WeePT loves her jumper.
Archive for Kids
He would be a good politician
Pigpen has always liked to “dress fancy” and he’s always loved art.
He recently participated in the local Rotary Club’s annual “Street Painting” contest. They sell squares on the sidewalk of the community college to big companies and individuals. THEN- they let anyone come and join in the fun 2-day art event- FREE! This is the 2nd year the boys have attended. They love it. Pigpen won first place (Elementary School) last year. And MastaG won second place (Middle School) And there are soooo many good drawings. People are so talented.
Anyway.
This year, Pigpen went to the event dressed all in black…with sunglasses. He arrived at his pre-assigned square and started looking around.
Me: What are you doing? Go ahead and start. You have a lot to draw.
Pigpen: It looks like my competition is just little kids. I think I will win again.
Me: Seriously? You haven’t even drawn anything. You can’t win with a blank square.
He proceeds to create his art.
And MastaG works hard on his art, too.
At the end of the day…they announce the winners….
AND>>>>
Pigpen wins 1st place in the Elementary group AGAIN.
Yep. Head = INFLATED
It’s cool. He’s good. Problem is…he knows it.: )
Flash to two weeks later.
The Rotary Club invites the winners to one of their lunches to accept their awards. Pigpen even got to check out of school for the event.
That morning… he came out of his room wearing his 3-piece suit. Appropriate? I don’t know why not.
He enjoys his lunch, accepts his certificate and $50 check. Happy boy. Proud parents.
AT takes him back to school and checks him back in.
Later, when AT picks him up from school, Pigpen starts one of his very long stories.
Pigpen: I got to meet a Senator today.
AT: Really? Who?
Pigpen: Randy McNally
AT: What was he doing at your school?
Pigpen: I don’t know. But he gave me this pin (TN flag/US Flag lapel pin).
AT: Why did you get a pin? Did everyone get a pin?
Pigpen: Well…he told me if I could tell him what the flags stood for, that he would give it to me. He gave me his business card, too.
AT: So, did he give anyone else a pin?
Pigpen: No..I don’t think so…just me.
AT: hmmm.
—-
—-
Later…after I get home from work, the conversation continues:
Bell: So, he just GAVE you a pin. Was there an assembly today? He just pulled you out of the crowd?
Pigpen: No. There wasn’t an assembly. I ran into him in the hall on my way back to class after the Rotary lunch.
Bell: Was he visiting a teacher or something?
Pigpen: Maybe… He saw me in the hall and told me he liked my suit. I told him I just got back from Rotary Club. Then he asked me if I knew who he was…
…and then that new teacher took my picture with him.
Bell: What new teacher?
Pigpen: I don’t know her name.
Bell: Well..if you see her again, ask her if she can print a copy for you.
Pigpen: ok
Last Friday…Pigpen came home with an envelope addressed to him at his school… from Nashville.
Just another day in Pigpen’s awesome world.
He would make a good politician.
Lazy Sunday Haiku
I thought I slept in
Clocks going back messed me up
Got up normal time
Coffee with AT
WeePT had her breakfast
Boys woke up later
Worked on a project
It’ll be awesome when done.
We will let you know.
Loaded into van
Headed to Ktown to shop
Left the boys at home
Groceries and stuff
Piled into the big red cart
It adds up so fast.
Diapers, formula
New baby foods for lil girl
Fell asleep shopping
Got home, unloaded.
House smells of burning pasta
Pigpen tried to cook.
Leftovers dont need
Ten minutes in microwave,
Burnt spaghetti stinks.
Dishwasher running.
Laundry is lined up to go
Time to crash on couch.
No plans made from here
Gonna spend the lazy day
Doing nothing else.
I just need ONE MORE HAND…and maybe a “pull here” tab
WeePT started eating rice cereal the week she turned 4 months. She was showing interest in our food when we ate…and managed to get the “push the food back with your tongue” thing down pretty quick. It was messy the first week. But it took about 5 eating sessions before she was a pro, opening her mouth like a baby bird when the spoon comes into view.
Then…we started the Stage 1 foods. One new food every 4-5 days. Everything went well. Except peas..two attempts. Both failed. She hates them. Evidently, they aren’t a favorite of other babies, either. Anyway.
We decided to feed Gerber brand baby food. My brothers and I were raised on it. Jake and his siblings were raised on it. The boys ate it. They make good baby food.
I have one complaint.
Who the hell designed the packaging on these little tiny tubs of food?
Did anyone try these things out with REAL moms?
Holy crap. Seriously?
They could really OPEN these things with one hand?
This is how feeding time goes:
#1 – Wait until baby is hungry. Not too hungry, mind you. Just hungry enough to be interested in food.
#2- Put baby in high chair…strap her in (‘cuz she likes to arch up her back and jump out).
#3- Get baby out of high chair. (Well, she’s screaming…she wants food NOW when she gets in her food chair. And it’s not there yet.)
#4- Take screaming baby to the kitchen with you. Grab a little tub of food…whatever version of the 10 pureed choices they offer (don’t get peas…and not prunes if her poop is runny…and not bananas if her poop is gooey or really thick..carrots will make her poop like crazy…apples make her gassy…hmmm. Decisions…)
Green beans. We’ll have green beans for dinner.
Yep. Gerber used to have nice little glass jars.They switched to plastic around 2003. It’s safe. It’s economical. It has a nice little plastic lid, so you can save leftovers. Easy to stack…
#5- Open container.
Uhhh.. where do I pull?
There is NO “pull here” on any of the corners of the foil seal. They don’t even START a place for you. You have to hold the baby, rake at one of the corners until it come up and little and PULL LIKE CRAZY.
All with one hand, mind you. (You may have to use two hands, but if you do, be careful because you will get “help” from the little one…and then have to keep her fingers out of the container while you are carefully removing the foil)
And then, if you’re lucky… you end up with this:
What you CANT see…is the green bean puree that are on on me, the wall, the baby… probably places I don’t even know about (you get the point).
#6- Wipe up all the green beans while the baby is kicking and flapping her arms at all the exciting things flying around the kitchen (They taste good AND are entertaining, too).
#7- Bib and feed baby.
#8- Clean up baby.
#9- Rinse spoon, throw away empty tub.
#10- Find more green bean splats and clean them up, too.
So- it’s not that I don’t like Gerber. I don’t like the containers they package the food in. It’s not mommy-friendly.
Kind of disappoints me.
But I still look forward to feeding time…
Saturday morning
How many other folks out there are listening to Mary Jane’s Last Dance while breaking down SQL tables and trying to learn how to query and import them to a new database, as the baby sleeps in the carrier at your feet, and the wife is opening up the petshop?
Everybody? Cool, then you know how things are going over here.
Saturday mornings are a fantastic time, except when the gal you’re smitten with is at work. I do my best not to have TOO much fun that she misses out on, although I’m sure she’s jealous of the SQL stuff. Can’t get enough of those CREATE TABLE import errors, right?
These days, my mind finds a weird satisfaction in playing with years. Reflecting on the fact that this record came out 20 years ago now, but yet I was fully cognizant and can remember the impact that it had on it’s life is an interesting game. I’m not sure why this humors me, or at least interests me, but I think it has something to do with the fact that, nearly 15 years after my first baby, there’s another one squirming around on my lap (or sleeping peacefully in the carseat, as the case may be).
This round of fatherhood is sublimely awesome. They were all great, mind, but to have a child that was so intently planned, but yet in the macro lens picture of life, so amazingly random and surprising, floors me. I’m old enough to remember the things that I wish I held onto with the boys at this age, and young enough to have the time to watch her grow up.
Wise enough to know it doesn’t last, and young enough to be impatient for the next step in her life.
She’ll wake up in a little while, and we’ll change a diaper, and play on the floor. She’ll grin at me when I tickle her ribs with my nose, and might even give me a giggle, and I’ll cherish every minute about it, because even though I’ve got 20 years of adultish history in my mind, I’ve also got a RIGHT NOW that’s better than all of it, and constantly getting better.
Hows that for a Saturday morning?
Happy 6mos Birthday!!
WeePT is 6 months old today. Wow.
Just wow.
She’s growing so fast.
This time last year, I was wishing anticipating the 12 week pregnant mark…hoping maybe the evening ‘morning sickness’ that I was experiencing would subside. I’d spend the evenings in the bed…or on the couch watching AT play whatever new PlayStation game he had at the time. Closing my eyes and taking deep breaths was the only way to make the nausea go away. Never actually went to throw up though….well, unless you count absolute rejection the Bean had with my dinner from Cancuns. But it wasn’t morning sickness related. My pregnant tummy did NOT want the Mexican food. Anyway, it was noted and we never had the same problem again : )
Six months ago, I had no idea how awesome this was going to be. I was very much anticipating the experience. And it’s everything I thought it would be.. and sooooo much more.
Sweet girl.
WeePT has taken each of our hearts and cuddled right up to them.
Pigpen loves playing with her.
MastaG is absolutely smitten.
And AT? He is soooo much loving having a little girl. It’s awesome. He glows when he plays with her. And she loves him so much.
Luckily, she is a very good-natured baby.
She is always soaking in her surroundings. Weary of different, but interested. She loves being at home around all of the things she knows. You can see her relax as soon as we walk into the house.
She’s getting better about riding in the car seat. She still doesn’t LIKE it, but she fusses herself to sleep more than she used to. I think she’s given in to the idea that we can’t do anything about it. We tried a pacifier. She wouldn’t take it. We bought 3-4 different kinds and finally just stopped trying. I gave one to her the other day…and she just plays with it. Oh well.
She is still breastfeeding. But she has no problem taking a bottle (never has…cuz she’s a “greedy eater” according to the pediatrician). She gets formula or pumped BM when I am at work. She’s cool with that.
She eats real food twice a day. Baby Oatmeal and a couple ounces of whichever Stage 1 baby food we pick for breakfast. She gets an entire 4oz cup of baby food for dinner. We made it through all of the cereals, green, orange, yellow veggies and all of the fruits without any signs of allergies or sensitivities. And she is sooooo good at eating with the spoon. So, we’re hoping to be cleared to move to stage 2 foods after our doctor visit next week.
WeePT is stingy with her giggles. But they do exist. Something has to be the funniest thing she’s ever seen… and she laughs and laughs. But the next day…when you try it again? Nope. No laughs. That’s OLD NEWS. Try again, Mom.
Regardless of whether she laughs for you…you will get a grin. She hands them out. Big ol’ toothless grin.
Well..toothless for now. She has the signs that she has teeth coming in. Drool. Wakefulness. Gnawing on everything. Low-grade fever. But the days seem to come in sets of 3…3 good, 3 bad. We are hoping they break through soon. I hate to see her so uncomfortable.
She can roll over. Both ways. Either direction.
She loves to “jump, jump, jump.” 
Her favorite thing to do right now is “thump” her feet…. She likes to do it mostly on the diaper changer…she rocks the whole thing. Feet up and then she slams them into the ground. She thinks it’s awesome and funny.
WeePT is intrigued with the dogs and cats. She “found” them a few weeks ago. When they come around her, her eyes light up, her feet and arms start flying in all directions. Sometimes she talks to them. They still disregard her, mostly. But when they do decide to acknowledge her (tail wags and sometimes she gets kissed on the head), she loves it.
Sleeping isn’t a problem. She’s pretty good about her naps. They range from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Usually, she takes one big nap a day…then 3 or 4 little naps. At night, she falls asleep between 8 and 9…and sleeps soundly until about 4 or 5 am. She eats and falls asleep again. I can’t complain at all.
I’m looking forward to her being a little more independent as far as entertaining herself…but I know that’s coming. I don’t want to hurry anything.
I treasure every day. Days that I am home, we spend the day playing and napping. Days that I work, I get big ol smiles when I get home (smiles makes it all better), and then we settle on the couch for mommy and baby time. I love it.
WeePT is 14.5 lbs now. She has officially doubled her birth weight (7lbs 2 oz). She’s still a petite little thing. At her 4 month appointment, she was 15% in weight, 70% in head size and 54% in her length. I’m curious to see what her new “stats” are.
She’s staying right with the clothes sizes…except for her long legs. The 6 month clothes fit her body…but the pants are too short (it looks like she’s a fan of Capri pants). Mostly, we have her in 6-9mos and 9mos outfits. I’ve found that it’s fun to shop for her. I, personally, am not a fan of clothes shopping for myself. But I can predict that shopping for her might get a little out of hand. Good thing there is a kids’ clothing “resale” store really close to the house. : )
Oh, sweet girl. I can’t imagine how we ever existed without you.
Happy 6 months, little one.
Mommy loves you.
