Good Eats, Good Eater

I am proud to say that so far Dylan eats what Mama and Daddy eat. As of yet, he's not a picky eater.

I brought along some blueberries to the park for him and when I sat the container out on the table open, Dylan lunged for them and relentlessly plunged handful after handful into his mouth, the other mom's mouths dropped open. His current favorite finger food is apparently not usually so popular with the little ones.

He literally licked the bowl clean!

He's 9 months old and he hasn't turned away from a single food item thus far. He loves hummus, sprouted bread, collard greens, garbanzo beans, raspberries, potatoes, avocado, winter and summer squash, pears, steel cut oats, spinach, brown rice, you name it! I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. I lived on all of the above while I was pregnant.

One of the moms in my meetup group proclaimed "My kid screams if I give him anything other than cheese, he'll only eat cheese." I wasn't surprised to hear that, she was nursing what had to be at least 1 liter of soda from a gargantuan Whataburger cup which led me to believe she doesn't make the best dietary choices herself. Children learn what they live folks.

Anyway, in the past couple of weeks he has mastered his pincer grip as well as his begging face. He gobbles up anything we give him, and anything he finds on the ground, or on the bottom of our shoes. While bathing him this morning he went after a bar of cassia clove soap. Yum! Because of his proclivity to eat mud, soap, and the like, I've had to master the crooked finger mouth swipe. Unfortunately, Dylan has learned to keep my finger out of his mouth by clamping his gums together like a crocodile on prey. And when the teeth come? I can't wait for that magic.

This week Dylan has also learned to clap. He does it on command or after we tell him to stop doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing. "Clap! Clap! Clap!" It's amazing to me how similar babies are to dogs.

For instance:

They're usually cute and cuddly, but get near them while they're eating? That's a horse of a different color.

Transition to Minimalism

It's been less than three weeks since we left Florida and already so much has changed. It's a new year, we're in a new town, Thomas has had to adjust to commuting to both work and school, and Dylan and I are learning what it means to be stay-at-home people.

We're really loving our new apartment. We moved from a 750+ sq.ft. place to a 430 sq.ft. studio. We really don't need more space than that. In fact, we could get along with less.

Thomas found some minimalist blogs and an anti-consumer documentary and the content really struck a chord with both of us. The months leading up to the move we started selling and giving away our stuff on Craigslist. Before we signed our new lease we decided that we wanted to rid our lives of the material clutter that was surrounding us. To our delight we ended up with a pile of cash and a more serene space and mind.

We're carrying the minimalist philosophy over into all areas of our life, slowly but surely. We've downsized our wardrobe, furniture, dishes, and even sold over half of the books we own and pitched the TV and telephone. It's already apparent that this is the right thing for us right now. Minimalism means something different to every person; to us it's about saving money, breaking attachments to inanimate, material possessions, reducing our carbon footprint, and most importantly, thinking outside the conventional box.

For example, about two weeks ago, while I was packing up the old apartment, Dylan was chewing on the phone cord  and to my dismay, my insistent "Drop it! That's dangerous." only elicited giggles. I had been trying to convince Thomas that we should get rid of the phone for awhile at this point, so naturally that thought was in the back of my mind but it wasn't my first thought. My first thought  had to do with baby-proofing something or other and why we hadn't bothered to do it yet. Anyway, I thought about hanging the phone on the wall at the new place but the cord would still hang down a little so the point would have been moot. After some thought and several more unheeded warnings I decided to look into other options for long-distance communication with our family and friends in other states.

Of course, unlimited video chats via Skype for free was the best option, but unfortunately, not everyone we need to talk to has access to a web cam. The second best option was to buy a Skype subscription that would enable us to place outgoing calls as well as to receive calls from landlines and mobile. At first, I thought the plan was too good to be true. For the total price of $5.18 per month after ALL taxes and fees, we would get unlimited calls to/from any and all landlines and mobiles in the U.S. and Canada, free voicemail, caller ID, speed dial, and an online telephone number that we could pick the area code for. Plus, since we don't have or want a regular cell phone, we could just take the computer with us on road trips and use it as a mobile at any restaurant, coffee shop, library, etc with a WiFi signal. Yes, please! On top of getting rid of another useless possession (el teléfono), the Skype subscription will save us in the ballpark of $350 this year. Win, win.

There's still one big part of our lives that needs tweaking if we really want to save big. FOOD. And grocery shopping and impulse buying. Can anyone say 99 cent organic head-sized ciabatta cinnamon roll? We've been picking up these bad boys at least a couple times per week and the empty calories and buck a pop really add up. Not to mention we're total Virgil's root beer lushes, that's another $1.69 per bottle. And we're also complete Whole Foods Market snobs which is just the kind of branding we'd like to move away from. We're on the road to recovery, however. The word around town is that the local farmer's market stocks organic produce and the farmers are willing to bargain. Downtown, here we come!

Finally, and totally off topic, I took Dylan to a local park the other day with one of my mom groups, and he rode his first swing, fed the ducks, and went down one of the slides.

Home for the Holidays

I know this is completely after the fact, but I have a nine month old, you know?

Perezosos- you know what they say about acorns

Gramps

Grammie and Aunt Sarah

Dyl's primo Colton

Green Lemonade moustache. If you look closely you can see the red imprint  from the cup he had pressed to his face. So far, he loves his greens!

Ejercicio with Uncle Clint

On the water in Grammie's boat

He was a lot more excited than he looks. He squealed for pretty much the entire ride.

This sums up our attempts at a family photo

*The highlight of the trip for me was watching Dylan at the beach (Thank you "Tia Bert" and "Tio Hobbs" for capturing the moments!) He is definitely a water baby.

This is Mama warning Daddy that baby is getting too close to the surf. "He's fine, he's fine!" says Daddy...

This is Mama comforting baby after he took a tumble, or a roll more literally, in the surf.

Green Lemonade

(I am including this recipe because I made it most mornings while on holiday in FL. This is a variation of Green Lemonade from The Raw Food Detox Diet, and it also happens to be one of my favorite green juices...and Dylan's!)

1 bunch lacinato or dinosaur kale

1 lemon washed, peel intact

1 head crisp celery

1-2 fuji or gala apples

knob of fresh ginger, or to taste

2-3 handfuls fresh spinach

*Push all ingredients through juicer hopper, pour into glass, ENJOY!

New Friends, New Habits

We've been keeping pretty busy as of late. Play dates, learning new skills, and mastering old ones.

Dylan's first playgroup was an immense success. He played mostly with a girl named Mia who is two hours his senior. She wouldn't let him go. She maintained a death grip on his sleeve for an impressive amount of time. When he could manage to get away from her he seemed positively content to observe  the older boys shenanigans. He gazed fearlessly at them while they climbed on chairs, under the table, and came dangerously close to trampling over him on at least two occasions. He was so tired when it was time to leave that he passed out in the car less than two minutes after his head hit the car seat.

In other news, his favorite things this week are the shower and the washer and dryer. When either of us is in the shower, Dylan will pull himself up on the tub and snatch the curtain back. He's happy to observe for the duration of our bathing. When the door to the laundry room is ajar he lets himself in and methodically removes every single item of clothing from the dryer one piece at a time.

Not two hours ago, my efforts to rock Dylan to sleep were thwarted when he discovered that he could make a hilarious sound by blowing his mouth on my shoulder. His first "raspberry," as it were, elicited howling laughter and the wakefulness of a baby emerging from a restful sleep.

Standing

Lounging

Poise

Evading diaper changes in exchange for doing chores

Being a menace

Hydrating

Pillow fights

Socializing

And of course deconstructing

Ch-Ch-Changes

Our daily lives have been slowly returning to pre-baby "normal." We even went out for breakfast last week. Dylan sat in one of those restaurant high chairs that was way too big for him but he seemed to enjoy it anyway. He mostly just babbled loudly and banged a spoon around a little. I put a tiny spoonful of ice water to his lips and he sipped eagerly and then made a strange face. His norm is breast milk and to say that breast milk is warm is an understatement.

Waking up after 8 AM is a luxury that I am happy to say I once again enjoy! For the past week or so Dylan has been consistently waking up after 8. Rolling out of bed when the sun is high(er) in the sky is such a pleasure after nearly 8 months of crack-of-dawn awakenings. I really think the extra hour makes all the difference for him and for me.

Of course some things are getting harder too. Changing him and getting him dressed has become a battle that he usually wins. I roll him onto his back and give him something, anything to distract him and keep him from rolling over and crawling away which sometimes works for maybe half a second but usually not even that long. He rolls right over and just try and stop him. We usually end up following him to wherever he stops to stand and putting his diaper on that way. The only other option is to forcibly hold him down on his back which we're just not willing to do. I think at least part of the reason he refuses to remain on his back is because he is prone to reflux and it's especially active when he's in that position. I suspect that only other parents with babies who suffer from reflux can understand why we're okay with chasing him around to put his diaper on.

Other than that things are moving along as they do. On one of our regular 7 AM trips to Whole Foods Market, Dylan and I encountered a young female worker who always flashes the most brilliant smile and enthusiastic wave in our direction. This time she practically squealed at Dylan and said to me "It's always such a pleasure to see you. He seems so intelligent, like he's always thinking about something." To which I responded "I hope so." But what I was really thinking is We need to get out more. The fact is I've never really been around too many babies so whether or not Dylan is exceptional in the true sense of the word is over my head. Of course he is exceptional to me and Thomas, but that's beside the point. On another occassion I heard the same girl exclaim to a fellow male worker "I love that baby! He is so adorable, don't you think?!" Actually, I do.

We finally bought Dylan a high chair. Until yesterday I was just feeding him in my lap. It's no big deal but it's really messy. We also figure that he's going to be starting solid foods soon and he'll need a place to explore his food. The counter top seems as good as any place and since we want to keep our possessions to a minimum we decided on a caddy high chair. He seems to like it.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving but to us it was just another day. Sure we ate some winter squash (Dylan had steamed broccoli-his first cooked food), but other than that it was just a regular day.

Dylan and daddy took their first outing together sin mamá. It was pretty nippy outside, in the forties I believe, so I dressed the baby in his only sweater and sent him on his way.

Thomas said that all went well and Dylan was content the whole time, no fussing in the car, no fussing in the store, no fussing at all. Of course this is a great thing but there are two sides to every story and the truth is he did better than I did because I was fussing until they got home. I scooped him up and squeezed him  tight but not too tight. I'm a total wimp. Show me my baby and I'll show you mushy.

To top it all off I've pretty much been living on these this week:

Egg and Daiya Burritos

2 tortillas (I like Rudi's Spelt or Whole Spelt)

2-3 farm fresh, free range eggs

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

2 handfuls cheddar or pepper jack Daiya

splash of unsweetened original almond milk

salt and pepper to taste

-Prepare scrambled eggs as you like them. I use almond milk, salt and pepper

-Spread the Daiya on tortillas and heat to melt the "cheese"

-Remove from heat and and dress with spinach and prepared eggs

ENJOY!

This month has been another big month for Dylan developmentally. He's not only standing well, but now he only really needs one hand for support and he has learned to turn himself around without falling. Most of the time. When he does fall it's a lot more graceful than it was just a week ago.

He's babbling more and more everyday. This month he moved from 'mamamamamamama' and 'babababa' to 'dadada' and most recently 'neh neh neh neh.' He's also learned to "motor boat" with his lips and basically does it all day spitting on anything in his path. Some of the noises he makes really surprise me. He must get these skills from Thomas because I certainly can't make the weird throaty piggish-froggish grunts he seems to have no trouble conjuring.

I finally committed to a few meet up groups and we attended our first meet up today. We went to a local farm to take a tour and see some cows. It was the perfect day for that sort of thing. 70 something, overcast, breezy. Breezy days are Dylan's favorite. when the wind blows he turns his head toward the gust and sticks his tongue out with a gleeful squeal. I really enjoy watching his hair blow in the wind. Before we left we sampled some yogurt cheeses, guanabana flavored drinkable yogurt. Thomas wanted to try some raw milk (which they sell for $8 per gallon), but they were out.  On our way out we picked up a dozen farm fresh eggs.  I asked about the diet of the farm's chickens and got the response "mostly bugs." Great!

Dylan seemed to be more interested in the other babies than he was in the animals. I think he's really going to enjoy the playgroups I've joined. I'm especially excited because he'll be around babies and kids of all ages. It's a good time to start getting him out of the house more I think.

After the farm we went for our third hike this week at a local nature preserve and Daddy volunteered to wear the baby!

I've also started to make him smoothies. Yesterday he had banana and pineapple and this morning he had avocado and banana. He really loves avocado anyway he can get it just like mama!

There was a lot of the banana-avocado mixture left once he was full so I turned it into a tropical green smoothie with raw honey and spirulina powder.

Tropical Green Smoothie
Fresh cut pineapple with juice
Half of 1 ripe avocado
1/2 banana
1 scoop green or superfood powder
1 TBSP raw, local, unfiltered honey
Water to desired consistency
**Blend and enjoy!