Follow the O's

I recently bought a sippy cup and snack cup for Pippa. She's at the stage where I want to give her something to snack on away from home. In the car for instance. And it would be nice if she could also take some water or rice milk all by herself as well. I never know which cup or dish, or whatever, to buy and there are always so many choices. So I just look for the one isn't too hideous and that has the magic words written on the package: BPA, pthalate, PVC free. I apparently have a knack for picking out the item that leaks, however. I have now gone through 2 sippy cups that I don't like and the snack cup is ridiculous. We went shopping today with it for the first time and when I took her out of the car seat it looked like a box of Cheerios's threw up all over the place. And you can trace the route in the mall that we took by following the O's. Like Hansel and Gretel. Guess I'm headed back to the BRU for the umpteenth time. I'm starting to get sick of that place!

How did that happen?!

Are you sitting down? You'll want to sit down for what I'm about to say: Pippa is nine months old! 9 months old! How did that happen?! Someone once told me that every stage keeps getting better and better and so far that has proven true. I love this age. Yes, she's a little more demanding of my time and attention and she doesn't nap as often or as long but that's Ok. She's amazing and smart and funny and I love watching her grow. So, here's where we're at:

Tricks:

Crawling, pulling up, starting to walk along furniture, has balanced on 2 feet for a second, pincer grasp, climbs stairs with supervision, has 2 teeth, waves hi and bye, signs 'more', can play in the bath without being held, understands no, will growl 'like a lion', will kiss her dolly, has become a great drummer with open hand on any and all surfaces, will bang together two objects, can drink out of a regular cup, is eating age appropriate table food, can click her tongue, sticks tongue in and out like a lizard, can make a strange gurgling noise in the back of her throat that reminds me of my father, and I'm sure many more things that I will regret not writing down later.

Sleep:

Bedtime between 5:30 and 6. Sleeps until 5:30-6am, eats and goes back to sleep (or plays in bed) until around 7am. Usually a 1 hour nap at 9am and 1pm or so.

Food:

Basically anything that isn't salty, sugary, or spicy. Especially enjoys stir fry and dahl. Had cheese today for the first time and couldn't get enough of it! Never turns away banana. Nurses about 4 times a day and for shorter and shorter lengths of time. I think we are beginning to wean! Yeah, that's fine with me. We had a good run but it will be nice to have a little more freedom.

Our 9 month appointment is next week so I'll find out then her height and weight. I'm looking forward to finding out what percentiles she's in now. I'll keep you posted!

A Pic-a-nic Basket

The weather lately has been pretty nice. And by 'nice' I mean it's been under 100 degrees. So the other day we took advantage and had a picnic in a nearby park. We stopped at the grocery store and picked up some lunch and went to Tyler park which has lots of great walking trails, some picnic tables, and a cute river that people fish in. We all enjoyed our yummy lunch (including Ting) and then put Pippa in a backpack and walked the trails. She loved the backpack! You could tell she felt special up their on daddy's shoulders. If we walked longer she definitely would have fallen asleep. Thanks to an old work buddy, Holly, for the hand-me-down. We'll get some great use out of it!

Rats!

To continue on my unintentional tour of Top Chef restaurants, Sto and I finally made it to Rat's last week. Though I feel that Rat's is not the greatest name for an eatery, it was definitely a great place to eat. And not a rat in sight. The restaurant is located on the Grounds for Sculpture, which you may remember from a previous entry. So we got there a little early to enjoy the art and then sat down to a much anticipated meal. It did not disappoint. From appetizer to desert we loved every bite. I had black bass over olive tapenade crostini with orange marmalade on top. Not a combination I would have thought up, but let me tell you, it was out of this world.

Unfortunately the couple next to us was obnoxiously Jersey and clearly on a first date. Sto has the ability to tune out surrounding conversation but I'm not so lucky. There was an up side, though. Because of the man's bragging and name dropping in order to impress his date, the chef did come out to say hello. The couple didn't really know who he was but we were excited. Kevin Sbraga is the chef and a current contestant on Top Chef. I love watching that show but its hard to know how good they all are when you can't really taste the food. You get an idea that things must be amazing when the judges comments are something ridiculous like 'I prefer my peas to be a little more green', or something like that. Well, I don't think that Kevin wins, but he is a mighty fine chef and if you're looking for a great place for a date, Rat's will not disappoint.

Crazy Sleepin' Baby

I don't want to jinx myself but I think it's a safe time to give you all an update on our sleep situation. This is also the appropriate time send out thanks for having a dear friend who also happens to be a pediatrician. Laura's advice has come in very handy, especially given during odd hours and over a few tears.

So by the time last weekend came to a close, I'd had it. I was done. I was glad Sto was home because I needed to just walk away. So I took myself to see Eat Pray Love and stuffed my face with popcorn. It was great therapy. But the important result of the evening was that we decided to just start turning the monitor off at night (after I double checked with Laura that Pippa didn't really need to nurse during the night and I wasn't about to abuse my child.) Laura thought it was a totally appropriate thing to do at this age and lots of parents do the same sort of thing around this time. Phew! It was easy that first night because I was exhausted and slept right through until Sto heard her around 5am. The next night I spent most of the time thinking I heard a crying baby when I really wasn't. So the third night I turned the monitor back on just to see what would happen. She woke up briefly around 4am but went back to sleep with minimal fuss and no intervention. Last night, 6 days later, she didn't wake up at all and slept from 6pm to 6:30am! Thank the Lord! She's back to normal!

Well, not completely. Her naps are still all over the place but we keep working on it. Most days she goes down for a nap at 9am and 1pm. It usually takes her about an hour of playing in bed before she falls asleep but then she'll sleep for about an hour. God only knows what she plays with for so long in there. Today I poked my head in to see if she was really asleep and one of my suspicions was confirmed. She fell asleep sitting up, facing the corner of her bed! I think she does this pretty often and that's why sometimes she wakes up screaming! She must be playing with the bumper. Maybe I should take them out. I don't know. Anyways, I managed to snap a picture before I rearranged her. I'm just glad she (and I) are sleeping better. Crazy baby!

Motoring

Pippa's development is on overdrive when it comes to gross motor skills. She is always busy busy crawling here and there. She even followed me into the shower the other day. Onsie and diaper and all! She's been especially active pulling herself up on everything. She's getting really good at it, too, though she's got sort of an odd way of doing it. She doesn't usually pull one knee up, planting her foot underneath her and then push up to standing with her legs. No, she usually pulls up with her arms, going up on the top of her feet and then slowly curling over her toes and onto the soles of her feet. It's a yoga move that even I haven't mastered, actually. It really doesn't look comfortable but it doesn't seem to bother her. Silly baby.

So to encourage her gross motor development, I bought a beautiful wooden table with all sorts of great toys on top so that she can stand and play. I searched and search for a quality one that will last years. I was so excited when it came in the mail and put it together right away. What I did not see coming, though should have, is that she was more interested in the packaging than the toy! Ha! But once she destroyed all the paper and thoroughly explored the cardboard box she started playing with the actual toy. And she loves it! It will keep her playing for a long time to come. Score one for mama!

Cicada...or is it a locust?

Its a cicada, actually. I googled it. While I grew up hunting for their shells and being serenaded by their song, I've never actually seen these things in real life. Running across a shell always makes me jump a mile. They look kind of evil, don't they? But in real life they are not as menacing looking. They are just big mother f@#*ers! I've seen one almost every day lately! Must be a suburban thing...