

For Father's Day, I made Josh a card and some blueberry scones. The recipe was from a vegan cookbook (no eggs!), so I let Lola lick the spoon.

I love these photos because they are a snapshot into a typical morning for us (minus the scone baking)

a) She's wearing her Steelers bib

b) She's eating eggs

c) And, she has a book by her side.

Hair

Over the weekend, Lola reached the 13 month mark. She is talking more, walking more, eating more...it seems like she is developing new tricks each and every day. While I need to take some time and record all of these new events, I don't feel like doing that tonight.

So, instead, I give you this photo. Lola, with hair, yes hair long enough that it requires a clip. Eating and enjoying eggs, much to Josh's dismay. Finally, something Lola and I have in common. :)

Birthday Girl, Part II

On Lola's actual birthday, we re-sang Happy Birthday to her and allowed her to have a cupcake. Unfortunately, because we had to pick my parents up from the airport, we started the festivities a little late and, at first, she almost had a meltdown.

But then, the sugar kicked in!

Birthday Girl, Part I

In honor of Lola's birthday, we threw a little party. I made lots of homemade vegan food, which of course, I didn't tell anyone that every thing they ate was vegan until they told me how much they loved it.

Lola entertained her guests.

And, she spent lots of time with family.

When the cake appeared, she was all business. I love the photo below because her expression clearly says, "Really mom? You're putting a burning candle in front of me?" For the record, she still has her eyebrows.

At first, she was hesistant about the cake. Prior to this moment, Lola had not tasted refined sugar.

She seems to like it.

Sweet Potatoes Meet Raspberry

Seven Months of Sulking

Earlier this month, Lola had an appointment with Dr. G. Her seven month stats:

Length 28 inches (95th percentile)
Weight 17 lb, 8 oz (55th percentile)



We are slowly making progress with the solid foods. We've attempted (in this order):

rice cereal
avocado
sweet potatoes
peas
avocado (again)
plain yogurt
tofu
banana

Right now her favorite meal is plain yogurt. Every thing else we gave her was rejected. -- Including banana! Weird, huh? The only other person that I know that loves plain yogurt is Amy. Clearly, Lola was meant to be Amy's goddaughter.



In regard to other milestones, Lola seems to be recognizing a few of the ASL signs that we are using with her. She understands "milk" and "more." When we use these two signs, she opens her mouth and given the context, lunges toward either the milk or the spoon.



She is also increasing mobile. She rolls all over the place, and somehow, she can spin on her belly. It's incredible how quickly she can reach a destination without being able to crawl.

In other words, Lola is doing good.

But, I bet you are wondering about our other baby, who really isn't a baby at all, but is instead more like a pouty teenager.

He's still tolerating her, and us.

Granted, Archie has always been of the melancholy sort. When he was a puppy, one vet wanted us to put him on anti-depressants. We opted not to, claiming that he would be OK without them.

Sometimes though, I wish we did.

But no, really, he is doing OK. Josh and I have increased our visits to the local dog park (which he LOVES) and I'm also trying to take him out on more walks.

Plus, I do think he is growing fonder of Lola. He enjoys sitting beneath her high chair and eating all the tofu/banana/peas she flings on the floor. He also runs up to her when we walk in the door and acts as though he is excited to see her. These are all things that give me hope that he is slowly adjusting to his new life.

In meanwhile, I think he's annoyed by the camera.

"Mooooom, leave me alone." (Insert teenage angst.)

Adventures in Peas

Starting Solids

A few weeks ago, we embarked on a new adventure: the messy road of solid foods. "Solid" is definitely a misnomer since the substance Lola receives is anything but solid. It's liquidy, bland, and mixed with breastmilk. YUM.

We started with rice cereal. It's pretty amazing watch someone do something for THE FIRST TIME IN HER ENTIRE LIFE. I mean, she knew exactly what sort of signal she needed to send in order to indicate that she wanted another spoonful.

Since our rice cereal debut, Lola has tried sweet potatoes, avocadoes, and plain yogurt. Right now, the front runner favorite is sweet potatoes mixed with cereal and breastmilk.

Here it is, the first meal.

The Sippy Cup

Since we plan on giving Lola some solid foods in a few weeks, we decided to start teaching her how to drink water from a sippy cup.

We thought it would be best if we began this new adventure outside.



First, Josh helped her figure out how to hold onto the handles.



Then she reclined, because hey, it's sort of like a neon green and pink bottle. (As a side note, isn't it amazing that babies can drink while lying down? When do we lose this ability? Is it around the same time we can no longer stick our toes in our mouths?)



When Josh sat her up to drink from it "like a big girl," she had no interest in holding on to it herself.

As you can see, we were sucessful in emptying half of the cup's contents onto her shirt.

Then, I got to try. This time, I'm the one holding the cup while she focuses on mastering the drinking skill.

Note, now one side of her shirt is completely soaked.

But we'll keep working on it. Eventually, she will have to learn how to drink something other than breastmilk.