With it being so hot this week, we took C for his first swim in my parents’ pool the other day, and not surprisingly, he took to it like a bird takes to flying. We expected as much since he loves the water – after we transitioned his baths from the sink to a real tub, bath time is much more fun, and he always has to play with the hose when we’re watering. I don’t expect we have the next Michael Phelps on our hands, but he’s a natural. Since he is in a state of perpetual motion, he practically has the doggie paddle down already, without even trying.
Motorboat, motorboat…Well, at least one of us is looking at the camera.
It’s been dog hot here the last couple of days, and looks like it’ll continue to get hotter up through the weekend, until we finally get some relief early next week. We did get some much-needed rain last night – up to two inches in some areas around here, though we probably got closer to an inch, give or take an inch. I would have preferred that it rain a little more quietly; the thunder and lightning was a nice added touch, but at 2 in the morning? Not really necessary. But with as dry as it’s been, I’m not complaining… Figures that after it rained for just about two months straight, now it pretty much hasn’t rained for about two months straight. Could have seen that coming though, with the way the weather acts around here.
In keeping with the quote, Sadie prefers to spend her time lying somewhere in the yard or on the porch, though she still spends a fair amount of time nosing around in the woods, chasing creatures unseen (she must have a very vivid imagination). I too would prefer to lie around, but of course, don’t have much time for that. C doesn’t seem affected by the heat at all, and is still continuously on the move. Kid can not sit still. Someday, we’ll all be able to chill on the porch, but today is not that day. Nor any day for the remainder of the week, I presume.
How’s the weather in your vicinity? What’s your favorite way to cool down?
We took C to his first Indians’ game on Wednesday. It was a noon game, but I had tickets from work and permission to go, so go we did. It was about 95 degrees and muggy, so not optimal conditions for a nine month-old, but we lathered him (and ourselves) up and got out his beach hat. And brought plenty of water. And Cheerios.
It was as hot and sticky as advertised, but he was a good trooper. As soon as we got there, he started with his usual squirming and I thought we were in for a long afternoon, but he settled down enough to give us a fighting chance. My parents came with us, so with a 4:1 ratio, we should have been able to maintain some semblance of control, right?
We were all hot and dripping sweat, but it was a fun afternoon. The game ended up going into extra innings, and they lost in 10. I guess he hasn’t developed the winning touch yet.
Really, he was happy to be there.
"No more autographs, and get that camera out of my face.""It's rally time!"It was rally time, until he found the string.Too much excitement for one day.
C’s been doing more finger foods lately (okay, mostly Cheerios or something similar). He’s getting better, but still has a tendency to not be very delicate about it. When we put a pile on his tray or the table, he’ll kind of do a quick snatch and grab, and end up with a handful, instead of just one. It’s actually quite impressive, because he’ll do it so quickly, and rarely do any end up on the floor, although having a hand that’s always some degree of sticky will improve those odds.
Of course, whether they proceed to end up eaten is another story. His fistful gets shoved into the vicinity of his mouth, and then he opens it and hopes something falls in, which happens more often than not, but with so many in there, some are bound to fall other places. In his defense though, he is getting pretty good at checking out his front when he’s finished, since he’s realizing that he drops a lot, and they usually end up stuck to him.
"What, did I miss one?"
He’s also just started to understand the concept of sharing, which is perfectly fine with Sadie, but not a habit mommy and I want to get into 🙂
When C was old enough to start expanding his culinary horizons (about two months ago), S and I decided we’d make as much of his food as possible ourselves. This way we could control everything he was taking in and (we assumed) save a little money too. So far, so good.
His first meal was butternut squash, and since then he’s sampled carrots, sweet potatoes (he hasn’t turned orange yet), peas, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, corn, apples, pears, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, and his recent favorite, Chicken Tomato Casserole. I think he may have a more sophisticated palate than many ten-year olds. We try to do organic as much as possible, which isn’t terribly difficult – most of it comes from Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and even Marc’s. Just cut it, steam it, blend it, and pop it into some nifty freezer trays from Beaba. Makes a bit more mess than just opening a jar, but not by much. It takes a bit of effort (maybe 1/2 hour?), but we know it’s 100% pure food. Even the organic version of a common baby food contains gelatin, choline bitartate, ascorbic acid, and tuna oil – there may not be anything wrong with adding vitamins and other nutrients, but we prefer that his carrots contain… carrots. And an occasional dog hair that seem to end up everywhere.
Yum.
As far as the price breakdown goes, we average about $0.40 – $0.50 per serving, and have been as low as about a quarter per. Compare that to an average price of $0.80 for a regular jar, or upwards of $1.25 for the organic stuff, and I’d say we’re making out pretty well. Which is especially good since the kid eats like a horse. He definitely got daddy’s appetite. On the flip side, he is always moving and he’s consistently on the low end of the weight chart, so he also appears to have gotten daddy’s metabolism. Could be worse.
All in all, we’re pretty satisfied with how things have gone. It’s saving us money, it’s probably healthier because it’s one ingredient and they’re fresh, not canned, and we can expose him to a much wider variety of foods – I’ve never seen jars of asparagus or mango, though I may not be looking hard enough. I’m still new to the baby thing.
Enjoying the fruits of our labor. Literally. It's pears.
