Day 151: Messy Girl

Someone loves strawberries so much she decided to wear them.

I'm SO happy I insisted she wear a bib.  You know, since it kept her so clean.

At one point - strawberry in the arm pit.

Goofball.

Day 150: Pool Day

 Our community pool opened this past Saturday, so we headed over there today, the first time in the three years we have lived here.  I had no idea our pool is so awesome!  I have been looking forward to taking Michal swimming.  I grew up a water baby, always at, around, or in the pool.  I'd love for her to have the same love for water and to become comfortable and safe in it.  Today was a great start!

 All sunscreened up, shades on, ready to go!

(Don't worry - she had a hat, too)

First dip in the pool with Daddy 

What is this stuff?  And who are all these people? 

She was not a fan of wearing the hat.  Even when I used the strap, she found a way to get it off her head.

After swimming a bit, we left the pool and had some lunch and down time at home.  Michal took a two hour long nap (!!), and we watched a movie.  Later, it was time for dinner - strawberries and yogurt.  Yummmm.

 It was quite the crazy yogurt meal.  She had strawberries first and loved them, so I added some to her plain yogurt. She was also overtired, as her schedule has been REALLY off since Friday.  Subsequently - crazy yogurt baby...

... and then incredibly sad yogurt baby.  

It goes without saying that a bath followed soon after.

Day 149: Tortillas, Thunder, and Space

 Michal and her daddy, standing in front of the Apollo Lunar Module

Today was another day filled with fun and friends.  After a leisurely morning at home (aided by a nice long Michal nap), we headed into our fair city for some time with friends. 

Waiting at the top of the escalators at the Chinatown Metro stop, waiting for our friends.  Michal thoroughly enjoyed chewing on her straps while we listened to good music provided by a violin and guitar.  I just love looking at her eyes - every light brings new variations on the color.

 Once everyone arrived, we headed deep into the heart of Washington DC's Chinatown for some... California Tortilla?  It worked for everyone and proved to be a quick meal that did not delay our heading down to the National Mall for our real destination: museums.  In addition to her tofu and puffs, Michal snacked on various portions of my burrito - mostly rice, guacamole, and some bell pepper.  Yum!  As is often the case, Michal was riveted by her Uncle Roy.  He is a funny guy.

Clearly Roy is proving himself quite hilarious.  At least Michal thinks so.

Along the way our progress was slowed down by the riders of Rolling Thunder.  An annual motorcycle gathering held in Washington DC during Memorial Day weekend, Rolling Thunder brings thousands of motorcyclists who ride across the district to honor American war heroes and to bring awareness to POW/MIA issues.  They also work during the rest of the year to promote legislation to increase veterans benefits.  It was a pretty impressive sight as we stood at Constitution Avenue, watching wave after wave of riders roaring past, many with a variety of flags.  Definitely reminds us of the meaning of Memorial Day.


After a break in the Thunder, we headed to the National Mall, where we decided to visit the National Air and Space Museum.  We wandered through a number of exhibits and took in the various airplanes and space vehicles on display.  Midway through our visit, it became apparently that the babes needed her afternoon nap.  We reclined her stroller, laid her down, and continued along her way.  After a short while, Josh checked on her, and mentioned that her feet were backwards.  I came around to the front and found this:

Not exactly how she started out.  We tried flipping her over and actually put her in the straps, but the incredibly sad cries that followed were too much.  Eventually I got her situated in our Ergo, where she eventually fell asleep against me.  Such a nice treat, since it has been an incredibly long time since she has done that in any form.


Tomorrow brings us another first!  Stay tuned!

Day 148: Strawberries!

What fun we had today - can't you tell from Michal's face?


Today we met up with some college friends and their daughter to pick strawberries at a nearby farm.  While we did not get a chance to go check out the farm animals, which would have been fun since Michal was not super aware of their existence the last time we were there (she was two months old), we did get out to the fields to pick some strawberries.  We were good and managed to pick only four pounds of fruit. 


Michal was not super helpful, but she did like watching us do all the work.  I'm sure she will enjoy a taste of them tomorrow! (This was one fruit I was nervous about, but after our discovery yesterday about food sensitivities and allergies, she will have some soon.)

Before we headed out to the fields.  She actually did not try to drag the hat off her head.  It did obscure her vision, but she just dealt with it.

After bringing in the fruits of our labor.  She hung out on the picnic table, turning this way and that to watch everyone around us.  I finally got her to look at me.


Oh, and of course, I forgot to grab the actual camera, so thanks to my phone for these pictures.

Day 147: Bamba Baby

Today was Michal's nine month checkup.  As usual, she was a rock star and impressed our awesome pediatrician, who was excited to see which cloth diaper Michal was wearing today.  Unfortunately it turns out the M has an infection in her right ear, so she is again on amoxicillin.  Extra yogurt is on the menu this week to try to avoid any sort of yeast-related guest, like we had the last time.


Here are her stats:

29" long/tall (It just feels weird to say "long") - 89th percentile

20 lbs., 8 oz. - 75th percentile

head circumference: 17 3/4" (I don't recall which percentile, but not in the your-kid-has-a-huge-noggin area)

I have been looking forward to this appointment for a while, partly to see if Michal is continuing her anti-Rothschild streak of being tall (my father's side of the family is vertically challenged), partly to pepper the pediatrician with a myriad of questions.  Most of my queries were food-related: how should we approach the sippy cup given Michal's penchant to use it as a weapon, how and when to transition from formula to good old cow's milk, what should we consider and anticipate during our first plane ride in just three weeks' time, and.. of course... food.

We have been fairly adventurous in regards to food, and Michal has not had true "baby food" (aka purees) for a good long while now.  She eats finger foods almost exclusively, sometimes with extra assistance, and has had a fairly wide array of tastes: apple, apricot, avocado, banana, broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, egg - just the yolk so far, green beans, mango, peach, peas, plum, sweet potato, tofu, yogurt... I'm sure there are more, I just can't think of them.  There are a few foods that I had heard were best saved until after the age of one, but I had also heard some newer research showed that these foods, often delayed because of potential allergies, were actually best to introduce EARLIER rather than later.  

For a long while, the general consensus was to wait on foods that could cause a food sensitivity, as if introducing it earlier could make that sensitivity more likely.  There is new research, though, from the past few years, that actually shows the opposite.  This study, conducted with children in Israel and the UK, looked at the incidence of peanut allergy in children in relation to general societal norms in the ingestion of peanuts and peanut products.  In Israel, where children regularly teethe on Bamba, a peanut butter flavored puff, if you will, there is an incredibly low incidence of peanut allergies.  Conversely, in England, parents typically wait until a child is 12-18 months to introduce those products and, perhaps subsequently (?), there is a much higher peanut allergy rate.  This might show that we have been doing things completely wrong (which might, in fact, explain the growing rates of food sensitivities as of late), and we should be exposing kids to all sorts of foods earlier rather than later.

With this information in hand, and with the wholehearted blessing of our pediatrician, Michal is now free to experience the full breadth of a culinary palate, save anything that could be a choking hazard.   

First up - Bamba.  Given my dislike of peanuts and most peanut products, Michal's face is 100% right on in my book (Josh would disagree).  This was also the first time she has really had anything that was crunchy - her puffs sort of crunch, but really, they just dissolve.  She seemed rather perplexed by this strange food. 

Hmmm... what IS this? 

Still playing with it.  She has yet to figure out what to do with those chompers in front. 

What the heck was that, momma?

She did eat the entire piece, although the second piece ended up being instrumental in an all-out assault on her Zany Zoo toy.  

Day 146: Afternoon at the Park

Apparently we are effectively ending spring early, as it topped 98 degrees today.  It is abnormally warm, and it should get back down to a normal streak of weather soon.  Even though it was on the warm side, I decided we needed to visit the awesome park near our house after I picked up Michal from day care and spend some time outside.  It is a really cool park with a climbing wall,  giant "ship" and "castle" play structures, and one baby swing.  Just one.  Inevitably, someone else walks up to the swing with their kid RIGHT as we are walking up.  So we have to go find something to do to kill time until it is free.  Most of the structures are really intended for older kids, but we managed to occupy ourselves.

Not so sure about the wind

We found a menagerie of animals, including a lion, monkey, seal, dolphin, and this alligator.  It was really the only one that she could do anything on, so she sat on it.  And watched a girl and her older brother playing near the ship.  It took forever to get her attention away from them to pose for the camera - she loves watching kids.

Finally the swing opened up.  She LOVES the swing.  You can tell - huge, wide smile. 

Love <3

Day 145: Frustrating Apricots

Apricots are frustrating.


On any given day, they might be a little slippery but shouldn't pose too much of a problem.  However, if you are a teething nine-month-old who is minutes away from bath and bedtime, they are an evil instrument of torture.  


Dinner tonight was a mixture of standby favorites and new tastes - avocado and apricot.  Michal managed a few pieces of apricot at first, got a little frustrated, then switched happily to avocado.  When she ran out of that, she went back to the apricot.  She was able to snag one or two with relatively little difficulty, but then one would prove to be troublesome and she would start to fret.  She would calm down, try again, but to no avail.  Those little guys are tricky!