To sip or not to sip

When it comes to trying new things, I can be really stubborn. It takes a magical combination of all the right things before I'll give in, but usually once I give in, I'm pretty accommodating. Two examples:

• Taking a bottle. Do you remember how adamant I was about refusing a bottle, back when I was just a baby? Boy, I did NOT want that bottle. While trying to convince me, Mama gave me 3 different kinds of bottles in 5 different shapes and combined them with 4 different kinds of nipples. Eventually she found the perfect combination and I gave in. I would only drink out of that particular combination (the tall skinny 10oz Dr. Brown's bottle with a Nuk nipple) for awhile, but once I was used to it, I was willing to drink out of any bottle with any nipple. So she switched me over to the wide Born Free bottles and we were both happy.
• Drinking formula. That was another, more recent, battle. When I decided to wean myself suddenly, I had no idea that all of the gazillion bags of milk Mama stocked in the freezer had gone bad! I'd cut myself off from the milk-drug cold turkey! Mama had to give me formula for the first time, and I was not very pleased with it. She tried a bunch of different ways to get me to take it, including mixing it into my applesauce, watering it down, giving it to me at various temperatures, in a bottle, sippy cup or regular cup. She tried 4 different brands before she finally found the one I warmed up to (Similac). Once I was used to drinking it, she decided to try mixing in some of the other brands, since she could only buy them in 10 gallon tubs and she didn't want to throw them away. Like before, once the novelty had worn off, I was completely accommodating and I used up every last tub of formula in my 3 weeks of formula-feeding.

My latest stubbornness is around sippy cups. After working so hard to get me to take a bottle and drink something other than the milk-drug out of it, Mama is weaning me from the bottle. Is she never happy? I'm already drinking whole milk instead of formula (that was an easy switch -- have you ever tasted formula?), and I've been drinking it in my bottle for the past couple of weeks. Instead of taking my bottle away from me completely, she first removed all of the regular bottle nipples and put in "trainer" soft spouts instead. And then she switched the soft spouts to firmer spouts. She's trying to be sneaky about her machinations, but does she really think I don't know?

The past week, she tried to completely replace my bottle with a sippy cup instead. Ummm, I don't think so. I'm perfectly willing to drink water out of a sippy cup, but milk? No. So what do you think she did? She went out and got a bunch of different types of sippy cups, offering them to me one at a time. I was determined to refuse them all, but darn it, she found one I like! It's got handles and everything! So now I'm willing to drink milk out of my blue and red Gerber sippy cup. Or out of a regular cup during mealtimes. But that's it.

Awww, who am I trying to kid? Just like with the bottles and formula, once I'm used to drinking out of my Gerber sippy cup, I'll be totally willing to drink out of all of the other ones I have. I know that's why Mama doesn't mind getting a few different kinds for me to try -- she'll have me use them all eventually. I'm so easy.

Pass it on

Well, I don't really seem to be sick, in spite of all the hoopla on Wednesday night. I had that fever that wouldn't quit for about 12-15 hours, but after sleeping for a whole day it hasn't seemed to develop into a cold or flu (Mama's knocking on the wood desk, for some reason). However, I did manage to give whatever I had to Daddy -- he was up all last night with a fever and he's still in bed now. Poor Daddy. Mama made him some of her famous Taiwanese ginger sake chicken soup and he ate almost all of it last night -- six chicken legs plus two giant bowls of soup! It made him feel better. I wish I could have some of it, but Mama says I'm too young for sake. Hmph.

Friday photos

1. Bundled up and ready with a snack for my walk
2. Attentive parenting
3. Getting ready to give my drum a beating
4. Trying on my new hoodie from Gramma Hill

Happy Turkey Day!

Today I had my very first Thanksgiving dinner! I'm not sure why I didn't get one last year, since this is my second Thanksgiving, but it might have something to do with the whole breastfeeding vs. solid food thing. Anyway, since I was sick last night, Mama and Daddy decided at the last minute to cook the whole meal at home. Mama sent Daddy to the grocery store with a list of what she needed, and then she cooked all morning. Daddy's job was to make the turkey and clean up the pots and pans so Mama could keep cooking. He did his job well.

Mama made quite a feast! I wonder why she doesn't cook like this every day? She made these yummy roasted garlic mashed potatoes, as well as sweet potatoes with marshmallows, almond green beans, rosemary sage stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy. She gave me a little bit of everything, but I didn't eat much of it. I didn't like the turkey at all -- I kept taking it out of my mouth and putting it on the table. I'd eat the green beans and stuffing, but I wasn't too happy about it. However, I really liked the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce! Mmm mmm...garlicky, sweet, and tart yummy goodness (respectively).

I also did another first: I fed Cowboy directly. I often feed him indirectly (by throwing/dropping food on the ground), but this time I took my bread crust and handed it to him. I held on to it so he could bite off his end and I could keep my end to suck on. Cowboy was happy, I was pretty proud of myself, but Mama and Daddy weren't very impressed.

Now I'm taking another nap. After my big night last night, I haven't done much more than sleep all day today. I woke up at 9, ate breakfast, napped from 10 - 12:30, played for a bit, ate lunch, and now I'm napping again at 2. Mama is hoping that this is all catch-up (I have 8 hours worth of catch-up to do) and it won't interfere with my sleep tonight!

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving feast. There I am checking out the spread, and then eating some mashed potatoes. Note our fancy serving dishes -- in particular, the gravy boat.


Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Long night

Who knew they made hospital gowns in my size? And as you can see by the second picture, in the spirit of hospital gowns everywhere, my tush is hanging out. Is tush-exposure a hospital gown style requirement? Luckily I have a very cute (even when diaper-encased) tush. You can also see my glowing red E.T. toe in the second picture. That's the sensor they used to track my pulse and oxygen levels.

So why was I donning this lovely hospital gown and E.T. toe? Well last night, we had another first: our first night spent in the ER. Luckily, it turned out to be nothing -- just a 4-hour middle-of-the-night (isn't it always?) excursion.

See, I had a fever yesterday afternoon. I was showing some signs of a cold, but nothing big until the fever. Mama gave me some infant Tylenol to help me sleep, but I still had a fever at bedtime. I couldn't get to sleep (even after more Tylenol), so after three hours of trying to comfort me, Mama finally called the triage nurse. The nurse listened to my breathing over the phone and said we should go to the ER, just in case. She said my breathing was labored and rapid, and just to be safe we should get it checked out.

So we all headed over to Children's Hospital at 10 PM. We visited with lots of people wearing masks, who poked and prodded me while taking all kinds of readings. I showed them how strong my lungs are by screaming as loudly as I could. Finally at 2 AM, the doctor pronounced me "just fine". They were worried it could be pneumonia, but it turns out it's just a cold.

I slept in until 9 AM this morning, but I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty cranky today.

Tooth or dare

I've got another tooth! This might be why I've been so cranky the past few days (in addition to the whole "one nap or two" dilemma). Another tooth popped through right next to my two bottom teeth, so now I have FIVE whole teeth! Enough to grind together loudly, which bothers Mama and Daddy for some reason.

Updating my CV

I'm finally letting Mama and Daddy know that I know more than they realize. In addition to my stellar Chinese, I also understand when they say "hands up!" and I'll usually nod my head or dance from side to side when Mama asks me to. I can point out my head and hair, and when Mama reads "Where's Baby's Bellybutton" to me, I pat my belly to show her. I often wave to people when I see them, and I'll do my Tarzan yell if Mama does it too. I like to burble and motor-boat with my lips whenever I'm bored, and I blow spit bubbles for fun. In addition to taking everything out of my toy boxes, I like to put everything back into them. Not in the right boxes of course, but you have to start somewhere. I know how to turn my garden table on (the little red button) and make my horsie neigh (pat his cheek), and I roll a ball back to Mama when we play. I turn the lights on and off for Mama when we enter or leave a room. I can stand without holding on for a little while. I give zerberts to Mama's cheek, although sometimes I trick her and bite her nose instead. Speaking of which, I have four very impressive teeth. When I eat, I use sign language to show that I want "more" (although I haven't used "all done" yet...Mama and Daddy aren't sure if that's because I'm never all done, or if I just can't remember the sign). And last night in the car when I was talking to myself, Mama said, "Are you saying 'Daddy'?" I said, "Dayyyyyy-dee" and I said it over and over. Mama and Daddy aren't sure if I was actually saying the word or just mimicking, but they were pretty excited about it anyway. I can really get a rise out of them if I say "mum-mum-mum-mum" or "dayyyyyyy-dee".

Look Ma, no hands!

When I'm distracted with something like hitting my drumsticks together or clapping my hands, I sometimes forget to hold on while I'm standing up.

More professional pictures!

These feature just me (OK, Mama snuck into one of them) and I think they're pretty great. I know that I'm a good-looking boy, but I had no idea I'm THIS handsome! Click here or the link at the end of the post to see a few more pictures taken by Jammy's Aunt Cookie! And let Mama know if you'd like to see the full set -- she can send you the link to the gallery and the password. Then you can buy giant wall-sized murals for your living room. After all, a picture of me pulls together ANY decor!

Pictures: Sneak peek #2

Take one away and you're left with one...

I might be deciding that it's time to go to one nap per day. I've been inconsistent with my naps lately -- sometimes taking two per day without a fuss, sometimes spending an entire nap time playing in my crib and talking to Mama through the monitor. Mama's also noticed that I get really yawn-y around noon, even though I often don't wake up from my morning nap until 11. So today, after she listened to me talk and play in my crib during my normal morning nap, she fed me lunch at 11:30 and put me down at noon. I slept until 2 PM and feel pretty good (even though I had a fever again last night from that stupid MMR shot). I might like this schedule better -- it gives me more time to play! But I'll probably need to go to bed even earlier at night for a little while, because I don't usually last longer than 4 hours of awake time.

I'm smart in Chinese too

My A-Mah is teaching me Chinese and I'm picking it up very quickly! When she says "chin chin" ("kiss kiss"), then I lean and touch my head against hers to cuddle. When she says "pai pai shau" ("clap your hands"), I clap right away. Even if I'm busy being cranky because Mama took her duckie slipper away from me. I normally don't clap unless someone else is clapping, but I do it every time when I hear "pai pai shau"!

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

Silly shots

You know how I had another set of shots at my doctor appointment last week? Well, Dr. Tom warned us that I might have a fever 7-10 days later. He said that because the MMR is a live vaccine, the reaction is delayed by about a week. I'm glad he warned us, because Mama and Daddy would have been worried if they didn't know. I went to bed like I normally do, but then I woke up at about 10 PM and started talking and yodeling in my crib (yes, I yodel). Mama finally came in to see what was going on and discovered that I was burning up with a fever! She took my temperature (102 degrees), gave me some infant Tylenol and a bit of water to drink. She sang to me and rocked me in the glider until my fever started to come down and I was able to go back to sleep. I'm feeling a lot better this morning. Those darn shots.

Ahhhhh-MAH! And Opa too!

My A-Mah and Opa are here for a visit! They are stopping by for a few days on their way to Taiwan. It's been so long since I've seen them -- I couldn't even sit up or eat solid food the last time they saw me! Can you imagine that? I was such a baby! But now that I'm a big guy, I'm showing off how well I cruise around the furniture and climb over everything that's in my way. We laugh a lot and I babble and sing and dance from side to side for them. A-Mah is teaching me how to wave "bye-bye" and she's also teaching me some words in Mandarin and German, so I'm quite multi-lingual (especially for someone who has yet to say my first word). I'm eating lots of Taiwanese food and I love it! In fact, after Mama gave me some of her stir-fried rice cake noodles at dinner today, I wouldn't eat my boring pasta with veggies unless I got a bite of her noodles after every bite of my pasta. (You may think that pasta and noodles are essentially the same, but trust me, they are not. At least, not this kind of yummy noodle.) And Cowboy is excited too, because A-Mah and Opa like to take him on walks every day. We're all having lots of fun!


In case you're trying to keep up with who's who in my family: I'm a very lucky boy because I have 6 grandparents! 4 just wouldn't be enough to keep up with my supreme wonderfulness. A-Mah ("grandma" in Taiwanese) and Opa ("grandpa" in German) are my Mama's mom and step-dad (Mama grew up in Germany, which is why I have a German Opa). Grandpa Walt and Grandma Joan (in Pennsylvania) are my Mama's dad and step-mom. Papa and Gramma Hill (in Colorado) are my Daddy's dad and mom.

Noodles!

Today I tried noodles for the first time, and now I understand why Mama loves them so much! I've had pasta before, but nothing like this -- Taiwanese style noodle soup. YUM. And the best part of all was slurping the noodles up. I find it helps to blink rapidly while you slurp.

Friday photos

1. Who needs pants?
2. Relaxing in my chair with a good book
3. Riding my birthday horse from Madeline (and again, pants are over-rated)
4. Thuggin' out in my hoodie sweater from Auntie Mimi

Busted

Mama's caught me standing without holding on to anything a couple times now. She's starting to suspect it's not a fluke. I wonder what she'll do when she realizes that I've been sneaking out at night and going on joyrides in her car?

Another tooth

I was so excited about the spoon thing, I forgot to mention that my other front tooth finally cut through yesterday! I've been working on it for awhile, so I'm relieved that it finally made its way through. Now that I have top AND bottom teeth (two each), I like to click them together. So now I can smack my lips, click my tongue, and chomp my teeth. I'm getting pretty talented! Or somewhat horse-like.

I need a little more practice

It's a bit messier when I use the spoon myself. I don't know how Mama manages to get the whole spoon and all the food in my mouth every time! I'm going to have to work on my technique. But even with the mess, I'm sure having fun!

Cheesy poodles with knees

That's what I had for lunch today. Can you figure it out? And if you can figure it out, then can you guess how I ate it?

...

Still having trouble? Here's a hint.

...

Got it now?

...


OK, here are the answers: It's a spoonerism (I had cheesy noodles with peas). And I ate it with, you guessed it, a spoon! All by myself! Well, I stuck my fingers in the bowl for a few bites. Mama's been giving me a spoon to let me practice eating, but I've always just banged it on the table. Today she put it in my right hand, because she'd been putting it in my left hand before (when I eat with my fingers, I use my left hand). With my spoon in my right hand, I scooped out some noodles and stuck them right into my mouth. I had a little trouble getting things onto the spoon (Mama helped) and twisting the spoon in my mouth so that I could get everything off, but I did a really good job getting the food from the bowl to my mouth every time. Yay me!

Charting my progress

Here are my growth charts for my first year! I've made pretty steady progress, even though my weight has been hugging the bottom of the curve until recently. You can also see where I dipped at 6 months, dropping off the chart completely. That was after I'd been in daycare for a couple months and wasn't eating or napping well. Mama quit her job after that, and I've been doing really well ever since! Now I'm growing so quickly, Mama's thinking she might need to go back to work to make sure I don't get too big. After all, if I keep going at this rate, my head is going to be the size of a watermelon before I'm 18 months old.

12 month check-up

Today I had my 12 month check-up, although I didn't get to see the Dude. I saw Dr. Tom instead, and I like him too. He's very smart and takes all of Mama's questions seriously, which was nice (especially when Mama was unable to form a proper question and instead clumsily attempted to describe her vague uneasiness about the flu shot and my immunizations). He talked a lot about my diet, switching me to whole milk, and how to deal with temper tantrums. That's one subject I wish he hadn't mentioned, because now Mama and Daddy might be better prepared to handle me. Hmph. I don't have the upper hand anymore.

Anyway, the most exciting part of my check-up is always the weight check. I've been in the 3rd percentile (3%) for most of my life, except for the time I dropped down to the negative 3rd percentile (-3%). The goal is to keep me growing at the same rate or better, and we're doing a good job! I weigh 20lbs, which puts me in the 12th percentile (12%). I'm actually ON the charts now! And Mama thinks that I actually weigh more -- they weighed me with one of those manual scales with the slide thingies, which isn't all that accurate. We know that I'm at least 20lbs.

For my other measurements, I'm 29-1/2" long, which puts me at about the 44th percentile (44%) for height. My head circumference is 46.8cm (18-1/2"), which is about the 64th percentile (64%). So this means that although I'm still skinnier than most babies my age, I'm getting close to average height and my noggin is a bit on the large side. No wonder I can't walk yet...most of my weight is concentrated above my neck! That's not exactly an "athletic" build.

After my measurements and general health check, it was time for my shots. I got my Hep A, pneumococcal, MMR and flu shots. They combine some of the vaccines, so at least it was only three shots instead of four. This nurse wasn't as fast as others have been, but I handled it surprisingly well! I screamed bloody murder at the first poke, but then I just did my standard cry/whine combo for the other two. Afterwards I cried for a couple minutes, but then I got distracted by the fun mirror in the room and everything was OK again.

So that's the summary of my one year check-up! Dr. Tom said that I'm a very healthy and happy boy and I look just terrific, even though I'm recuperating from a cold which makes me particularly cranky and runny-faced. If he thinks I look great now, he should see me when I'm at the top of my game!

Party all the time

Guess what today was? My birthday party! It was so much fun. I had my friends Sawyer, Jammy, Oliver, and Sam over to play, and we completely tore apart my play room. Even though I'm pretty good at tearing it apart on my own, it's a million times more fun with friends! And after we threw the toys and books all over the floor, I took it one step further: I found the package of diapers that Daddy stashed under the futon and I threw THOSE all over the room too! Not only was it fun, but it was soft and smelled so baby fresh too.

I was hoping to host the bash to end all birthday bashes, but then my parents decided to stick around to chaperone. All of my friends' parents stuck around too, so there was a parent:baby ratio of 2:1. No chance of taking the car for a joyride or sneaking out back to kiss girls. No girls, either. Oh well, maybe for my 2nd birthday.

Even with the parents there, it was a good time. Mama made a table full of cupcakes, cookies and sandwiches, and the moms hung out with us while the dads watched football on TV. And get this: everyone brought me presents! Can I just say that I think this whole idea of "presents" is amazing? I've gotten the COOLEST presents this past week, just because it's my birthday! If I'd known about this, I would have had my birthday much sooner and more often.

Anyway, we played, ate cupcakes (well, I just smushed mine into the table), opened presents, and then played with my new toys. Jammy showed us how to walk while Sawyer gave us pointers on how to navigate the tricky waters of one-year-oldness (Jammy will be one tomorrow and Oliver in two weeks). Even though Sam is a bit younger, he was totally cool and up for hanging out with us big kids. In fact, he stands and cruises just as well as any of us! I was very impressed, because it didn't even occur to me to try to stand up until relatively recently.

So that was my birthday! It was a great first birthday and I think I like this whole "party" thing. Now that I'm a big tough 1-year old, I might throw parties more regularly. (Mama just said, "Hah!" Does that mean she agrees? That's what I'll choose to believe.)

Here are a couple pictures, and you can see these and more on Flickr: My birthday party.

My new wheels

I have a new wagon that I can use to push around my important things. I figured the most important thing of all is me, so I got in the wagon and waited for someone to push me. I sat there for awhile before I finally got out and decided to give it a push myself. I was doing a pretty good job until I had a minor fender-bender with the rug. But don't worry, I was able to make a quick getaway on my music bus before anyone came.

And yes, I'm rockin' my underwear in all of these pictures. At home, I like to lounge around in my underwear. Just like my dad.

Sneak peek

Mama and Daddy took me for my first professional photos to celebrate my first birthday. Jammy's Aunt Cookie did them, and she did a really great job! In spite of my cranky-pants attitude throughout the shoot, she got some nice shots and managed to make me look pretty good in spite of myself. You can see a sneak peek of some of the shots on her blog here. I can't wait to see the whole gallery!

New trick

Today I did something that makes Mama laugh. I gave her zerberts on her cheek. She doesn't know where I learned to do that, but I've been keeping it in my back pocket for awhile. Did she really think that I wouldn't pick up on it, after receiving so many zerberts on my belly?

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Let's take a little walk down memory lane (this is the shortcut -- if you really want to review my first year of life, you can go back and reread this entire blog, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have absolutely nothing to do for the next couple days):

My first day here! Hanging out in NICU because I was too skinny to regulate my body temperature. That's what happens when you decide to be born almost a month before you're done cooking.


1 month old, hanging out with Daddy. Who knew that my head would be almost as big as his by the time I turn one?


2 months old, staring at the living room wall while Mama cuddles with me. I really liked to stare at that wall when I was little.


3 months old, having a bit of trouble holding my head up in the Bumbo. This was also the first day I held onto a toy, and I still love that rattle.


4 months old, packed up in my car seat to head to yoga with Mama. This is when I was still young enough to sleep in the car seat throughout the entire yoga class. This stage didn't last for very long.


5 months old, lounging in my undies. Practicing for a future Calvin Klein photo shoot. Times Square, here I come!


6 months old, amazed with my own handsomeness.


7 months old, playing on the blue mats that Mama got to protect my head from the hardwood floors. This is probably one of the last times I was willing to just lie around while Mama took pictures.


8 months old, celebrating the 4th of July with Daddy. Next year I might even stay up long enough to see the fireworks!


9 months old, not very happy about missing my nap while driving home from the Point B Getaway. I yelled for an entire hour. I think that's the last time Tristan will offer to carpool with us.


10 months old, crawling like a fiend, can't keep me in one place! I'm also quite adept at throwing my toys all over my playroom.


11 months old, riding a pony at the Mosaic playroom. Look how cool I am with my giraffe leggings. It takes a very confident boy to pull those off.


ONE WHOLE YEAR OLD!!

Look how far I've come! I'm not quite walking yet (in fact, I don't even like finger-walking anymore because I know I can move faster by crawling), but I like to cruise around on the furniture and climb onto anything I can reach. I've got 3 teeth coming in, and the 4th is about to cut through any day now. I have a very large baby vocabulary, and right now my favorite sound is "mum-mum-mum-mum" which sometimes I change to "ma-ma-ma-ma". That makes my Mama smile. I still eat anything that's put in front of me and I'm getting really good at drinking water (and sometimes milk) out of a glass. I like to wave my hands in the air, clap, screech like a pterodactyl, and laugh my little fake laugh to copy other people. I like to do this other thing that Mama can't figure out what to call: it's when I open my mouth and say "ahhhhh" and then pat my hand over my mouth to make the sound undulate. What's that called? Anyway, I like to do it. And I still suck on my two middle fingers on my left hand whenever I go to sleep. I'm a very busy little boy, and I've packed a lot of growing and learning into the last year! I'm looking forward to everything I'm going to do in the upcoming year. Watch out, parental units -- I'm gonna be WALKING soon! Bwah-hah-hah-hah!