Friday, March 27, 2009

Enough to make you melt

Tylo was never was much of a cuddler. When she was real small, she never let me cradle her unless she was eating, and me, lazy mom that I am, didn't mind because cradling your baby is pretty tough on the biceps and forceps. (Hence my still-very flabby arms.) Even now that she's bigger she always wants me to pick her up, but once there she's turning and twisting every which way, trying to see what's exciting out there. It's like I'm just a way for her to get off the ground, bed, whatever, so she can get a better view.

Imagine my delight when a few days ago she actually decided to lean her head down against my chest, cheek pressed against me, and stayed there! Well, she actually stayed there for two seconds, sat up again to look at me and give the most adorable grin, then leaned into me again.

I tell you, my heart just melted into a big puddle of goo. In the middle of the night when separation anxiety reared it's ugly obnoxious head again, I cuddled her against my chest and she fell asleep right away. Since then she's happy to snuggle with me before bed time, when she's done wreaking havoc around the living room.

I think most moms probably get this warm fuzzy feeling right away with their babies. I didn't breast feed so maybe that has something to do with the non-cuddling. At least I know she's not just after food next time she snuggles against me.

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Monday, March 23, 2009

Did you say "blow"????

Tylo has been babbling nonstop lately, peppered with a lot of ear-piercing screams out of nowhere. So darn cute. So I've tried to take advantage by labeling everything, seeing what she can pick up. She always stares at me and listens very intently while I teach her things like momma, dada, kitty, bear, lamb, book, drink, light, and on and on. I also label actions like eat, change diaper, up (as in pick up), and her favorite: blow.

A couple of days ago I heard her repeat a new sound over and over and over. Different from her usual bababa, dadada, eheheh. "Bow . . . bow . . . bow". I thought, "oh that's cute, a new sound". Then it hit me as I was blowing a puff of air in her face to get her to smile. She was saying "blow"! Funny that of all the things I've been teaching her, she picks up that one.

Since then she's been saying "blow" to herself all day long. Sometimes she deviates and it sounds more like b-OW, instead of b-oh, but she gets it right once she hears me say it (minus the "l" sound). I try to get her to make the connection and use it when I actually blow in her face, but she only says it when she's playing by herself.

So if she doesn't understand the meaning, does it count as her first word?

Today I think she repeated "bye-bye" after me, but who can be sure.

How do parents decide what their child's first word is?

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Friday, March 20, 2009

Polaroids

I loved those things. I remember digging out my parent's old camera and buying some film for it in my late high school years. It was so expensive! There's something very special and fun about watching the picture come out, sound effects and all, then waiting forever for that poopy-brown picture to come to life. I found this cool app online that lets you make a pseudo version:





Yup, that's Tylo standing on her own, holding on to me for dear life. Don't worry honey, I won't let go. =)
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

And while we're on the topic of food . . .

I love Girl Scout Cookies! Love love love them. I always get sad on the years that I miss out on the cookie season. Somehow the year passes and I think, I didn't get any Girl Scout cookies this year. That is, before I shopped at Whole Foods. Those Girl Scouts sure know what type of people have extra cookie money to spend. Though it seems a bit odd that people that eat Whole Foods food would indulge in Girl Scout cookies.

Samoas are my favorite but I don't discriminate. Shove a catalog in front of me, especially before lunch, and they all sound really good. That's how I got tricked year after year to buy over ten boxes from a coworker's daughter. I think the most I bought one year was 13 boxes. I swear I give some away! But mostly, they sit in my freezer waiting for the cravings to hit. Frozen Thin Mints deserve a freezer shelf all to themselves. But that job was years ago and the job after that had no workers with kids in the Scouts.

Anyway, over the weekend my husband ran into Whole Foods while I sat with sleeping Tylo in the car. I had just finished a huge frozen yogurt so when HP brings me back one box of Samoas, I said "Great", but I was so stuffed I didn't even open the box. Fast forward one day, and I'm like "Why the hell did you only get one box?"

Now that I see I only have four left in the box, I think I might have to run back to Whole Foods tomorrow to stock up on the cookies before the season is over. Better go make some room in my freezer.

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Friday, March 13, 2009

Mmmmm . . . Meat

If you know my husband and I, you know we are meat lovers. I think early on in our dating, we knew we were perfect for one another because of our affinity for it. Heck, our first date was at Broadway Prime, and I proudly profess that I finished my entire largest cut, without any shame. He did beat me by requesting the complimentary second slice. He tells me later that he wanted so badly to pick up MY bone and gnaw on it, since it was his favorite part, but decided against it. After all, it was our first date. Since then we've shared numerous steakhouse meals together, and most of our pictures are of us with big glistening charred pieces of meat in front of us. I think most fine dining meals are a waste of money, but $50 for a porterhouse a la carte? Usually well worth it.

Anyway, year after year I rack my brain trying to figure out what to get dear hubby for his birthday. I always think I am getting something HP will love, then he hides it away and forgets all about it, so I know I did a poor job with my selection (I was sure he would watch the Guns N Roses Greatest Hits DVD over and over). This year, I have a gift idea that I'm super excited about. Probably because I'll get to share in the gift too.

Thanks to Carolyn at Foodgal (great website for foodies - check it out), I have the perfect gift. A steak tasters pack. Like wine tasting, but with different varieties of the same cut of steak. Not at all cheap. We're talking over $100 for 4 steaks. That come frozen. Yes, I'm scared it will be a bust. I might be better off buying at Whole Foods (yum yum, see my earlier post) but it sure sounds like fun to cook a bunch of steaks at once and see if we can taste the difference. All I know is that when I'm cooking these babies you can bet I will not even glance the other way for fear of overcooking and turning a hundred bucks into sandwiches or something.

If you are interested, and you love meat as much as we do, check out the company here:
www.oliverranch.com. But you might want to wait until I post comments after we try them. HP's bday is next month, so stay tuned. (It would be just my luck if he starts reading my blog now and the bday surprise is ruined!)

By the way, HP has just been diagnosed with "fatty liver". Yeah, as in foie gras. He started having recurring tummy aches and has been told to cut out the saturated fats and wine. So I guess now he will actually have the cut the pieces of fat from his steak.

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Geez - Where have I been?

Out and about! The weather has been great and we've been all over town. Well, within 15 miles of home, but everywhere that is baby friendly within those 15 miles.

And, thanks to the time change, Tylo has been sleeping late again, so no time for blogging. The little bugger is moving around all over the place, so I can no longer leave her for twenty minutes at a time sitting happily with her toys. She goes from crawl position to sit and vice versa easily now. But she still can't really crawl. I think she can, I've seen her do it. She's a freakin lazy baby I tell ya. But she can get away with it because she's so darn cute these days. What? You just killed the cat? Mommy forgives you because you looked so cute doing it!

The great thing is that she's learned some new tricks. She knows how to "Kiss kiss Bear" or "Nose kiss Mommy", and will unhappily hand off whatever is in her hand when I say "Give it to Mommy". She knows "Up" means she can lift her hands in the air and I will pick her up. But she only does these tricks when she wants to, and of course never in front of other people, so I'm pretty much a liar. When other people are around she sits quietly and stares. Sometimes cries from fear, and clings to me for dear life.

I'm trying so hard to get her to walk and hopefully when the weather gets good and warm we can take our first trip to the zoo. She loves Kitty so much I know she'll love the animals at the petting zoo. I just haven't decided if I'll let her touch them yet.


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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

That deserves a round of applause . . .

Seems like it's been raining forever. I've been cooped up inside the house for the last two days because it has been storming, sideways rain, lightning, thunder and all.

Tylo hasn't minded that much, but I'm sure by tomorrow (another stormy day) she will start getting cranky. When we're home this much, it takes all my energy to entertain her. My brain is pretty fried, and I think my voice is stuck in this high-pitched sing song tone from doing it so much. Luckily we have a CPR class scheduled, rain or shine.

The really great thing these days about taking Tylo out is that I get to pack really light. She no longer spits up, so no change of clothes needed, no burp cloths. She's too big for the bjorn, and I don't use a carrier. Her eating is very predictable, and she still drools like a leaky faucet, so I got one or two bottles and a bunch of bibs in my shoulder bag and I'm set. All my diaper changing stuff, blankets, strollers, etc. are in my car. It's been SOOO easy that I love taking her out. Except that there's really no where to go. Especially when we're trying not to spend money. You can usually find me at a Starbucks. We go to many different ones for a change of scenery.

So I've been trying to use my time wisely, and have her practice crawling, standing, signing, waving. All my hard work finally paid off when she started clapping. And once she started, it was like she couldn't stop those little hands from coming together:
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Time to eat? Clap, clap, clap.
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It's bathtime? Clap, clap, clap.
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Daddy's home! Clap, clap, clap.
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Oh look, there's Kitty! Clap, clap, clap.
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And we also found some long lost pictures from our my phone that I thought I'd post. Her age was still being counted in weeks at that point:.
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Newborns always get food coma. Here she is, asleep, AGAIN, after a bottle.



Here she is, too exhausted for tummy time. (She has never fallen asleep in action since.)
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At the risk of sounding cliche, they sure do grow up fast . . .
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